Apple Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (June 2004)

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Only show differences

Better figure, where one is clearly better

Share comparison

Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) compared with Power Mac G5 (June 2004)

	ApplePower Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)	ApplePower Mac G5 (June 2004)
Overview
Released
Released	July 2000	June 2004
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 400 MHz (Power Mac Gigabit Ethernet), 2 × PowerPC G4 450 MHz (Power Mac Gigabit Ethernet) or 2 × PowerPC G4 500 MHz (Power Mac Gigabit Ethernet)	2 × PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac June 2004), 2 × PowerPC G5 2000 MHz (Power Mac June 2004) or 2 × PowerPC G5 2500 MHz (Power Mac June 2004)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1 or 2	2
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 Pro (16 MB)	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9600 XT (128 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB or 1.5 GB	256 MB, 512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	20 GB to 40 GB	80 GB to 160 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	400 MHz single processor; 450 and 500 MHz dual PowerPC G4 processors. Each physical processor has 1 MB backside L2 cache; 100 MHz system bus. Supplier unspecified in these generic clock-only records.	Two physical PowerPC G5 processors at 1.8, 2 or 2.5 GHz, each with 512 KB L2 cache. Per-processor front-side bus is 900 MHz, 1 GHz or 1.25 GHz respectively. Only the dual 2.5 GHz uses the maker’s liquid-cooling system.
GPU
GPU	ATI RAGE 128 Pro with 16 MB SDRAM in an AGP 2x slot; ADC and VGA outputs.	Dual 1.8 and 2 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB DDR. Dual 2.5 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 XT with 128 MB DDR. Optional ATI Radeon 9800 XT with 256 MB occupies the adjacent PCI slot as well as AGP.
Memory type
Memory type	400 MHz: 64 MB, dual 450: 128 MB, dual 500: 256 MB PC100 SDRAM. Four DIMM slots support up to 1.5 GB; Mac OS 9 maximum per application 999 MB.	DDR400 PC3200 in matched pairs. Dual 1.8 GHz starts with 256 MB and has four DIMM slots with a 4 GB maximum. Dual 2 and 2.5 GHz start with 512 MB and have eight slots with an 8 GB maximum. Base and maximum memory rows retain each model’s stock storage and graphics.
Storage type
Storage type	Stock 400: 20 GB 5400 rpm/DVD-ROM; dual 450: 30 GB 7200 rpm/DVD-ROM; dual 500: 40 GB 7200 rpm/DVD-RAM. The retained storage prose says 20 GB 7200 rpm where its configuration matrix and launch release specify 30 GB; matrix retained. Ultra ATA/66, three drive bays supporting two ATA or three SCSI drives. Optional SCSI 36/72 GB, Zip and optical options are not expanded into unproven cross-combinations.	Stock 80 GB on dual 1.8 GHz and 160 GB on dual 2/2.5 GHz; 7200 rpm Serial ATA. Two bays with 150 MB/s interfaces; optional 80, 160 or 250 GB drives, up to two 250 GB drives. One optical bay with 8x DVD-R SuperDrive; Combo drive is optional.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Three open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and one AGP 2x graphics slot.	AGP 8x Pro graphics slot. Dual 1.8 GHz has three 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots. Dual 2 and 2.5 GHz have PCI-X: two 100 MHz and one 133 MHz slots.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s
External displays
External displays	–	Up to 2
Front ports
Front ports	–	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	Two external FireWire 400 ports and two USB ports at 12 Mbps each; Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.90 modem and analog audio input/output. Optional 11 Mbps AirPort card. Keyboard USB ports excluded.	Two USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, V.92 modem, optical Toslink input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Three chassis USB ports in total, plus keyboard USB 1.1 ports. Optional 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 1.1.
External displays
External displays	ADC carries video, USB and display power; VGA also available, with graphics resolutions up to 1920 × 1200.	ADC and DVI with included DVI-to-VGA adapter; two displays in extended or mirrored modes. A second ADC display requires a separate adapter.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker and analog audio input/output.	Built-in speaker; analogue and optical connections for external audio.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Pro Keyboard and optical Apple Pro Mouse.	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter, modem cable and AirPort antenna.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	13.6 kg (better)	20.2 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	226 × 467 × 432 mm	206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	43.2 cm height, 22.6 cm width, 46.7 cm depth and 13.6 kg reference weight; weight varies with configuration.	Maker height 51.1 cm, width 20.6 cm, depth 47.5 cm; reference weight 20.2 kg varies with configuration.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure with separate cooling zones.
Power supply
Power supply	Maximum continuous power 220 W.	–
In the box
In the box	Mac OS 9, QuickTime and iMovie 2. Apple confirms all three factory configurations immediately available on 19 July 2000. Later review software updates are not launch firmware.	Mac OS X Panther and iLife. The 1.8 and 2 GHz models were available on 9 June 2004. Apple initially stated July availability for the 2.5 GHz model, later than the generation’s first sale.