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Jason Bourne · Nov 19, 2005, 08:07 PM

I'm in the same boat as you Mike. Showing a Dec 28th shipping estimate since late October. I'll be sure to post on here if I get any updates (or ship notification).

bonkers · Nov 19, 2005, 08:26 PM

Mine was showing orginally showing as before Dec 23rd & they just tried to authorize my card on Friday.

Like I said previously, I had ordered the 7800.

chaseb85 · Nov 20, 2005, 12:51 AM

I ordered mine about 2 weeks ago and they gave me a ship date of Dec 2nd...but i just got the e-mail that it is shipping TODAY on 11/19/05...which is very cool. I just did the free shipping, so should definately be here by the end of the week. My extra RAM just got here also the other day, so it's finally almost here. Seems like so long ago that I had to return my G5 2.7 in order to make the Quad upgrade...hope it's worth it.

EFFENDI · Nov 20, 2005, 04:17 AM

I recieved a call from the Northridge Apple Store earlier today, they had 4 Quads in stock today. I am seriously considering putting one on hold.....

gurman · Nov 20, 2005, 10:58 AM

I ordered a CTO (BlueTooth/Airport, 1 Gbyte ECC RAM) Quad on October 20 (I was on travel and missed the keynote); it was listed as due to ship on November 18 from then on out, but in fact shipped November 15. I received it on Thursday, November 17 (I was at work, and FedEx requires a signature, so I had to drive to one of their facilities about 10 miles from here to get the box that evening.) The most startling thing about it (aside from those sweet four columns in the Activity Monitor CPU Usage window) was the legend on the serial number/Ethernet address label on the box: "Assembled in USA." I don't know if it's just startup quantities and will then switch to a Chinese factory, but I suspect I have not only one of the last PowerPC desktops, but also one of the last "US made" Macs. Not all that important, except for sentimental reasons.

mduell · Nov 20, 2005, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by gurman

The most startling thing about it (aside from those sweet four columns in the Activity Monitor CPU Usage window) was the legend on the serial number/Ethernet address label on the box: "Assembled in USA." I don't know if it's just startup quantities and will then switch to a Chinese factory, but I suspect I have not only one of the last PowerPC desktops, but also one of the last "US made" Macs. Not all that important, except for sentimental reasons.

Hon Hai is the usual ODM for G5 PowerMacs (Quanta does the Xserve G5s). Are you sure it was the whole thing and not just a component (like the CPU from Fishkill, NY) assembled in the USA?

gurman · Nov 20, 2005, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Hon Hai is the usual ODM for G5 PowerMacs (Quanta does the Xserve G5s). Are you sure it was the whole thing and not just a component (like the CPU from Fishkill, NY) assembled in the USA?

Serial number begins with G8, which http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html confirms is USA. Believe it or not, a real PowerMac G5 Quad, assembled right here in the USA with IBM CPU chips made right here in the USA (and Micronm memory, since so far they appear to be the only provider of ECC DDR2 SDRAM. Of course, the optical drive and I assume everything else is from elsewhere. Nice to know Apple still offers a few manufacturing jobs in the country in which it's based. Can't last long, but they may use such a facility for prototypes and small-quantity jobs. I have to assume they're not going to sell Quads int he same quantites as iPods (or even iMac G5's).

jeffnudi · Nov 20, 2005, 07:15 PM

The label on my DC 2.3 states "Computer Assembled in the U.S.A. Other Items as Marked Thereon."

Originally Posted by gurman

Serial number begins with G8, which http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html confirms is USA. Believe it or not, a real PowerMac G5 Quad, assembled right here in the USA with IBM CPU chips made right here in the USA (and Micronm memory, since so far they appear to be the only provider of ECC DDR2 SDRAM. Of course, the optical drive and I assume everything else is from elsewhere. Nice to know Apple still offers a few manufacturing jobs in the country in which it's based. Can't last long, but they may use such a facility for prototypes and small-quantity jobs. I have to assume they're not going to sell Quads int he same quantites as iPods (or even iMac G5's).

Xephian · Nov 21, 2005, 11:34 AM

I just ordered a Quad Power Mac and the estimated ship date is December 6, 2005. The only thing I added to it was the Airport + BT Module.

Xephian · Nov 21, 2005, 11:36 AM

I just ordered a Quad Power Mac and the estimated ship date is December 6, 2005. The only thing I added to it was the Airport + BT Module.

