Getting a G5 iMac

[AaronMiller]

I've wanted a spare computer for my OS development for a while now. A little over a week ago I started looking on eBay for a Mac. The Intel ones were either unacceptable for their prices or had random damages. I decided it would be better to get a PowerPC based iMac because (1) I would need to buy another monitor otherwise and (2) the different architecture would be good for testing my OS on. So I found a pretty good one (1.8GHz G5, 2GB RAM, 300GB HDD, w/ Keyboard and mouse, OS X. 10.5.8) and placed the winning bid on it.

So, I'm waiting on it's arrival. I noticed a new email this morning from USPS that gave updated tracking information. The email stated that the package had reached my apartment yesterday, but had to be redelivered because nobody was home. I was there all day and never heard anyone come to the door. I went to check the mail today, since the last status was "notify." I found a slip that explained the packaage was in possession of the post office. That was quite annoying because, not only was I there, but 2 other people were there as well. No one came to the door, they made no effort to leave it with the manager's office (which was customary for larger packages in my previous apartment complex). It's quite annoying that I paid $60 for the shipping and they (probably) put no effort into leaving it to me in a considerable manner.

Anyway, I scheduled a redelivery for tomorrow and left additional instructions. The instructions probably aren't very safe; I said that if no one answers, they should walk in and set it down. I'll be home all day tomorrow though. (The package is insured, by the way.)

The iMac will be sweet because I get paid to develop certain Windows libraries involving Direct3D 11, so I can use it simultaneously if I start to get bored or just don't want to restart. (E.g., a compilation is in progress and will take about 5 minutes. Or, I'm waiting for a response from the project manager via text due to some inconsistency.) I'm pretty excited about it. :)

(By the way, the iMac cost me $220, and powermax.com offered me $225 for it. They sell them for about $400, so I like the deal I got. It comes with the install disc and iLife '08 too.)

Cheers,
-Aaron

[quok]

I So I found a pretty good one (1.8GHz G5, 2GB RAM, 300GB HDD, w/ Keyboard and mouse, OS X. 10.5. and placed the winning bid on it.

Respectable specs, but keep in mind you won't be able to upgrade past 10.5.8 or whatever happens to be the last in the 10.5 series. (10.5.8 is latest, and I'm pretty certain Apple stopped development on it after 10.6.2 or so.) Apple dropped support for PowerPC as of 10.6, although you can still install Linux on there if you want to play with that.

So, I'm waiting on it's arrival. I noticed a new email this morning from USPS that gave updated tracking information. The email stated that the package had reached my apartment yesterday, but had to be redelivered because nobody was home. I was there all day and never heard anyone come to the door. I went to check the mail today, since the last status was "notify." I found a slip that explained the packaage was in possession of the post office. That was quite annoying because, not only was I there, but 2 other people were there as well. No one came to the door, they made no effort to leave it with the manager's office (which was customary for larger packages in my previous apartment complex). It's quite annoying that I paid $60 for the shipping and they (probably) put no effort into leaving it to me in a considerable manner.

Ah, the United States Postal Service. What lazy bastards. If the package is over 10 pounds or so, they'll usually not deliver it to your door and instead expect you to go to the post office to pick it up, and their hours are quite inconvenient unless you've got a free day or so.

Whenever I win something on ebay, I always email the seller and try to make arrrangements to have the package delivered via UPS or FedEx Home Delivery even if the seller says the packages will be shipped via USPS. I offer to pay more for the shipping as well if needed. I find that just the increased tracking options (USPS tracking only ever seems to go from "packed picked by postal service" to "delivered" with nothing in between) and the fact that both UPS and FedEx will actually follow to those extra delivery instructions are worth it. Both UPS and FedEx will ring the door bell here and leave packages at the front door if there is a car in the driveway, or otherwise will leave packages at the back door.

There's talk of stopping Saturday delivery (as well as raising postage rates yet again starting the first of the year) in order to save costs. I find the USPS so inefficient I think they should just drop the whole organization and turn delivery over to UPS or FedEx.

[AaronMiller]

Yes, I'm aware of the 10.6 limitation. That's why I wanted an Intel Mac at first, but decided against it because they're too expensive for what they are (IMO). I actually bought the 10.6 disc from Amazon a while ago (as I was planning on making a hackintosh). The 10.6 disc works fine on my "hackintosh," but the screen resolution won't go past 1024x768. That is quite annoying for me due to the incorrect aspect ratio of my monitor, and the low resolution. :/ (I tend to stick with Linux on this computer until I absolutely must boot into Windows.)

On a side note, I would trade my computer for any Mac that has a d3d11 capable gpu (that Windows drivers will recognize). I haven't seen any Mac with such support though. (My computer is a dual core @ 2.9GHz w/ 4GB RAM, has a 320GB HDD and USB 3.0 mobo.) I prefer real Macs to shitty hacks, lol.

Yeah, USPS has usually been good for the smaller items and delivering unwanted bills though, haha. Usually when I order something through USPS it's very small. I prefer UPS and FedEx to USPS though. I've noticed the same issues about tracking as you. It's quite annoying. UPS & FedEx provide much better tracking services.

Random note: I made a bet that I could finish my current d3d11 project within 4 hours about 50 minutes ago. I'll post the results. ^_^

Cheers,
-Aaron

[Owen]

There's talk of stopping Saturday delivery (as well as raising postage rates yet again starting the first of the year) in order to save costs. I find the USPS so inefficient I think they should just drop the whole organization and turn delivery over to UPS or FedEx.

For lots of places (Villages, farms, etc) UPS/FedEx just hand the package off to USPS. Same applies to all mail to my memory. Its the same in the UK: the couriers only deliver to cities and towns; Royal Mail deliver everywhere else, and have essentially a monopoly on letter delivery.

[VolTeK]

was gunna say, 200$, then again i saw the specs, the last imac i saw bought was a mac book pro tho :p thats why it.. costed the way it did..

[Gaidheal]

G5s are very nice, actually. I'm not a Mac fan and I wouldn't really want to use MacOS (as in, I don't aspire to it or anything) but the G5 was a nice architecture and it sounds like you'll be quite happy with it. When I was working on a game design project that myself and a couple of friends started at Uni, the artist for the project was a Mac user (predictably enough) and he bought a (then brand new) G5 based tower which I played with a little.

Is it your intention to keep running the shipped OS on it or are you looking to use it for your own OS, primarily?