[Googer-Giger]

Hey, forgive me if this seems out of place, especially because there isn't any negativity, but I love my G5. It is the perfect machine for me, it's not like it's new, or anything special, 500 Gig HD, 20" ACD, 2 gigs of ram. For the first time in a while, I have looked at the Mac Pro and the iMac and said to myself, "I don't want this, I'd rather have my G5" I pretty much only use it for Aperture work, and the basic stuff, but I haven't had any problems with it for over a year, (it's only about 2 years old). I just love the stability of it, I think this thing is going to last me another 5 years...

I just love it and wanted to say so, what do you guys think?

[Lateralus]

I understand completely. I had felt the same way about my MDD Dual G4 until it caught fire earlier this summer.

BTW: Brace yourself for negative comments about how you can't keep the G5 for another five years because Apple has gone Intel. Meaning that if you hang onto a PowerPC machine - kittens will die, nukes will be launched, fire shall cover the Earth, and existence will come to an end for all.

[Googer-Giger]

Heh heh, judging by how you've been so supportive of PowerPC these past few years makes this more of a processor thing for you than a machine, eh? I actually just picked up a G4 on ebay for about 110 bucks, I need a machine for the friends to play on when they hang at my place, I also got a 15" studio, but the hinge that supports it in the back broke in the process of shipping, that doesn't stop the G4 + cinema display from being the most beautiful collection of macs ever... Congrats on the new machine as well!

[Lateralus]

Not so much a PowerPC thing as an older-machine thing. I've always been a fan of making things last. Especially when they work well for you. Buying a new high-end desktop every few years is something that is necessary for very few people. But it seems like every time Apple drops support or begins to drop support for something, the Mac user base gets up in arms over people trying to stick with said something.

And the desire to upgrade seems to land a lot of very good, functional, adequate older machines in the dump or in the closet.

[Googer-Giger]

Yeah, that's whats so great about the G5, all those slots for DDR2, you can keep the RAM up in the game for a while, upgrade the video card soon too, maybe they'll have some kind of 3rd party processor upgrading kit like they had for the G4 in a few years. I do the same thing, I have a few beige machines left hanging around, I know they are kind of useless, but I just don't want to get rid of them, my lime iMac (os 9) my friend found on the street and gave it to me, I just set it up around the house for aim and web browsing.

In other words, I am a pack rat.

[Kenneth]

I love mine as well even though it's a third hand machine. Addition to my G5, I also love my FW800 G4 and iBook G4. Not sure why, after came home from work (even I use Mac at work) and just looking at my setup, I feel good about it.

[gradient]

I'm with you man, I bought my G5 two and a half years ago now and it's still going strong. It's still snappy and fast for damn near everything I need to do. I know I'll probably upgrade within a couple of years but that's just because I'm a toy junky.

[Big Mac]

Love my G5 too! Best computer ever.

Off-topic, guys, my G5 is a dust magnet. I don't clean it enough, and I think it led to the death of my 9800XT and most recently my SuperDrive. I don't want anything like this, or anything worse, happening in the future. From now on I'll be cleaning it every three months, but I find the cans of compressed air weak and wasteful. I'm thinking of getting this air compressor that was recommended on another computing forum: http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.com...art.php?ref=42

Any thoughts?

[AceWilfong]

Compressed air is an excellent way of moving dust from where you don't want it, into places you never imagined dust could get.

[svtcontour]

While not a mac comment on my part, I can relate. I have as my second computer an old Compaq SP700 dual PIII 550 Xeon box which has 1.5GB RAM at the moment, a 15K boot drive and 10K data drive (both SCSI). 16X pioneer burner and a Geforce4 Ti 4600 128MB video card too. Its running Win2k and it does everything I ask of it without complaints. Me loves this box too. Sure it wont play the latest games but it will do everything else.

I can definitly relate to wanting to keep that G5 for some time to come. If its doing its job, dont get rid of it. Plus I find an older computer hanging in there seems to somehow have character

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Not so much a PowerPC thing as an older-machine thing. I've always been a fan of making things last. Especially when they work well for you. Buying a new high-end desktop every few years is something that is necessary for very few people. But it seems like every time Apple drops support or begins to drop support for something, the Mac user base gets up in arms over people trying to stick with said something.

And the desire to upgrade seems to land a lot of very good, functional, adequate older machines in the dump or in the closet.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by AceWilfong 

Compressed air is an excellent way of moving dust from where you don't want it, into places you never imagined dust could get.

What alternative is there?

[gradient]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

What alternative is there?

Vacuum.

[JonoMarshall]

I miss my G5, it NEVER let me down for over three years and then I ditched it as I didn't want to lose too much money pre-intel switch.

(I hope you're having a great time G5, wherever you are, thanks for the memories.)

[seanc]

Lateralus, I have to ask, what caused your MDD to catch fire!?

[MacosNerd]

I think the G5's are excellent machines and can keep up with much of what the intel Macs are doing. I picked up a cube earlier this year and while its only a G4, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast photoshop 5 was running os9. Office too was quick (2000 flavor)..

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by gradient 

Vacuum.

I heard something about 'non-static PC vacuum'. Shouldn't it be the right tool to suck out the dust than normal household vacuum?

So far I didn't notice any dust bunny on my Radeon X800 XT card yet. However, I assume that the first hand owner (aka MS Xbox 360 dev. team) used it intensively.

[Googer-Giger]

Thanks for the replies guys. I am glad you as enthusiastic about the G5 as I am.

[Lateralus]

Originally Posted by seanc 

Lateralus, I have to ask, what caused your MDD to catch fire!?

The PSU had been acting kinda spunky for a week or two but I kept ignoring it. And then one morning, I woke up, came out into the dining room, woke the computer from sleep mode... and then the PSU made snaps and crackles, orange light reflected off the wall behind the machine, the computer went off, and then the PCB inside the PSU proceeded to catch fire.

I got the fire out fairly quickly but after a bit of nasty smoke.

[Don Pickett]

Count me in. I thought I would've upgraded by now, but I haven't needed to. I just put 2 more gigs of RAM and a 320 gig hard drive into my G5 and it's like a new machine. Honestly, for every day stuff, the dual quad-core Intel machine I use at work doesn't seem that much faster.

edit: Plus, on my G5, InDesign doesn't crash twenty times a night. And that's not an exaggeration.

[imitchellg5]

I like my G5 iMac a lot, except for the noise. I would love to get a 1.8 GHz Dualie or better, but due to room I'm afraid my next Mac will be a portable.

[Googer-Giger]

I don't mind the noise, even on the dualies.

[Lateralus]

I don't get it...

Before my current G5, I also owned a Dual 1.8GHz Rev B and a Dual 2.5GHz Rev B. I would describe them both as the quietest machines I ever owned, except during initial startup.

Even my 2GHz iMac was relatively quiet unless I put it under heavy work load.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

I don't get it...

Before my current G5, I also owned a Dual 1.8GHz Rev B and a Dual 2.5GHz Rev B. I would describe them both as the quietest machines I ever owned, except during initial startup.

Even my 2GHz iMac was relatively quiet unless I put it under heavy work load.

Really? Wierd. My 1.8 GHz iMac is the loudest machine I've ever heard, short of my school's Xserves. The Power Mac G5s that I've used have always been fairly quiet, but in a quiet setting I could always hear the fans rev up and down. BTW, Lateralus, you need Power Mac stars

[MacosNerd]

To be honest I never noticed my My G5 being terribly loud. Even now my Macpro seems quiet. What both (I think the G5 was worse) is that they're freakin heat pumps. I don't have A/C in my home office and when I run off my MacPro (and before that the G5) it just made the room so much hotter. The G5 seemed to be the worst offender but I really like the G5 and I was sorry to see it go, but the siren song of the MacPro was calling

[Googer-Giger]

That's what I meant, I just never noticed the noise of the dualies, if they're even noisey at all.

[Veltliner]

I also truly like my 20" iSight iMac g5. Very reliable, quiet like a sleeping mouse.

[chris v]

I don't see why my G5 won't last for years. I've had it (rev A dual 2.0) for 3 years now (bought refurb. in August 2004) and it still shreds in Photoshop and Logic. I upgraded the video card to the 256 mb 9600 pro, and since I never play games, it's quite sufficient for me. Last year, I added a 250 gb drive for storage, and it's got 3.5 gb of RAM in it, and it just never even breaks a sweat. I'll keep it for as long as it runs, probably.

