PowerPC G5 dual-core 2000 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005), PowerPC G5 dual-core 2300 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005) or PowerPC G5 dual-core 2500 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
Memory
512 MB – 16 GB
Storage
160 GB – 250 GB
Screen
–
Weight
–
What reviewers say
Reviewers find large Quad gains in rendering, video and other tasks that use multiple cores; ordinary single-threaded work benefits much less. Faster memory, graphics and PCI Express improve the range, though lower models show a modest processor step. Price, load noise, limited drive expansion and incompatible older PCI cards remain drawbacks.
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
2 or 4
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB) or NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
Memory
512 MB or 16 GB
Storage
160 GB to 250 GB
CPU
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
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
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
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
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
None built in
Connections
Ports
4 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
1 Gb/s
External displays
Up to 2
Front ports
USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
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
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
Built-in speaker and optical/analogue external audio connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse, USB keyboard extension and DVI-to-VGA adapter.
Design and power
Type
Tower
Operating system
macOS
Materials
Aluminium enclosure.
In the box
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.
Configurations
Processor
Memory
Storage
Storage type
Graphics
PowerPC G5 dual-core 2000 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
512 MB
160 GB
Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB)
PowerPC G5 dual-core 2000 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
16 GB
160 GB
Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE (128 MB)
PowerPC G5 dual-core 2300 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
512 MB
250 GB
Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
PowerPC G5 dual-core 2300 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
16 GB
250 GB
Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
2 × PowerPC G5 dual-core 2500 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
512 MB
250 GB
Hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
2 × PowerPC G5 dual-core 2500 MHz (Power Mac Late 2005)
