[MowHoward2210]

Here's an interesting article from the owner of a PC hardware analysis site about his 1 month trial with a new PowerMac G5.

I was suprised that I agreed with most of what he wrote. Normally PC-centric sites such as this are very biased toward Apple, as is the general populace,it seems. Even Consumer Reports seems to selectively omit vital information when it comes to Macs.

This is a good read on how OSX functions. The perspective is from a hard-core computer user reviewing a high-end machine that most of us don't need or want to pay for, however. I hope in the future he can give a review more geared toward the average consumer. For instance, he did not mention the multi-media apps (the iLife Suite) that comes bundled with the machine. The multimedia capabilities are what makes this platform attractive, as well as pretty much being immune from viruses and spyware.

Even if you have no interest in the article, this is a really good site for PC enthusiasts, and has a good reputation for being un-biased.

 

[MowHoward2210]

Note that the high-end machine that was reviewed, a Dual Processor 2.0 GHz Powermac G5 is now the mid-level Powermac. The high-end machine is now a 2.5 GHz Dual Processor machine that is liquid cooled.

<img src=http://www.homepage.mac.com/userosx/.Pictures/pmcd.jpg>
Here's someone's Powermac G5 with the highly touted Apple Cinema Display.

Also the new G5 iMacs (they were previously equipped with G4 PPC processors made by Motorola) have been released since the reviewer's testing. I played around with a 20" iMac at a campus computer store the other day. It's very impressive and, like previous iMacs, virtually silent.

<img src=http://www.homepage.mac.com/userosx/.Pictures/imcg5.jpg>
Here's a pic of someone's new iMac next to a G4 Cube. The that's the whole iMac pictured on the right. The guts are packed in behind the screen. I think the whole unit is about 2 inches thick. The Cube on the left was a revolutionary product, but was overpriced and did not sell well. They fetch a pretty good price in the used market, though. Like the first generation iMac (what I am typing on right now) the Cube has no fan, and is cooled by convection.

 

[memmurphy]

Thanks Mow for the link. Very comprehensive article. :thumbsup:

Mark

 

[MowHoward2210]

Your welcome, Mark. It is a good read. One of the few things he missed the mark on (no pun intended) was on installing programs. He has since corrected this. For the most part, when you install a program, you just drag the icon of the program to wherever you want it - your desktop or a certain folder. To delete the program, you just move the icon to the trash. It does not "scatter files" all over the place.

Another omission was that this machine was reviewed in March and has since dropped $600 dollars in price.

 

[CatDaddy]

Boy, that was pretty massive article. Well-written & unbiased, IMO.

I started out as a Mac user... well, actually I started back in the moldy-oldy IBM mainframe punchcard days, migrated to Apple IIe for desktop use -spreadsheets mostly (anyone remember VisiCalc?)- while still using our company's IBM VM-CMS mainframe for accounting system purposes (anyone remember the Nomad relational DB program? LOL!) & company email (w/an Osbourne "luggable" for on-the-road use).

When I went back to school I bought my 1st 'puter, a Mac Classic, whilst laughing at the x86 DOS/MS-DOS crowd. I was, in a word, a Mac FANATIC. It wasn't too many years later though, the Pentuim III days to be precise, that Windows98 brought the PC up to Mac usability (in my eyes anyway) at a far lower price. I think I know why (and the article alludes to a number of reasons why) some people are Mac-philes, but I can't seem to get back on that train. I can't really find a good reason to switch back to a Mac, the high buy in price is a major disincentive.

As I type this, I'm encoding digital video (shot on my Sony DV-cam, downloaded directly to a HD set aside solely for video files) to be burned to a DVD later, listening to the Ramones, also (sort-of) watching RantTV, browsing the web and handling incoming e-mails with absolutely no noticable slowdown in system performance. I would have to stop the web-tv if I want to go back to playing MechWarrior4 though. All this on a rig I built for less than $800 (monitors excluded - the 19" was a freebie & the 20" was <$150).

I just don't seem to have the instability problems that plague a number of PC users. During this past summer my box ran 24/7 for 3 months & I didn't have to restart my computer once. I do turn it off when I'm at work - unless I'm using the remote desktop feature - we occasionally have power outages during storms. No crashes, no software problems, nada.

Maybe I'm just one of the lucky few PC users.

Thank god there're Macs tho' - it took Apple's LISa GUI interface (although they bought it from someone else - XEROX maybe?) to goad MS into refining their OS & desktop. Competition in the marketplace is a wonderful thing!

 

[MowHoward2210]

Catdaddy,

If you enjoy your machines and its OS, then that is what you should stick with. I'm like you in that everything seems to work just fine in contrast to what others go through. I really enjoy the multimedia performance and the stability of my machines, and I have got my money's worth, IMO.

I understand your price concerns with Apple. Apple does not compete in the low-end market, thus making it hard for some people to justify the expense, although the $799 eMac is a great machine for the money. I will maintain, however, that Apple offers a better "out of the box" experience for people who don't want to tinker with the hardware. I think this is because the Hardware integration is so much tighter. But this is the same reason adept PC enthusiasts don't care for Apple, and a competent PC builder will usually get more bang for the buck. I don't think the Powermacs are overpriced, though, at least in the sense of not comparing it to homebuilt unit. Price out a similar spec'd Dell and you will see little price difference. A top of the line Alienware machine costs significantly more.

