Customer Rating: 
Summary: FAST & STABLE
Comment: Folks should be reading the technical specs--this is not the original machine that benchmarked out ahead of pentium machines. The buss speed and the front side cache are what was on the single processor-based machine. So the old Dual 1.8 machines are actually faster, since Apple bumped up the old 1.8's to 2.0 now. (I have one of each in my family.) I have not had crash problems, and both machines are very, very fast on very large photoshop files. These are both by far the most stable machines of any kind I have worked on, and the interface is a joy. But all you have to have is one old piece of equipment or really bad driver to mess your machine up. I'm curious about the people complaining that the G5 does not run Microsoft's windows emulation program and gave it a very low rating as a result. That 1) misses the point of getting an Apple and 2) blaims the Apple product for Microsoft deciding not to support Apple's product line.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent computer
Comment: First of all, this is an excellent computer-fast, nice to look at, excellent OS, and enjoyable to work with. Definitely worth the price (and if you configure a SIMILAR PC on the Wintel side, you'll obtain an excellent price/performance ratio)Secondly, the pure conjecture and shallowness of some of the statements made on these reviews, namely the performance of Adobe apps, the migration of users to the PC side as exhibited by the dropping Mac sales of certain apps, etc is not helpful and quite frankly false. Adobe quit producing some Mac apps, but also just put out one of the best suites on either platform- Adobe CS, which is optimized for the G4 and G5. You can search for "benchmarks" until your blue in the face, and you will find some in your favor. But even an exec at Adobe recently quipped that the G5 is the best and fastest platform for Adobe products (search macnn.com or one of those sites)
Also, don't forget that Apple has developed a market leading crop of professional software as well, including the award winning Final Cut Pro (which has probably accounted for some of the "drop in Adobe market share" that was spoken of earlier). Take a gander at their website for more info.
The only ding that I give the G5 is the wake from sleep issue. This is an issue that has affected both the Wintel side and the Mac side, and although I have not been hampered by this issue personally, it seems to be a significant blemish among the Mac community. The latest OS update (10.3.4) fixed the issue for many users though.
Keep an eye on other Apple technologies as well, including Firewire (now a wireless spec) and how that may influence your workflow and efficiency.
Customer Rating:
Summary: G5 Freezes
Comment: This was my first mac. Panther is great, and I enjoy working on it. BUT, this machine crashes at least once a day. The screen freezes, and I can move the mouse, but that's it. You have to reboot.
If not for this problem, the G5 is a 5 star product, but this problem makes the machine nearly useless. Definetly not worth the price.
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Incredible slow for the price
Comment: Firstly, I might get low "helpfullness" scores on this as Mac owners are a brand loyal bunch, and God bless us for it.I have owned Macs and PCs, and used both extensively in different work environments for design work, namely Photoshop, Quark and Illustrator.
There is just no question in the world that, today, PC platforms offer the same or better speed on these applications for seriously less money. I have benchmarked professional Photoshop and Quark work and my $2400 g5 dual 1.8 is slower than our $1200 3gmhz Dell. (Don't confuse g5 with 5g, LOL)
I won't even go into what Apple thinks it is doing offering a 64 mg video card on a high end machine. If you look at the price of their better cards, upgrading through them at purchase means you essentially get no allowance for not taking the original card. And what they think they are doing charging 2.5 times as much for memory upgrades (and lets face it this machine is a DOG with less than one gig.)!
More stable operating system? No such luck. Wxperienced users will tell you the new OX is suprisingly crash prone. Ok then, Macs handle fonts better? nope. Worse than a PC.
Again, I have loved Macs. But ask youself this.: Why are professional desingers steadily and increasingly moving away and to PCs? Just look at Adobe and Quark's sales. Their highest end productsx which are used by the pros, are being sold in an increasingly large proportion in PC format. Indeed the majority. It is no accident.
Look at the various apple forums. Over the years the participants are clearly less experienced. The people who want the leading edge in computing abandoned the Mac (or visa versa) long ago. You see people talking about the "look" of the machine. The machine goes under your desk. With just part of the money you save buying an even more capable PC machine you can put a very sexy 20" lcd. (Want an example of gouging...look at MAC's lcd prices and tell me if ANY experiinced buyer would touch them. The casing look nice enough, sure, but they are twice the price and have some of the lowest refresh, brightness and contrast ratings on the market!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Below expectations
Comment: Yes, It works better than a G4 but it is heavy and HUGE. I had great expectations but am sorely disappointed. I am now using one at work and the 10.3.3 finder is still a dirty dog. Slow and clunky. Problems with sleep and shutdown. Crashes with Quark. And the font issues are disgusting!Photoshop still runs 5x faster on my Dell M60 Laptop workstation with 2 gigs of ram and 128 meg video card.
