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Is this a good deal on a G5?

lovinwaves

lovinwaves

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 16, 2009
8
0
Kansas City, Missouri
I know nothing about iMacs, but here is the info on it...

20" iMac G5 at 2.0 Mhz, upgraded to 1.5GB RAM from 0.512GB, 250GB hard drive, DVD burner, and it does have 'Leopard' installed as it's operating system along with iLife (iPhoto, iTunes, etc) and Microsoft Office.

$375.

Our uses would be:

Internet
Children (4 and 5 years old) learning how to use a computer
Children playing internet games
Uploading photos to internet
Me (adult) using it for internet
Me using it for uploading photos

Anything else would just be icing on the cake. I would love to do stuff with my photos more, and possibly some cute blog or photo scrapbooking.

I have Toshiba Laptop (3 almost 4 years old), that is running super slow, and is driving me crazy. The power cord needs to be replaced as well. I was initially wanting this G5 for my kids, but now I am thinking about making it a family computer we all use.

I am on the internet literally all day long, so that really is the most important thing to me

Eventually we will get a new Macbook, or new iMac, but finances can not handle that right now. So since this opportunity was presented to me from a trusted person I am ready to pounce of course, just want to make sure this is a good deal. :D
 
FieryFurnace said:
As far as I know, Apple's Power PCs (like the G5) don't handle Flash content that well - if that matters to you.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had a PowerMac G5 with similar specs and flash was "okay". There were no problems, but it really put a strain on the CPU. It still worked fine though, unless you wanted to watch HD videos through YouTube. I would recommend looking at the Apple Refurb Store and getting a Mac Mini for about $100 more. It will make a HUGE difference (even with the slowest mini).
 
A referb Mac Mini maybe the better choice. However then you would also have to pickup a monitor etc. Thatwould come to a few more $$ than the G5 but be more futureproof.
 
Yeah, theres just no "future proof" in a G5.

Its already slow with flash on the net (and if you kids are like mine, thats all they look at is flash content) and in a year or so, when everything gets just a little more taxing, then the G5 just starts to really show its age, stopping and stuttering all the time. =(

You really should save a few more and find an intel chip based mac -- the extra you spend now will insure that several years from now your mac will still be able to do they things you want it to.

If its someone you trust, would they let you try it for a weekend maybe and let you see how it feels?

Maybe it might be OK for your limited budget and use.

But in the end, no matter how you slice it, thats an almost 5 year old computer... even older than your toshiba...
 
it's basically the same as the computer I'm using. Mine continues to be quite usable but I do notice more and more software that's requiring an intel chip instead of the old ppc chips.

Mac2Sell suggests $370 as a price so your $375 doesn't sound like a "good deal" but rather pretty average
 
Macky-Mac said:
it's basically the same as the computer I'm using. Mine continues to be quite usable but I do notice more and more software that's requiring an intel chip instead of the old ppc chips.

Mac2Sell suggests $370 as a price so your $375 doesn't sound like a "good deal" but rather pretty average
Click to expand...

For the most part, Mac2Sell is higher then what you should pay, except on eBay. A Mac Mini while more expensive can probably do what you need to do better then the G5. Monitors can be had for dirt cheap so I wouldn't really worry about that.

As for the future-proofing discussion, the OP seems like they are set on buying a new computer shortly, but future proofing is a myth:
It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Say for example you bought the highest iMac two years ago, that's $2,198. Chances are, the low-end iMac could have performed most of the tasks over the past two years and it would cost half that. The new base model iMac is definitely faster then the one you would have bought two years ago.
​
 
Thanks everyone for the input.

As far as the finances go. I am not paying $375 cash out of my pocket. This is a client that I clean his house for. I am going to be working off the price of the computer over the next 6mths. It's a win for me as far as finances go, and I really appreciate him doing that for me. :)

Hubby was layed off from his job earlier this year, otherwise I would be getting a new iMac :apple: under the Christmas tree this year :( I can only hope for next year! In the meantime the kids can learn on this one :D Oh, and I suppose me too. :eek:
 
You should just go with the Mac Mini, the G5 will not be future proof for long. A Core 2 Duo will be much more future proof. Knowing children, flash will be a big part of their life. A G5 will become "sluggish" over time with handling flash content. The Core 2 Duo in the Mac Mini will be much better.

Hope this helps:)
 
Flash already puts a strain on my MacBook causing all the fans to come on, imagine a G5 now.

Ugh, The G5 would have been fine if Adobe would just code their crap correctly. I wish sites just wouldn't rely on Flash because it performs so poorly. I can see why Apple does not want to implement flash on iPhone now.

Though for that price, I say go for it, YouTube without HQ turns on should play fine, it did on my G4 PowerBook.
 
If it's any used Mac, make sure it at least has an Intel in it.

PPC was great in its day but fell behind Intel in its last few years, and it's good to get for $150 bucks, but not what they are asking. It's dead tech.

We have gone from PPC to Core Duo to Core2 Duo, and who knows what is around the corner? And the Mac Pro (Xeon) was way ahead of any old G5 when Apple changed over and even used Mac Pros are popping up.

Move forward with used technology, because going with a G5 right now for that price will look more and more foolhardy as time goes by.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
No. You'd be better off buying a Dell.
Click to expand...

thegoldenmackid said:
Sarcasm?
Click to expand...

