Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9393LL/A (Dual 1.8-GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD-R/CD-RW Drive)

by Apple

Product Details

• Item Weight: 39.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 58 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00011PYBI
• Item model number: M9393LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,020 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 18, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Billed by Apple as "a breakthrough in desktop processing power", the new dual CPU Power Mac G5 series represents the state of the art in Apple desktop technology and is clearly designed for discriminating individuals who simply won't settle for anything less than the very best. This model, the Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9393LL/A, offers many of the benefits of the extraordinary top-of-the-line Power Mac G5 Desktop M9032LL/A, but with slightly slower processing and graphics power and a substantially more affordable price point.

Driven by not one but two 1.8 GHz Power PC G5 processors (each operating at 64-bit rather than the industry standard 32-bit), 512 MB ultra-fast PC3200 DDR SDRAM memory per processor (expandable to a gargantuan 8 GB!), a sizzling 900 MHz frontside bus, and a 64 MB nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics card, the Power Mac G5 M9032LL/A certainly seems impressive. Moreover, the dual-CPU architecture of this unit is far superior to the model it replaces, the single-CPU 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 M9031LL/A.

But there's more than raw power lurking inside the system's futuristic anodized aluminum case. For starters, Apple has comparentalized the unit into four independent sections to direct appropriate airflow to each key component. A total of nine fans work to keep things cool, yet all are efficiently low-speed. Thusly the Power Mac G5 Desktop M9393LL/A runs quieter and cooler than many of its competitors.

Apple has loaded the unit with data handling features, including a monstrous 160 GB 7200 RPM hard disk and a DVD-R/CD-RW combo drive (4X DVD write speed) through which you can archive information, play and burn audio CDs, enjoy the latest movies and record home videos. To help you transfer data to and from external peripherals such as optical drives and digital camcorders and cameras, the system also sports one ultra-fast FireWire 800 port (currently not found on standard PCs), two FireWire 400 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, two USB 1.1 ports, and a comprehensive range of audio and video ins and outs.

Other key amenities include a convenient Apple keyboard, an Apple mouse, a broad array of multimedia and Internet software, and oodles of interior space for future expansion. Connectivity facilities include an integrated 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet port, a built-in 56K modem, and AirPort Extreme wireless support (with an AirPort Extreme card). Speakers and display are available separately.

From the Manufacturer

Speed your work with a dual processor Power Mac G5, available today at both 1.8 and 2 GHz. The 64-bit G5 processor -- plugged into a new ultrahigh-bandwidth system architecture featuring AGP 8X and PCI-X -- makes the Power Mac G5 a breakthrough in desktop processing power and lets you use up to 8 gigabytes of main memory.

Reel time champ
With 64-bit power and high-bandwidth architecture, this groundbreaking new system alleviates the limitations and bottlenecks of the traditional PC -- opening up a wealth of possibilities for 2-D and 3-D designers, video and audio producers, scientists, researchers and game developers and players. The industry’s fastest frontside bus, an advanced system controller and high-speed, high-capacity memory combine to make the Power Mac G5 one of the fastest PCs ever built.

All of today’s 32-bit applications benefit from the faster processor and high-bandwidth architecture of the Power Mac G5. However, performance gains are most dramatic with applications optimized for the G5 processor. Testing Final Cut Pro 4.1 demonstrates the industry-leading performance possible on the Power Mac G5.

The dual 2 GHz and dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 systems can play up to seven simultaneous standard definition (SD) video streams. With DV content, the Power Mac G5 can play up to nine simultaneous streams. When rendering a complete project containing multiple effects and filters, the dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 was 19% faster than a dual Xeon-based PC.

Ready for the real world
The PowerPC G5 processor dramatically accelerates performance in other real world applications, too. When compared head-to-head against the same PCs in a large series of Photoshop tests, the dual 2 GHz and dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 systems were 90% and 76% faster, respectively, than the 3.2 GHz Pentium 4-based system and 81% and 68% faster than the dual 3.2 GHz Xeon-based system. Even the single-processor 1.6 GHz Power Mac G5 was 21% faster than the 3.2 GHz Pentium 4-based system. Additional performance tests reveal similar performance gains for professional music and audio creation, and scientific analysis of genetic research.

Bandwidth to burn
The Power Mac G5's ultra-high bandwidth system architecture features up to 1 GHz frontside bus -- one on each processor -- for maximum throughput. And a point-to-point system controller lets data move directly between subsystems, without affecting processor function.

PCI-X expansion
The Power Mac G5 comes with three PCI-X slots, giving you the benefit of the newest advance in PCI technology. The PCI-X protocol supports high-performance PCI devices, increasing speeds from 33 MHz to 133 MHz and throughput from 266 Mbps to 2GBps.

