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January-February 2004
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Power Mac G5
The World's Fastest?
Apple’s new innovation, the G5 64-bit processor, has doubled the size of desktop computers' usual 32-bit processing channel. Unlike the standard processor data can travel to and from the G5 processor at the same time, generating processing speeds of up to 16 gigabytes per second. Apple has promised that the Power Mac G5 will provide unprecedented power and speed to desktop computers that will especially benefit scientists and creative professionals. In the words of Apple's Power Mac G5 Technology Overview, "Graphic designers can manipulate Adobe Photoshop images for print, web, and animation more than two times faster than on the fastest PC. … Scientists can execute high-precision math on extremely large 64-bit numbers and return results faster than ever. … Artists, game developers, architects, and researchers can model and render complex 3D visualizations at remarkable speeds."
The Power Mac G5 has several other features that also make it an attractive option for consumers.
- With up to 512 megabytes of high-speed 400MHz DDR SDRAM standard, the Power Mac G5 is capable of running massive calculations, 3-D modeling, video editing, and other data-intensive operations entirely in RAM, without accessing hard drive resources.
- Considering the advanced file types and applications that the PowerMac G5 can create and run, users will need large amounts of storage space. Thankfully the G5 comes standard with an 80 gigabyte or160 gigabyte hard drive that can be extended up to 500 gigabytes.
- The G5 runs Apple OS X and all Apple OS X software, originally designed for 32-bit processor systems, at significantly higher speeds without the need for optimization or upgrades.
- Scientists and researchers will be especially interested in the Unix base of the OS X operating system.
- It is more easily available to consumers than the Athlon processor, the 64-bit chip for Microsoft-compatible PCs.
The Power Mac G5 Technology Overview further asserted that "Mac G5 users will realize performance gains in media streaming, video editing, real-time effects, audio synthesis, image processing, 3D rendering, numerical analysis, and physical modeling." And once the PowerMac G5 became available in August, even many skeptics agreed. Even PC Magazine wrote that they would "take [the grain of salt with which they viewed Apple's claims] with a side of fries."
Still, some have remained skeptical. Apple's claims are often challenged when the Power Mac G5 is compared to Advanced Micro Device's (AMD's) Athlon 64-bit processor. The AMD Athlon 64 was released around the same time as the G5, though it did not receive as much publicity in the popular press as the G5 did. As the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported in a November article, "Some independent testers have insisted Windows PCs with Advanced Micro Device's Athlon 64 processors outperform the Power Macs at many tasks. A recent head-to-head conducted by Macworld and PC World magazines concluded the Apple/Athlon contest is a wash."
Even as debate rages about the supremacy of the G5 over the Athlon, nobody doubts that the Power Mac G5 leaves the Power Mac G4 in the dust. As noted by the University of Pennsylvania's Information and Computing Systems department document Power Mac G5 for Providers, "Real world application tests (Photoshop, DVD encoding, scientific visualization, and so forth) consistently show the Power Mac G5 to be anywhere from slightly faster, to 2x to 4x faster than the fastest Power PC G4s."
Unfortunately, the power of the G5 doesn't come cheaply. Apple offers an attractive G5 package at $1,599.00, but other packages can reach almost $3,000. If you want a new Mac, but can't afford the additional computing power, the G4 based Apple iMac, iBook, and PowerBook are less expensive and remain excellent values. No matter what Apple system you purchase, UIS advises that you purchase a two-year extension to the standard one-year warranty to protect your investment. We strongly recommend the additional warranty from AppleCare.
UIS fully supports Mac systems, including providing support for Apple versions of Microsoft software and several e-mail clients. If you become interested in purchasing a Power Mac G5 or any other Apple computer, Hoya Computing can assist you with any questions. Georgetown's online Apple Store features three different models of Power Mac G5 computers, other Mac systems, and compatible peripherals and software priced at an academic discount. |
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