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InfoWorld: Nothing can compare to Apple’s new Power Mac G5 Quad – true workstation at desktop price

Monday, October 24, 2005 · 8:01 pm · 30 Comments

“Uninformed Apple skeptics have trouble seeing most Mac client systems as anything but home or schoolroom computers. In fact, most of Apple’s client systems are made for commercial use: PowerBook G4 notebooks, Power Mac G5 power desktops and iMac G5 desktops are fast, indestructible, kitchen-sink-included machines in which design style is a functional, as well as aesthetic attribute. Lift a Power Mac G5, a Cinema Display or an iMac G5 and you’ll be surprised by their weight. Tight fit and finish with minimal seams, thick aluminum and heavy polycarbonate exteriors and exceptionally solid internal construction suit Apple’s commercial clients to high duty cycles. And while it isn’t officially part of Apple’s marketing, commercial Macs adapt unusually well to sub-optimal operating conditions,” Tom Yager writes for InfoWorld.

“Without question, the biggest news in Apple’s client lineup, and to my mind, the most powerful and innovative client system in Apple’s history, is Power Mac G5 Quad. Finally, Apple designed a workstation. This is Apple and IBM’s answer to PC vendors’ (especially HP’s) dual-core Xeon and Opteron workstations. x86-based workstations were themselves an answer to overpriced RISC, but the right solution all along was not x86, but an affordable, meaningful RISC workstation. While I must make clear that I have yet to work or live with any of Apple’s new systems, it looks like Apple may have created the first true workstation with a desktop’s price tag and ease of use. I know of nothing that compares to it,” Yager writes.

“A word to the wise: Don’t let the sub-$5K price tag trick you into calling this an ‘entry workstation.’ If you go comparison shopping for other vendors’ four-core, 64-bit Unix RISC workstations, you won’t find anything close to Power Mac G5 Quad under $5,000. You get a bargain hunter’s merit badge if you find a quad-core workstation worth a damn (meaning that it does real work right out of the box) for under $10,000,” Yager writes.

Full article here.

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Comment Feed

30 Comments

1 2 Next »

macnut222

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:12 pm · Reply

” You get a bargain hunter’s merit badge if you find a quad-core workstation worth a damn (meaning that it does real work right out of the box) for under $10,000,” Yager writes.”

I like this guy.
MacMania

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:18 pm · Reply

Scary!

{MacMania shivers}
Gregg Thurman

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:19 pm · Reply

<<While I must make clear that I have yet to work or live with any of Apple’s new systems, it looks like Apple may have created the first true workstation with a desktop’s price tag and ease of use. I know of nothing that compares to it,” Yager writes.>>

Jeesh, now we’re getting recognition from people that have never used a Mac, and in InfoWorld no less.

MDN Word: Some, as in: Some like it HOT.
MacMania

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:19 pm · Reply
macnut222

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:27 pm · Reply

He said “any of Apple’s new systems.” Seeing how they’ve just started to ship (and the Quad won’t ship for another few weeks), this statement is nothing out of the ordinary.

BTW: He did review Tiger and gave OS 10.4 Client a 9.5/10 and gave 10.4 Server a 9.3/10.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/06/03/23TCtiger_3.html
winmacguy

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:29 pm · Reply

I think someone has been snorting the Kool Aid!
Crikey cobbers thats a glowing review!
Naraa Haras

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 9:48 pm · Reply

Now if they can just get the heat down! I’m still anxiously awaiting full benchmarks on these new Mac and especially the Powerbooks. I’m wondering if the DDR2 memory makes a difference. Since I’m hearing nothing I’m having to conclude that there’s no news there. I’m kind of disappointed that there’s no update to the video. The high-res screen though makes the upgrade a worthwhile one.
teh appAl

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 10:37 pm · Reply

Tom Yeager is an Mac guy, but he’s circumspect about it. He’s the sort of guy you want on your side, but if he keeps writing so effusively about Apple products there will be those who dismiss his opinions out of hand. There are a lot of haters who already consider Walt Mossberg–a fair-minded prince if there ever was one–an Apple shill and a corporate mouthpiece.

It’s difficult to appear a fair-minded reviewer when most of Apple’s products are so well-realized; you just can’t find that much downside in them, certainly not enough to counterpoint the pros. But you have to try. I think MDN could probably benefit from this advice. I can’t point windows users or agnostics to MacDailyNews without them dismissing the entire site as an Apple lovefest, and i hate that because i visit the site 4-5 times a day.
Rainy Day

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 10:44 pm · Reply

Excuse me, but i think i just stepped into an alternate universe or something… one where Apple actually gets some respect. How do i get back to my universe? Hmmm, then again, i’m not sure i want to go back (the girls in this universe seem to look just as good as in the one i came from, so maybe i’ll just stay here).
FUDsucker Proxy

Monday, October 24, 2005 - 10:50 pm · Reply

MW = opened

as in, Apple just opened one extra large can o’ whoop@ss!
R

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 12:14 am · Reply

Rainy Day–

Right on.
Mr. Reeee

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 12:52 am · Reply

Holy Jumpin’ Catfish!

