Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9454LL/A (Dual 1.8-GHz Power PC G5, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)

 "Ever feel like they just aren't trying anymore?"
I purchased 7 G5 macs for our production dept. 4 of the 7 needed major service, 1 still is in the shop (These were purchased april of 04, so SIX MONTHS and still no running machine that cost 3000.00!)

I called Apple today and asked for a new machine. I thought six months of service would be sufficient for this to be granted. I get put on hold, then a tech, who puts me on hold, new tech-reexplaint-on hold....(this goes on for over an hour and a half) Finally I get someone that seems to have a decision: "Give me your email address and I will send you an email with 'whatever' in a couple days". (Exact words).

Even purchased the 'APPLECARE' Extended service plan--I guess that referres to the e x t e n d e d service I am getting.

In closing: Apple = Sux, G5 = Lemon, Applecare = Garbage.

Good luck with that Apple. (Applecare Case #42430940)

 Beautiful Power Computer
After switching to mac four years ago, I have been looking forward to upgrading from my 500MHZ iMac to this beautiful monster. At first I had doubts about switching back to a tower system after having a one-peice computing solution on my desk. This mac not only carries on the elegance of an iMac, but it blows it away as far as reliability goes. With my iMac, I'd have occasional overheating problems after working for a long time. The G5 was designed with this in mind. All the fans and ventilation system are enough to make the most heat conscious person feel at ease. Accessing any inner parts of the computer is as easy as can be. It's actually nice just to open up every now and then to admire the simple design. On the contrary, there are a few downfalls I must state. The ability to install a single DVD drive is rather limiting for a computer of this size. Having a couple additional slots for a Zip Drive or a second CD drive would be a big help. There are also only two hard drive slots, making it difficult for a video editor to make many upgrades without having to remove the old drives. It could also use a couple more USB inputs. Two on the back and one on the front leave something to be desired. On the other hand, this machine pumps out enough power to hook up a USB hub and still get good results. The dual processor design also limits how you could upgrade your RAM. Like other dual processor computers, RAM must be loaded in pairs. This makes it impossible to slowly upgrade your system. Two of the four slots are already being used when you buy the machine. All in all, this is a great machine. Apple made a great move when designing this computer. It's fast and reliable. You cannot ask for much more.

 Entry-level version of the outstanding Macintosh G5 series.
Apple is, quite simply, the best and most innovative computer manufacturer. A recent user survey in PC magazine identified Apple computers as the most reliable and easiest to use computers currently available and last year Apple's Macintosh G5 was designated computer of the year. Yes, most people use Windows-based PCs, but do you want to be just another member of the PC herd -- with all of the problems and frustrations presented by Windows-based PCs -- or are you looking for a computer which is user friendly, seldom crashes, and is virtually impervious to virus attacks? If these virtues are more important to you than being one of the crowd, please seriously consider buying a Macintosh computer. The Power Mac G5 is Apple's top-of-the-line computer series and this is the lowest-priced G5, so it's a terrific way to get a powerful, user friendly Macintosh computer at a very reasonable price. Like all Power Mac G5s this is very fast computer -- more than twice as fast as a Pentium 4 with the same clock speed -- and has dual 64-bit processors. All computers will have 64-bit processors some day but very few PCs, except for Mac G5s, have them at this time. If you're looking for a fast, versatile, easy to use computer (and want to stop worrying abut virus attacks) and are willing to try something off the beaten path, you'll love this new PowerMac G5. If you want even more speed, consider the G5 with dual 2.0 GHz processors.

 G5 is fast; OSX is elegant; combination is easy to use
If you're invested in other platforms or can switch, Apple has finally caught up with the rest of the industry with the G5. OSX is a joy to work in: stable, elegant, well layed-out, and secure (I won't get started on WinXP vulnerabilities).

Do yourself a favor and install at least an additional 256 MB of RAM. Apple is skimpy when it comes to outfitting their computers - 256 MB is way too little. So they can save a couple of dollars on their end, you'll have to fork out multiples of that on yours.


