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Since most of our benchmarks involve Adobe After Effects, the most widely used processor-intensive application used by digital video editors and compositors, there's a speedup in the offing there, too, where we noticed faster render times using a beta copy of After Effects 6.5 for the Mac (see table below comparing AE 6.0 times with AE 6.5). Apparently Adobe has been doing some optimization of its own, goosing the performance of After Effects on the Mac.
| Results in minutes: seconds Boldface indicates winner | After Effects 6.5 Beta Apple G5, Dual 2GHz, 3GB DDR 400 SD RAM | After Effects 6 |
| 1. After Effects: Simple Animation | :06 | :07 |
| 2. After Effects: Video Composite | :52 | :55 |
| 3. After Effects: Data Project | 1:40 | 1:56 |
| 4. After Effects: Gambler | :28 | :30 |
| 5. After Effects: Source Shapes | 2:55 | 3:46 |
| 6. After Effects: Virtual Set | 3:23 | 3:44 |
| TotalBenchmark comp 1 | 102 sec. | 105 sec. |
| TotalBenchmark comp 2 | 1536 sec. | 1626 sec. |
And, there are advantages to 64-bit architecture that are already implemented in Panther, the latest version of OS X, now at version 10.3. For example, the system can now accommodate up to 8GB of RAM, which is available for use by multiple applications, even though each app alone can only use 4GB due to their current 32-bit limitations.
The Power Mac G5 is a formidable machine, representing a giant leap in performance over the G4. But the 64-bit transition so far only represents a small step. Even though there's not much of a benefit from 64-bit computing yet, this marks the beginning of a new era for Apple, where the 64-bit world will enable new capabilities for the content creation community. For now, finally Apple has shed its albatross-like partner Motorola, which did more harm than good to the Mac over the years. The G5 brings an entirely new level of responsiveness and performance to Apple's brilliant software line. Even better, as OS X and more applications become completely 64-bit capable, and as IBM improves the PPC 970 chip line, even higher levels of performance will be reached. Another key factor is cost. Apple has decided to competitively price the G5, where it's much less expensive than its similarly-configured PC competitors, which beat it by only slight margins in the benchmarks yet cost over $1000 more than a comparably-equipped $4398 G5. As we've looked closely at most of the computing platforms, operating systems and software available today, we've come to the realization that we're getting to a point where all computers are fast and all the operating systems on which they run are exceedingly stable. So it boils down to what software is available and how well does that software get the job done? Thinking along those lines, this Mac G5 serves as a dongle for Apple's excellent software like Final Cut Pro, with even more innovative software like the remarkable Motion 1.0 compositing application on the way. Taking all that into account, if you're a Mac user, or even if you're not, you will certainly want to consider updating your tool box with this powerful computer. It's a great value and receives our highest recommendation.
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