Apple Drops Price Of 1.6 GHz G5, Makes 1.8 GHz G5 Dual Processors

by , 11:00 AM EST, November 18th, 2003

Apple has announced a couple of major changes to the Power Mac G5 line. First up, the company has lowered the price of the entry-level 1.6 GHz model to US$1,799, a US$200 reduction. The machine remains unchanged otherwise.

Apple has also made the 1.8 GHz model a dual-processor unit, keeping the same price of US$2,499. Like its dual-processor 2.0 GHz big brother, the new 1.8 GHz model has independent frontside busses for each processor. The machine otherwise has the same configuration as the previous 1.8 GHz single processor unit. From Apple:

Apple today introduced a new model of its revolutionary Power Mac G5 desktop computer, a dual processor 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 desktop starting at US$2,499, and lowered the price of the single processor 1.6 GHz model to US$1,799. The Power Mac G5 lineup now includes three models: dual processor 2.0 GHz, dual processor 1.8 GHz and single processor 1.6 GHz. Featuring the world's first 64-bit desktop processor with the industry's first 1 GHz front-side bus, the Power Mac G5 offers unprecedented memory expansion of up to 8GB and advanced 64-bit computation, while running existing 32-bit applications natively.

"Our customers told us loud and clear that they love dual processors, so now two of the three Power Mac G5 models feature lightning-fast dual processors," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Hardware Product Marketing. "And with the entry level model now starting at just US$1,799, the Power Mac G5 lineup is more affordable than ever."

All Power Mac systems ship with Mac OS X version 10.3 "Panther" to deliver the most substantial benefits of 64-bit computing -- breaking through the 4GB physical memory barrier. The combination of the Power Mac G5 and Panther provide creative professionals and scientists computational power never before realized on a desktop system. Examples include the ability to manipulate multiple streams of DV and SD content in real time, process an unprecedented number of audio tracks with complex filters and digital effects, execute high-precision math on extremely large 64-bit numbers receiving results faster than ever, and model and render complex 3D visualizations at amazing speeds.

The new Power Mac G5, offering dual 1.8 GHz PowerPC processors, each with an independent 900 MHz frontside bus, provides for more than 14 GBps of bandwidth. In addition to providing fast throughput to main memory, this high performance frontside bus architecture enables each PowerPC G5 processor to discover and access data in the other processor's caches -- further increasing bandwidth on dual processor systems.

Pricing & Availability
The complete Power Mac G5 line is available immediately through the Apple Store, at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers in three standard configurations.

The Power Mac G5, with a suggested retail price of US$1,799, includes:

1.6 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5;
800 MHz front-side bus;
256MB 333 MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM (4GB maximum);
80GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive;
AGP 8X Pro graphics slot;
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB DDR SDRAM;
3 PCI slots (64-bit, 33 MHz); and
4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW).

The Power Mac G5, with a suggested retail price of US$2,499, includes:

Dual 1.8 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5;
Dual independent 900 MHz front-side buses;
512MB 400 MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM (8GB maximum);
160GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive;
AGP 8X Pro graphics slot;
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB DDR SDRAM;
3 PCI-X slots (one 64-bit, 133 MHz, two 64-bit 100 MHz); and
4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW).

The Power Mac G5, with a suggested retail price of US$2,999, includes:

Dual 2.0 GHz 64-bit PowerPC G5;
Dual independent 1 GHz front-side buses;
512MB 400 MHz 128-bit DDR SDRAM (8GB maximum);
160GB Serial ATA 7200 rpm hard drive;
AGP 8X Pro graphics slot;
RADEON 9600 Pro with 64MB DDR SDRAM;
3 PCI-X slots (one 64-bit 133 MHz, two 64-bit 100 MHz); and
4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW).

All Power Mac G5 systems ship with iChat AV, Safari, Sherlock, Address Book, QuickTime, iLife (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD), iSync, iCal, DVD Player, Classic environment, Acrobat Reader, Art Directors Toolkit, EarthLink, FileMaker Pro Trial, GraphicConverter, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office v. X Test Drive, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, QuickBooks for Mac New User Edition, Developer Tools and Zinio Reader.

Build-to-order options include up to 8GB of RAM, 250GB hard drives, Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) drive, graphics cards (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, ATI Radeon 9600, ATI Radeon 9800), AirPort Extreme Card, Bluetooth module, Apple Fibre Channel PCI Card and Mac OS X Server version 10.3 "Panther."

You can find more information on the new unit at Apple's Web site. You can order it directly at the Apple Store. For other online retailers, check out our Help TMO Grow page for retailers with TMO affiliate programs.

The Mac Observer Spin:

We liked today's announcement of the new 20" iMac, but we love the Power Mac G5 announcements. We were never happy about the US$1,999 starting price of the G5 product line, and applaud the decision to drop the price. That's a much more reasonable price point for that model, especially with its slower PCI slots, slower bus, and slower RAM.

The changes to the mid-range G5 model, however, are even more interesting, and we think that it has become a much more compelling option for buyers. There was a huge difference between the dual-processor 2.0 GHz model and the single processor 1.8 GHz unit, one that far outweighed the US$500 price point difference. Now, however, that's not the case. In fact, we wouldn't be surprised to a shift in momentum to the new mid-range unit.

The Apple Store