Mac Pro G5 - Still worth buying?

Vanhishikha · 17 Sep 2011 at 11:25

So I got scammed on e-bay, but I've got my money back now and it has not made me shy away from using e-bay, I've come across two items, two Mac pro's that I think are rather good, but they're only Mac Pro G5's and they could break and what not and I wouldn't want to go out and spend money on a machine that could break a month down the line.

Mac Pro G5 #1.

Whats in the box:

Apple Model no M9590
NO KEYBOARD
NO MOUSE
Restore disks
Dual Core Power Cable
2 x DVI to VGA Adapter

Summary Specification:

G5 Dual Core 2.0Ghz
Leopard 10.5 Installed
iLife 08 (Garageband / iPhoto , iMovie , iDVD , iTunes)
8GB ram
2x 250GB
DVD-RW (Superdrive)
128mb Nvidia GeForce 6600
2 x DVI Ports
3 x PCIe Slots
Gigabyte Ethernet
3 x USB
2 x Firewire 400
1 x FW 800
2 x Ethernet
Audio In & Out
Notes:

These are used items and hence have small marks on the case from usage.

Price: £350 (this seems quite cheap to me, I mean a Mac pro for that price? :s)

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Mac Pro G5 #2
Power Mac G5 Quad

CPU
CPU Type: PowerPC G5
Number Of CPUs: 4
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 cache: 1MB per core
Frontside bus: 1.25 GHz. per processor

Memory
Memory: 4GB (PC2-4200U-444)

Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce 6600LE
Bus: PCIexpress
One single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port

Hard Drive
250 GB hard disk drive Original from apple (7200 rpm)

Optical drive
16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Wireless
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme – both from Apple(optional)

Price £450 + £30 shipping.

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What do you think guys? would it be worth getting or pass on this and put the money elsewhere? let me know.

thanks.

Rilot · 17 Sep 2011 at 12:49

Personally, I wouldn't bother. The G5s aren't that quick compared to the modern stuff.

randal · 17 Sep 2011 at 12:52

Dead architecture, and finite period of OS support. Having just used a G4 dual core with Leopard PPC installed on it for a couple of months, they're not that fast at all either. You're limited to universal binary stuff, and all in all they just generally don't feel that great to use. Sitting waiting, watching beachballs etc..

Personally I'd save a bit more and get a newer Intel based effort.

QwaF · 17 Sep 2011 at 13:00

Yeah, don't bother:

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/

Look at where the G5 starts, and how much quicker newer Intel models can be. Even the cheap ones.

Rilot · 17 Sep 2011 at 13:21

Jees, they are slower than I thought. Even a 2008 MBA beats a top end G5.

Disco Boy · 17 Sep 2011 at 13:25

Why bother? It's overpriced dead tech.

Deleted member 77746 · 17 Sep 2011 at 13:35

and just think how much they cost when they first come out!

Raikiri · 17 Sep 2011 at 14:08

Mac Mini i5 is nearly twice as fast as the Quad CPU G5.

Fr0dders · 17 Sep 2011 at 14:13

You want to be looking on the refurb store if you want a bargain

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

*edit*

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FC438B/A

Raikiri · 17 Sep 2011 at 14:19

MrLOL said:
*edit*

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FC438B/A

It's only £50 more for the i5 2.5ghz, 6630m. I wouldn't get that unless you really need OSx Server.

Probably less if you go through HE. Edit: Yeah, £628.

FreeStream · 17 Sep 2011 at 14:25

And just to be pedantic, the PowerPC Macs (I.e. the G4/G5s) are PowerMacs, not Mac Pros, which are Intel based.

But yes don't waste your money.

The Asgard · 17 Sep 2011 at 14:43

Plus they will be very noisy. Don't bother, dead tech.

MagicBoy · 17 Sep 2011 at 14:50

At the risk of sounding pedantic these machines are PowerMac G5. All Mac Pro's are intel - there is no such thing as a Mac Pro G5. Air cooled machines are noisy and the later/quicker machines are water cooled which causes its own problem at the 5+ years old they are now.

They're dead technology. OS X support stops at 10.5 and most currently version applications are Intel only. A secondhand 2009 Mac mini would be a lot quicker for the same price and runs all the modern apps.

PowerMac G5's make a nice bit a sculpture now, but that's it.

Vanhishikha · 17 Sep 2011 at 15:26

There's no good deals going on e-bay as of right now and I cannot afford the deals on apple, even with HE discount ;_;

fml.

MagicBoy · 17 Sep 2011 at 15:34

Here's an example : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mac-Mini-...Desktops_CV&hash=item19c8ee722b#ht_766wt_1156

"andy" · 17 Sep 2011 at 16:34

do not buy

outrageously priced too.

nate922 · 17 Sep 2011 at 17:24

Agreed with previous poster. I've been looking at several for a case mod.

You can find decent spec G5s for around the £200 mark.
I wouldn't bother as they are slow, not power efficient and no Lion support. Awesome looking cases though.

VaderDSL · 17 Sep 2011 at 23:20

Just buy a Mac mini 2011

233 · 17 Sep 2011 at 23:31

yup indeed i've been playing with a g4 mdd the last couple of weeks and my one overiding point is its a dead architecture. ppc systems are getting no support and not just from apple. if your going mac get an intel based system

Doug · 17 Sep 2011 at 23:57

Aye, about all a PowerMac is good for these days is it's case

That said, before I moved recently, I had my G5 set up in the living room as a strictly web browsing/email machine - they're still fine for that.

Gives me an idea, might stick an SSD in it and see what happens