I do dust it with compresed air every couple of months, as they really do build up pretty bad compared to the G4s.

[bballe336]

Thats awesome. Now that I have my MBP, I catch myself looking at the old G3/G4 under my desk and thinking about how much I love that machine. PPC macs are awesome, the intel is faster and newer, but the PPC machines just ran for ages without so much as a hiccup. The MBP is great but it isn't the same.

[driven]

I'm quite happy with my G5 as well. I'm sure I'll run it into the ground. As happy as I am with my Powerbook G4 I'll be replacing that for an Intel model so I can use the WinXP stuff for the office, but that's about the only reason.

[tmpilling]

I was devastated the day that I let my G5 go. Thing was that it couldn't come with me in my backpack. The remedy to the situation was of course to buy a g4 powerbook. Still runs all my software quick enough for me to not get arsey and it looks nice too. I do miss the old G5 though.

[Kenneth]

I have the MDD and Rev. A G5 sitting in 2 different rooms. The MDD is constantly making fans' noise, but the G5 gets more sensors to tell which fan to spin faster. Sometimes the G5 is louder than the infamous WindTunnel™ MDD.

[ColdFireDragon]

Originally Posted by Googer-Giger 

Hey, forgive me if this seems out of place, especially because there isn't any negativity, but I love my G5. It is the perfect machine for me,

I think that's awesome! I got back into Macs with the move to Intel, (bought a MacBook Pro, fell in love with it then bought a MacPro later). So I never had the chance to use the PowerPC ones, the Mac I had before was a Motorolla 68040 based Performa. I honestly would like to get a PowerMac G5 and one othe ATi Radeon x1900's for it for my son, his wondows system gets more viruses then I can shake a stick at. The idea behind getting a PowerMac would be that he can't install windows and keep getting infected ^.=.^

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by ColdFireDragon 

I think that's awesome! I got back into Macs with the move to Intel, (bought a MacBook Pro, fell in love with it then bought a MacPro later). So I never had the chance to use the PowerPC ones, the Mac I had before was a Motorolla 68040 based Performa. I honestly would like to get a PowerMac G5 and one othe ATi Radeon x1900's for it for my son, his wondows system gets more viruses then I can shake a stick at. The idea behind getting a PowerMac would be that he can't install windows and keep getting infected ^.=.^

He would love that. Heck, any Mac is an improvement over that thing

[polendo]

In my local office max they are selling (brand new) g5 2.3 for around 1,200 USD. Being in Mexico, I guess those are left overs or extra inventory. I´m tempted, but my necessities basically are Office related software. I was thinking of getting rid of my mac mini and aging ibook, get this G5 and a Macbook Pro and cover basically desktop and laptop with the flexibility of running windows on the macbook pro if required. I´m still pondering it.

regards,

[driven]

Originally Posted by Kenneth 

I have the MDD and Rev. A G5 sitting in 2 different rooms. The MDD is constantly making fans' noise, but the G5 gets more sensors to tell which fan to spin faster. Sometimes the G5 is louder than the infamous WindTunnel™ MDD.

It seems to me that the more recent OSX revs made the fan louder. When I first got my G5 I almost never heard it. Now, when I'm even updating my iPod on iTunes, it spins up the fans.

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by driven 

It seems to me that the more recent OSX revs made the fan louder. When I first got my G5 I almost never heard it. Now, when I'm even updating my iPod on iTunes, it spins up the fans.

I normally use my G5 for Handbrake. Meanwhile, everytime I plugin any FireWire bus powered device to my MDD, the fan seems to spin slower.

[cvk_b]

Originally Posted by Kenneth 

I normally use my G5 for Handbrake. Meanwhile, everytime I plugin any FireWire bus powered device to my MDD, the fan seems to spin slower.

I am an official beta tester for HandBrake. Thought y'all might enjoy a G5 (only) Tiger (only) Optimized version of the application. It will improve your encoding with x264.

cvk_b's G5 Optimized HandBrake 0.9.0

MD5: <7793d828070b2255d684f1fcc3bb43a8>

[TomRitchford]

There's only one thing wrong with my G5 but that one does kill a lot of my enjoyment -- it's that the fan is incredibly, super loud. It didn't start that way but it's gotten worse over time.

