After six years with PowerMac G5 I decided to upgrade my desktop.
If it were only about computing power, I would stick with my G5
forever, because there is not much, that I do and that can't be done
with pair of PowerPC 970 CPUs clocked on 2GHz. Sadly the performance
is only one of factors I have to consider, the second being power
consumption.
I don't mind converting FullHD video for couple of hours, I don't
mind every RAW from my Sigma camera being processed for 30 seconds,
but right now I equipped our new apartment with energy-efficient
home appliances, LED lights and suddenly a computer with 200W+ idle
consumption doesn't fit in. I took the opportunity and bought a used
HP desktop from the company I work for. It has a 2nd generation of
Core i5, 4GB of RAM and the price was about 30 USD, which is kind of
very cheap. It didn't arrive yet, I should have it in few weeks, as
soon as wicked corporate procedures allow.
This machine will be at least four times faster than my G5, while
consuming one fourth of electric energy, which is great. The downside
however is, that I have to learn to live without my beloved PowerPC.
Well, do I?
Few weeks ago I noticed, that prices of Mac Mini G4 on German eBay
dropped under 50 EUR. I could (and probably will) buy a G4 Mini to
use it for the stuff that doesn't require too much CPU power and let
the i5 do the rest. Even when both on, they will consume less energy
than the G5 alone and I presume most of the time just one of them
will be powered. This would clearly be the win-win situation.
