15" PB G4 any good for cheap arse student?

[kraunsky]

Hey all.

Looking to switch to Mac for as little as possible, found a PB G4 15" Model, 1.5GHZ, 2gig, 80gig, superdrive, wifi, bt etc etc. Any good for a 14 year old high school student. The powerbook is $999AUD. Give me your opinions on the PB G4 15". Any reason why i shouldnt buy it?

Thanks,

Kraunsky

 

[iBookG4user]

It will be slow compared to todays standards, although if you don't do anything processor intensive then it should be adequate. I would recommend that you check to see if you can pick up a Rev A Core Duo MacBook (Pro) though as it will be much faster and last you longer.

 

[.Andy]

What is it going to be used for? And for how long do you envisage its required lifespan?

 

[kraunsky]

Thanks for your quick replys.
The PB Will go through office applications; word powerpoint etc, IM, and Internet pretty much, I got the untrustworthy PC for Visual Studio.

I can get a MBP for like 1600, I dont know if i'll be able to scrape that cash up, not sure yet, i'll chat to the parents

Thanks Again

 

[BittenApple]

the powerbook g4 will be good enough for a student. as long as you arnt expecting to play any games then web browsing, typing essays will be perfectly fine.

 

[iCantwait]

mbp. but first look here, http://store.apple.com/au_epp_55827 . not sure if tht works, but soon im trying my luck on a MBP

 

[alecgold]

around 500 Euro's for a G4 is not that cheap.
With lots of search I was able to find a macbook 4.1 for the same price! it was 3 months old from a photografer wo thought it to have a to little screen after all.
I did ad 2Gb memory and upgraded the HDD to 320Gb,
but it came with 2Gb mem and IIRC 160HDD.
So I would say that search is your friend and patient the name of the game,
but a MB would keep you in business for years and years to come and the G4 would prob. not be able to cope with snow leopard.

This is what i did buy:
Modelnaam: MacBook
Modelaanduiding: MacBook4,1
Processornaam: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processorsnelheid: 2.1 GHz
Aantal processors: 1
Totaal aantal cores: 2
L2-cache: 3 MB
Geheugen: 4 GB
Bussnelheid: 800 MHz
Opstart-ROM-versie: MB41.00C1.B00
SMC-versie: 1.31f0

Thanks for your quick replys.
The PB Will go through office applications; word powerpoint etc, IM, and Internet pretty much, I got the untrustworthy PC for Visual Studio.

I can get a MBP for like 1600, I dont know if i'll be able to scrape that cash up, not sure yet, i'll chat to the parents

Thanks Again

 

[kraunsky]

sweet thanks for that.

 

[sushi]

Looking to switch to Mac for as little as possible, found a PB G4 15" Model, 1.5GHZ, 2gig, 80gig, superdrive, wifi, bt etc etc. Any good for a 14 year old high school student. The powerbook is $999AUD. Give me your opinions on the PB G4 15". Any reason why i shouldnt buy it?

That sounds a bit steep for just a PowerBook. I would check around for other options.

I have both a MBP15 (year old) and a PB15 (5 plus years old).

Both work great. Sure the MBP is faster -- that is to be expected. My reason for getting the MBP15 was my need to run Windows XP via virtualization using Parallels/VMware Fusion. VPC for the PB15 was just too slow so I carried two laptops, one the PB15 and the other a little PC laptop. Now I just need the one laptop which is very convenient compared to before.

Office 2004 runs better on the PB15 than my MBP15. Office 2008 is faster on the MBP15.

I guess it all depends on what you are going to do with it. The PB15 while not a screamer, is plenty fast for e-mail, browsing the web, using Office 2004 apps, etc.

Another issue to consider is that the older the computer the more likely there may be a problem with it. So be sure to check it out thoroughly before buying a used one as there is no warranty coverage unless the shop selling it provides one.

 

[kraunsky]

Thanks "sushi"
Yeah i kinda agree that something that old is that price, I will have a proper look around for a MBP/MB when it comes the time to buy!

 

[clyde2801]

Look up that system for your country in mac2sell.net. Get the estimate from the site, and see if you can talk the seller down.

I use my last gen 12" pb for pretty much the same stuff, and it works fine. OTOH, I did manage to buy it recently for 400 USD.

 

[kraunsky]

Look up that system for your country in mac2sell.net. Get the estimate from the site, and see if you can talk the seller down.

Thanks,
Just went on there the estimated price was 820, definantly gunna try to get it for at least 850, or 900 at the max!

 

[kraunsky]

i might even have a look around ebay, trading post, gumtree etc etc for a used 15" macbook pro. i agree with a lot of yous, its a bit expensive for how old it is, i might as well spend an extra few hundred and get something more modern.