That’s a pretty incredible vote of confidence… with actual FACTS to back it up. Where are our buddies Thurott, Enderle and Dvorak when we need some ill in formed bull spread thick?!?!!

The only negative I note it that he didn’t mention the new Nvidia workstation level video cards that Apple now offers as BTO options. That’s new news from the past few days, so it’s an acceptable oversight. Add those into the mix and Apple has launched some TRUE killer systems!

I can’t wait to hear his take on the new higher-res PowerBooks!

That said, I may have real world experience to report before his next installment, since my new 15″ PowerBook supposedly shipped from China today. Maybe I’ll get it before Friday? I can hardly wait to unwrap and see how it compares to my trusty old TiBook.

MDN Magic word: Research. As in this guy did some actual research before writing his article.
Odyssey67

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 3:06 am · Reply

Pertinent quote: “I can get excited about the specs and potential impact of Power Mac G5 Quad without presuming that Apple has delivered all of the power that the technology promises. Intel has proven that it’s easy to implement dual core processor technology as a gimmick. I’m encouraged that Apple went to the authority on multi-core, IBM, for its first workstation, putting to rest rumors that Apple and IBM weren’t even on speaking terms.”

Unfortunately, with Apple moving to Intel, it’s unlikely they will ever deliver on “all of the power that the [CPU] technology promises” … PPC on Apple will be dead within 2yrs, and IBM would be a benificent company indeed if they bothered upgrading the G5 further.

This guy also says what many knowlegable tech people have been saying ever since Intel’s dual core strategy was announced; that their dual core offerings are ‘slapdash’ – a rush job to cover the fact that this was yet another advance they were behind the 8-Ball in developing. And it’s the same stuff Apple will be moving to when the Macintels show up.

The author says “the authority on multi-core” is IBM. I’d throw AMD in there as well, but the point that should be taken is that Intel will probably be behind the curve for the forseeable future.

MDN magic word = and

“And we’re moving to Intel for what reason again?”
LukeinOz

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 5:52 am · Reply

Odessey67 – DUDE!

Get over it!

Every damn time some article comes up you off load the same stuff.

Mate it has been MONTHS since the Intel transition was announced and you just don’t seem able to move on.

I hope you do, your posts prior to this (and I must admit even about this issue INITIALLY) were interesting, insightful and offered a great alternative (and sometimes similar view) to CURRENT news and events. I always look for your posts (along with a few others) and I’m noticing a distinct pattern:

Intel sucks….

Apple stupid….

DRM evil…. (though you managed to skip that topic this time)

Whether it is DRM or not – IT IS DONE.

And you may have noticed most people don’t agree that IBM make a better processor for MOST users.

Sure PPC may be great for SOME people, but in the end those SOME people didn’t buy enough Apple Macs.

And as MANY (including I) have mentioned – it isn’t that Apple doesn’t want G5 processors as much as it is Apple NEEDS a processor that will run cool enough in a Powerbook.

Now I have repeatedly read your conspiracy theories of how Apple has known that IBM had cooler chips coming, but all the links you post are to pages containing IBM PR – yes PR, the stuff companies do to talk up them and their products!

IBM if you CAN remember beyond your desire to prove a point, REPEATEDLY released PR suggesting they would have G5′s running 3+Ghz, or that they would have them running cool with low wattage versions.

In fact if you look at the Watt specs for the G5 in the original press releases they were touted as being a lot cooler than what they ENDED UP BEING in real life (water cooling and all!!!!)

So how about you wait until there is INDEPENDANT tests on these so called “low power” “cool G5 processors” (970FX etc) and see what the reality is.

MAYBE – Apple had access to the REAL WORLD test of these chips and they realised that PR or not, IBM weren’t going to deliver.

Of course it could be because of DRM – but then again who cares!!?? Hollywood/RIAA does have a right to protect their IP and copyrights (even if we don’t like it – copying movies and music is ILLEGAL) and so I am happy if Apple is working out a digital solution for the problem so that I can access the content I want.

my 2 cents

Luke
MacDoctor

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 8:29 am · Reply

Amen Luke! You tell ‘em!

“MDN Magic Word” is mark as in right on the mark.
Odyssey67

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 10:12 am · Reply

Luke:

When exactly am I supposed to bring it up – when there’s an article on iPods? When an article like this comes around, it’s sort of ‘on topic’. You dig?

