Would you buy a PowerMac G5 now?

I got an offer to buy a PowerMac G5 and I'm wondering if it makes sense to do so. I'm not a Mac user so if I decided to buy, it would be more of a "lark" to see how things work on the Mac side.

As far as I know PowerMacs can only use VirtualPC to run Windows software and its not as efficient as Boot Camp or other emulation software.

So with that as a consideration would you buy? Here's the specs:

Apple PowerMac Dual G5 2.7 GHZ
2GB RAM
250GB HD
Radeon 9650 video card
SuperDrive
Apple keyboard, mighty mouse
Power Adapter
DVI to VGA Adapters
Firewire 800, Firewire 400, USB 2
Gigabit Ethernet Ports

Apple 20” LCD

I just bought a used G5 2.0 GHz DP.

The 2.7 is faster, and has dvi ports instead of the silly dvi and ADC bus mine has...

2Gb won't be too much, but is do-able.
This thing should be as fast or even faster running CS2 then the first generation Mac Pro's. CS3 is a different matter

Zero experience with running Windows on it, since I have no need for it.
It should also be able to run Classic, if for some legacy reason you'ld want that

More info on the machine here.

If it's a good price, why not? It'll depreciate slower then a new machine...

I probably wouldn't. Snow Leopard will be intel only.

Thanks for that info Rene.

I suppose it would be a simple matter to pop in two addtional RAM modules if I decide to get it. I would us it for photo editing only with PhotoshopCS3 and Lightroom, hence my concern.

Its not that expensive (less than $900 including the monitor) and it would really help the seller out but I wouldn't want to get it if it couldn't be used as I envision. For that same money I can get another Intel quad core computer.

René Damkot wrote in post #6280617
I just bought a used G5 2.0 GHz DP.

The 2.7 is faster, and has dvi ports instead of the silly dvi and ADC bus mine has...

2Gb won't be too much, but is do-able.
This thing should be as fast or even faster running CS2 then the first generation Mac Pro's. CS3 is a different matter

Zero experience with running Windows on it, since I have no need for it.
It should also be able to run Classic, if for some legacy reason you'ld want that

More info on the machine here.

If it's a good price, why not? It'll depreciate slower then a new machine...

The new operating system isn't a concern now. The Mac I'm looking at comes with OSX 10.5.

sadatk wrote in post #6280627
I probably wouldn't. Snow Leopard will be intel only.

No way. I've got a dual/dual 2.5ghz G5 tower next to me that is nigh on useless. Even with 8gb of ram, the thing is just dog slow. All its good for now is an iTunes and web browsing box. Photoshop is capped to 2gb before paging to disk, and all future software compatibility is going Intel only. G5 is a complete dead end.

A dual G5 w/ 20" Apple Cinema Display for 900 is not a bad deal at all, assuming you have the spare cash laying around for a toy. Just don't treat it like an investment.

FedkaTheConvict wrote in post #6280358
As far as I know PowerMacs can only use VirtualPC to run Windows software and its not as efficient as Boot Camp or other emulation software.

You would not want to do such a thing.

well you are really paying $300.00 for it considering a 20" Apple Cinema display is $600.00

opus13 wrote in post #6281153
dog slow.

This must be some strange use of the term I wasn't previously aware of

Sure. A current MacPro will be faster. But "dog slow?"