03-27-2011, 07:52 PM

A computer shop here in town has a clean looking Power Mac G5 for sale.
I have a really nice desktop PC but I have always wanted a Mac.
The spec's on this Mac G5 is as follows:
Power Mac G5 Tower
2 GB Ram
2.0 Dual Processor
ATi Radeon 64 MB Graphics Card
Pioneer DVEd Burner
OS X Operating system (not Leopard)
They are asking $399 or Best Offer.
They are also giving 90 day warranty on parts and labor.

As I said, I know literally nothing about Macs. But I am very knowledgeable on PC's. My question is would this be a good buy for me or is it really outdated. I do a lot of work in Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 3 for my digital images.

Please help me here with some advice.
Thanks you so much in advance.

03-27-2011, 08:09 PM

The PowerPC chip is no longer a supported processor..OS X Leopard is the last version you could run on it, and if the RAM is already maxed out at 2GB then that might be a limitation..

If you wanted to try out a Mac, you're better of investing in an Intel based system..the Mac Mini is the cheapest Mac that is available and will allow you to re-use your existing keyboard, mouse and monitor..

Regards

03-27-2011, 08:15 PM

I understand your input very well. The only problem I have is that I am not in a position right now to turn loose of very much money. I was just wondering if this was a good buy and would I be able to use it with my digital photos.
thank you so much for your kind help. Would I really be able to upgrade it to OS X Leopard??? that is a big deal for me. If not, I am not sure I would want to buy it anyways. Again, thank you soo much.

03-27-2011, 08:17 PM

Do they say what version of OS X is on there right now? You should definitely be able to use it with your digital camera..do you already have Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom? And yes, OS X Leopard is a possible upgrade for you..

Regards

03-27-2011, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by HannibalTheCrow

I understand your input very well. The only problem I have is that I am not in a position right now to turn loose of very much money. I was just wondering if this was a good buy and would I be able to use it with my digital photos.
thank you so much for your kind help. Would I really be able to upgrade it to OS X Leopard??? that is a big deal for me. If not, I am not sure I would want to buy it anyways. Again, thank you soo much.

There's a few issues you should be aware of. First of all, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) is the last modern version of OS X that still runs on PPC. Since Apple no longer makes it, and since so many people own the older PPC-based systems, the selling prices for used retail copies (which is what you'll need) are through the roof.

Additionally, the G5 PowerMacs have some issues, particularly with capacitors and the liquid cooling system that can be very expensive to repair.

I think you could easily end up with a bit of a money pit on your hands, particularly if you want to run some of the heavy hitter applications you're talking about. At this stage in the game, a G5 PowerMac would make a decent enough system to play around with, but I wouldn't want it as my "daily driver".

03-27-2011, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by HannibalTheCrow

A computer shop here in town has a clean looking Power Mac G5 for sale.

They are asking $399 or Best Offer.

As other folks have mentioned...the Powermac G5's have their pros & cons. I'll address one thing...I wouldn't pay anywhere near $399 for it. I'd offer the shop $200. They'll probably laugh at you...but if they're willing to negotiate...I wouldn't go any higher than $250.

Check prices on e-Bay...you'll see what I mean.

Also...an OS 10.5 Leopard install disk will cost you $100-$125.

Good luck,

- Nick

03-27-2011, 09:42 PM

G5 PowerMacs, as pigoo3 says, typically only go for about $200-$300 now. If you're going to look for a PowerMac, and you don't want to deal with an auction site, I'd check out macofalltrades.com. They're very reasonable for their PowerMacs if you're tight on money. They come preinstalled with OSX 10.5 too.

Good luck!

03-27-2011, 09:49 PM

I have a couple of older G5 macs and find them to be very nice computers. I agree that a intel Mac would be preferred, but the the G5 you mentioned should run cs3 very good. I follow the prices on craigslist and buy and sell a few computers. The model you listed is probably a 300 dollar computer. I sold one a month ago for about 300. The buyer was very happy to get it since he had other G5's in his studio. Good luck in your search.

03-27-2011, 10:20 PM

Simply much too dear.

Suggest saving money and putting towards a Mac Pro, a 2GHz Dual Core 1.1 model will run about $800 and you can always upgrade it later with 2.66GHz processors if you wish. Lion OS X.7 for release shortly will not support any PPC applications reportedly, which does sound the beginning of the end for a G5.

03-28-2011, 10:00 AM

Sorry for kicking a dead horse....
Remember that even After buying Leopard (~$120), the computer will still be worth only $250.

03-29-2011, 08:58 PM

I recently bought a Powermac G5 dual 2.0 ghz processors. Id say it runs really smooth and fast. I upgraded the RAM to 4gb and threw in a 1tb hard drive from newegg and this thing runs like a champ. PPC i must agree has it's setbacks and can't exactly run everything out there, but to be honest id say the pros outweigh the cons. Plus the thing just looks great you have to admit. So id say if you're not running a thousand giant programs and want to do some FAST daily computing, the G5 is perfect for you. Also yeah id offer about 220-250. I got mine for 260.

03-30-2011, 06:45 PM

I have a G5 and am running CS3. It has 2.5 GB of Ram and is the 2.7 GHz model. I run freak'n Photoshop on it all day. $200 or $300 would be a good buy.
However, here is my prediction. If you get it you will love it, and within a year you will be throwing other apps on it and wish for a faster and more powerful machine ^.X

03-30-2011, 06:48 PM

I've been running a dual 2.0 G5 for several years I got it used when they were around 700 as refurbs. Put in my own drives and ram. Never a hiccup. I use it for recording digital audio. Love the thing. It's my third mac from Gainsaver.com. I had a G4 and got my wife a G5 after getting mine. They offer them stripped down and make their money selling back the things they took out of it or other ones.

The only issue is at some point, the browser will be too old for the "new imporved" internet. I'll either get some newer refurb that will or get some i-cheapie thing. But for recording and processing audio it's all I'll ever need. So I'd look at one of the refurb places for an intel mac if you want more than a year or two of internet browsing. I could be wrong but at some point I think the java type apps won't support my old browser.

Ron

04-01-2011, 10:18 PM

I think you would be better off with an Intel processor. Go to PowerMax.com and look over their listing of used Macs. You can get good deals on some that have intel processors. They sell the used Macs with a 90 day warranty an post the specs for each available machine, as some have been upgraded by previous owners.