Apple Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) vs Apple Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)

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Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) compared with Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)

	ApplePower Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)	ApplePower Mac G5 (Late 2005)
Overview
Released
Released	July 2000	October 2005
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)	PowerPC G5 dual-core 2000 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005), PowerPC G5 dual-core 2300 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005) or 2 × PowerPC G5 dual-core 2500 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1 or 2	2 or 4
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 Pro (16 MB)	NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB) or NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB, 128 MB, 256 MB or 1.5 GB	512 MB or 16 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	20 GB to 40 GB	160 GB to 250 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.	Dual models have one physical dual-core PowerPC G5 at 2 or 2.3 GHz. Quad has two physical dual-core processors at 2.5 GHz, four cores in total. Each core has 1 MB L2 cache. Front-side bus per physical processor is 1, 1.15 or 1.25 GHz respectively. Macworld’s exact Quad review describes its liquid cooling.
GPU
GPU	ATI RAGE 128 Pro with 16 MB SDRAM in an AGP 2x slot; ADC and VGA outputs.	Stock dual-core 2 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE with 128 MB GDDR SDRAM. Dual-core 2.3 GHz and Quad: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 256 MB GDDR SDRAM. Optional NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT 256 MB and Quadro FX 4500 512 MB; the Quadro occupies the graphics slot and adjacent x4 slot.
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.	Stock 512 MB PC2-4200 DDR2 at 533 MHz, installed in matched pairs. Up to 16 GB supported; ECC configurations available from 1 GB. Rows retain the stock drive and graphics at base and maximum supported memory.
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 160 GB on dual-core 2 GHz and 250 GB on dual-core 2.3 GHz and Quad. 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives; two internal bays. Optional one or two 500 GB drives. One optical bay with 16x SuperDrive supporting dual-layer DVD+R recording.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Three open full-length 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots and one AGP 2x graphics slot.	PCI Express: occupied x16 graphics slot, two open x4 slots and one open x8 slot. Older PCI and PCI-X expansion cards cannot be reused in these slots.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet	4 × USB-A, 2 × 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.	Three USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical Toslink input/output and analogue audio line-in/out. Four chassis USB 2.0 ports in total, plus two keyboard USB 1.1 ports. AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR are optional, with integrated antennas; built-in support does not mean modules are included.
External displays
External displays	ADC carries video, USB and display power; VGA also available, with graphics resolutions up to 1920 × 1200.	Stock GeForce 6600 LE/6600 and optional 7800 GT have one single-link and one dual-link DVI port, supporting one 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display alongside a second display. Optional Quadro FX 4500 has two dual-link DVI outputs for two 30-inch displays and a stereo 3D connector. DVI-to-VGA adapter included.
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in speaker and analog audio input/output.	Built-in speaker and optical/analogue external audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Pro Keyboard and optical Apple Pro Mouse.	Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, USB keyboard extension and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Type	Tower	Tower
Weight
Weight	13.6 kg	–
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	226 × 467 × 432 mm	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure.
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.	–
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 Tiger and iLife ’05. Apple confirmed the dual-core 2 and 2.3 GHz models available on 19 October 2005, with Quad expected in early November. Macs Only reports its Quad shipped on 10 November and arrived on 11 November; these later Quad dates do not change the generation’s first sale. The exact specification sheet does not publish weight or dimensions.