Edit: Sorry, for the double post, my connection was slow.

alexkingorg · Nov 22, 2005, 10:47 AM

I ordered via the Apple friends and family program on Oct. 21. My order had been scheduled to ship Nov. 21, but was just delayed until Dec 7.

timmerk · Nov 23, 2005, 06:52 AM

Originally Posted by alexkingorg

I ordered via the Apple friends and family program on Oct. 21. My order had been scheduled to ship Nov. 21, but was just delayed until Dec 7.

What's that program? You get discounts or something? if so, can I be your friend? :-)

TiDual · Nov 23, 2005, 03:12 PM

We had one of out Dual 2.5 G5s go up in smoke last week. Turns out the cause (or consequence) was a coolant leak. Apple phones me yesterday and says "We'd like to replace your machine. Unfortunately yours was a BTO with bluetooth, and we don't have any available replacement with bluetooth". Then he says: "would a new Quad with 2.5GB Ram be ok instead ..." ... nice.

Interestingly, he also said I should have it in 7 days ... which seems quick. Wonder if I'm getting some kind of priority, since it's a replacement.

TiDual · Nov 23, 2005, 03:12 PM

double-clicked

brokenjago · Nov 23, 2005, 03:52 PM

LOL!

Sweeeeet!

I want Apple to offer me a quad

.

Horsepoo!!! · Nov 23, 2005, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by brokenjago

LOL!

Sweeeeet!

I want Apple to offer me a quad

.

Step 1: Find Dual 2.5 G5 with Bluetooth.
Step 2: Open it up and puncture a hole in the coolant system.
Step 3: There is no step 3.

Thinine · Nov 25, 2005, 01:39 AM

Mine arrived yesterday at 3PM. It's sweet.

MOTHERWELL · Nov 27, 2005, 12:41 PM

I just got my shipment notification for my Quad.

It was predicted to ship before the 28th of DECEMBER....becuase it has a 7800. This is a pleasant surprise!

Mike Thole · Nov 27, 2005, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by MOTHERWELL

I just got my shipment notification for my Quad.

It was predicted to ship before the 28th of DECEMBER....becuase it has a 7800. This is a pleasant surprise!

Oh man... I'm in the exact same situation... I just hope it ships soon. I've not got a notification yet.

CIA · Nov 28, 2005, 02:16 AM

My Quad (ordered stock, except with 7800, & Airport/Bluetooth) shipped on Nov 26th. As of 1am Eastern time, 11/28 Fed-Ex tracking just lists "Package data transmitted to FedEx on 11/26" but that's a start. Standard shipping, so I expect it to arrive before the end of the week!
I placed my first order for a Quad on the day of the keynote, but cancelled and re-ordered when the 7800 became available. The machine that just shipped was ordered on Oct 20, 2005 at 12:09 PM PST.

Considering my original ship date was between Dec 13th and Dec 26th, I'm rather surprised, (and happy) with Apple this time. I figured it would be another situation like when they first announced the G5. Order in June, see it in....hmm.. October? I assumed it would be the same with my quad. I really honestly didn't think I would see it untill Jan. Esp. since I added the 7800.

k2director · Nov 28, 2005, 05:12 AM

I have the same machine ordered as your's, CIA. I ordered on Oct 26, and I pray it ships soon. Can't wait to hear about the 7800 card. Just hope its fan is quiet, unlike the wind-tunnel fan on my ATI 9800, which shipped as a BTO with my original 2GHz Dual G5 from 2003.

JCT · Nov 28, 2005, 04:49 PM

I just spoke with my EDU rep and my Quad (with the 7800GT) is now scheduled to be shipped out on Dec 13th (original date was the 26th).

Looks like I will have to volunteer" to be the one who stays home with the kids during their X-mas break this year.....

JT

Todd Madson · Nov 28, 2005, 04:58 PM

I personally witnessed someone on sunday picking up their
quad, 30" flat panel, some high end speakers, an iPod 60
GB, a printer and some software on sunday at the Apple
store here in Minneapolis (Mall of America store).

His wife looked like "Hoo boy, here goes the debt" but he
looked quite pleased with himself. And no wonder.

JCT · Nov 28, 2005, 05:03 PM

Whoa, talk about an early Christmas!

But I remember (very fondly) picking up my Dual 2.5 and new 23" ACD last year..great fun!

JT

MOTHERWELL · Nov 29, 2005, 07:06 PM

It Has Arrived, And It's Alive!

