Cheese grater with an attitude
Reactions around the web newsgroups from avid Mac users were that they were enthralled by
the G5's brute force, bandwidth and potential expandability but many felt that the new enclosure was
too large, too severe and even anti-Apple in design. Others went so far as to call the enclosure too
PC-like and even regard it as a large cheese grater.
What many have failed to understand is that the new G5 enclosure is more for function that it is for
form. The grille is utterly necessary to provide circulated air to cool the dynamo processors. Aluminum is
the material du jour at Apple and has been used to clothe their sleek Xserve line and both the 12" and
17"-PowerBooks; it only makes sense that aluminum be used in the professional desktop line and maybe
later, on Apple's Cinema Display line.
It is also no secret that Apple has been gearing up towards providing solutions to the enterprise market
in order to survive; Apple's Xserve that competes with giants like SUN and even IBM is proof of this. A
more serious and businesslike design for their top-of-the-line desktops is not only apt but also imperative
if they are to be taken seriously by the enterprise and SME markets.
Unleashing the beast
The G5 is expected to hit Philippine shores before September and it is certain to be a big hit among a
lot of creative and production firms who have been waiting before taking the plunge to OS X. A
RAM-loaded G5 will be able to run OS X fluidly and extremely quickly. Apple's software releases such as
Keynote, iLife, Final Cut and specially its Safari browser (adjudged as the fastest on any platform but not
the most complete) are all geared towards the new OS and should run like wildfire on the new G5.
The price of ultimate power
The best thing about the G5 is that you can consider it an investment for the future since a lot of its
powerful features will be useful longer than the current crop of professional desktops. The latest and
greatest does not come cheap, although compared to prices of G4 PowerMacs of years past, the G5 is
still within the price range of what you would expect from a Pro system with tons of innovations and
technology tied with it.
As of press time, the prices for the G5 from Ynzal Marketing Corporation (http://www.ynzal.com) are
as follows: The base model G5 with 1.6GHz processor, 256MB RAM memory, 80GB hard drive a DVD/CD-RW
burning SuperDrive sells for P133,288; the 1.8GHz version with 512MB RAM, 160GB hard drive and with
SuperDrive is P160,088; and the ultimate dual G5 processor 2.0GHz model with 512MB RAM, 160 GB hard
drive and a SuperDrive weighs in at P196,888.
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