We all know how monumental a leap it was from the G3 processor to the G4. Take the G4 processor and multiply it's performance by an order of magnitude! The heart of the new system is the IBM PowerPC G5 (AKA 970). Apple has put together a substantial web page outlining the changes and highlights that this processor gives us.
Some of the major highlights are:
- 64 Bit Processor - The world's first shipping personal computer using a 64 bit processor
- 32 Bit Backwards Compatibility - Runs existing 32 bit applications natively.
- Runs at up to 2GHz - The world's fastest shipping 64 bit processor.
- 1GHz front Side Bus - This is an amazing feat considering the 1.42GHz ran at 167MHz front side bus!
- Full SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) - Also full scalability for future processor expansion to more than two processors.
And, this state-of-the-art processor is made in the USA in IBM's brand new Fishkill, NY fabrication facility. IBM spent over 3 BILLION dollars making this factory, and it's obviously going to pay off, considering Apple and IBM announced that within 12 months we'll be seeing 3GHz G5 processors.
Apple has not published comparison specifications between G4 and G5 systems (and likely will not). We'll handle that as soon as the new machines start shipping, we've already ordered them for our benchmark lab here at OWC :>)
Speaking of the new systems, take a look at what Apple has done! The processor architecture is outlined above in the CPU section, but the actual computer system itself is even more important to some people. The previous G4 towers, the "Mirrored Drive Door" and "FireWire 800" systems are very impressive, offering a multitude of drive bays, and ample power. But, the new G5 Power Macintosh looks like it's performance will just run away from these systems.
However, the one area that the new G5 towers seems to be lacking in is expansion. I know for a fact that when the latest G4 case design came out, I was ecstatic - 4 internal drive bays for 3.5" drives, and two internal optical drives! That's what true professional users were clamoring for! And I own one of these systems, and DO use both drive bays, thank you very much! Apple has removed that 2nd drive bay, and two of the 3.5" drive bays too! Why? I don't mean to criticize this decision on Apple's part, but it sure seems like we are taking a step backward in expandability, doesn't it? I know we'll sell a lot more OWC Mercury DVD & CD/RW drives, as well as a lot more OWC Mercury FireWire Hard Drives, so I can't be too unhappy about this... But I know others will start asking for a second case patterned after this one, except "Desktop" and "Pro" sized like the 8500/9500 machines were. :>) I would think, if offered, a system with 2 optical drive bays and 4 3.5" bays would be popular with professionals.
The new G5 tower offers some very important new features:
- Single or Dual G5 Processors with 12 times the bandwidth of a G4 processor. The Dual G5s operate independently, which is supposed to give quite a boost to performance.
- 8x AGP Pro Video - Utilizing the latest in graphics cards from both nVidia and ATI.
- 133MHz PCI-X slots - This is only the 2nd use of this new standard in the Macintosh world, only the Xserve used this before now.
- Serial ATA - Offering 150-MBps, this is the latest iteration of ATA hard drive storage. Also, the ATA drives are on independent controllers, offering the ultimate in performance when hooking your internal drives together into a massive striped RAID.
- USB 2.0 - That's right, it took a while to show up on the Mac other than using third party cards, but Apple systems now have a USB 2.0 controller built in. That means we can finally use more common devices that are showing up as low priced alternatives to FireWire devices, such as scanners - cool!
- Optical Digital Audio I/O (S/PDIF - Sony/Philips Digital Interface). Also known as Toslink, this has been a type of cable used for interlinking high end audio hardware for a few years now. This is the first use of this audio interconnect on a personal computer.
- 8GB Memory - The new G5 system blows away the previous physical RAM limitation of 4GB and utilizes the fastest memory standard in the marketplace to date - 400MHz PC3200 DDR SDRAM. Also, this brings a return of requiring pairs of memory, and 8 memory slots on the high end systems. Amazing!
- Front Mounted FireWire & USB. I am thrilled Apple included front mounted ports finally, I would have to say the most irritating thing about my current G4 tower is the fact I have to leave a FireWire cable plugged into it all the time and out from under the desk. This neatly eliminates that problem - I can plug my OWC Mercury On The Go FireWire drive into the front! About time!
Standard Features: The Power Macintosh G5 towers also offer all of the normal features you've grown to expect from Apple, including Airport Extreme, BlueTooth, FireWire 400 and 800, and Gigabit Ethernet. One huge improvement to the new towers is the addition of two jacks on the back for external AirPort Extreme and BlueTooth Antennas - no cursing that beautiful case for it's lack of range for your wireless network! Kudos to Apple for this simple feature addition!
Easy Access: I also really like the fact that you no longer have to "hinge down" the door to work on the inside of the computer. I'm not knocking the design of the previous generations of Apple tower, but if you work inside of the computer as often as I do, having to unhook cables from the door to give clearance when swinging down was a bit of a pain. Now you can simply unhook and remove the door, set it aside, perform your upgrade or work and put it back together, without having to unplug cables. That's a nice feature!
Luxurious Design: Bar none, Apple products have always been top notch in the design world (especially since Jonathan Ive took over!). This design is, to coin a MacAddict phrase, "droolworthy"! I encourage you to read this article by Wired magazine with an exclusive interview with Ive about the design, and function of the G5. When we first viewed the computer on the podium at the keynote, it did not look all that great. But viewing the high quality photos I have seen, this machine has to be one of the best designs ever to come out of Cupertino. I bet it's as solid as a rock, and the aluminum chassis just screams of quality.
Noise: Time will tell, but Apple is claiming an amazing half of the radiated noise level of the previous generation of G4 tower. That's great! They WERE too noisy! The new systems utilize NINE fans to keep everything cool, and the OS monitors four separate thermal zones in the machines and turns fans on and off to keep the machine running cool under any situation. Sounds almost too good to be true! :>)
This is the start of something really incredible in the area of personal computers. The bar has definitely been raised, and it is only going to get better. I for one can't wait to use one of these new systems!
Jamie Dresser
OWC
6/23/03
1-800-275-4576