Not at all I think it's a less tactful way of saying the below..

63dot said:
If it's any used Mac, make sure it at least has an Intel in it.

PPC was great in its day but fell behind Intel in its last few years, and it's good to get for $150 bucks, but not what they are asking. It's dead tech.

We have gone from PPC to Core Duo to Core2 Duo, and who knows what is around the corner? And the Mac Pro (Xeon) was way ahead of any old G5 when Apple changed over and even used Mac Pros are popping up.

Move forward with used technology, because going with a G5 right now for that price will look more and more foolhardy as time goes by.
Click to expand...


OP It may be worth getting the power cord for the 3 year old laptop you have now, having Windows re-installed to get the spyware off it and clean down the registry and continue to use that for now.
 
cjmillsnun said:
Not at all I think it's a less tactful way of saying the below..




OP It may be worth getting the power cord for the 3 year old laptop you have now, having Windows re-installed to get the spyware off it and clean down the registry and continue to use that for now.
Click to expand...

...and you might as well try a couple free downloaded programs from www.cnetdownloads.com ...

1. defraggler - works wonders compared to the win version

2. ccleaner - cleans up the registry, etc...

3. ad-aware - the newest version to remove the spyware, etc...

4. any good antivirus

Try the above and you might not need to do the fresh install.
 
It seems to me like a pretty sweet deal. But if you just would like a MAC desktop you could always pay $215 more and get a brand new 2.53 Mac Mini
 
dontwalkhand said:
Flash already puts a strain on my MacBook causing all the fans to come on, imagine a G5 now.

Ugh, The G5 would have been fine if Adobe would just code their crap correctly. I wish sites just wouldn't rely on Flash because it performs so poorly. I can see why Apple does not want to implement flash on iPhone now.

Though for that price, I say go for it, YouTube without HQ turns on should play fine, it did on my G4 PowerBook.
Click to expand...

G5s handle flash ok, really. A little slow in larger content sites/having multiple things open and playing, but if you're just checking out Youtube or Hulu, a G5 is fine for right now. The lag for me has been in the actual Flash app, to be able to work even close to efficiently in it I have to close pretty much everything except email and a web browser (to test files in). That said, it still works.

For the cited needs I think a G5 imac will work for the time being, the OP said that when things are better they'll be completely upgrading, so why waste the extra cash on a stopgap machine?
 
All the talk is of the G5 CPU, which in my opinion would be ok...

I would be more concerned about an old HDD rumbling around inside a fairly inaccessible enclosure.

Save yourself the hassle, save up for a mini; nothing worse than having to throw more money/effort into an ever-enlarging pit.
 
I use that exact model in my home theatre. It handles Flash pretty well, but can't stream Netflix.

Santabean2000 said:
All the talk is of the G5 CPU, which in my opinion would be ok...

I would be more concerned about an old HDD rumbling around inside a fairly inaccessible enclosure.

Save yourself the hassle, save up for a mini; nothing worse than having to throw more money/effort into an ever-enlarging pit.
Click to expand...

Actually, the iMac G5 has a very accessible hard drive, especially compared to a Mac mini, which requires special tools...
 
For what it's worth . . .

lovinwaves said:
I know nothing about iMacs, but here is the info on it...

20" iMac G5 at 2.0 Mhz, upgraded to 1.5GB RAM from 0.512GB, 250GB hard drive, DVD burner, and it does have 'Leopard' installed as it's operating system along with iLife (iPhoto, iTunes, etc) and Microsoft Office.

$375.

Our uses would be:

Internet
Children (4 and 5 years old) learning how to use a computer
Children playing internet games
Uploading photos to internet
Me (adult) using it for internet
Me using it for uploading photos

Anything else would just be icing on the cake. I would love to do stuff with my photos more, and possibly some cute blog or photo scrapbooking.

I have Toshiba Laptop (3 almost 4 years old), that is running super slow, and is driving me crazy. The power cord needs to be replaced as well. I was initially wanting this G5 for my kids, but now I am thinking about making it a family computer we all use.

I am on the internet literally all day long, so that really is the most important thing to me

Eventually we will get a new Macbook, or new iMac, but finances can not handle that right now. So since this opportunity was presented to me from a trusted person I am ready to pounce of course, just want to make sure this is a good deal. :D
Click to expand...

I had a G5 iMac for about 4 years, and have a close friend who still has
one, and the one thing I noticed was that going to Leopard was probably
not a good thing. My friend's iMac is still running Tiger, and it was a lot
faster than mine - and I had more RAM. My iMac's fans came on at the
slightest stress (almost any video, running more than 3 apps at a time),
and they were loud. Hopefully, the seller still has the old Tiger disks, and
you can do a reinstall.

If you can, see if they will drop the price - $300 would be a better price, in
my opinion. I think you also might want to consider replacing the .5GB
memory stick with a 1GB memory stick that is the same as what is in the
machine. I vaguely remember issues with unmatched memory.

And don't forget an external drive to backup your internal drive. If you plan
on doing a lot of photo stuff, you need to have a backup, since the internal
drive isn't getting any younger . . . I still have two 250GBs that need a new
home . . . ;^)

Hope this helps . . .
 
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