iMac G4...Do I need this?

[dvince2]

Hey everyone...
So the opportunity has arisen that I can get a G4 iMac for $300. The only thing physically wrong with it is a couple of nicks on the back of the screen. heres the stats:

700MHz processor
128 Mb ram
CD RW drive
OS X 10.4

I presently have a CD Macbook, 2.0 GHz with 1 Gb ram. Is there any advantage of having a PPC G4 for software like Photoshop CS2 and MS Office? Should I seriously consider this?

 

[livingfortoday]

No, those apps will most likely run slower on a 700Mhz G4 than they would on your Intel Mac. Spend that money on maxing out your MB RAM! That'll make a bigger difference than anything else.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

There's no real advantage performance-wise, so unless you want it as a second computer for general tasks (web/email/Word/casual gaming), I'd say pass on it.

Oh, and if you get it, you'll want to install 1GB RAM, or 512MB MINIMUM for decent performance under Tiger. 128MB is not gonna work with OS X.

 

[Allotriophagy]

No, those apps will most likely run slower on a 700Mhz G4 than they would on your Intel Mac. Spend that money on maxing out your MB RAM! That'll make a bigger difference than anything else.

I DISAGREE.

Max out the RAM on the iMac and put in a faster hard drive and run a stripped-down OS X with the minimum of programs running at once.

Intel-native CS3 is out by the end of the month, though. Maybe just spend your money on that.

 

[Lancetx]

A 2GHz Core Duo is going to smoke any 700MHz G4, whether you're running apps in Rosetta or not. I can assure you that Rosetta doesn't have nearly that much of a performance hit, especially after 10.4.8 came along. That's not to even mention the fact that your CD MacBook has 1GB of RAM, whereas the iMac G4 you mentioned only has 128MB. Besides, you would need at least 256MB to even run Tiger at all.

So if your only reason for getting the iMac is to run a few non-Universal apps on it instead of on your MacBook, it wouldn't really do you much good.

 

[dvince2]

Thanks...
The main use for it would be running some non-native apps, word processing/spreadsheets, etc, and some basic programming for school (Java)

 

[livingfortoday]

Thanks...
The main use for it would be running some non-native apps, word processing/spreadsheets, etc, and some basic programming for school (Java)

Yeah, you most certainly do not need another computer for that, G4 or not. You'll be more than satisfied with the performance on the MacBook (which is what I'm running Office and Photoshop on right now!).

Oh, and as a point of advice - never listen to Allotriophagy, ever. Ever!

 

[mgargan1]

Just incase you haven't been convinced by reading the other posts... buying that machine would be a waste of money. Like the people who posted before me, if you have that money burning a hole in your pocket, buy more RAM. I personally do notice a difference b/t 1 and 2GB of RAM. Some people say they don't notice, but I do.

Hope that's helpful...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145048

Here's an extra 1GB for $80

 

[dvince2]

Thanks again...
with the macbook ram...i presently have 2 512 sticks (for a total of 1GB). If/when i upgrade ram, should I do it all at once (to two 1GB sticks), or can I do them one at a time (so id have 1536 mb of ram)?

 

[nazmac21]

Thanks again...
with the macbook ram...i presently have 2 512 sticks (for a total of 1GB). If/when i upgrade ram, should I do it all at once (to two 1GB sticks), or can I do them one at a time (so id have 1536 mb of ram)?

Do it all at once (2x1GB) and keep your iMac G4. The iMac G4 was the best desktop design ever so far. It might be in a museum someday.

 

[livingfortoday]

Thanks again...
with the macbook ram...i presently have 2 512 sticks (for a total of 1GB). If/when i upgrade ram, should I do it all at once (to two 1GB sticks), or can I do them one at a time (so id have 1536 mb of ram)?

You can do it 1 at a time, but if you get a matched pair of 1GB sticks you'll see a slight performance increase over 2 unmatched sticks.

 

[atom21]

Nope. You will get nothing out of it.

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