Apple today unveiled its new Power Mac G5 desktop line with every model featuring dual 64-bit PowerPC G5 processors. The top model, featuring two 2.5 GHz processors, the industry’s fastest front-side bus running at 1.25 GHz per processor, and advanced liquid cooling starts at $2,999. The entry model, featuring dual 1.8 GHz processors, starts at just $1,999.
“Our professional customers, across many creative and scientific markets, have been impressed with the extraordinary performance of the dual processor Power Mac G5 running Apple’s Unix-based Mac OS X,†said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “This new Power Mac G5 line has dual processors in every model to deliver even higher performance for our pro customers who need it.â€
Powered by the PowerPC G5 processor, the Power Mac G5 utilizes 64-bit processing technology for memory expansion up to 8GB, and advanced 64-bit computation while running existing 32-bit applications natively. The top of the line Power Mac G5 now offers dual 2.5 GHz PowerPC G5 processors, each with an independent 1.25 GHz front-side bus for an astounding bandwidth of up to 20 GBps. All Power Mac G5 systems ship with Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther," which in combination with the Power Mac G5 provides creative professionals and scientists with computational power never before realized on a desktop system.
The Power Mac G5 outperforms competing desktops on the market today and ran significantly faster than 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 systems on performance tests of the most popular applications for creative professionals and scientists, including:
- On a test of 45 commonly used actions, Adobe Photoshop ran almost twice as fast on a dual 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 than on a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4-based PC;
- Logic Pro 6 on the dual 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 played up to 138 more tracks with reverbs (over four times more) than with Cubase SX on a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4-based PC; and
- Final Cut Pro HD running on a 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 can run eight streams of 8-bit SD video versus five streams on a dual 3.06 GHz Xeon-based Avid workstation.
The Power Mac G5 line offers leading-edge expansion with dual 1.5 Gbps serial ATA interfaces, the industry’s fastest PCI-X interface technology and AGP 8X Pro graphics. The Power Mac G5 comes standard with either the NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra or the ATI Radeon 9600 XT graphics card; the ATI Radeon 9800 XT high-performance graphics card is available as a build-to-order option for incredible 3D design, visualization and gaming. All Power Mac G5 desktops deliver industry-leading connectivity and high-performance I/O, including Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire® 800 and FireWire 400 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, optical digital audio input and output, built-in support for 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme wireless networking and an optional Bluetooth module.
Pricing & Availability
The dual 1.8 GHz and dual 2.0 GHz Power Mac G5 models are available now, and the dual 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5 model is expected to be available in July through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The single 1.25 GHz Power Mac G4, with suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), will no longer be in production and is available for purchase while supplies last through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The Power Mac G5, with a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:
- Dual 1.8 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5;
- 256MB 400 MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM (4GB maximum);
- 80GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive;
- AGP 8X Pro graphics slot;
- NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra with 64MB DDR SDRAM;
- 3 PCI slots (64-bit, 33 MHz); and
- 8x SuperDriveâ„¢ (DVD-R/CD-RW).
The Power Mac G5, with a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:
- Dual 2.0 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5;
- 512MB 400 MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM (8GB maximum);
- 160GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive;
- AGP 8X Pro graphics slot;
- NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra with 64MB DDR SDRAM;
- 3 PCI-X slots (one 64-bit 133 MHz, two 64-bit 100 MHz); and
- 8x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW).
The Power Mac G5, with a suggested retail price of $2,999 (US), includes:
- Dual 2.5 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5;
- 512MB 400 MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM (8GB maximum);
- 160GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive;
- AGP 8X Pro graphics slot;
- ATI RADEON 9600 XT with 128MB DDR SDRAM;
- 3 PCI-X slots (one 64-bit 133 MHz, two 64-bit 100 MHz); and
- 8x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW).
All Power Mac G5 systems ship with iChat AV, Safari, Sherlock, Address Book, QuickTime, iLife (includes iTunes, iPhotoâ„¢, iMovie, iDVDâ„¢ and GarageBand), iSync, iCal, DVD Player, Classic environment, Art Directors Toolkit X, EarthLink Total Access 2004, GraphicConverter, Microsoft Internet Explorer, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, Xcode and Zinio Reader.
Build-to-order options include up to 8GB of RAM, 250GB Serial ATA hard drives, Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) drive, graphics cards (NVIDIA GeForceFX 5200 Ultra, ATI Radeon 9600 XT, ATI Radeon 9800 XT), AirPort Extreme Card, Bluetooth module, Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse, PCI-X Gigabit Ethernet Card, Apple Fibre Channel PCI Card and Mac OS X Server version 10.3 “Panther.â€