QUIETUDE

The D-2 G5 seemed to boot very quickly, something we will get to in a moment, and quietly. Except for a quick burst right after power-on at startup, the D-2 G5's many fans run fairly quietly under a light load or at idle. Our D-2 G5 is generally much quieter than our D-1.42 G4, itself one of the quieter recent G4s. In a quiet room, the D-2 G5 is still noticeable but certainly not overly obtrusive. However, when we ran Apple's extended Hardware Test from the G5's software DVD we got a good dose of just how loud the D-2 G5 can be. With all nine fans running at top speed the D-2 G5 is very loud, so loud that we could easily hear it downstairs in a room on another floor of our building with an open staircase. The sound is that of rushing air, like a vacuum cleaner but without the high-pitched whine. The G5's 4x SuperDrive is also quite noticeable when spinning a disc. As quiet as the G5 is, it still makes us appreciate near-silent computing with the G4 Cube or a 'Book.