7800 Tests To Follow

chaseb85 · Nov 29, 2005, 10:46 PM

Got mine yesterday. Put in my extra 4 GB of ram and started it up. Just finished transferring all my files and installing all my software.

This thing is sweet. And it does actually run surprisingly quieter than the G5 2.7Ghz model.

Now on to the audio processing tests!

k2director · Nov 30, 2005, 03:36 AM

Originally Posted by MOTHERWELL

It Has Arrived, And It's Alive!

7800 Tests To Follow

Motherwell,
Congrats! Question for you: does the Quad (with 7800 card) run fairly quiet? Can you compare the fan noise level to other previous G5 PowerMacs?

kjartan · Nov 30, 2005, 06:17 AM

I don´t get it. I ordered on the 28th of october via a local retailer. At that date it said on Apple's homepage that a Quad would ship in 2-3 weeks, I got an "estimated shipped date" of 9th of november that has not changed.

During the almost 5 weeks gone since I placed my order apple has officially changed thair estimated delivery time twice first to 7 to 10 working days and now it says "Ready to ship: 5 - 7 days"

It now is ready to ship in one fifth of the time I've been waiting for mine to ship, and there is no f-ing way, getting any response from apple neither for me nor my retailer.

I ordered mine with 2 g RAM and bluetooth and wifi, can't be that complicated to put inside, unless ...

Now I'm seriously thinking of replacing my order on a dual 2.3, I need a faster computer than my powerbook, but I just think it's a bummer to back of this one when once you'v decided to have it.

Any Idea of how long such a computer would take to ship?

Jason Bourne · Nov 30, 2005, 11:35 AM

For the people who have had their Quad with 7800 ship, could you let us know when you placed your order? I'm still seeing a ship by date of Dec 28th for mine.

CIA · Nov 30, 2005, 12:53 PM

Machine with 7800 ordered on Oct 20, 2005 at 12:09 PM PST. Shipped 11/26.(FedEx.com says it got the package on the 28th tho) Originally Apple said it would ship on or around Dec 13-25th.
It's enroute to me now via FedEx, rescheduled delivery on Monday Dec 5th.

k2director · Nov 30, 2005, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by CIA

Machine with 7800 ordered on Oct 20, 2005 at 12:09 PM PST. Shipped 11/26.(FedEx.com says it got the package on the 28th tho) Originally Apple said it would ship on or around Dec 13-25th.
It's enroute to me now via FedEx, rescheduled delivery on Monday Dec 5th.

Just for the record, CIA, the 7800 card wasn't available as a BTO until around Oct 26, so you must have revised your order at that point, which would make the official order date a week or so later, right?

sboultbee · Nov 30, 2005, 02:08 PM

Am I correct in assuming that for those of you who've had your Quads with 7800GTs ship, the estimated ship date never changed? That is, it remained at something like Dec. 22, and then all of a sudden you received the shipment notice via email?

Mine has a ship date of Jan. 6, so I'm hoping that one day in mid-December, I'll get a shipment notice, since they seem to be shipping at least two weeks earlier than their estimated date (for most people).

MOTHERWELL · Nov 30, 2005, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by k2director

Motherwell,
Congrats! Question for you: does the Quad (with 7800 card) run fairly quiet? Can you compare the fan noise level to other previous G5 PowerMacs?

Unfortunately this is my first G5 (but what a first G5, eh?), so I cannot compare the noise level. I am upgrading from a MDD G4 with the original fans -- meaning it was as loud as a vacuum cleaner.

I can tell you that this G5 is defnitely much quieter than the previous computer, but it's definitely not silent. It's sitting here idle right now and I can hear a fan running. It's possible it might be the 7800 becuase I have 2 displays hooked up.

So, for me, even if this G5 is still 'loud,' it's a much needed improvement from the G4.

MOTHERWELL · Nov 30, 2005, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by sboultbee

Am I correct in assuming that for those of you who've had your Quads with 7800GTs ship, the estimated ship date never changed? That is, it remained at something like Dec. 22, and then all of a sudden you received the shipment notice via email?

Mine has a ship date of Jan. 6, so I'm hoping that one day in mid-December, I'll get a shipment notice, since they seem to be shipping at least two weeks earlier than their estimated date (for most people).

Yes. My ship date was Dec. 28th and I got an email last sunday with the tracking number.

Weezer · Nov 30, 2005, 04:08 PM

7800 benchmarks??

Jason Bourne · Nov 30, 2005, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by MOTHERWELL

Yes. My ship date was Dec. 28th and I got an email last sunday with the tracking number.

