Apple's Power Mac G5 is their flagship series of desktop computer systems. Powered by dual PowerPC processors, these desktops support 64-bit applications and give the fastest Windows machines a run for their benchmarks. They're one of Apple's most expensive systems--great power often comes with a great price tag.

The baseline Power Mac G5 ships with dual 2.0GHz PowerPC processors and costs around two grand without a monitor. You can upgrade as you see fit, but the G5 comes pretty well equipped at starting price. As we mentioned, the G5's support 64-bit applications and still run 32-bit applications natively, so they'll transition you into tomorrow's programs without sacrificing performance with today's.

There's 512MB of 400MHz DDR memory working with those processors, a good amount for most home users. If you're a video-editing enthusiast, you may want to upgrade the RAM. Stepping up to 1GB of memory is a reasonable $100 upgrade, while moving up to 2GB will cost $300. You can max the G5 out at 8GB of RAM, but that adds over $1,500 to the sticker price.

With the default 160GB 7,200rpm hard drive, there's an excellent amount of storage room for multimedia files and game installations. Again, users who manipulate a lot of video may want to upgrade. A 250GB drive is $75 over baseline, while a 500GB drive is $375. The G5 can house twin 500GB drives for nearly a terabyte of storage space, but it'll cost you $750.

The optical drive is a powerful 16X Super Drive able to burn DVDs in traditional formats and the new Dual Layer format (which supports up to 8.5GB of data on a single disk). With Apple's included iDVD authoring software, you can put up to four hours of video on a DL DVD. If you don't need to burn your own DVDs, you can step down to Apple's Combo Drive with DVD-movie playback and CD-RW burning in the same drive. This will knock $100 off the overall system price.

These G5's are no slouches in terms of gaming. The default graphics board is a NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 128MB of dedicated video memory. You can upgrade to the Radeon 9650 with 256MB of memory for only $50. Hard-core gamers may want a cutting-edge board such as Nvidia's GeForce 7800 with 256MB of video memory and a $400 upgrade price.

The sleek gray case that houses the G5 has lots of connectivity options. There's a Firewire 800 port, two Firewire 400 ports, and four USB 2.0 ports, so you can connect high-speed peripherals to your Power Mac and get optimal transfer rates. One of the Firewire 400 and one of the USB 2.0 ports are on the front of the tower, so you can plug in often-used devices easily.

There's a gigabit Ethernet port built-in, meaning you can hook up your G5 to a home network or broadband service provider at the fastest speed available. There's no modem in the system--if you rely on dial-up to access the Internet, an internal modem costs $49. Or if you have a home wireless network, you can add an AirPort Extreme card bundled with Bluetooth for $99 to connect your G5 wirelessly.

The starting price does not include a monitor. Apple suggests some of their digital Cinema flat-panel displays for pairing with the G5. The 20-inch Cinema is $799, while their HD (High Definition) Cinema models start at 23 inches and a hefty $1,299.

Input devices are rather basic, although the keyboard does include two USB 1.1 pass-through ports that let you connect low-power devices to your system without taking up ports on the tower. If you'd like to cut the cords on your input devices, Apple offers a Bluetooth and Airport Extreme with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo.

Apple includes a one-year limited warranty on the G5 line, but only 90 days of toll-free technical support. You can opt for the $249 AppleCare Protection plan that extends both of these to three years if you need more coverage.

There are faster systems available in the G5 line that are more expensive, but add some additional upgrades with the deal. The dual 2.3GHz Power Macs start at $2,499 while the high end dual 2.7GHz systems begin at $2,999. With these systems, you get 250GB hard drives, faster PCI-X slots instead of PCI slots for expansion cards, and the ability to upgrade to 16GB of system RAM. The QUAD 2.5GHz system also ships with the 256MB ATI Radeon 9650 graphics board by default.

Video editors and Apple loyalists will definitely appreciate the power and overall package of the Power Mac G5 lines, but traditional Windows users may want to give them a look as well--the 64-bit application support and excellent multimedia performance are compelling attributes in this high end line of Apple systems.

Pros: Powerful, 64-bit application support
Cons: No monitor included

Warranty
1-year limited