Power Mac G5 Reliability(not so good)

MacInTouch ^

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

the Power Mac G5's 17% first-year failure rate remains far higher than the industry average of 5% (see Gartner's recent report on PC hardware reliability, linked below). If Apple is to maintain its premium pricing, it should provide premium reliability. As things stand, high Power Mac prices must include high warranty service costs built-in.

With an overall failure rate of 23%, a quarter of which occur outside of Apple's 1-year warranty, and an average of 1.29 repairs per affected unit implying repeat problems, Power Macs are neither cheap for Apple to service after the sale, nor cheap for buyers. Power comes at a cost.

[L98Fiero]

I hate that about your PC but I don't have that problem. If your PC needs to be rebooted twice a week, something is wrong with it.

In my opinion, Mac is attempting to keep alive that which is a dead issue. I manage LOTS of Windows PCs and servers (500+) and I simply do not see the behavior any longer that Mac implies in their ads. Win95 and Win98 were indeed pains but since Win2000, my job has been a lot easier.

I'm not knocking Macs. I'm sure they are fine machines As I said, I just don't know anymore about them than what I see in their ads, which is their elitist, cool-kids-only, attitude.

[newgeezer]

[Macs] are hardly the intuitive lovemachines the loyalist make them out to be

Actually, I found the Mac interface extremely intuitive but, first, I had to 'forget' everything I learned in DOS and Windoze.

I've used PCs since 1983. Back in '87, I found myself in a place where the only available computer was a Mac. After turning it on, I flailed about for quite awhile, just trying to find the command line. After someone introduced me to the mouse, I was hooked. Although I kept using PCs at work, I quickly became a Mac 'evangelist' and loved them until we parted in 1995, when I concluded it really didn't make sense to keep investing time and money in Macs; I was making my living as a Windoze programmer.

An old toaster Mac is tucked away in my basement. Maybe someday, I'll fire it up just for fun.

[js1138]

Yeah, the windows PCs at work are even worse. We have to reboot them daily. ,p>That says more about your IT department than it says about Windows.

[HAL9000]

I have a few Power Mac G5s. The only problem I've experiences was when of the hard disk drives failed and had to be replaced. Of course, Apple gets their disk drives from the same manufacturers the rest of the PC industry uses, so it's not a Mac-specific problem.

The Apple II I bought 28 years ago still works fine, and I have a bunch of antique Macs that still work. In general, Apple manufactures the best, most reliable computer systems for consumers.

[HAL9000]

if tired of the old canard that mac just doesnt know how to sell its product, why if they could just market it correctly, we would all throw our pc's in the trash...wrong....

Finally, Apple is making a strong effort to build market share. They wanted to get everything just right first. It's taken a lot of time to do it, but now all of the pieces are in place for them to make major gains.

i used to try and sit down and pretend i was a newbie in the tech world and no matter what i did, i couldnt see what the mac was so great at...again,it didnt seem intuitive, nor particulary faster or easier in anyway to use.....

Many of the Mac improvements are subtle but meaningful. For example, the menus on Macs are better organized and the commands are easier to use. The windows operate more smoothly, and the Mac screen fonts look better than Windows. I know that some people can't tell one font from another, but I can and I appreciate that it's easier to read text on a Mac screen than on Windows.

Here is an example - try to determine your current IP address on Windows. Or call your mom and ask what her IP address is. It's much easier to do simple things like that on a Mac.

[RogueIsland]

Though the overheating issues with macs is the newer macintelosh line, not the "older" powermac line.

The thermal paste issue was with the Intel line and I've seen reproductions of the official Apple manuals that show how to apply thermal paste -- and wow were they screwed up. Nobody globs on thermal paste like those assembly instructions indicated. That much thermal paste will end up being an insulator.

[RogueIsland]

Here is an example - try to determine your current IP address on Windows.

Start console. Type "ipconfig". Hit Enter key.

[HAL9000]

RogueIsland: Start console. Type "ipconfig". Hit Enter key.

Mom: What's a console?

