iMac G5 vs PowerMac G4

davidg4781 said:

I've had an itch to buy a PPC Mac for a little over a year now. Almost bought one about 8 months ago but had to buy a car instead.

So, that itch is coming back. I have a nice MBP so I don't need anything super awesome but I'm just looking to have the experience and play around with it, along with maybe playing some older PPC games (I have Diablo (II??)).

I was planning on getting a PowerMac G4. Just because of the pro-audio thing and ADC connectors, thought that was cool. But I'm thinking of getting an iMac G5 instead.

Is there a huge performance gain in the iMac, being a G5? I know when comparing Intel models the Mac Pro was a lot more powerful than an iMac, but these were different times.

I don't think I can put OS 9 on the iMac though, correct? I do have a retail copy of Leopard so I can use that. If not, I guess I should sell it while there's still a good market for it.

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The main question is which iMac G5 and which PowerMac G4 you're comparing. There were plenty of each. And yes, you can put OS 9 on the iMac G5, but only by using classic mode while running OS X Tiger. Leopard does not support OS 9 at all and to be honest, a more recent G5 iMac benefits greatly from Leopard. So the only way to justify getting an iMac G5 and running Os 9 would be to get an older G5.

Speaking for myself, I'd be happier with a Power G4 rather than an iMac G5. Can do some nice mods with the G4 -- HDD, graphics and more. The iMac G5s had some notorious hardware problems, though I don't at this moment recall what they were. I'll bet that if you looked on eBay, you'd likely find more iMac G5s being offered for parts than whole systems.

Yeah, I believe you'd have more fun playing with the G4, and that you'd likely get a lot more power out of it, depending on the model. The G4s are also, to me, much more beautifully designed than the iMac.

With a lot of the G4s you can boot with OS 9 as well as run it in Classic Mode within OS X, but you can only run it in Classic Mode with Tiger 10.4.11, not Leopard (10.5 - 10.5.8). You can't boot OS 9 with any of the G5s, though again, you can run OS 9 within 10.4.11 only.

If it were me, I'd go for a Power G4 and install Leopard. You can always sell your installer disks after you've finished with them.

davidg4781 said:

Thanks.

OS 9 wasn't really that important. It was going to be one of those, "Ohh, this is how it was back then. Ok, back to OS X" type things.

And I'm really leaning on the PowerMac, with an ACD. Kind of to keep it stock looking.

Last year I was finding them on Craigslist for $100-200. Not much on there last time I checked.

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Then if you're leaning toward the PowerMac, then be sure to get one that's a dual core. Sure, one with a single processor might be fun, but the performance gain from a dual core CPU would be preferable in my opinion.

But then again, the PM does have expansion bays and you could have different bootable drives with different versions of OSX so that you could utilize OS 9 whenever you felt like it.

Sorry if i upset any G5 iMac owners out there but moving from my MDD 1.42 to a iMac G5 1.8 was one of the biggest mistakes I made - The iMac was slower in every single way (games, applications and 'feel') to the G4 PM - out of the two if I had that choice again it would be a no brainer - Hi end PM G4.

Of course there other considerations for choosing the iMac - space, noise, asthetics etc. if these are more important to you get the iMac.

First generation iMac G5's become very noisy when you tax the cpu but when idling or doing light tasks they are pretty quiet. I have never owned second generation machines the the third generation 1.9GHz did not make that much noise as the first revision machines do. I read somewhere that the third generation has bit lower power consuming version of G5, codename 970FX while first generation has 970.

I considered the same and went with the G4 PowerMac Quicksilver 2002 as it boots into OS 9 and OSX and can use OSX classic mode under tiger.

I wanted to have a machine that could boot into OS9 for the best compatibility to run the large number of old mac abandoned programs on macintosh garden, etc, also just for nostalgia it's nice to have an option to boot direct into OS9.

Also as others mentioned its very easy to change hardware on the tower compared to a G5 imac, too.

I even ended up with 2 G4 towers, a dual 1GHz and a single 1.4 sonnet upgraded.
Don't need both but can't decide which one to keep

A warning , once you start buying old macs you'll want more, so you might end up with both...

RedCroissant said:

So the only way to justify getting an iMac G5 and running Os 9 would be to get an older G5.

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No G5 can run OS 9.

RedCroissant said:

Then if you're leaning toward the PowerMac, then be sure to get one that's a dual core. Sure, one with a single processor might be fun, but the performance gain from a dual core CPU would be preferable in my opinion.

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I think you mean dual-processor.

As for iMac vs. Power Mac, I would get one of the later models with the Mirrored drive doors. Try and find a dual processor one. I just got one (for $20 with RAM), but it sorta kinda is missing some sorta important fans, so...

Only iMac G5 worth to own is free one. I had all three generations (original, ALS and iSight) and was always happy when I managed to sell one.
Hi-end MDD beats most of them in real world usage.
I'd recommend any non-FW800 MDD with 167 MHz bus. CPU is easily upgradeable. 1.25 single is quite overclockable too. It will run OS 9 natively. MDDs do have one major advantage over Quicksilvers: 2GB RAM. This makes a singificant difference in Leopard.

OSMac said:

A warning , once you start buying old macs you'll want more, so you might end up with both...

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This is very true. I bought 3 G4s recently only because there was a Beige Tower bundled with them. Now I must get rid of G4s ASAP, otherwise my better half will make me homeless

MisterKeeks said:

No G5 can run OS 9.


I think you mean dual-processor.

As for iMac vs. Power Mac, I would get one of the later models with the Mirrored drive doors. Try and find a dual processor one. I just got one (for $20 with RAM), but it sorta kinda is missing some sorta important fans, so...

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I thought that the G5s could run Os9 in classic mode with Tiger installed?

I do mean dual processor.

RedCroissant said:

I thought that the G5s could run Os9 in classic mode with Tiger installed?

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Yes, they can, but it isn't the same. Besides, the DP 1.25 G4 (Firewire 400) can boot OS 9 natively, and is faster than some early G5s.

MisterKeeks said:

Yes, they can, but it isn't the same. Besides, the DP 1.25 G4 (Firewire 400) can boot OS 9 natively, and is faster than some early G5s.

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Well then I'm sold. I will also take a PowerMac, please.

If you get a MDD look into CHUD Tools and Nap Mode, otherwise you may get a nasty surprise on your electricity bill.

MacinDan said:

If you get a MDD look into CHUD Tools and Nap Mode, otherwise you may get a nasty surprise on your electricity bill.

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The previous owner of my G4 (a university) decided to take all of the fans out. Probably consumes less energy that way; even more because I can't use it until I choose some fans for it.

OSMac said:

A warning , once you start buying old macs you'll want more, so you might end up with both...

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Haha!

Started by successfully jamming Tiger onto a Wallstreet PowerBook G3 (with Wifi even!) someone gave me.

Then a nice 600mhz iMac G3 for $35 several years ago, and set it up as a good first computer for my Mother-in-law before iPad.

Then a Cube for my home away from home, which I still use with leopard to stream iTunes to my basement stereo.

Then traded my iPod touch for a nice PowerBook G4

Just recently picked up a nice MDD and trying to scheme up something useful to do with it.

(And pocketed a CLASSIC and a PLUS recently too!)