imac g4 worth it? $300

[afan]

Im new to macs and I was wondering if a 15" 700mhz refurbished would be worth $300 shipped? How well would it be able to run Photoshop, itunes and web browser at the same time. And what would be the latest OS I could run on it? Thanks sorry for all the questions it's just mac and pcs a to different worlds.

I know a lot about pcs but does anyone know where I could find out information like a g4 700mhz processor can perform as good as a pcs p4 1.4ghz processor. Stuff like that. Thanks again

 

[Eidorian]

I suggest going with a Mac mini G4 around that price instead unless you're in dire need of an all-in-one.

 

[Sun Baked]

The current OS Tiger is likely the last OS you'll be able to run on it.

Leopard seems to have been targeted to 800MHz G4s, but recently may have been pushed up to 866MHz machines.

So yes, a Mini might be a better bet in you have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Note: You'd want to bump the memory -- problem is that if it is running PC133 or DDR memory, it'll be more expensive to bump up to 1GB than current DDR2 DIMM/SO-DIMM machines.

 

[afan]

I cant find any mac minis that cheap. How about a Quick silver 733mhz for $290 shipped is that a better deal?

 

[Eidorian]

I cant find any mac minis that cheap. How about a Quick silver 733mhz for $290 shipped is that a better deal?

That's a rather good deal if it includes shipping. What is your budget?

I suggest checking the marketplace here to see if anyone is offering a Mac that you want for sale.

 

[Sun Baked]

I cant find any mac minis that cheap. How about a Quick silver 733mhz for $290 shipped is that a better deal?

Running PC133 memory, hard to find and about 3-4 times the cost per GB as current RAM.

A GB for the QS is about $100-160 if you can find it versus $35-40 for a GB of current notebook memory.

The MDD and newer machines at least ran DDR.

Look at

http://support.apple.com/specs/

tech specs, including memory types.

Note: 512MB is likely the least memory you want in the older machine. And likely up to 1GB if you do a lot of Photoshop work.

 

[afan]

well I prefer not to go past much past $300, one because I dont have much money to spend and 2 I could get a new mac mini for $500 with my student discount. So anything close to $400 or so would seem like a waste to buy something old when I could have a new mini. Thats why I'm trying to keep it at $300. Thanks for your help.

 

[Eidorian]

The Mac mini Intel would give best options in terms of price and power. You wouldn't have to worry about application support or trying for find older upgrade hardware.

The next option personally would be the Mac mini G4. The 1.25 GHz model can be find easily around this price point.

 

[afan]

The quicksilver 733mhz comes with 512mb of ram. I also found a Quicksilver 933mhz for $340 shipped.

The computers I am using now run on pc133 so I have 4 256mb sticks that I could use if it only had one 512mb stick in it but I doubt it.

 

[Eidorian]

The quicksilver 733mhz comes with 512mb of ram. I also found a Quicksilver 933mhz for $340 shipped.

The computers I am using now run on pc133 so I have 4 256mb sticks that I could use if it only had one 512mb stick in it but I doubt it.

I'd jump on the 933 MHz Quicksilver. It has the 2 MB of L3 cache and it's supported under Leopard. I used one as a personal machine several years ago and it's a great machine.

The RAM you have should work just fine.

The molex power cables are a pain to pull out if you want to replace the optical drive though.

 

[Sun Baked]

The 933MHz machine will at least allow you to run the new OS.

And it looks like you got the memory to bump it to 1Gb, so it'll be the best bet unless you can find something better for less.