Plus, you make it tough to keep a lid on when you start spouting the same tired stuff yourself: I’ve never posted PR. IBM touted 3Gigs at the same time everyone was claiming their CPUs were gonna break the sound barrier. Intel was a much more egregious transgressor regarding how cool there chips would run UNTIL the Israelis saved their bacon with the PIII based Pentium M. And what good is a ‘cool CPU’ if it doesn’t perform as well as the ‘hotter’ ones available? G4 PowerBooks and iBooks have among the slimmest formfactors of any full featured laptop out there, and cooler versions of that CPU were passed up in this latest upgrade, so I don’t buy that as being the raison de premier. And I’d love to see a test of the low power 970FX … except Apple isn’t using that either.

Look, while I’m touched about your concern for my mental and/or emotional health, rest assured I’m under no illusions that Apple’s going back. But it’s when people say that the DRM thing is inconsequntial that my blood gets going. It’s not – it’s potential for radically changing how we use computers is huge. And I happen to like how computers are used today. I like my privacy. I like actually owning what I buy, and not being forced into becoming a perpetual renter.

This is what’s coming. Bringing up the fact that a company like Apple, who we all know and love for being one of the ‘good guys’, feels compelled to give up a better CPU architecture, one that (all the hassles not withstanding) they’ve built the company on, for this type of technology is my way of saying “This is hardball, folks”. And the only way to moderate it how hard it’s going to hit you, even a little, is to not be so stoopid as to turn a blind eye to it. To think that it doesn’t matter.

My $2.00 ~

MDN magic word = charge

As in … um … CHARGE!
I don’t know.
Synthmeister

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 10:54 am · Reply

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple continues to use IBM chips in their PowerMacs and X-Serves for quite some time. Especially the dual core chips. They are great chips for that purpose and form factor.

But for rest of the lineup—MacMini, PowerBooks, iMac & iBook—which REQUIRES a small/low heat/low wattage chip, Apple had to switch to Intel. Just look at the latest Powerbook updates. That thing has gone nowhere for about two years.
Joe the Farmer

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 12:19 pm · Reply

Odyssey67:

Isn’t the theory that while PPC chips might be comparable-or-better at the moment, Apple is less than thrilled with their future roadmap? I mean, you have to remember, we have yet to see Intel’s next-generation architecture that is built around dual-core, right? Isn’t just a little bit possible, even likely, that a company like Intel with such a massive R&D budget could have actually designed an excellent new architecture? I think at this point it is more reasonable to conclude that Apple has seen the future intel roadmap, compared it to the one IBM was willing to offer, and realized they had to make the leap, than to think that Apple somehow just wants to take over our digital content.

It just seems to me like you’re assuming that just because it wouldn’t make sense to switch to Intel given the information we have right now, that it will remain that way. I doubt Apple would have incurred the cost and risk of transitioning to intel without some serious incentive. And it seems like it would have been a lot easier to develop their own DRM solution than to switch processor architectures just to get access to someone else’s DRM.

Maybe you’re right and I’m just placing my faith in Apple being the “good guys”, but it seems like they would be foolish to throw away that reputation over a chance at some DRM technology.

MW: “hes”- is that even a word?
Grrrilla

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 12:26 pm · Reply

Seriously, the top-o-the-line PM with dual, dual-core G5′s pretty much delivers everything we could have hoped for. The only reason they are getting short-shrift is because of the Intel announcement.

Keep in mind, there won’t be Intel PM’s for several years, and who knows what kind of production delays, hiccoughs, and compatibility issues they will face. This may turn out to be the best time to buy a PM – to get you through the transition before needing to upgrade the next time. After all, there isn’t much the new machines can’t do for today’s business and development needs, at a bargain price.

On the consumer and laptop front, my magic 8-ball refuses to commit. The lack of a PB processor upgrade either implies serious temperature limitations of the G4 chips or upcoming Intel machines that are so close in performance to the current level that Apple wants to maintain an opportunity to claim a performance boost when the new machines come out.

MDN word ‘lack’ – I think there may be a lack of performance boost in the early Intel offerings, if PB’s are transitioning anytime soon.

And my “one more thing” – Don’t expect new products to appear in January. They might get announced, but I’d seriously not expect shipping product until late February or early March (remember the original Superdrive G4 PM’s?).
Unix_Rules

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 1:26 pm · Reply

And now this begs the question: will my department’s Unix apps run on the OSX-flavor of *nix? After all, I wouldn’t need all this power for Quark.

And despite all you fanboys’ protestations to the contrary, OSX’s *nix base is NOT standard Unix.