By Jo Best, 11 June 2004 12:40
NEWS Apple has been told by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that its boast that the Power Mac G5 is the world's fastest personal computer is in breach of advertising legislation.
The ASA, after taking expert advice and running a series of tests comparing the Mac with the Dell Dimension 8300 and the Dell Precision 650, said the claim made in magazine adverts was misleading because the G5 wasn't "the fastest processor in all circumstances for all applications".
The ASA added that it "also understood that the G5 machine tested was still under development and the tests seemed to be configured in a way that might have given the Power Mac G5 an unfair advantage".
The ASA has asked Apple not to repeat the claim.
Two other complaints made about the ads namely that the PC is "the first with a 64-bit processor" and that the systems built around the G5 "can shatter the 4-gigabyte memory ceiling that limits every other PC on earth" - were not upheld.
The complaint about the 64-bit processor was rejected on the grounds that while computers had the processor they were "workstations" and not desktop PCs for home computing. The complaint over the 4GB 'ceiling' was rejected as the ASA found the G5 was the only PC that could access more than 4GB without the need for extra hardware.
Comments
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1. anonymous
It's an easy thing to fix. All Apple has to do is add "in its class" to all their ads. As if anyone believes all the claims that are made in ads. The only ones who would give a darn about this are the dweeb techies who have nothing better to do than sit around and stare at their own processors. Sounds like ----- envy to me.
2. John Hauxwell
Apple envy?
3. anonymous
Apple IS the fastest PC
4. anonymous
Not envy just Apple's normal mode of boast operation. What it is is lies pure and simple! I am sick and tired of Apple's false claims for one. The thing is that many of us in the business world running PCs can blow the doors off G5 machines with our whimpy little PCs.
5. anonymous
When was the last time you fired up a blistering Intel based machine? Apparently a long time ago!
6. anonymous
Can´t compare a G5 with PCs; just like day and night. Want to work Video and audio? Buy a mac. Want to play solitaire? Go for the pc.
7. anonymous
I have a G5 mac and my dual core athlon 64 pc smokes it on the bench. It depends all on what you are comparing it to I guess. I do pro video and Vegas 5 renders faster then any of the final cut pro stuff on the G5. Sure you can build one or the other faster but when money is a concern a good athlon dual core 64 in my experience is an awsome piece or hardware. I paid almost half then my g5 for the pc.
8. anonymous
Power-PC, Athlon, and Intel are the best, it's just the advantage that the OS takes of the speed. Mac OS X has a better user interface and takes more advantage of it. XP sucks at that. One thing's for sure, a PC can't handle 16 GB of RAM like a Mac can. Power Mac G5 10 GHz (quadra)rules