[HAL9000]

Then, after typing in your Windows ipconfig command, it barfs up a bunch of crap like this -

C:\>ipconfig /all
Windows 2000 IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : wikipedia
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : wikipedia.org
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : wikipedia.org
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Netwon #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-D0-B7-A6-F1-11
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.75
what is lease. . . . . . . . . . : 27 May 2004 09:04:06
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 30 May 2004 09:04:06

Here is how we do it in Mac OS X -

Select the "System Preferences" command under the Apple menu, then click on the Network icon. The IP Address is shown here -

It's much easier to get your network address on Mac OS X - without having to resort to the primitive, difficult-to-understand MS-DOS commands that Windows requires. It's just another example of why Mac OS X is the superior operating system.

[RogueIsland]

Then, after typing in your Windows ipconfig command, it barfs up a bunch of crap like this

Yeah, that "IP Address" line is a puzzler.

Mac OS X - without having to resort to the primitive, difficult-to-understand MS-DOS commands that Windows requires

Windows requires you to use the console to get the ip address? Hmm, then what's that IP address in the Local Area Connection dialog?

[HAL9000]

In Windows, if you set the network control panel to obtain an IP address automatically - the most common setting - it doesn't show the address. Then you have to go to your DOS command prompt, type in ipconfig command, and scroll back to find the address. That is a lot of unnecessary crap to ask non-technical users to put up with - because Microsoft doesn't want users to have an easy way to get their current address. Windows treats the users like idiots.

On Mac, a DHCP-assigned address is shown on the network control panel. It's much easier.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^That says more about your IT department than it says about Windows.^^^^^^^^^^^

No it doesn't. Because it's very easy to get windows to such a state.

The amount of upkeep that windows requires is unrealistic.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^The only problem I've experiences was when of the hard disk drives failed and had to be replaced.^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ouch. Sounds like you fell within that 23%.

^^^^^^^^^^^Of course, Apple gets their disk drives from the same manufacturers the rest of the PC industry uses, so it's not a Mac-specific problem.^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Obviously. The HD is the most problem prone part of the computer because it's mechanical.(besides the dirt cheap winmodems that are thankfully leaving the scene slowly)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^The Apple II I bought 28 years ago still works fine, and I have a bunch of antique Macs that still work.^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yeah, Apple's quality control was alot better back then. Even looking at a G4 and G5 side by side(on the inside, not outside) shows where things have been headed.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^In general, Apple manufactures the best, most reliable computer systems for consumers.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That's clearly not true anymore. Not if their failure rate is triple the industry average.

Now the macintelosh line may have pulled a turn around, I don't know. I don't have anything to backup either side..

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

It's even easier than that in linux.

I'm told my ip address every time I turn my machine on.

Mom: "What's a control panel?"

I can just tell her to reboot her machine and look for the only strings of numbers she sees on screen. :-D

It doesn't get any easier than that son. Mom's not pre-disposed to something called a "control panel" any more than a "command line", however she shuts down/reboots regularly.

There's many instances where linux beats both.

[js1138]

...I simply do not see the behavior any longer that Mac implies in their ads. Win95 and Win98 were indeed pains but since Win2000, my job has been a lot easier.

I purchased and set up a very expensive Mac for a magagazine publisher in 1998. At that time Win98 was more reliable, and Nt4.0 was rock solid.

I personally started using NT4.0 around 1996, and never looked back. I now have a combination of Win2k and XP machines.

[HAL9000]

Ouch. Sounds like you fell within that 23%.

I have multiple PowerMac G5s. The more computers you own, the more likely one will experience a problem. But as I said, it was a disk drive failure, not a problem with any Apple-designed components.

Not if their failure rate is triple the industry average.

The Macintosh survey was not conducted with scientific methods. It was a self-selecting poll, which can provide some good anecdotal information,. Chances are that most PowerMac users who did not have a problem did not bother to participate, and the actual failure rate is much less than 23%.

[Swordmaker]

Poorly designed Mac G5 reliability survey of self selected respondents PING!

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