No fair! I'm still showing the same date of Dec 28 and it certainly has not shipped yet.

MOTHERWELL · 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by Weezer

7800 benchmarks??

The only thing I really have to benchmark the 7800 is the iTunes visualizer. I am getting 63 fps in full screen mode.

I also have 2 displays connected. A 23" Cinema and the original 22" Cinema.

A little off topic but I compress a 10 minute H.264 video at 800kbps in under 30 minutes last night.

Edit: Just tested WoW. 100FPS @ 1600x1000. Lowest I got was 60.

mduell · Nov 30, 2005, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by MOTHERWELL

Edit: Just tested WoW. 100FPS @ 1600x1000. Lowest I got was 60.

What quality settings?

MOTHERWELL · Nov 30, 2005, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

What quality settings?

Default settings with Vertical Sync turned off.

ksuther · Nov 30, 2005, 10:58 PM

Ordered my quad stock except for wireless options on November 16th and it shipped on the 28th. I just got my shipping notification.

CIA · Nov 30, 2005, 11:39 PM

Correct, my original order, with a 6600 was the 20th, I had to cancel and revise (aka re-order) on Oct 27th to add the 7800.

turk.o · 02:59 AM

Hi all, so I've been using my quad full on and I wanted to share my impressions. For reference I am upgrading from a Rev. A Dual 2.0 GHz PM.

Overall, the machine in general use (a few apps open, doing some web browsing, itunes, and maybe some design work) is faster than my 2x2.0, but not A LOT faster, just Snappier™, which is pretty much what I had expected. Occasionaly I'll stumble across a photoshop filter that really uses all four cores and then it is radically faster, but let's be honest, it doesn't happen much. It's faster on the whole, but not a paradigm shift by any means—at least as far as casual use goes.

But, on the other hand, under heavy use, it is indeed a paradigm shift, so much so that I am changing my computer use habits to adapt to the newly available potential. For instance, right now I am building, formatting and burning a dual-layer dvd project in DVD Studio Pro 4, re-encoding a DVD with DVD2OneX, listening to itunes, streaming other itunes songs over the network to another computer, and using Safari with several apps open in the background. And, the system is responsive! It acts like it is under no stress at all.

Obviously these apps are not very multi aware, but each one is basically using a core, which leaves me with plenty of room to do other things. In the past, on my dual, I would never have dreamed of building and burning a dual-layer project at the same time as doing a re-encode, and even when I was just using one such task, the whole computer bogged down and was not very responsive. Basically I'd have to set aside times to do certain processor-intensive tasks and plan on not using the computer for much else during that time, those days are gone.

Also, this new machine is much, much quieter, and the fans, even under 350% usage, don't seem to ramp up like my dual did. I am super-sensitive to noise, so this is a very welcome change.

Which leads me to my question, one which others are asking about as well. For anyone who has been around a quad with the 6600 video card and also a 7800, I am very curious how much louder the 7800 card makes it. The 6600 isn't the best video card in the world, but it does not have a fan and is silent, which goes a long way for me. On the other hand, I could really use a better card, but I am scared about adding noise to the computer. In the past, I upgraded my stock and fanless radeon 9600 on my dual to a radeon 9800 pro SE 256, and the fan was SO LOUD it gave me fits, and I ended up spending some serious time and money doing custom cooling to reduce the noise, but never really got it as quiet as I wanted it.

dr. zoidberg · Dec 1, 2005, 08:44 AM

thanks for your impressions. i am still waiting for my quad to arrive ... so i'm very interested in hands-on experiences from other users. comparing a quad 2.5 to a dual 2.0 i wouldn't expect a radical speed warp as well, considered that the clock different is just 500mhz ... and the clock speed is probably what you actually "see" when are clicking through menus and browsing around. i guess the power will have you grinning once you fire up your pro-apps. that said, i really hope that logic pro is or will be fully optimized to harness all the quad goodness ... as that is what i will be using the most.

bionicTechnophobe · Dec 1, 2005, 09:37 AM

i ordered CTO quad with the 7800 on nov 3 from a local apple reseller. i have no idea what the estimated ship date is...and have no way of checking in directly with apple. the reseller has told me that they expect it to arrive "any day now"™.

anyone have a similar exerience with a reseller? is there any way to check on the order status directly with apple [i read about someone being provided with the order number and the store's zip code and being able to get the order status that way]?