Correction on Amazon's listing:

The current version rev.b Dual 1.8 - M9454LL/A - does *not* have PCIx slots, only regular PCI slots.

The original rev.a Dual 1.8- M9393LL/A - of the dual 1.8 has PCIx.

 Great bang for the buck, if a little frustrating
I just replaced my 1.5GHz 15" powerbook with the dual 1.8, and I am loving it. The Powerbook was starting to feel really anemic, and I was getting sick and tired of the SBOD. At any rate, this machine feels about 10x faster, between the dual G5s and the SATA hard drive, it rocks... It is also aesthetically pleasing - my jaw dropped when I opened it up to add RAM (see below) - this thing belongs in MOMA...

It has a few shortcomings however:

1. You CANNOT use this machine "out of the box" with the pathetic 256megs of RAM it ships with - an immediate RAM upgrade is imperative. I tried for a day, and managed to crash OS X about five times...

Since they only give you four slots, and you must install in pairs, you may as well add a pair of 512's - so add another $250 to the cost.

2. The machine is gigantic - the biggest PC I've ever seen. On the plus side, it's also the quietest PC I've ever used, by far. I guess 50lbs or whatever it weighs - more? - of aluminum disipates heat pretty well...On the downside, for all of its size, you get lousy expansion options. They should be ashamed of themselves for only giving 2 USB slots on the back - sure, there's an extra one in front, which is handy, but you'd never want to leave anything permanently plugged in. Most Win boxes give you 6 or 8 USB slots these days. So I immediately had to run out and get a USB hub. Adding another huge power supply brick, more unsightly wires, etc. Just as bad, there's only 1 free hard drive slot and zero free CD slots - for a machine of this size, unbelievably skimpy.

3. No Bluetooth or Airport out of the box. Airport I can live without, as I doubt I'll be dragging this thing over to my couch to surf the web, as I did with my powerbook ;) But the lack of Bluetooth is a bummer, because, as far as I can tell, there is no internal bluetooth module for this computer. It seems like there should be - but I don't think there is, and I've spent time looking. So if you want bluetooth, you have to buy one of those silly USB bluetooth adapters and use - yes - one of your two USB slots. Arggghhh!

4. When is Apple going to wake up to reality and start supplying us with a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel? Every Mac app in existence has built-in support for a right-mouse button - including OS X - yet for some reason they still ship those ridiculous one-button mouses.

Bottom line: fantastic machine, with frustrating expandability shortcomings. Figure on spending an additional several hundred dollars to upgrade RAM, buying a USB hub and more if you want bluetooth and a useable mouse.

 Great machine!
Simply a very powerful machine for the money. Compare similarly equipped PCs and you will spend approx $500 more. Apple puts care and thought into their design and you will notice it.

The only gripes I can think of are that 256 megs of ram just isn't enough. I upgraded mine to 512 from the get go and will likely double that in the coming months. Also the video card is a bit weak, its worth the extra $50 bucks to get the ATI card that apple offers.

But other than that, this is a solid machine with an even more solid operating system! So dump windoze and get a mac!

 I love my Mac...
Through the years, I've probably bought 7-8 different computers, all of them PC's running various editions of Windows. About a year ago, I bought a new Sony Camcorder (DV) and figured I'd edit some of my Home Movies and burn them to DVD. Well, my Sony VAIO had different plans. I'm not a computer whiz, but I do know what I'm doing. Everything was just more diffucult than it had to be.

To make a long story short, I took the plunge and made the switch. I bought the Power Mac G5 and haven't looked back. Previous reviewers mentioned lack of speed on their machines, but my experience has been just the opposite. I upped the memory to 2GB since I'm doing a lot of video editing and I've been suprised at how quick the rendering of transitions has been in Final Cut Pro.

