PowerMac is now dead

[Lando]

Rather underwhelmed.  Apple's notebooks were still stuck on G4, so the 3-4x speed increase from G4 to Core Duo was enough to prompt Powerbook and iBook owners to upgrade.

But for Quad G5 owners, I don't think a 1.3x speed increase in apps like Final Cut Pro (which is what most of these towers are used for) is going to be enough to prompt people to abandon their 'old', working G5's for a new Mac Pro.  In fact this is the first time I think Apple have released a new generation of machines which were actually slower than the previous generation - the tests over at barefeats (http://www.barefeats.com/macvpc.html) showing even the dual 2.5Ghz G5 out-performing the dual 3.4Ghz Xeon in 4 out of 6 tests.

[Lando]

InTheSand wrote:

Lando wrote:
In fact this is the first time I think Apple have released a new generation of machines which were actually slower than the previous generation

Hmm... Weren't the first PPC-based Macs slower than their 68040-based counterparts to start with? Especially with earlier versions of the OS that were still mostly 68k-based?

 - Ali

[color=808080]* - deliberately OTT![/color]

Yes, sorry, you're ansolutely right :-)  The first 601-based Performa and PowerMacs were slower than the 68040-based Macs.

Still, I wouldn't swap my MacBook Pro for any machine - it's the best computer I've ever owned, bar none.  I also have an Acer Ferrari 4000-series  Windows XP notebook (Turion 64, 2GB  RAM, Radeon X700), and the MBP just makes it look so clunky and second-rate when they are sitting on the desk side-by-side.  I actually bought it with the intention of installing Windows XP on a second partition using BootCamp, but 2 months down the line, I still haven't felt the need to do so because OS X does everything I need.  I miss CounterStrike, but installing Windows on her would feel too much like hitching a trailer to a Ferrari F355.

I have nothing against Intel - Apple's new notebooks are the best notebooks on the market today.  I was just slightly  disappointed by the performance of the new Desktop 'Professional' machines.   Nothing major, but I just expected a little more.