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azukizero · Feb 4, 2004, 06:42 PM

I just found this forum today (happily) while researching known issues with G4s. I'm about to make the switch to Mac and this forum has provided a ton of great information so far. In fact, I've seen several posts mentioning newer revisions of the G4s, as well as new revisions of G5s, coming out soon. I've heard and read that G4s are extremely loud out of the box. (Actually, it sounds like the G5s are pretty loud too...)
Is this still an issue? If a new, hopefully quiet, revision of G4s is about to come out, should I wait?
Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this. I'm eager to start exploring the Mac world.

Captain Obvious · Feb 4, 2004, 07:18 PM

New G4s in the Powermac tower variety? No there will not be any new ones. G4 towers are no longer made. There are newer G4 upgrades for older towers but that has nothing to do with how quiet they would be. And not all of the G4 towers had a noise problem They were very specific models and there were fixes for some.

RevEvs · Feb 4, 2004, 07:36 PM

"Actually, it sounds like the G5s are pretty loud too..."

nope, they are definitely not loud at all.

revs

Cadaver · Feb 4, 2004, 07:51 PM

My dual 2.0GHz G5 is pretty darn quiet. Much quieter than my prior G3 and G4 towers. I can easily hear hard drive activity over any other fan noise. Dare I say its "Dell quiet."

NYK Ace · Feb 4, 2004, 10:32 PM

they did not "stop making g4 towers" at all, they still have them available as a low cost tower alternative and for OS 9 booting, they could very well intro a new maybe 1.33 G4 tower as soon as the G5s are updated

djohnson · Feb 4, 2004, 11:51 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Dare I say its "Dell quiet."

Blasphemy!

azukizero · Feb 5, 2004, 10:28 AM

Thanks for the info. The noise from G5s that I was refering to was from users that posted issues of fried mobos and/or toasted power supplies. I've heard the G4s had a similar problem when first released. Is this why everyone here recommends waiting for a 'rev b' of the G5?
I hate to say that I can't wait for a better rev to release, but I don't want to buy a G5 now only to post here later with a horror story. Are the problems with G5s very common? Also, is the 3 year warranty worth the price?
thanks again!

The Placid Casual · Feb 5, 2004, 10:56 AM

Originally posted by azukizero:
Thanks for the info. The noise from G5s that I was refering to was from users that posted issues of fried mobos and/or toasted power supplies. I've heard the G4s had a similar problem when first released. Is this why everyone here recommends waiting for a 'rev b' of the G5?
I hate to say that I can't wait for a better rev to release, but I don't want to buy a G5 now only to post here later with a horror story. Are the problems with G5s very common? Also, is the 3 year warranty worth the price?
thanks again!

Welcome to the forum!

It is best to remeber that very, very few people have problems, but often they are the most vocal! This can give a peculiar bias to their problems, and make people think they are much more common than they really are...

Remember that there is no such thing as perfection, only degrees of imperfection. No company, be it Dell, HP, Compaq, etc will have a batch of machines with no faults... However Apple is seemingly better than most!

As for problems with the G5s, and Rev A's. Hmmm, it is a risk buying any Rev A of ANY product in the world, as faults will *always* be ironed out with the next release. It is even more profound now the new Rev B's are seemingly so close!

As for G5 faults, they have not been too bad, and the chances of getting a bad one are very, very slight.

Ther G5 fan noise is not bad either. I run an Athlon XP3200+ box, and the G5 is whisper quiet compared to it! It is no cube, but it is not bad at all noise wise.

With the G4s, the Mirror drive door machines were VERY loud indeed! Infact that fan mod didn't really help that much, and I would avoid one these days as they sounded like a helicopter was hovering over my house when I fired the thing up!

Other than that, there is are no real horror stories, and most of the machines have been excellent.

As for G4's. Well, for most purposes they are dead, and no new G4 Powermacs will come out... G5 all the way form now on.

Peace,

Marc

P.S. If you can, ALWAYS get the Applecare warranty.

azukizero · Feb 5, 2004, 11:13 AM

Thanks for the insight Marc. This forum rocks and the community itself is reason to switch to Mac.

Although the cost is still very high, I'll consider buying a G5 but I'd like to wait for the second rev.
Does anyone have any idea when that might come out? Are there any other good Mac forums that anyone here can recommend?

thanks!

Eriamjh · Feb 5, 2004, 11:24 AM

I'd like to know why the base OS9 G4 (and only) is not a single or dual 1.42GHz G4.

The Placid Casual · Feb 5, 2004, 01:07 PM

Originally posted by azukizero:
Thanks for the insight Marc. This forum rocks and the community itself is reason to switch to Mac. Although the cost is still very high, I'll consider buying a G5 but I'd like to wait for the second rev.
Does anyone have any idea when that might come out? Are there any other good Mac forums that anyone here can recommend?

thanks!

www.appleinsider.com usually has a scoop or two in the forums... it is kind of like here, but with more conspiracy!

Peace.

The Placid Casual · Feb 5, 2004, 01:10 PM

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
I'd like to know why the base OS9 G4 (and only) is not a single or dual 1.42GHz G4.

Probably because Apple has wound down the agreement with Moto... So Moto are not, or cannot, supply the latest and greatest.

Also, Apple probably want to keep prices down on the PM G4s, so may have 'down specced' the chip to this end...

I doubt they will be around for much longer anyhow, and definitely no updates...

Lateralus · Feb 5, 2004, 01:20 PM

Originally posted by Eriamjh:
I'd like to know why the base OS9 G4 (and only) is not a single or dual 1.42GHz G4.

It is because Motorola is still having stability problems with the 7455B at that clock speed. There are many that will run at that speed, but not as many as Apple would like for them to be comfortable using them at that speed. Only reason Apple used them for the FW800 lineup was because, fankly, the high end Power Mac sales were crappy enough that Apple would be able to meet demand. But now that Power Mac G4s are nearing the $1,000 mark, their popularity is much higher than it was before the G5s.