Apple Power Macintosh G5 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: Thanks to its two dual-core 2.5GHz PowerPC G5 CPUs and 4GB of 533MHz SDRAM, the Power Mac G5 Quad is the fastest Mac we've ever tested. Though our $5,949 review unit (with no monitor) included a professional-grade Nvidia Quadro video card, we expect ...

Pros: Powerful, workstation-class graphics card on a PCI Express bus ; excellent performance on multithreaded applications ; fast system bus

Cons: Wireless AirPort card not included in default configuration ; external modem ; poor AirPort reception ; difficult to add second drive ; no RAID option

Verdict: With two dual-core CPUs and workstation-level graphics, the Power Mac G5 Quad is the burliest, fastest Mac to date, but it may soon become obsolete because Apple's move to Intel CPUs is already underway.

Review summary: Apple's first dual-processor, dual-core (DDC) Mac workstation offers many architecture improvements over its predecessor, and delivers huge leaps in performance. The G5 Quad matches its DDC AMD Opteron-based PC rivals, and in many cases the Mac costs ...

Pros: Much more powerful than single-core predecessors. Great value compared to DDC AMD-based workstations.

Cons: Few 3D graphics options. Lacks support for SLI and CrossFire.

Verdict: These prices offer great value-for-money for the power on offer, though the lack of options between the base-plus-£240 7800 GT and the base-plus-£1,100 Quadro FX 4500 is irksome

Review summary: RAID: No, Installed RAM: 4096 MB, Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW, Processor Family: Apple G5, Hard Driv...

Pros: Blazing multimedia performance for professionals. Two cores in two chips equal hiccup-free performance. 1TB of drive space. Future-proof PCIe and DDR2 technologies.

Cons: nVidia Quadro graphics are overkill. Very expensive. Not compatible with DDR SDRAM and PCI/PCI-X expansion cards used in previous generations of Power Macs. Only 90 days of included tech support.

Verdict: The Apple Power Mac Quad is the latest and greatest in the Power Mac line. If the Apple iMac G5 isn't enough computer for your Mac OS needs, then the Power Mac Quad will blow you away.

Review summary: Compared with their predecessors, the Power Mac G5 Dual models offer an array of new workstation-class capabilities, including impressive improvements in graphics, advanced networking, enormous memory capacity, and state-of-the-art expansion slots.

Pros: Very good performance ; excellent graphics capabilities ; huge memory capacity ; PCI Express slots

Cons: No improvement in performance compared with dual-processor model ; no backward compatibility with PCI or PCI-X cards

Verdict: The copy writers may have a point about the Quad, but when it comes to the 2GHzand 2.3GHzdual-core models, a couple of grains of salt are in order: In terms of overall performance, these new machines look, feel, and perform pretty much like the models ...

Review summary: Latest G5 tower runs hot, runs fast, burns faster and may burn through your petty cash

Pros: Excellent graphics performance, stable when multitasking, 16x SuperDrive w/DL DVD writing.

Cons: Not enough built-in RAM, small processor boost, runs hot.