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Why are g4 mac mini's still so expensive??

barebackbadger8

barebackbadger8

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 23, 2009
277
1
Wolverhampton, UK
i was looking for a small pc to connect to my tv.
will only use it for basic internet use, itunes etc
anyway i was looking at the dell zino, acer revo then i remembered a little machine that made me first fall in love with apple!
so i started looking on ebay (uk) because my budget is very small (£200) so i thought i would at least get the first intel mac mini for that price..... but no i can only get the 1.25 g4 mac mini!
now i ask, are the g4 mac mini's still worth a purchase for what i want to use it for and i gather snow leopard wouldnt go on it due to its age but what about leopard?
i was thinking that they would be past there sell-by date, but many people still bid on them! so it makes me think that they must be still ok to buy
 
TEG

TEG

macrumors 604
Jan 21, 2002
6,621
169
Langley, Washington
The G4 Mini is so expensive because it contains a discrete video card (ie doesn't share system resources), so people think it is better for video playback, especially DVDs. It will only run Tiger or Leopard, since Snow Leopard is an Intel only OS.

TEG
 
barebackbadger8

barebackbadger8

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 23, 2009
277
1
Wolverhampton, UK
so do you think that they are worth the money (£200 converted is about what $275)
and didnt think the g4's had a dvd in them, just cd player?
also would there be a problem with itunes, because of all the latest versions/updates of itunes?
 
Spock

Spock

macrumors 68040
Jan 6, 2002
3,418
7,240
Vulcan
barebackbadger8 said:
so do you think that they are worth the money (£200 converted is about what $275)
and didnt think the g4's had a dvd in them, just cd player?
also would there be a problem with itunes, because of all the latest versions/updates of itunes?
Click to expand...

I have a 1.25 ghz Mini, I like it but it's not a speed demon by any means. I had it hooked to my tv, YouTube choked, Hulu choked, Netflix can't even run without the intel only silverlight plugin. Stored SD movies and tv shows played fine but forget HD now it's just a file server.
 
barebackbadger8

barebackbadger8

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 23, 2009
277
1
Wolverhampton, UK
Spock said:
I have a 1.25 ghz Mini, I like it but it's not a speed demon by any means. I had it hooked to my tv, YouTube choked, Hulu choked, Netflix can't even run without the intel only silverlight plugin. Stored SD movies and tv shows played fine but forget HD now it's just a file server.
Click to expand...
thanks for that, think ill give it a miss then might just get a acer revo
 
MacHamster68

MacHamster68

macrumors 68040
Sep 17, 2009
3,251
5
Mini's has a own price management its always a bit of when to buy and when to sell ,last year the Mini g4 was down in price because the mew mini was out so a lot did sell which made the price drop to under £150 for the G4 1.42's and about £120 for the G4 1.25 , but as the run for the new mini has now a bit of a slow down because of the MBA and iMac's , but every time there comes a major update everyone is selling his mini to get a newer one thats when the prices go down as more mini's on the market then buyers , when the run for the newer mini stops the prices pick up again , which you see now
 
K

kevink2

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2008
1,842
294
I gave my old G4 mini to my father's wife as a secondary computer for web access in one room. She has a 2010 Mini for real work. The G4 has also served as an emergency computer when my sister's computer wasn't working.

The Netflix issue was a showstopper for me. I had connected it to my TV, with plans for it to be used for streaming, but that didn't work out. The BD player I bought later does that, though :)
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
6,907
I think Classic Environment (older Mac OS mode) only works on PPC computers, so the fastest Mini capable of running older Mac apps is the G4 Mac Mini.

I can't think of any other reason why they'd hold their value so well. The Intel minis are much better in every way, even without discrete video.
 
M

mono1980

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2005
420
190
Lansing, MI
Yeah, I have an old PowerMac G4 1.25 Ghz with a dedicated video card, and it chokes on video. It's amazing that my iPhone outperforms this former powerhouse.
 
M

mutantteenager

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2006
258
0
I'd probably go for an Intel one, I've had problems with video support on G4 mini's from the off - they don't cope well with high resolutions or demanding video. In my experience anyhow.

It's crazy how Apple products, no matter how old seem to hold their value, long after their useful life!
 
r0k

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
I have an older G4 Mini (A Day One machine if I remember correctly) and it runs Hulu just fine and my wife uses it mostly for watching old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes Episodes. I have a BluRay/DVD play that streams netflix and blockbuster so I never bothered to try Netflix on the Mini.

I would not recommend an older Mini as a multimedia machine unless you want to use vga or dvi as there is no hdmi output on older Minis.
 
zorinlynx

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,170
17,690
Florida, USA
There is some latent demand for older PowerPC Macs simply because they run older versions of Mac OS X.

Some older, unmaintained software doesn't run on newer versions of OS X on Intel Macs. So for people who need to run specialized applications, older PPC Macs are the only way. This latent demand will keep the prices above "junk pricing" for the forseeable future.

Personally I wouldn't pay even $5 for a G4-based machine; G4s were horrendously slow even back then and I don't need PowerPC support for anything. But not everyone is me. :)
 
barebackbadger8

barebackbadger8

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 23, 2009
277
1
Wolverhampton, UK
im on a budget to the fact im getting married soon and cash is being tied up in that!
so ive decided to save up for a macbook pro.. hopefully by the time i have the cash the 13" MBP will have a better processor in it
as the only computer i have is an asus eee pc netbook which is a real ball breaker when trying to do more than 1 thing at once
 
W

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,835
3,514
ActionableMango said:
I think Classic Environment (older Mac OS mode) only works on PPC computers, so the fastest Mini capable of running older Mac apps is the G4 Mac Mini.

I can't think of any other reason why they'd hold their value so well. The Intel minis are much better in every way, even without discrete video.
Click to expand...

I can. MorphOS runs on G4 minis and these are cheaper than the custom PPC based units Amiga aficionados were limited to.
 
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