I'd recommend this computer and only regret that I didn't switch sooner. The Power Mac is as quiet, if not quieter, than previous PC's I've owned. The only drawback is the paltry 256 MB it ships with. Panther seemed a little sluggish till I installed more, but other than that, it's a winner in my book!

 I wanted a computer, not a freezer
Sadly, I bought a brand new PowerMac G5, not knowing that this computer has a severe problem - it freezes, and it freezes alot.
You'll be surfing the net, editing a photo or just watching a dvd, when out of the blue, it all freezes up. The screen is frozen, and all you can do is restart. Same thing when it freezes again, a couple hours later. After restarting 10 times a day you really start to hate the thing.
Was it just me? Was I stuck with a lemon? Not willing to quit, I checked Apple's discussion forums. There I found hundreds posting about the very same problems.

The first major thread was over 1,000 posts long, before Apple closed it, since it became "unmanageable".
To see how common this problem is, go to Apple's G5 discussions (under support). You'll find these threads filled with owners of a freezing G5.
Read the forums, or do a search for "G5 freezing" and see what many found out after spending good money only to be disappointed.

I spent the money, and I'd give it 0 stars if I only could.

 If I didn't use Logic, I wouldn't buy Apple
I owned a G4 mac, and as another reviewer said, OSX is A LOT slower than system 9. But I love the audio recording program Logic Pro, which now is owned by Apple, and am forced to go with the G5 if I want to use this program (for those of you who don't record music, trust me, this is far and away a candy store for musicians). I have used it since the program was called "Notater" and I had an Atari. So I bought a dual G5.

The computer comes with an antenna, but there is no way to use the antenna without buying an Airport card (another 80 bucks-this is bait and switch). The old airport card does not work on the new one, so I tried using the ethernet cable. If you ever use a windows PC this hooks up automatically, which is why I am writing this review from one right now. I don't need wireless, but will probably buy it so I can keep some of my hair from being grey. If you think about what you get paid by the hour for your job, then add the time figuring this out onto the bill.

You cannot use this computer for any of the reasons you would buy a G5 for in the first place (graphics, audio, video, etc), without upgrading the RAM substantially. 512mb should be a minimum for a supercomputer, right? Don't even think about buying that from Apple, unless your hobby is shredding money to make fluffy green trash bunnies. But make sure you get the proper RAM, and I'll let you visit Mac forums to find that. Mac users are a helpful bunch, and a fun community, even if a bit overzealous at times.

Sounds simple? How 'bout that tiny hard drive? No good if you like video or audio. Think about it, you can get the same size in an Ipod now. Is that the comparison Apple wants us to make, that a handheld holds as much info as this beast under your desk? Oh, yeah, and you need a mouse, too. Mine is still in its styrofoam cuccoon.

Don't forget your $250 apple care, also. I'm thinking, $250, plus the network stuff, Hard Drive, and RAM, I'm halfway to a 3.2Ghz PC with a pentium 4, 160GB Hard Drive and 512MB ram already. Now if I can only get rid of that Adware.

I will probably love using this "Monster" (another reviewer's great name), once I pay for all the "extras," But the price tag is dishonest and treats the customer like a fool, and that's not how I want to "Think Different."

 Killer Machine, Just Freakin Awesome
I love this computer. I ordered a custom one with 512MB memory and dual 2.5 GHz G5. For the most part, I find the platform to be stable, without any crashes or constant freezes as reported by other users.

I initially had serious problems with Mac OS X and games that used 3D graphics libraries. There were several notable bugs. But after cooperation between Apple and companies like Blizzard, they have fixed many of these bugs, and man oh man, the graphics are like freakin' sweeeet!!

I'm a regular addict for games like World of Warcraft. I also use this for office productivity (Office 2004), synchornization of English/Japanese data (PocketPC, iPod, and bluetooth cellphone), web page authoring (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash), and the ocassional programming/scripting (perl, C, java, Mono .Net). All around, this is the most used system in my house amongst many Windows and Linux systems.