G4's Get Shafted

[andiwm2003]

multimedia is unfortunately right.

unless there are some specific software reasons or PCI cards in your mac.

for most people it's financially better to NOT BUY apple care ($349 for MacBook pro) and sell every 9 month.

if you buy a MacBook Pro with Applecare for $2800 it has a lifespan of 6 years. that is ~$450 per year (don't forget that there is no warranty for the last three years!)

if you buy and sell every year you can make 500 dollar loss (factoring applecare in) and still be better off. you always have warranty, newest system and ilife for free and a top of the line mac.

all you have to do is some work and find a fool on craigslist or ebay.

i said unfortunately because i myself use still G4, bought an emac last week for $350 with upgrade.

i'm just too lazy to go through the upgrading/selling procedure. but i also don't complain. i get my fun and use out of my mac's and i love them.

 

[sushi]

Really, Leopard has a set of minimum requirements. If your hardware doesn't meet them, you can't use it.

Exactly!

Now see that's just not true. There is already a Guide: Install Leopard On Older Macs thread here explaining exactly how to hack Leopard so it will install and run on very slow G4s as well as G3 Macs. So the notion you can't have most of Leopard's features on any older Mac is just plain fallacious.

Hacking is not a standard install. A hack install is a completely different case altogether.

Well i do beleive that my ppc mac is still good. sure i have an intel mini, but i was hoping i could put leopard on my 800 MHz iBook G3.

That's not being realistic.

The G3 chip, while a good chip, was designed almost 10 years ago.

I knew exactly what was happening. Your theory on 'flipping' every high-value item you own every few months is completely unrealistic. I simply don't have time to run around Apple stores just so I can permanently be on the bleeding edge all the time, nor do I feel like spending my money in such a way, nor does the thought of joining the rat race on eBay and endure the hassle of upgrading for the sake of bragging rights. My Mac is perfectly fine for most of what I do, and to pretend that I need an Intel processor when in reality it would simply be nice would be delusional. I know people who do graphic design for a living on G3 PowerBooks. Sure, they'd have more power and all the creature comforts of Tiger/Leopard, but they have no desire to go through the hassle of upgrading all their software and worrying over incompatibilities.

Good points.

For some, flipping is the way to go. For others, keeping their current systems is better. As they say, it all depends...

Those with older systems need to realize that they will become outdated at some point. If i were to guess now, since OS updates come out every 1.5 to 2 years, that the PPC platform might be dead when 10.6 is introduced. We may have completely moved to Intel by then.

And why would you get rid of your laptop? If it does everything you need it to right now, keep it as is, with Tiger, and buy a new laptop when you need one. I've gotten two years out of my ibook so far, and I will probably get another two more...

Still using my PowerBook 15 from 4 years ago. Works fine!

Then, on a whim, I checked eBay for the cost of a whole new G4 machine (Quicksilver/800 mHz+), and surprise, surprise... some of them are starting at under $50 or so.

Oyyyy. Now that's irony.

Many good older systems can be had for very cheap. And if it serves your needs, why not?