Apple adds $1,499 1.8 GHz model to 64-bit Power Mac G5 line

36 Comments

Apple today added

36 Comments

  5. librium: they have to make it cheap & cobble it a bit so it doesn’t cannibalize the heavy iron dual G5s. Its $900 cheaper here in Oz than the dual 1.8 which is a lot so of course you won’t get same performance.

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  8. why buy this instead of an imac g5? and its the same form factor as all the other g5 towers, so whats the advantage? expansion? for the 90% of users that dont need 5 ethernet cards, this is not an enticing option, especially given the price, and the low frontside bus

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  9. No, this is not the ‘headless Mac’.

    This is to tidy them over until they introduce it.

    The ‘headless Mac’ will be a new design, half the size, and cheaper.

    Think new iMac … without the screen and add two slots – a sleek, stylish ‘tower’.

    Ravishing!

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  10. This IS the headless Mac – but Apple needs to put it in a different box. The metal Power Mac G5 enclosure is too ‘full on’ to attract a ‘serious’ home user or office worker who might find its large size and extreme design too much for their comfort. I wish Apple would come up with a way to reuse or develop the Cube for this sector.

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  15. If there are going to be single processor Powermacs then Apple might as well adapt the design for them. The space inside that would be used for the second processor is wasted; it could be used for more hard drives, PCI slots or a second optical drive.

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  16. yankees suck: Some people just can’t get their head around buying an all in one machine and having little options for expansion. I love the iMac G5 design, but I have a G4/400 tower that I have upgraded:

    – The video card from the stock Rage 128 16MB to a Radeon 8500 64MB
    – Added 2 additional internal hard drives for a total of 3
    – Upgraded the RAM to 1GB, and I can still go higher if I want to.
    – Processor from the stock 400MHz to 1.4GHz

    If I had bought an iMac back then, I would have probably had to replace it once or twice to keep up with my performance wants/needs (mostly gaming). This new low end G5 is exactly the kind of machine that most of my PC using friends would be looking to upgrade to because a) it lets them keep their 19″ or 21″ monitors that still work fine, b) it is in line with what they consider a reasonable price for a computer and c) it doesn’t require them to take a giant leap of faith in going to a form factor that is just plain foreign to them. Let them get used to Mac OS X in a form factor they are used to and then they can think about whether they really need a tower or not. Too much change makes it more difficult for many people to decide.

    Apple NEEDS systems like this to get more people to switch. I don’t care what people say about market share not mattering, Market share DOES matter if you are trying to convince people to switch from the dominant platform. People need to see momentum in the Mac market to feel comfortable that it is going in the right direction.

    It’s a shame they didn’t release a single 1.6 with 533 FSB for $1299.

    Andy C.
    Brampton, ON Canada

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  17. It’s NOT the headless iMac. Not at that price. It’s MORE expensive than a 1.8 G5 iMac, which includes a 17″ display.

    A consumer would be mad to buy this instead of the iMac. There are reasons, like being able to upgrade the graphics card, run two displays, add storage etc, so there’s probably a market for this.

    It’s just not the machine us headless advocates are talking about. I don’t think we’ll see that machine from Apple for a very long time (if at all).

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  18. I don’t see the point in this machine. It costs too much probably because it costs too much to build. It’s really for those that need video flexibility, but then they cripple the bandwidth. So what’s the point?

    Choice. Choice is good, but this isn’t much of a choice when you’ve got the iMac G5 at the same price point and performance and the iMac comes with a great monitor. They need to make a cheaper box now that they are willing to compromise on bus bandwith to lessen the heat problems.

    Seems like a decision was made to take the pressure off the dual G5 machines, but this machine should have been introduced months ago, not now that the yeild issues are about to be resolved.

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  19. This computer attracts people exactly like me. A $1,500 PowerMac (minus eduactional discount) that HAS ROOM FOR EXPANSION (with certain kits, up to 2TB of storage) and that will look good then customers come into my office to talk business. Also, I do some basic animation with Strata CX, and a 1.8 G5 can handle that, no sweat. I deal with DV footage and DVD authoring, and this thing is more than powerful enough handle that and to make me money filming weddings and other odd jobs. Lack of PCI-X doesn’t bother me, as the aja IO uses firewire and is more than adequete for my line of work. This price also leaves me room to buy a 23″ Cinema Monitor and 9800XT without hesitation and guilt.

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  21. This is a fine addition. But, until they produce a G5 mini-tower/cube/whatever with at least a replaceable video card for under $1000 they are missing a huge segment of the market. Oh, and produce a 17″ LCD while you are at it. Not everyone who wants to buy from Apple can afford a 20″.

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  23. I agree with you, JD.. This was a nice idea but they produced a cheaper model in the wrong line.. Apple really needs something else in the under-$1000 area, beside the big boobs I mean.

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