MacTek Talk: A look at Apple's Power Mac G5s

Computerworld - As a Macintosh technician, I specialize in consulting for individuals and small businesses, although I've worked at midsize and large companies setting up and supporting software, hardware (including servers) and networks, as well as training users. It's pretty safe to say that supporting Apple computers isn't just my job; it's also my passion. Although my goal with this Mac Tek Talk column is eventually to field questions about integrating and using Apple computers and software in the workplace, I plan to begin with a two-part look at Apple Computer Inc. and its products.
Currently, Apple's strategy is twofold. Although it clearly aims squarely at consumers with a product lineup featuring the flat-panel iMac, the portable iBook and its iApps, Apple is also now making a bid for entry into more businesses using MacOS X and the just-introduced G5.
Lately, attention has focused on the Power Mac G5, which is now shipping. Apple claims that its G5 is the fastest PC available, and while benchmarks can be debated, the impression across the board is that the G5 is a quantum leap above anything Apple has offered before.
The hardware specs are impressive. For starters, the G5 chip, produced by IBM, is 64-bit. This change alone is significant because previous chips allowed the use of only 4GB of memory, which is fine if you're browsing the Web, writing e-mail or doing light- to medium-load work such as word processing, spreadsheets or digital video editing. But what about those who want to run high-end databases or even scientific applications? Running those applications required either dealing with earlier hardware limitations or resorting to high-end (and high-cost) solutions. By moving the processor to 64 bits, Apple has burst through the 4GB limitation and doubled the amount of memory the G5 hardware can access. (Theoretically, this 64-bit chip could access up to 4TB of physical memory, which means Apple has plenty of room to grow.) With 8GB of RAM accessible in the current G5s, data can now be completely stored in memory for immediate access, eliminating the need for page-outs to the much slower hard drive. The result: That database the server was thrashing its disk to load is all stored in RAM, allowing faster access than ever before. Suddenly, manipulating supersize Photoshop files won't slow your computer to a crawl.
Apple didn't stop there. All of that RAM doesn't do much good without a quick way of transferring data from memory to the rest of the system. Apple's answer: the G5 chip utilizes a 64-bit,