It's all Apples and, umm, Oranges. XP and OSX are both fine OS's. I use both, but I find OSX much more pleasant to use. The quality and functionality of the Hardware and the absence of viruses and spyware keep me coming back to Apple. YMMV.

 

[MowHoward2210]

Catdaddy wrote:

........Thank god there're Macs tho' - it took Apple's LISa GUI interface (although they bought it from someone else - XEROX maybe?) to goad MS into refining their OS & desktop. Competition in the marketplace is a wonderful thing!

Being able to click windows with the mouse is definately easier than typing commands on a black DOS screen!

Besides offering a GUI (I think your write about them buying it from Zerox) Apple was also the first to offer the Mouse, Wireless laptops, USB, and Firewire. Oh yeah, and multicolored desktops (My iMac is Blueberry)

 

[CatDaddy]

Our iMacs at school don't use OS X. They're running 9 I think. I find it difficult to use them in the computer lab though. I'd rather a WinOS (pre-98 excluded). I guess I've been fully MS assimilated. LOL!

Yeah, my FireWire port is pure Apple goodness (even though Sony calls it iLink for some stupid reason).

IIRC USB is an Intel invention & implementation (first used on proprietary Intel x86 chipsets).

-=A=-

p.s. FWIW, the mouse was 1st marketed by Xerox to go with their GUI.

 

[MowHoward2210]

FWFW, I should have said to the first to offer those items on consumer desktops. Or maybe I've been drinking the Kool-aid for too long.

For goodness sakes put OSX those machines! OS9 was ok, but nowhere near as stable or as nice as OSX.



Edited for grammar. (hey, where's the grammar check?)

 

[CatDaddy]

Sorry. didn't mean to come across as some sort of snotty ubergeek. I (for some obscure reason) seem to remember useless techie trivia.

Back in the early 80's I worked at the Exxon Research labs in Baton Rouge and our office/information services division was real big on new technology (damned near pathological about being 'early adopters'). We had both a Xerox workstation and an Apple LISa. Go figure.

re: OS X

Is it a site licensed piece of software like MS OSes? Or can you upgrade OS 9 to X by means of some 'update' process?

TIA!
Angel

 

[MowHoward2210]

Originally posted by CatDaddy
Sorry. didn't mean to come across as some sort of snotty ubergeek. I (for some obscure reason) seem to remember useless techie trivia.

Back in the early 80's I worked at the Exxon Research labs in Baton Rouge and our office/information services division was real big on new technology (damned near pathological about being 'early adopters'). We had both a Xerox workstation and an Apple LISa. Go figure.

re: OS X

Is it a site licensed piece of software like MS OSes? Or can you upgrade OS 9 to X by means of some 'update' process?

TIA!
Angel

No offense taken, and I did not intend to repeat "FWIW" as a means for sarcasm! I probably hold the title of snotty ubergeek around here, though. :nerd:

Not sure about the licensing, but I'm sure Apple offers some kind of the sort for schools.

You should be able to update OSX from OS9. A lot of the OS9 apps will work in the the "Classic" mode. Once Classic is booted or running in the background from OSX, these old OS9 apps will run on the OSX desktop. Some of the older apps might have to be run from an OS9 start up or boot, though. Confusing, huh? The Classic environment was a way to give OSX users backward compatibility to run their old OS9 apps on OSX, as OSX was a totally new (compared to 9) OS from the ground up.

 

[Greg]

Yo, Mow....

Can I run OSX on my laptop?

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/kgregc/DSC00888.jpg">

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/kgregc/DSC00889.jpg">

Greg

 

[MowHoward2210]

Originally posted by Greg
Yo, Mow....

Can I run OSX on my laptop?

Greg

I'm not familiar with old school Macs, Greg. How big is the HD, and what is the processor speed? I think the minimum for the processor is around 233 Mhz, but I may be mistaken.

I bet it wont be as snappy as your Powerbook.

 

[Durwood]

I have seen the new advertisements for the new Imac.

 

[Greg]

Mow,

Here's the full specs..... Maybe Sys 7.6???

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/stats/mac_powerbook170.html

Still fires up and I have the 80MB drive! Bought it when they first came out.

Another:

http://www.cassiel.com/gearhead/pb170.html


:furious:

 

[MowHoward2210]

Originally posted by Durwood
I have seen the new advertisements for the new Imac.

Cool! I gotta get me one of those! :furious:

 

[MowHoward2210]

Originally posted by Greg
Mow,

Here's the full specs..... Maybe Sys 7.6???

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/stats/mac_powerbook170.html

Still fires up and I have the 80MB drive! Bought it when they first came out.

Another:

http://www.cassiel.com/gearhead/pb170.html


:furious:

:lmao: i think it might fall just a little bit short of the minimum requirements to run OSX. I would hang on to it as old Macs bring in good prices. You read a lot about the old machines still functioning years later.

 

[Durwood]

I forgot to add one of to it Mow. At least you knew i was funnin' ya!