The first kit (Alpha 1) had an ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB (R3xx), the second a Radeon X800 XT 256 MB (R420). The kits had 512MB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive (Seagate ST3160023AS) and an ATi graphics card. Other variants do not work with the Microsoft OS. Microsoft has used two versions of the Power Mac G5: the original 2003 one in its “dual 2 GHz” version, or the June 2004 variant, still with two G5 at 2 GHz (but in 970fx version, in 90 nm). From time to time, those machines reappear on eBay or at private homes – I have one – but obviously without the Microsoft OS (and with Mac OS X). Then, Microsoft downgraded the machines, which were eventually sold to employees for $ 300, with obviously a completely erased hard drive.

The development kits are used during a few years, at least until the E3 2005: the demonstrations of the Xbox 360 at the time are on Mac. As we will see, they differ essentially by the graphics card used. Before the arrival of the real console, the brand provides two variants to the developers: the Alpha 1 and the Alpha 2 kits. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.Then, Microsoft buys many Power Mac G5 and installs a dedicated operating system on it for the devs.

Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more.

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