Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Buy a PPC Mac mini?

O

OneMoreMacUser

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 23, 2013
30
0
Central Ohio
Do you guys think it would be worth it to buy a Mac mini January 2005 (1.43ghz)?

I would like it to buy an older mac with iTunes for my hp iPod mini (from HP), as well as a music playing machine (that uses iTunes and the iTunes Store) and a web surfing/youtube watching machine.

My dad had a power mac g4 and it could do these things pretty well, I was wondering if mac Mac mini could do similar.
I am planning to install Mac OS 10.5 on it if I get it.
 
My eMac has the same processor (1.42 GHz G4), and it's still wonderful for most tasks. I use Mactubes to watch YouTube videos on it with no issues, and iTunes doesn't skip a beat. :p

Two things to consider, though: don't pay more than $150 or so for one, they're not worth any more than that. And, if you want to run 10.5, you will want to max the RAM out to 1 GB. Personally, however, I have found 10.5 to be a bit sluggish on all single processor G4's, no matter the amount of memory. I run 10.4 for the stability and speed it offers.
 
I think for USD150 you should aldready get early Intel Mac Mini ? I've seen G4 machines going for around 70-80 USD here. A while ago I paid 80 USD or something for my PowerBook and it came with all sorts of adapters, covers and Retail Leopard disk.
 
I agree w/ Zotaccian. Unless you, like many of us here have a soft spot for PowerPC in your heart then there's really nothing stopping you getting an '06 Mini. Even a Core Solo Mini will blow the G4 out of the water in most tasks, and that's not even beginning to get into support on 10.6 vs 10.5.

PS. I've always wanted a HP iPod - envious!
 
Tiger is grossly outdated....
Although I really like it and the fact that it has classic support, 10.5 is much more supported, and really isn't slow on single G4s like lots of people say, unless you compare it to a much newer Mac Mini....
 
I just would like a really cheap mac, and most of the computers I have ever used in my life were powerpc. I have found a couple online for about $45 so I think I am going to get one. It'll be nice having a mac again, even if it is really outdated!

Go Powerpc :cool::D
 
gavinstubbs09 said:
Till you find some killer deal on a MacBook :p

Nah I think I'll be getting PPC stuff for a while. One thing I would absolutely love to do is sell my G5 and get a G5 Quad. That is on my bucket list!
Click to expand...

I will probably get a Macbook when the time comes, but PowerPC is something that does and will do my job for the next several years. Heck, with an App store coming, I don't need any new Mac right now!!
 
i have had a few macs plugged in hard wired from the headphones port to my stereo receiver and a ppc mac mini had the best sound quality for the ones i've tried. i say go for it.
 
Don't pay $150...for that kinda money you should be able to get a first generation intel mini.

Also you mention you want to watch utube....a mac mini 1.42GHz will be poor for this type app! Heck even my G5 1.8GHz Imac ppc has issues with utube at only 360p. (note: you could get around this limitation by using mactubes and dl tubes and watching in quicktime)

As for your itunes needs a ppc will only run up to a certain version (help me here guys),and this version will not be able to be used with latest apple ipods,ipads ect

As someone who has owned both ppc and intel mini's...(for what you want to use it for) buy a first gen intel mini! The speed difference is like night and day!

Here is a link to show you specs,geekbench scores of all the mini's

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/index-macmini.html
 
tom vilsack said:
As for your itunes needs a ppc will only run up to a certain version (help me here guys),and this version will not be able to be used with latest apple ipods,ipads ect.
Click to expand...
iTunes version 10.6.3.25 is the latest version and it needs OS X 10.5 Leopard.
It seems this version of iTunes is needed by and supports iOS6
 
Last edited:
jrsx said:
Tiger is grossly outdated....
Although I really like it and the fact that it has classic support, 10.5 is much more supported, and really isn't slow on single G4s like lots of people say, unless you compare it to a much newer Mac Mini....
Click to expand...