High-speed AGP 8X Pro graphics bus
Compared with the AGP 4X interface, the Power Mac G5’s AGP 8X Pro graphics bus effectively doubles the maximum transfer rate and doubles the amount of data transferred in a single AGP bus cycle. The 66 MHz AGP 8X Pro bus strobes eight times per clock cycle, achieving a 533 MHz data rate and a maximum bandwidth of 2.1GB per second -- ideal for the ultrafast graphics cards it ships with, like the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro or NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra.

FireWire 800, USB 2.0 and high-performance I/O
The Power Mac G5 ships with a FireWire 800 port, two FireWire 400 ports and three USB 2.0 ports (plus two USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard). Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, USB 2.0 and optical digital and analog audio are all integrated through two bidirectional 16-bit, 800MHz HyperTransport interconnects for a maximum throughput of 3.2GB per second.

Three powerful models
The Power Mac G5 product line comes in three muscular configurations -- 1.6 GHz, dual 1.8 GHz and a dual 2 GHz model. They all feature the legendary SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) as standard equipment across the line. And of course they come with two FireWire 400 ports, three PCI expansion slots, ADC connector, DVI connector, analog audio in, analog audio out, optical S/PDIF in, optical S/PDIF out, front headphone and speaker jack and built-in Gigabit Ethernet -- all as standard equipment. All models are AirPort Extreme-ready, and offer Bluetooth capability as a build-to-order option.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent computer, June 6, 2004

By 

john dougherty (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9393LL/A (Dual 1.8-GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD-R/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

First of all, this is an excellent computer-fast, nice to look at, excellent OS, and enjoyable to work with. Definitely worth the price (and if you configure a SIMILAR PC on the Wintel side, you'll obtain an excellent price/performance ratio)

Secondly, the pure conjecture and shallowness of some of the statements made on these reviews, namely the performance of Adobe apps, the migration of users to the PC side as exhibited by the dropping Mac sales of certain apps, etc is not helpful and quite frankly false. Adobe quit producing some Mac apps, but also just put out one of the best suites on either platform- Adobe CS, which is optimized for the G4 and G5. You can search for "benchmarks" until your blue in the face, and you will find some in your favor. But even an exec at Adobe recently quipped that the G5 is the best and fastest platform for Adobe products (search macnn.com or one of those sites)

Also, don't forget that Apple has developed a market leading crop of professional software as well, including the award winning Final Cut Pro (which has probably accounted for some of the "drop in Adobe market share" that was spoken of earlier). Take a gander at their website for more info.

The only ding that I give the G5 is the wake from sleep issue. This is an issue that has affected both the Wintel side and the Mac side, and although I have not been hampered by this issue personally, it seems to be a significant blemish among the Mac community. The latest OS update (10.3.4) fixed the issue for many users though.

Keep an eye on other Apple technologies as well, including Firewire (now a wireless spec) and how that may influence your workflow and efficiency.

5.0 out of 5 stars After using this particular Mac for years..., January 31, 2009

By 

Michael Cox "I like bacon" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9393LL/A (Dual 1.8-GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD-R/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

I'll tell you it has been well worth the money. For 5 years it has worked just as well as the day I got it - in fact, even better, because I replaced a bad RAM chip (very common in ALL computers, and for many Mac and PC users the cause of random, unexplained crashing), increased the RAM, and over time found more products that supported the dual processors. OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") worked awesomely.

It's quiet (the 9 fans run at a speed according to processor load, and most of the time it's quite slowly) and built like a tank (hard to damage that exterior).

The two issues I had with mine were a *slight* sticking of the Eject button on the keyboard and the fact that VirtualPC needed an upgrade to work with the G5 processor (Microsoft had just bought VirtualPC and took their sweet time on the new version). And VirtualPC ran like molasses compared to running Windows with Boot Camp on an Intel Mac.

But as I prepare to find a new owner for my dual 1.8 G5, I can say I will miss it, which is the opposite of what I have to say about my Dell.

5.0 out of 5 stars FAST & STABLE, February 23, 2005

By 

G. Griffin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Power Mac G5 Desktop M9393LL/A (Dual 1.8-GHz PowerPC G5, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, DVD-R/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

Folks should be reading the technical specs--this is not the original machine that benchmarked out ahead of pentium machines. The buss speed and the front side cache are what was on the single processor-based machine. So the old Dual 1.8 machines are actually faster, since Apple bumped up the old 1.8's to 2.0 now. (I have one of each in my family.) I have not had crash problems, and both machines are very, very fast on very large photoshop files. These are both by far the most stable machines of any kind I have worked on, and the interface is a joy. But all you have to have is one old piece of equipment or really bad driver to mess your machine up. I'm curious about the people complaining that the G5 does not run Microsoft's windows emulation program and gave it a very low rating as a result. That 1) misses the point of getting an Apple and 2) blaims the Apple product for Microsoft deciding not to support Apple's product line.