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RIP G4 PowerMac

Posted by timothy on from the send-some-corpses dept.

squiggleslash writes "An a not entirely surprising move, Apple has taken the PowerMac G4 out of production (see the last few paragraphs of this interesting article in Mac Central about the new G5s.) The PowerMac G4 had continued to be in production largely for users of Mac OS 9, and it had been speculated it might be kept as a lower-end headless entry-level Mac. You can still buy them from the Apple Store, while stocks last. On a seperate note, it looks like the 3GHz G5 is a while away, and G5 PowerBooks are no nearer production."

3 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Good riddance! by SultanCemil · · Score: 0, Troll

    Good riddance I say! Bring on the G5 18 GhZ machines that Apple has up their sleeves. Seriously though, when are we gonna see a G5 powerbook?

    --
    Cemil.
    1. Re:Good riddance! by raverbuzzy · · Score: 0, Troll

      It's not water cooled. All they did was add a heat pipe. I've got the same thing in my powerbook, a shuttle and a coolermaster heatsink and everyone is going around like apple made some huge innovation.

  2. Re:Message from the Extreme Conclusions Club by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 0, Troll

    "What happens when you need to buy more computers?

    I've got a G4 I'll swap for a G5, runs OS 9 beautifully.

    I've also got an OS 9 capable iBook I'll gladly swap for a new PowerBook.

    Let me know if you're serious and not just blowing hot air."

    Right, because "swapping" computers is an acceptable option in a corporate environment.

    There are reasons why corporations don't just "load Debian" or "buy hardware on eBay" or "swap hardware" with employees. Corporations need stable, supported hardware that will run their legacy applications. What if the system they get in the swap breaks the next day? What if it's stolen property?

    Slashdot doesn't get this, but what's acceptable to an individual *does not fly* in a corporate environment. Corporations can't just buy 500 notebooks on eBay to equip new workers.

    HP, for example, can deliver hardware that's tested, warranteed, supported, and, most important, homogenous. When a school system buys 2000 new PCs to run Windows 2000 (which predates OS X), they know that every PC will be the same, every PC will be working out of the box (or will be replaced quickly), and that every PC will be supported in two years. They also know that any applications they buy will still work in five years. More importantly, they know that they will still be able to run Windows 2000. The same district has about 3,000 pre-OSX macs. They are being phased out because it simply costs too much to retrain all of the teachers to use OS X, and because it's impossible to buy pre-OSX Macs anymore (the district never purchased G4s because of cost, so it has been impossible to buy a non-OSX mac since the iMac was phased out - they don't buy notebooks either).

    The HP computers ship with Windows XP. The district installs Windows 2000 instead. Why? Becuase Windows 2000 is stable and supported. There is no need to change infastructure, no need to retrain teachers, and no need to support two platforms. PCs give them that option.

    Next year, the entire district will run XP (the site license gives them the right to run either XP or 2000). The upgrade will be massive, but it won't fundamentally change the system. XP works fine with the old Windows 2000 servers. 2000 works fine with the new Windows 2003 servers. The classic UI replicates Windows 2000 perfectly. Most teachers won't even notice the change. XP is that compatible. OS X is not. OS X requires new training, new applications (unless you want to use Classic, which isn't exactly a great solution), new servers, and new machines. It would be impossible for a 100% OS 8/9 district to become a 100% OS X district. The all-in-one (and beige) G3s simply do not work correctly on OS X. The PII 233s work fine under Windows XP.