I'm glad Tiger still has the little support left that it does being nearly a 9 year old OS, and I'll admit that Leopard trumps Tiger in certain areas like features and updated technologies, but for me, Tiger is the better OS because of how much quicker and more solid it is. On the G4's I've had, Leopard has always been of acceptable performance on 1.25 GHz+ processors, but only with at least 1.25 GB of RAM, and the stability is a little shaky at times. Load Tiger on the same specs, and it leaves Leopard in the dust while almost never missing a step.
 
I will admit Tiger is faster in booting up and web surfing and other things like that, but for the most part, I'm going with Leopard.
 
SkyBell said:
I'm glad Tiger still has the little support left that it does being nearly a 9 year old OS, and I'll admit that Leopard trumps Tiger in certain areas like features and updated technologies, but for me, Tiger is the better OS because of how much quicker and more solid it is. On the G4's I've had, Leopard has always been of acceptable performance on 1.25 GHz+ processors, but only with at least 1.25 GB of RAM, and the stability is a little shaky at times. Load Tiger on the same specs, and it leaves Leopard in the dust while almost never missing a step.
Click to expand...

Any experience of using an SSD for Leopard on a G4? (Specifically an imac 17")
 
HereBeMonsters said:
Any experience of using an SSD for Leopard on a G4? (Specifically an imac 17")
Click to expand...
Nope, SSD's are too far out of my non-existent budget. :p But I've heard that due to the older SATA connections in G4 machines, the difference in speed versus a traditional hard drive isn't nearly as wide as it is on newer machines.
 
HereBeMonsters said:
Any experience of using an SSD for Leopard on a G4? (Specifically an imac 17")
Click to expand...

If it helps, I tried a PATA SSD in my Pismo (G4 550). It booted more quickly, seemed to benchmark a little more quickly, but was so eerily quiet I couldn't tell if the hard drive was working until I installed MenuMeters to get visual feedback.
The biggest boost I ever got was to install a conventional IDE drive but a 7200rpm one - 40mb/sec benchmark. I think it was in the low 20s with the original 4200rpm drive.
So, on these very old systems I think an SSD would be a waste of money.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
Zotaccian said:
I think for USD150 you should aldready get early Intel Mac Mini ? I've seen G4 machines going for around 70-80 USD here. A while ago I paid 80 USD or something for my PowerBook and it came with all sorts of adapters, covers and Retail Leopard disk.
Click to expand...

Damn that's good for 80 bucks! Leopard Retail Discs go for over that alone these days :rolleyes:
 
Hughmac said:
If it helps, I tried a PATA SSD in my Pismo (G4 550). It booted more quickly, seemed to benchmark a little more quickly, but was so eerily quiet I couldn't tell if the hard drive was working until I installed MenuMeters to get visual feedback.
The biggest boost I ever got was to install a conventional IDE drive but a 7200rpm one - 40mb/sec benchmark. I think it was in the low 20s with the original 4200rpm drive.
So, on these very old systems I think an SSD would be a waste of money.

Cheers :)

Hugh
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I have any IDE drives left any more, but (as I work in IT) I've always got an SSD or two kicking around.

Can you put more than one device on each IDE chain on these? For example on a PC you can have two - a slave and a master? So I could use an old 16GB SSD as the boot device, then have the 80GB disk already in there for a bit more storage?
 
Since we seem to be discussing SSDs :D

Have one in my MDD, and for once in my life I feel like I can sit here and it is plenty of fast to check forums, email, Pandora, even YouTube perfectly in Webkit! The boot time with the SSD still takes a while but the instant-ness of everything is awesome!
 
Don't forget I was trying an SSD in a PowerBook from the turn of the century.
I still had an increase in performance even on that age machine, however slight, so if you have SSDs available you'll definitely get some boost on your Mac, and probably more than on my Pismo.

Cheers :)

Hugh
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back