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Apple iMac G5 Desktop with 17" MA063LL/A (1.9 GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive) | List Price: $1,310.00
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Platform: No Operating System
Brand: Apple
Binding: Personal Computers
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - 1.9 GHz PowerPC G5 running Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger
- 512 MB DDR SDRAM, 160 GB hard drive, and SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW), built-in iSight video camera
- 17-inch (viewable) widescreen TFT active-matrix LCD, 1440 x 900 pixels, millions of colors
- Two FireWire 400 ports; three USB 2.0 ports, two USB 1.1 ports (on keyboard); VGA output; S-video and composite video output
- Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit), 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11g), and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module
iMac G5, plenty fast! [Posted on 2006-02-24]
I actually purchased this iMac for my cousin who was tired of the Windows world. She is extremely happy with this iMac and wonders why she waited so long to go back to a Mac. The built in iSight camera is a great addition. The Front Row software is also nice, though limited in use. I set it up for her without a hitch, fast and easy. Getting her set with her DSL account was also a breeze. The screen is bright and clear and the added Mighty Mouse is a nice bonus. I have experience with iMacs since their debut in 1998, this is by far the most refined and elegant design. Apple has definitely hit the bulls-eye with this one. As far as G5 vs. intel goes, my choice would be the G5 if you have existing software that has not or will not be updated for awhile and you need to work now. If you are starting from scratch, I guess I would go with the intel version. That being said, I don't usually buy the first version of anything. Hope this helps and frankly, you can't go wrong with either model.
my first apple [Posted on 2006-03-18]
im very happy to have bought this computer after many years of PC.
iMac G5 - 17 in. BEST VALUE [Posted on 2006-05-20]
I bought my iMac G5 3 weeks ago, not from Amazon; but from the Apple Store (Refurbished for $999). This was absolutely the best value I couldve gotten: especially since because of recent iPod purchases, I got a $100 eCoupon. (You should definately try requesting one).
Anyway, I got a great, fast computer: and only for $899! I dont know why people would need to fork up another 100 bucks to get a 20" model with only 1.83 GHz processing speed.
With the superdrive, iSight built in, 160 GB HD, and more... I think this is the best value for an Apple Computer available: but if you think you may need windows, go and buy an Intel machine to download Windows into it. Be aware that its almost impossible to find some software on a mac, but takes less than 5 minutes for Windows...
Quality computer [Posted on 2006-05-27]
I purchased this model recently as my first Apple computer. Coming from a Unix background, the initial experience is a bit of a mixed bag. Some things are highly annoying, for example, not only is gcc, an absolutely essential piece of unix software, not available at install time, but it is a massive chore to even get on the system, and in the end you have little choice but to install Apple's Xcode tools.
The root account is disabled by default, as are a number of services such as ssh. Several traditional Unix pathnames have been changed inexplicably, for example, the home directory is called Users in the mac os. Options for other operating systems are largely limited to Linux.
This computer comes pre-installed with a number of slick looking and useful programs, mirroring the operating system itself. These are rather heavily biased towards multimedia. It is nice to have a working microphone and camera out of the box, however.
Overall, the operating system is good, but it could be better. Apple fans will throw it in with other unix systems like FreeBSD. In a lot of ways, the Mac OS is not in the same league as FreeBSD, and the inverse is also true. The typical user will get more out of the Mac OS because of its multimedia features while the programmer or network administrator will probably get more out of a more traditional unix system because of the readily available programming and networking tools.
As far as the hardware goes, there's a lot of FUD going around about the switch to Intel. It is true that the Intel processors have higher clock rates, but just as horsepower is only the definitive measure of a car to the uninformed, so too is the clock rate of a processor. The Intel architecture has some key disadvantages when compared to powerpc. One of the obvious ones is the register set. Registers are small, extremely fast memory for a processor. The 32 bit x86 architecture has 8 32 bit registers that are used as general purpose along with a few special purpose registers. The 32 bit powerpc implementation architechture features 32 general purpose registers, also 32 bit, as well as 32 64 bit floating point registers, in addition to a set of special purpose registers. Why is this important? Because in the register starved x86 architecture, there is more dependence on operations on the slower RAM. With the powerpc architecture, the programmer can load values into registers, manipulate the contents of those registers as necessary, and store the results back in memory. This is one reason why a "slower" powerpc will have better performance than a "faster" intel. Of course, since the intel processors have higher clock rates, you can concoct tests that will favor them, but these have little bearing on reality. The Intel strategy for at least the past ten years has been to increase the clock rate steadily and not really improve the architecture.
Made the switch to Apple Macintosh. [Posted on 2007-01-26]
After years of using PC's with a "virus" called Windows, I made the switch to Macintosh with an iBook G4 and the iMac G5 and haven't regretted it since. The operating system is rock solid. In fact, after nearly two years of using both Mac's, I haven't had the OS crash even ONCE. Sure, I've had some applications hang up or quit unexpectedly, but they NEVER took the operating system with it (I just used "Force Quit" and tried again). As a comparison, my old Windows 98 system couldn't make it 2 hours without needing a re-boot.
Yes, there isn't as much software available for the Mac's, but if you look around a while, you can find a program that'll do whatever a PC can do, many times even better.
No viruses, no spyware, no non-sense. The Macintosh just works.
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