Got Imac G4! Upgrade Advice/help

[Eric Lewis]

Cost me 550 cnd (50 more for airport card next week)

Specifications :
• Model & CPU Speed - iMac G4 17” LCD 1.25GHz
• RAM - 768 MB DDR PC2700/333
• Main Hard Drive - 80 GB IDE 5400 RPM
• Optical Drive - SuperDrive
• Video - Built-In GeForceMX 5200 64 MB
• Sound - Built-In
• USB - 3 Ports v2.0 Hi-Speed
• FireWire - 2 x 400 Mbs
• Ethernet - Built-In 10/100
• Wireless - Airport Extreme 802.11g Ready (optional)
• Modem - Internal 56K V.92
• BlueTooth - Ready (Optional)
• Display Size -
• OS - Mac OS X 10.3.9 + 9.2.2 software included
• Keyboard & Mouse Included
• Warranty - Used 30-Day

I installed Tiger with iWork 08 and iLife 08 and its working well

Now...i was thinking dvd playback with tiger would work better and iphoto with 1gig of ram

it has 512mb user accessible and 256mb not? how would i get 1gig?

buy a 1gig and put it in the 512mb? or no?

i havent installed MS offce 2004...but im assuming it work work well?

so what else can make it as fast as possible?

what airport card do i need?

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Here's a helpful thread from 2005.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/123698/

The situation is similar now. Its impossible to find 1GB sticks for the early iMac G4s. I wasn't able to find any after a quick search, but there is hope for you to install a second 512mb stick in the tech-only slot (not for the faint of heart).

 

[je1ani]

Jesus christ why did you pay so much? I bought a C2D 17" 2.0 last night for $650

 

[Eric Lewis]

Jesus christ why did you pay so much? I bought a C2D 17" 2.0 last night for $650

its canadian funds

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

its canadian funds

The CAD is currently worth $1.01 USD. Woohoo. We still pay more for stuff though, so that should account for some of the inflated price.

Although, my local shop offered a newer machine with a faster processor (and wifi+bt) for only $600. You could have done even better on eBay.

The iMac G4 is one of the coolest computers ever made though, definitely worth a few extra dollars.

 

[Eric Lewis]

The CAD is currently worth $1.01 USD. Woohoo. We still pay more for stuff though, so that should account for some of the inflated price.

Although, my local shop offered a newer machine with a faster processor (and wifi+bt) for only $600. You could have done even better on eBay.

The iMac G4 is one of the coolest computers ever made though, definitely worth a few extra dollars.

I wanted the G4

plus it was like perfect condtion...no dead/stuck pixels...very clean...speakers worked....

gave me 10.3 disks and 10.4 retail disks!

it was a great deal

and i have 30 days to return if i like

there is no other faster one? its the fastest and i got a extreme card from my older eMac

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

No need to justify your purchase . I think you spent wisely.

I thought you had a 700Mhz model. I must have confused it with another support thread.

 

[Eric Lewis]

No need to justify your purchase . I think you spent wisely.

I thought you had a 700Mhz model. I must have confused it with another support thread.

so what adaptor do i need to hook it up via VGA to my 42'' LCD with VGA?

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

You'll need this. IIRC the iMac G4s are only capable of screen mirroring and not screen spanning. That means you 'll only be able to use one monitor at a time or mirror the image on both.

 

[Eric Lewis]

You'll need this. IIRC the iMac G4s are only capable of screen mirroring and not screen spanning. That means you 'll only be able to use one monitor at a time or mirror the image on both.

thats perfect...i just need to hook it up to a TV to show DVD movies etc


and VGA will be best quality

any way to shut off the iMacs display and just use the TV?

 

[mini/mac]

I used to have the same computer.
I hated it cuz it was slow due to low RAM.

 

[Eric Lewis]

I used to have the same computer.
I hated it cuz it was slow due to low RAM.

what model? cpu? os? ram?

 

[mini/mac]

what model? cpu? os? ram?

I had the 1.25 ghz 17" model. I think it had 512 ram and it was running the latest version of tiger. 10.4.11? It was really laggy, but if I had more ram, I think it would've run better.

 

[MarkMS]

I had the 1.25 ghz 17" model. I think it had 512 ram and it was running the latest version of tiger. 10.4.11? It was really laggy, but if I had more ram, I think it would've run better.

Yeah, my 1.33GHz iBook G4 was slow as well. Only had 256MB RAM. I added a cheap 1GB stick and it's been running smoothly. Glad it's not used more than a laptop for occasional web surfing. Too bad it's gathering some dust. Might give it to my parents so my dad can check his stocks and email, and my mom to check her email and calendar.