G5 - Really The Most Powerful?

[cgannon64]

(Finally I can get in...)

The commericials and print ads for the new G5 Mac claim its the most powerful personal computer ever.

I wonder, is this true? I know Macs are different then PCs, but is the G5 really the fastest out there?

 

[Sodapop]

Well, I'm not a mac expert, but you can bet that the best comp they will produce (the dual G5 at 2Ghz both) should outperform any x86 32bit system. Heck, two 2Ghz 64 Bits CPU with a 1Ghz FSB... This will definitely be the best computer on the market (if we don't take big cluster into accounts that is )

As for a one on one, I'm personally not convinced that a single G5 at 2Ghz can outperform the best Pentium 4 out there... But two of them are certainly more powerful...

 

[Toasty]

There are three different G5 models. The top of the line comes with only the tower and starts at $2,999 + sales tax.

If you're into statistics, you can find Apple's benchmarks at http://www.apple.com/powermac/performance/ .

I am totally going to be at my Apple retailer's fiddling around with the G5 PowerMacs .

If you're actually considering buying an Apple...stop. And go to your closest retailer.

 

[cgannon64]

I'm not considering buying a Mac, and I probably never will - I'm just wondering. Until Macs get all the new software on release, I'll stick to PCs.

 

[Sodapop]

And until people switch to Macs, all the new software will be released on PC before it is released on Macs...

I never considered buying a Mac, but it's because of the cost, and not the software obviously. All your favorite windows software might not be there, but there are always equivalent

And Toasty, those benchmarks are not completely accurate. They boosted a bit their own results, although I won't argue that the G5 is one heck of a CPU

Edit : Messed up names... You people and your anime avatars

 

[Mikoyan]

Heh, an AmigaOne equipped with one of these... *drools*

 

[CruddyLeper]

The G5 will be the fastest computer for running Mac OS and applications.

P4 based PCs will continue to be fastest for running Windows and applications.

Saying "my processor is faster than yours" is like seeing who can pee the farthest - it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to the real world.

 

[Sodapop]

Well, say that it doesn't matter to people that want real power from their CPU and they'll probaly laugh in your face. People doing video editing do mind if their CPU is better, because it will save time. The G4 were loosing much ground to the P4, even in the video editing domain, because the P4 outperformed them using the same applications (thinking of apps like adobe premiere and the likes). It is important to know for these people what the best investment is...

And as for your first 2 sentence, it's quite obvious (although x86 is definitely not limited to windows)... It's not the same CPU architecture, so how could you expect a PPC-compiled program to work on x86 and the opposite? :\

 

[CruddyLeper]

Originally posted by Sodapop


...And as for your first 2 sentence, it's quite obvious (although x86 is definitely not limited to windows)... It's not the same CPU architecture, so how could you expect a PPC-compiled program to work on x86 and the opposite? :\

Without an emulator, it wouldn't work.

Even with an emulator, it would be horribly slow.

So what's your problem? You want PC compatible software, don't buy Mac. You want to use Mac software, don't buy PC.

Ever heard of choosing your software before your hardware?

 

[Toasty]

Originally posted by Sodapop
And Toasty, those benchmarks are not completely accurate. They boosted a bit their own results, although I won't argue that the G5 is one heck of a CPU

Edit : Messed up names... You people and your anime avatars

There have been a couple of mini-studies that claimed to "debunk" Apple's benchmarks, but they seem to be the anti-Mac crowd (i.e., using company's benchmarks on the PC models but not on Apple models), so I think that they are by far the closest you will get to the truth.