Power Macintosh G5

Power Mac G5

Apple Power Mac G5
Developer	Apple Computer, Inc.
Type	Desktop
Release date	June 23, 2003
Introductory price	US$1,999 (equivalent to $2,603 in 2016)
Discontinued	August 7, 2006
CPU	1.6 – 2.7 GHz PowerPC G5 Single-processor Dual-processors, single-core Dual-core Dual-processors, dual-core
Predecessor	Power Mac G4
Successor	Mac Pro

The Power Mac G5 is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer Inc. from 2003 to 2006 as part of the Power Mac series. When introduced, it was the most powerful computer in Apple's Macintosh lineup, and was marketed by the company as the world's first 64-bit desktop computer. It was also the first desktop computer from Apple to use an anodized aluminum alloy enclosure, and the only computer in Apple's lineup to utilize the PowerPC 970 CPU.

Three generations of Power Mac G5 were released before it was discontinued as part of Apple's transition to Intel processors, making way for its replacement, the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro retained the G5's enclosure design for seven more years, making it among the longest-lived designs in Apple's history.

Officially launched as part of Steve Jobs' keynote presentation at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2003, the Power Mac G5 was introduced with three models, sharing the same physical case, but differing in features and performance. The physical case of the Power Mac G5 was very different and unusual compared to any other computer at that time. Although somewhat larger than the G4 tower it replaced, the G5 tower had room inside for only one optical, and two hard drives.

Steve Jobs stated during his keynote presentation that the Power Mac G5 would reach 3 GHz "within 12 months." This would never come to pass; after three years, the G5 only reached 2.7 GHz and was able to support 16 GB of RAM before it was replaced by the Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro, which debuted with processors running at speeds of up to 3 GHz.

During the presentation, Apple also showed Virginia Tech's Mac OS X computer cluster supercomputer (a.k.a. supercluster) known as System X, consisting of 1100 Power Mac G5s operating as processing nodes. The supercomputer managed to become one of the top 5 supercomputers that year. The computer was soon dismantled and replaced with a new cluster made of an equal number of Xserve G5 rack-mounted servers, which also use the G5 chip running at 2.3 GHz.