How many PPC Mac's are still in use?

[seamus26]

You know, aside from our 20" iMac I have ... let's see ... one ... two ... seven Macs running, ranging from my Mac Classic in the garage to the 466Mhz Clamshell iBook that I'm using right now. I know, I know. It's an illness. I'm still bummed that Red Orb answered my email by saying that they aren't planning on releasing a 68k version of Riven. Jerks. All kidding aside, though, Intel is the future of Apple ... at least for now. That's where the market is.

 

[snberk103]

Another consideration is how many PPC users will be investing any more money into them. That is, if I had a PPC that is running fine, but I know that I will be upgrading within the year, then I may be reluctant to spend any money on up-to-date software until I get the new system. 1) Because I may not be bringing that software to the Intel system, and 2) Because I'm saving up my $ in order to purchase a new system.

One way to help to mitigate this is to offer a free upgrade from the PPC version to the Intel version even if this means that the user is also going up a step or two in versions. There is good marketing campaign in there. The company can promote itself has helping out the "left behind PPC user". If the PPC deal is good enough to get a really good user base, then when they do upgrade to the Intel system you will then likely have them on the Intel side, and while you may forego the initial upgrade fees, your company will likely keep them for subsequent upgrades. By offering a new product to PPC users, who may be feeling left out, you will likely get some loyal customers.

Good luck

 

[Tesselator]

I would venture to say that there is a fairly large installed base running PPC based Macs.

I think that's probably true in the USA and Europe. I'm reporting from Japan and I guess there are less that 5% of the units sold still in use. And probably more like less than 1%.

You should have seen the piles of 68K machines sitting in the street corner trash here when the PPC units came out. And it was kinda like that for the 1st 18 months after the Intel units started shipping too. And no one picked them up and took them home. I did a few to see if they worked and to steal the RAM and HDDs from them but I'm a pretty strange guy.

.

 

[paul.opensource]

Ppc

My one and only Mac, but it's my first: G4 Digital Audio. My buddy just bought a G5 dual 1.8 and is using it to do video editing - he already owns a 24" iMac (Intel). The only reason I want a new one (iMac or Mini) is the newer technology: SATA drives, faster ram, etc, and some software I like is Intel only.

For just surfing, doing my bills and email, this PPC is perfect though. I have upgraded the ram to max and bought a new video card to replace the 128 rage, but don't plan any more upgrades because it's not worth the $. I only paid $75 for the machine so I'm actually in the hole, but it's OK. Far better investment than a new PC for what I use it for.

 

[cube]

xMac or bust!

-- Cube 1.8 GHz

 

[emt377]

My Mac mini G4 (almost 4 years old!) is serving my personal website. I upgraded the RAM to 1GB.

Same here - 1.42GHz MacMini G4 with 1GB RAM, 10.4.
Runs sendmail, dovecot, apache, spamassassin, named, etc, plus a few Mac Apps (uTorrent, ImagePrint SpoolFace). Sits on a UPS along with the DSL modem, firewall, and an Airport Extreme access point. Runs for hours on backup power...

My Mac Pro is on a UPS as well, but its purpose is to allow a clean shutdown; it only lasts ten minutes or so.

 

[Toronto Mike]

Another consideration is how many PPC users will be investing any more money into them. That is, if I had a PPC that is running fine, but I know that I will be upgrading within the year, then I may be reluctant to spend any money on up-to-date software until I get the new system. 1) Because I may not be bringing that software to the Intel system, and 2) Because I'm saving up my $ in order to purchase a new system.

One way to help to mitigate this is to offer a free upgrade from the PPC version to the Intel version even if this means that the user is also going up a step or two in versions. There is good marketing campaign in there. The company can promote itself has helping out the "left behind PPC user". If the PPC deal is good enough to get a really good user base, then when they do upgrade to the Intel system you will then likely have them on the Intel side, and while you may forego the initial upgrade fees, your company will likely keep them for subsequent upgrades. By offering a new product to PPC users, who may be feeling left out, you will likely get some loyal customers.

