There can only be one word that can describe the performance of a G4 processor. Unfortunately, this is a family show, for the most part. Anyway, the bang to buck ratio makes the new Power Macintosh G4 systems nearly a no-brainer for anybody looking for absolutely kick ass performance.
Also as an interesting side note, in response to Apple’s G4 processor announcement, Intel raised the ante by announcing (“Intel: Enhanced Pentium III will hit 700 MHz“) 700 MHz Pentium III processors. Although these new chips are on par with the current x86 speed-champs, AMD’s Athlon, it appears that they will be immediately smoked by the G4 processor at the starting line. All hail the G4.
But, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: the stuff that only WE would complain about. Here we go in random order:
- We’re presuming that Apple will ship these G4 systems with the standard Apple USB mouse and keyboard. Enough said.
- The ATI Rage 128 graphics card, although sounds neato, only ships with 16 megs onboard. We would’ve expected Apple to go the whole nine yards with 32 megs.
- Multiple monitors support out of the box. Since this machine is targeted more towards the graphics professional, graphics professionals usually work in multi-monitor environments.
- Apple should have offered an internal CD-RW drive or at least a Magnetic Optical drive as a build-to-order option.
- Not enough PCI slots.
- We wonder if we can pull out the 2X AGP ATI Rage card and pop in a 3dfx Voodoo 3 AGP card (“3dfx Updates Voodoo Drivers“)… Of course, we would need AGP drivers from 3dfx.
- After running the full gamut of benchmarks, a few of us here would like to see some hardcore real-world Quake III benchmarks.
All in all, the new G4 machines look absolutely killer despite these little gripes. Most configurations are expected to ship with 30 days.
