Power Mac G5/Quad 2.5GHz
Apple adds a dual-core processor -- two processing units on a single chip -- to its Power Mac line. This particular model features two dual-core G5 chips, letting applications take advantage of four 1MB L2 caches, four 128-bit Velocity Engines and eight double-precision floating point units. This desktop also adds PCI Express, a high-performance interface that's particularly appealing to video pros. Also new: a double-layer SuperDrive, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and faster DDR2 RAM.
| Reviewed | Full Review |
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The value of the Power Mac G5/Quad-2.5GHz depends on what you do with it. With many applications, it's merely the fastest Mac yet, but not by much, and the difference might not be enough to justify the expense. For users of many high-end media-processing and scientific applications, the Quad adds up to a tremendous advance in Mac power, one well worth the price.
Pros: Two dual-core processors deliver substantial performance gains in many applications; speedy video card; huge memory capacity; PCI Express expansion slots; dual Gigabit Ethernet jacks support advanced networking options.
Cons: Limited performance gains in many routine office and even Photoshop tasks; cooling fans noisy when system is under heavy load.
Basics
Reviewed Price: $3,299
Processor: 2 dual-core 2.5GHz PowerPC G5s
Lab Tests
| Speedmark 4.5 Score | 272 |
|---|---|
| Cinema 4D XL 9.5.21 | 0:30 |
| iMovie 6.0.1 | 0:41 |
| iTunes 6.0.3 | 0:43 |
| Photoshop CS2 | 0:46 |
| Compressor | |
| Unreal Tournament 2004 | 65.1fps |
| Tested Configuration | Mac OS X 10.4.5, 1GB of RAM |
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