I've gone through all the suggestions on the web, resetting the PMU, half-a-dozen other things. There was some improvement but at a certain point I do something to make the CPU work and then the fan gets really loud and never revs back down again.

I bought this computer at least partly to make music. I didn't expect to be able to record using mics in the room with it -- but I also didn't expect that the computer would be so loud that it would compete with music playback.

I have a long, thin apartment and if I don't have music turned on, the G5 is the loudest thing in it -- I can hear it on the other side of the place. I'm probably going to get some sort of case for it, but that's more crap I have to buy and that gets in the way -- and what about ventilation for the case?

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by driven 

It seems to me that the more recent OSX revs made the fan louder. When I first got my G5 I almost never heard it. Now, when I'm even updating my iPod on iTunes, it spins up the fans.

That's pretty much what happened with my iMac. As soon as I upgraded to Tiger (from Panther) the fans doubled in noise. Although when I boot Panther now, they are still loud.

[Googer-Giger]

It's probably a firmware thing, that gives the hardware a perminate command.

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by cvk_b 

I am an official beta tester for HandBrake. Thought y'all might enjoy a G5 (only) Tiger (only) Optimized version of the application. It will improve your encoding with x264.

cvk_b's G5 Optimized HandBrake 0.9.0

MD5: <7793d828070b2255d684f1fcc3bb43a8>

Thank you. It works flawlessly.

[nikstar101]

I recently thought about changing my PowerMac G5. But i came to realise that it does everything i want it to, is as quick as i need it to be and is a PowerMac!!

I must admit there is still something about it being a PowerMac not a Mac Pro that makes me want to keep it (an Old School Mac). Especially at it was one of the first PowerMac G5s to be delivered (i ordered it as soon as it was announced). So it is now 4 years old and hasn't missed a beat.

Nik

[Chimpmaster]

I too have an Imac G5 (1.9Ghz, 1.5G Ram, 17", Isight) and its a beautiful machine. Its very quiet and I hope it lasts me a while. Id like a notebook but we cant have it all can we

[Avanon]

Great thread. I have one of the last PM G5's, the late-2005 Dual-Core 2.0 GHz. I was worried at the time that I might have made a mistake, seeing as I knew the Intel-transition was coming, but it's been a real workhorse, never given me any problems or let me down. I've had nearly two years of great computing without any worries of software being native or not. I put ATI's x1900 G5-Edition card in it for playing World of Warcraft and Call of Duty 2, and it really breathed life into the system.

I found 10.4.10 to slow it down somewhat on boot, but otherwise it runs everything (CS3, Logic Pro 7, Avid Xpress Pro) like a champ. I'll put Leopard on it when it comes out. The next upgrade is to add 2GBs more of RAM, as Logic just eats RAM for lunch.

The only thing that would be nice would be if I could boot it native into XP to play "BioShock" and the upcoming "The Force Unleashed." That would be the only impetus for me to get a Mac Pro.

Martin

[Q80]

waitin on my g5

[0157988944]

Unfortunately, my only experience with a G5 has been a month with a whiny iMac G5 that revved up its squealin' fans under almost any minor load...

Other than that, I have a G4 and all Intels, so I haven't really been in on the G5 boat.

[Todd Madson]

I love mine. Even though it had a liquid cooling meltdown, Applecare took care of it
and it's going strong today.

3.5 gb ram, + 1.2 TB disc, Radeon 9600XT, Superdrive, my big studio rig:
http://pod.ath.cx/studio/latest.jpg

[OreoCookie]

IMHO the original Dual 2.0 G5 is one of the best Macs ever made, it's an awesome machine that remained current for many, many moons. Glad to see you enjoy your machine.

[no shoes]

I love my PM, still fast and does everything I need and hopefully will do for a good while.

On the topic of upgrades, I'm really needing to upgrade the HD. I've got a dual-core PM but I remember there being some problems with getting HDs to work in them, or something like that. Anyone know if those problems are still there? Can I pretty much just stick in something like a maxtor or seagate SATA drive and away I go?

Cheers

[driven]

Dual 2.0 G5 PM. Best money I've ever spent on a computer, bar none. It's even managed to outlive my PowerMac G4 1.67, which is over a year newer.