cheers!
-r

tpmchugh · Dec 1, 2005, 10:38 AM

As per my previous post, I ordered original quad on Oct 20th, but then called in to change as soon as 7800 card available. I was to get on Nov 18th, but this got pushed back to Jan 18th. Very disappointed. Today, got message it shipped from California and should be here on Dec 5th. So, all you folks that got pushed back into January, I'm hoping the same glad tidings come your way. Have a Merry Christmas, I know I will.

chaseb85 · Dec 1, 2005, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by dr. zoidberg

thanks for your impressions. i am still waiting for my quad to arrive ... so i'm very interested in hands-on experiences from other users. comparing a quad 2.5 to a dual 2.0 i wouldn't expect a radical speed warp as well, considered that the clock different is just 500mhz ... and the clock speed is probably what you actually "see" when are clicking through menus and browsing around. i guess the power will have you grinning once you fire up your pro-apps. that said, i really hope that logic pro is or will be fully optimized to harness all the quad goodness ... as that is what i will be using the most.

zoidberg, I got my Quad on monday and have been using Logic Pro 7.1.1 all week and all i got to say is...You Will Love It!!!. it is unbelievable! I have been running pretty larges sessions with many space designers, Motu Symphonic Instrument, Ultrabeats, sculptures, etc... and have not even come close to maxing the system out. And for fun I ever put the buffer size down to 32 and it was still fine!!! I did start to notice some sample click at 32, so i just raised it back up to 128 and it rides smooth. And I must say that the updates to logic must have done some good, because it has been suprisingly stable and fast.

I can honestly say that the Quad is smokin' the old G5 2.7 Ghz. I think that the DDR2 ram is also helping logic out. I finally have the ability to work smoothly on huge compostions without bouncing to audio to save cpu power. This computer will offer many people new freedom that is almost creepy on a computer.

BTW, my Quad is also very quiet. Considerable more quiet than the last G5. I don't have the upgraded video card though.

zoidberg, how much RAM are you putting in your Quad?

chaseb85 · Dec 1, 2005, 09:45 PM

Okay...so here is a Quad test with Logic (sort of)

I'm just gonna list the plugins i was running on this sessions. The audio CPU bars were maxed out, but once it started playing, it was stable and didn't crash or overload. And BTW, in the times that I did put too much on it, Logic never crashed, it only gave the overload message which is a great improvement from my previous system of Logic 7.0 on a powerbook.

Here's the list...
-40 space designer reverbs (all with delay compensation ON, very CPU intensive)
-17 other random channel plugins (EQ,limiter,etc)
-11 instances on MOTU symphonic instrument (quit a CPU intensive plugin)
- 4 Ultrabeats
- 1 Quicktime Movie running sync playback for scoring.

Now I did this same test with a G5 2.7 Ghz about 1 1/2 months ago and I could on use 16 Space Designers. I could only use 3 with my Powerbook 1.5Ghz. And as far as Motu Symphonic Instrument, it is so much more responsive and stable on the Quad. I can load new patches in while everthing a playing back with out the thing crashing.

My CPU activity meter was only showing that Logic of using like 45% of the CPU power of the system. I wonder if there is a way to allocate more % for Logic if that is all i run at a single time?

Also I was running these other apps:
-quicktime
-dreamweaver
-safari
-iphoto
-itunes
-imovie
-idvd
-entourage

Now granted, I wasn't encoding video files at the same time, but they were all open and the whole system was just as responsive as with only 1 open, not even a hint of sluggishness. I was listening to iTunes at the same time a logic and Quicktime was playing a movie also. (720p HD) I finally got Logic to overload when the QT movie played for a little bit. But ever other program was unaffected!

Next I will see how many simultaneous audio tracks i can play back on logic, all using some sort of plugin.

chaseb85 · Dec 1, 2005, 09:49 PM

sorry, double post

mduell · Dec 1, 2005, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by chaseb85

My CPU activity meter was only showing that Logic of using like 45% of the CPU power of the system. I wonder if there is a way to allocate more % for Logic if that is all i run at a single time?

No. If Logic needs more CPU time (and it's available), it will take it.

dr. zoidberg · Dec 2, 2005, 06:32 AM

thanks, chaseb85 .... all i can say is WOW! all this sounds *very* good. 40 space designers alone seem stunning ... phew.

i have 2x1gb dimms lying at my desktop, so i will start out with 2.5gb and see how far it will take me ... i usually don't work with huge symphonic sample libraries, so i figure that this could be sufficient for a while. but RAM is pretty cheap these days anyway ...

btw: i have als ordered the stock video card ...