June 23, 2003: The Power Mac G5 goes on sale. Affectionately nicknamed the “cheese grater” due to its distinctive perforated exterior, it’s Apple’s fastest-ever machine — and the world’s first 64-bit personal computer.
“The 64-bit revolution has begun and the personal computer will never be the same again,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release describing the beastly machine. “The new Power Mac G5 combines the world’s first 64-bit desktop processor, the industry’s first 1 GHz front-side bus, and up to 8GB of memory to beat the fastest Pentium 4 and dual Xeon-based systems in industry-standard benchmarks and real-world professional applications.”
Power Mac G5 launch date
When the Power Mac G5 went on sale in 2003, Apple wasn’t just launching another desktop. It was making a major statement about what a professional computer could be. With a radically redesigned aluminum chassis and enough raw power to embarrass high-end PCs, the G5 turned the humble workstation into a piece of industrial design.
Its eye-catching design would go on to influence the Mac Pro for years, proving that performance and design didn’t need to be opposing forces.
Internally, the Power Mac G5 boasted IBM’s PowerPC G5 CPU architecture. At the time, it represented a massive step up from the aging Power Mac G4, which had been Apple’s high-end Mac range from 1999 until 2002. The G5 continued until Apple finally replaced it with the Intel-powered Mac Pro in August 2006.
Noise and heating problems, but a gorgeous design nevertheless
The powerful new computers weren’t without problems. Some models suffered from both noise and heating issues. (Apple produced a liquid-cooled version in an attempt to counter this). However, the Power Mac G5‘s stunning industrial appearance remains one of my personal favorite Apple designs in history, and one that a large number of users still remember today.
For trivia buffs, the Power Mac G5 was Apple’s first computer to include USB 2.0 ports.
The gorgeous design wasn’t limited to the unique case, either. The Power Mac G5 was the first Apple computer to have its interior — which most users would never even see — designed by Jony Ive and his team to be aesthetically pleasing.
Watch Steve Jobs launch the Power Mac G5
Check out the video of Steve Jobs introducing the Power Mac G5 on this day in 2003:
Do you have fond memories of the Power Macintosh G5? Leave your memories below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
5 responses to “Today in Apple history: Power Mac G5 goes on sale”
I like this case. I’d love to use it for my PC.
I still have my G4 and G5 and still working. I treasure them.
I guess that my G5 is still working. My 2008 Mac Pro just broke. :(
I miss the days when Apple was doing things ahead of their time. I still own a dual 2Ghz Powermac G5 running 10.5. I think it was purchased at the end of 2003. Right now It’s loaded with Adobe CS4 and the iLife suite and kept in a guest room. Has never given me any problems whatsoever. What’s impressive is that for a 13 year old mac it’s still a very fast machine and when the first gen Macbook’s with Intel processors came out (05-06?) this G5 was outperforming them. Now with the TenFourFox browser it keeps it up to date with the modern world and does what it’s been doing for over a decade. Just can’t get myself to get rid of it.
I still own a G5 , bought in 2005, still kicking, I almost sold it 4 years ago, but now I am glad I still own it, who knows, in a few years, it will become expensive vintage, I now use MacPro 2006, still running after all these years, with Capitan…., also own the first mac ever, 1980 something. Cult of mac baby.