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I'm a total Newbie to Macs, I have some questions, Please help!

P

PammyLZ

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 22, 2007
6
0
Hello:

I just acquired a Power Mac G4 PowerPC yesterday. It has OS 9.2.2 on it. I'm fairly proficient with computers, so I was able at least reinstall the OS, and upgrade it up to 9.2.2 again. But, I really don't like the Classic OS. I was eyeing Tiger for this machine, but I'm such a newbie to macs that I don't know if my G4 can handle Tiger...

I've tried searching on the forums here and on the web, but I'm probably using the wrong search terms as I didn't find the answers I was looking for. So, thanks for your patience and help..

The specs of my G4 are as follows:

450mhz CPU
128 Rage Pro AGP
30GB HD
768 RAM
DVD-Rom

Also, I have a widescreen 20" LCD monitor, and the resolution is all blurry, especially on text. I can't select anything higher than 1280 x 1024.... Is there something I can do until I can get a more compatible monitor?

Thanks!!

-Pamela
 
Hi,

Congrats on your first Mac. Based on the minimum specs for Tiger: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301341, your G4 should handle it. I do not have real world experience with that setup, so I can't give an idea on performance.

I have no further info about the monitor issue you have. Perhaps you can post some model info and someone else can help out.
 
Frist of all I would like to say welcome to MacRumors Forums!You can intall Tiger on your Power Mac but not Leopard and why not get a Cinema Display?
 
jroad said:
Hi,

Congrats on your first Mac. Based on the minimum specs for Tiger: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301341, your G4 should handle it. I do not have real world experience with that setup, so I can't give an idea on performance.

I have no further info about the monitor issue you have. Perhaps you can post some model info and someone else can help out.
Click to expand...

eric55lv said:
Frist of all I would like to say welcome to MacRumors Forums!You can intall Tiger on your Power Mac but not Leopard and why not get a Cinema Display?
Click to expand...


Cool! Thanks! There was a Cinema Display with this Mac, but it was sold way before I was offered the computer. I can't really afford to get a new monitor for this Mac. I might be getting an old CRT for free that will work. But, for now it's sharing my 20" Benq FP202W Monitor with my Windows Machine.
 
The display is blurry because the graphics card is really bad compared to the other specs and can't support the higher native resolution of your 20" monitor.

It should be able to run Tiger perfectly decently though.

EDIT: You might be better off with a CRT as LCD's are bad if the resolution isn't native, but this isn't an issue with a CRT.
 
Welcome! Although I have no direct experience with that model, I can tell you that Panther (10.3.x) will give you better performance than Tiger (10.4.x) on that machine (or any machine for that matter), but either one should install and run well. Also, unless you want to upgrade the video card, I would suggest a CRT monitor, because the video card is not capable of LCD native resolutions.
 
Eraserhead said:
The display is blurry because the graphics card is really bad compared to the other specs and can't support the higher native resolution of your 20" monitor.

It should be able to run Tiger perfectly decently though.

EDIT: You might be better off with a CRT as LCD's are bad if the resolution isn't native, but this isn't an issue with a CRT.
Click to expand...


danny_w said:
Welcome! Although I have no direct experience with that model, I can tell you that Panther (10.3.x) will give you better performance than Tiger (10.4.x) on that machine (or any machine for that matter), but either one should install and run well. Also, unless you want to upgrade the video card, I would suggest a CRT monitor, because the video card is not capable of LCD native resolutions.
Click to expand...

Good to know... I figured the card was old. I didn't even think to look at Panther.. I will check it out. Thanks!!
 
If you do install Tiger instead of Panther (although they are right, that operating system should work better for that model for sure) I would TURN OFF dashboard.

even on my 867 Tibook I had before my current set up, whenever I would accidently click on the dashboard icon, all hell would break loose, aka beach ball galore, fan happyness... just not good. So I would suggest turning that off, otherwise it should run fine.

Congrats on your mac! :)
 
Tiger runs more software though, a lot of software requires Tiger to run as it added lots of new features. Also most Mac users use it (or Leopard) and developers are lazy.
 
If you mAxDaRam to 2GB AND get a bit better video card, Tiger will run just fine on that machine.....been there, done that, firsthand :p

Granted it wont be like running a DP2.7/G5, but still no problem for the average everyday stuff
 
I agree on upgrading to Tiger, simply because too many programs require 10.4 or later. However, I would caution against spending exorbitant amounts of money restoring an obsolete machine. As a rule of thumb, I wouldn't spend more than $200 on repairs for a computer more than a few years old. $500 would get you a fully-functional Windows laptop capable of doing everything modern computers do, while a refurbished Macbook could be had for $900, if you wished to have the latest Apple stuff.
 
heatmiser said:
I agree on upgrading to Tiger, simply because too many programs require 10.4 or later. However, I would caution against spending exorbitant amounts of money restoring an obsolete machine. As a rule of thumb, I wouldn't spend more than $200 on repairs for a computer more than a few years old. $500 would get you a fully-functional Windows laptop capable of doing everything modern computers do, while a refurbished Macbook could be had for $900, if you wished to have the latest Apple stuff.
Click to expand...

I agree. I wanted the Mac to, well, have a Mac. The last Mac I ever really did anything on was in school...before they had a GUI. I really don't mind it being slow. And I don't think I'll have even $100 to spend on any computer, any time soon. So, I just want to learn about Mac's and hopefully have some fun on it.... as soon as I can snag myself a copy of Tiger on eBay. :)
 
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