Apple Power Mac G5 - PPC G5 2.7 GHz

Advantages: Amazing Speed, Brilliant Design, Easily expandable
Disadvantages: Expense

...I was a little hesitant about purchasing this computer after the speculation surrounding the benchmark tests Apple had published, but when the PowerMac finally arrived I was absolutely amazed by its power. Enclosed in a beautiful all aluminium case, the machine is virtually silent (unless you're really pushing the processors and the fans are going nuts!). The machine is much taller than the G4 PowerMac it replaces and is really, really heavy. The machine has a superb array of connections including digital audio i/o and Firewire 400 & 800. The inclusion of PCI-X slots and a maximum RAM capacity of 8Gb makes this unit ideal for professionals in Audio, video and print design who are likely to need to expand there system in the future. With optimised versions of Photoshop, Quark and Final Cut Pro etc. avaliable it will make light... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Stylish and really great
Disadvantages: hardly any

...Its been an interesting 9months for me, a more than 10 year PC user now in the MAC Zone! Yes, I purchased a MAC!! Over the past year other PC user friends of mine have been telling me that, never mind the G5's fast performance, the OS or what's called OSX is the jewel that this article failed to mention! My official feeling is now don't even hesitate to buy the G5, but for me its not because of the blistering performance it's because of the OS that's the clear winner for me. This operating system is truly amazing! I'm running all my windows versions from my past machines all at the same time. With the OSX Unix solidness, and many features you can hardly imagine, XP on my old Dell looks dated by at least 12 years! I'm backing up my XP Compaq Presario 2160 to the G5 and the backup will even boot on the G5. Anyway, keep your XP laptop... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Excellent performance, easy to use setup and use
Disadvantages: High price, new OS X causes some compatability issues

...I recently purchased a G5 Power Mac for my audio/sound production and recording work. This machine performs brilliantly when processing audio data, even when dealing with large quantites of real time data from more than one source, due to its cleverly designed dual core processor. The new version of OS X is very stable and features the same simple, intuitive interface as is the norm with Mac. I found the machine to be a powerful, yet easy to use tool for audio work, word processing and internet surfing. The high speed processor and large hard drive have greatly improved my productvity and efficiency of work. Unfortunately, the G5 is a fiercly expensive beast (Mine cost £1500+ even with student discount) and is therefore out of many people's price range and would probably be unsuitable for simple domestic use. Additionally... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful