Buy your Historical piece of the “Big Mac”
I knew it wouldn’t take long before someone came up with the angle that would sell Virginia State University’s previously owned Apple G5 computers. The computers are a piece of history for they made the world’s third fastest computer and they signify the start of Apple entering the supercomputer business.
The Virginia State University system helped put Apple on the supercomputing map in a big way. The machine proved the merits of Apple’s G5 processor - aka IBM PPC 970 - and the company’s server aspirations. Apple’s Xserve tends to end up in mostly Apple shops, but the university work proved it could be an option for any customer in the high performance computing field.
But if the “Big Mac” is a piece of history, it’s only because the system sticks out as a shining example of success in an otherwise dull story.
Apple has yet to prove it can capitalize on “Big Mac’s” success in a big way. It will take some time to see if the Mac maker can close deals with other schools or big business.
That bit aside, customers can pick up a refurbished system for $2,799. It ships with dual 2.0GHz processors, 1GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive. The computers start shipping next week.
The comparable computer new from Apple will run you about $3000.oo, so if you don’t mind a used machine, slightly used, then I think you would be getting a pretty good deal.