Good luck

As much as I love my G5 - I too am reluctant to upgrade from CS2 to CS4 because I am afraid of a performance loss with using the much bigger current programs. I've read that my graphic card is not supported with Photoshop CS4 - others say that some are experiencing problems with certain cards. So I am on the fence about upgrading the software of a solid functioning system into one of uncertainty.

If I am typical of the PPC users that still are getting their work done on software that is 3+ years old but are reluctant to take drastic performance hits, then the PPC era is nearing its end. From a economic perspective, it doesn't make sense catering to this market that will be increasingly reluctant to buy new software. It's sad, but realistic. I'll just have to live vicariously in the heroic tales from what is current - and the increadible hardware that is coming out. I find it amazing on seeing that the new Mac Pros are over 4 times faster than what I have.

I love your idea of allowing the PPC users the free upgrades. I think that would be a sound long term business plan - even if you might forego some short term gains by doing so. After all, once you use and invest hundreds of hours with a program, it seems unproductive to not want to use a company's new program if it offers the things you need. I would be very reluctant to give up photoshop in the future - so Adobe has me as a loyal customer that would purchase their products if and when I ever upgrade my hardware - which will hopefully not be for another 7 years. It will take that much time to save up for the next complete hardware/software system.

Mike

 

[SkyBell]

iBook G4 and eMac running as my only machines here. They're all I need, and more. I don't plan on upgrading to Intel until either: A. They both die, or B: The internet/applications become too much for them to handle.

Funny thing is, I kind of started on Intel, then went to PPC over time.

 

[yizzle0912]

I'm on my 12" Powerbook, and I agree–THE BEST notebook Apple has ever made.

I used my G4 Cube as my YDL box until it died recently, and my SE30 still probably works. I'll be using my PB until it dies, though, regardless of whether Snow Leopard comes out.

 

[jpatten]

My wife and I use a dual 2.5 GHz G5 Power Mac for our photo business. It's a little over 4 years old now, but still a good performer with plenty of RAM. I expect we'll probably use it until it breaks. If it starts to feel slow I'll put an SSD in there.

We have the software we need at this point, but if I needed something I wouldn't hesitate to buy it for the G5.

As another poster said, I think photography is an area where people will stick with G5s for awhile. A few reasons:

1. The G4s just weren't up to the task of handling big digital files, so a lot of us had to jump to the G5 urgently, otherwise we might have held out and gone to Intel Macs.

2. Camera resolution is not increasing at the same rate it was. So even if you buy a new camera, the G5 can probably still handle it, unless it's like a 50 megapixel medium format back or something.

3. Decreasing camera prices have led to dramatically increased competition in the area of digital photography (among photographers). More competition means lower prices, means no money to upgrade the G5.

4. The econalypse means fewer clients, means no money to upgrade.

 

[shield1751]

Ppc G4

Yes, I am one of those PPC G4 people........
In fact, I just put 2 more gigs of ram for a total of 4 and added a new 500 gig HD. There now 2 500G HDs in it... I'm hoping it will last another 6 months and then I guess I will go over to the Intel Imac or MacPro tower.

Paul

 

[jtgotsjets]

I still use my 12" PowerBook G4 as my main laptop; I wish Apple would come out with something in the 12" form factor again, it's such a great wee little 'Book.

Seriously! My roommate's White MacBook is so huge next to my iBook.

 

[Old Mac Geezer]

I'm using a Powermac G4 533 single with Tiger right now. I can probably swing up to a G5 quad with a minimal configuration right now if I had to, but the first gen Intel Mac Pro's are still out of my price range. I refuse to buy any computer (other than a laptop) in other than a tower configuration. I want easy expandability when required. Apple refuses to make any sort of affordable tower or mini tower machine for those of us who don't have $3000 to spend on a new computer every few years, so I have no choice but to lag behind until used prices come down. I may have to settle for a new whitebook as my first Intel Mac until Mac Pro prices fall a lot more.

Oh, and for everyone still using a 12" Powerbook, the new whitebook and unibody Macbooks with nVidia graphics are now an acceptable replacement IMHO.