As Apple"s Power Mac G4 aged, the company was in danger of losing its most devout audience: the audio, video and graphics professionals who favor the high end of the company"s line. By comparison to the latest Intel-based Windows machines, the G4"s specs lag considerably -- even after factoring in Apple"s oft-made claim that its machines run faster than comparably clocked Windows boxes.
With the recently launched G5 , though, Apple has given this audience a machine with the muscle it needs. Boasting an industry-leading 64-bit processor, the G5 "is definitely developed for our creative professionals -- to provide the bandwidth and the power to do some really amazing desktop editing and audio stuff," Apple spokesperson Nathalie Welch told NewsFactor. But, can this new machine, which has enough computing power to outperform even some low-end servers, much less the average desktop, boost Apple"s nearly disappearing 3-percent market share?
Battling the Itanium
Built by IBM, the G5"s 64-bit processor is a major step forward in the historically 32-bit desktop world. Though the Itanium processor was the first 64-bit desktop chip, few of them have shipped. "Apple"s is the first mass market 64-bit desktop processor," IDC analyst Allen Promisel told NewsFactor. At any rate, Apple"s 64-bit chip has a major advantage over the Itanium. Unlike the Itanium, the G5 can run today"s 32-bit applications without emulation software, which slows performance.