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Is this a good deal?

jsquared

jsquared

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 2, 2008
467
0
Nashvegas, TN
Long time Mac fan, longer time PC user. But my laptop recently kicked the bucket and I thought I'd save some cash by buying this. And playing with it to decide if I'm going completely Mac. My mom works for a small art and design school they bought these brand new and used them in their VisCom dept. It's only $200, is there anything I should know or be weary about?
 

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I would definately buy it if I would not be to sure about Macs. IF you're still wondering wether to use Mac computers from now on, this would be a very good, cheap solution to be absolutely sure. You can most definately bettter buy this than a refurbished iMac. If you consider to continue using Macs then the already spent 200 dollars won't hurt anyway. Besides, when you still buy a refurbished iMac for 1100 dollars afterwards, you'll have two computers sitting on your desk for 1300 total. Not a bad deal, huh?:rolleyes:

EDIT: It's absolutely a good deal considering this would only cost you €152. Where on earth can I find a iMac G5 for that amount here in The Netherlands. You would still pay 300-400 Eu's for such a machine here. Yes, EURO'S!. I'd say go for it. It's not like 200 bucks is much for a computer anyway.
 
If you do buy it it wont last you long. It already cant run Snow Leopard, let alone Lion. However for $200 bucks i'd do it and hand it over to mum when your done. Just remember: it's from 2004-5 so don't expect a Rolls Royce of a machine. Consider it more of a Honda Civic ;)
 
The iMac G5 is not so nice as it seems. Sounds like a jet plane when you are running Flash due to the fans and you are stuck at a three year old system.

But yes, for 200 USD it seems like a nice deal. You can't even get a Thinkpad X61s for that kind of money.
 
I used one of those pieces of ***** for quite a long time-- in fact up to this year, before I finally decided to upgrade to the i7 iMac. They're good enough to run all your simple internet tasks and basic flash, and they can still handle photoshop quite nicely.

I'd definitely use it over a 200 dollar netbook with smaller screen and less powerful cpu.


jsquared, what will you be using the computer for? what does your average day look like for computer usage? What were the specs of your last laptop? Are you planning on keeping the computer for a long time? The powerpc technology is dated, and apple doesn't support it anymore, but it's still a nice alternative for web browsing and light photoshop etc. If you think you might venture into some more heavy stuff, including multiple flash items at once while browsing, heavy multitasking and 3d graphics/ video, then.

The biggest thing to be weary of is apple's stance on the powerpc technology, so if you could, getting an iMac with at least a coreduo or core2duo should ensure you can always use the latest applications and osx (but I never personally missed much without snow leopard and above on my G5)
 
TMRaven said:
I used one of those pieces of ***** for quite a long time-- in fact up to this year, before I finally decided to upgrade to the i7 iMac. They're good enough to run all your simple internet tasks and basic flash, and they can still handle photoshop quite nicely.

I'd definitely use it over a 200 dollar netbook with smaller screen and less powerful cpu.


jsquared, what will you be using the computer for? what does your average day look like for computer usage? What were the specs of your last laptop? Are you planning on keeping the computer for a long time? The powerpc technology is dated, and apple doesn't support it anymore, but it's still a nice alternative for web browsing and light photoshop etc. If you think you might venture into some more heavy stuff, including multiple flash items at once while browsing, heavy multitasking and 3d graphics/ video, then.

The biggest thing to be weary of is apple's stance on the powerpc technology, so if you could, getting an iMac with at least a coreduo or core2duo should ensure you can always use the latest applications and osx (but I never personally missed much without snow leopard and above on my G5)
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Well, I should be getting it in the next week or so. I mainly use my computer for: web browsing, downloading music/videos, tinkering with my iPhone jailbrake, light photoshop (total noob) and minor video editing (again total noob).

I was going to buy it before listening to anyone on here because I think it's a good $200 trial to see if I should convert to MAC completely. My old HP Pavilion was a great PC for the time comparable to a low/medium end MacBook.
 
jsquared said:
Well, I should be getting it in the next week or so. I mainly use my computer for: web browsing, downloading music/videos, tinkering with my iPhone jailbrake, light photoshop (total noob) and minor video editing (again total noob).

I was going to buy it before listening to anyone on here because I think it's a good $200 trial to see if I should convert to MAC completely. My old HP Pavilion was a great PC for the time comparable to a low/medium end MacBook.
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HP ain't as reliable as they used to be
When you have the chance please go to the apple store and use a new Mac
 
biggd said:
HP ain't as reliable as they used to be
When you have the chance please go to the apple store and use a new Mac
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Don't get it twisted, I like Mac and what they are capable of. I'm just not in a position to drop $1000 on a computer. I uses the Macs at my office, my girl has a MacBook. I've just grown up a PC nerd and I'm more comfortable troubleshooting to customizing on a PC than I am a Mac. And in the back of my mind, my xbox connects to a PC, and I could save a lot of money going for a HP or Sony. My HP lasted my 6 years, that's not bad....

So I'll just play with this $200 Mac to get my feet wet.
 
The other thing you need to think about is would you buy a car that the manufacturer does not make parts for anymore or even support?

What would be the point! I know its only $200 but MOney is Money at the end of the day! Go for something more current that you will get some life out of and parts are not obsolete and difficult to get hold of!
 
RayBarone said:
I agree! Intel tech soo much better and software today made for that as well!!
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RayBarone said:
The other thing you need to think about is would you buy a car that the manufacturer does not make parts for anymore or even support?

What would be the point! I know its only $200 but MOney is Money at the end of the day! Go for something more current that you will get some life out of and parts are not obsolete and difficult to get hold of!
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This is just a interim solution bc I currently have no computer at all. I'm thinkin of this as a $200 trial. I'd be pissed if I spent a grand on a MacBook and I didn't like using it.
 
Sounds like a great deal. The only thing I would be concerned about would be the lack of RAM and that newer applications do not support the PPC platform.

Which OS will you be running? Why not pay a little more and get a used intel mac?
 
Here's some good advice if you have the money... Buy a used c2d for a good deal. Yes, it's more, however, you can also sell it again. No one wants a g5 and it will be very difficult to sell even at $200. In my opinion, spend a bit more if you have they money, get a c2d, and sell it with the possibility to even make a profit. My 2 cents.
 
Not sure of the specs on your current PC but I would try a Hackintosh first if it's supported. That is what I did before I bought my first Mac, installed Leopard on my waste of money $3500 custom built AMD box. Ran great, played with it only for a few days before I knew I was stuck on Mac and bought my first Mac, a 24" iMac. Shoot me the specs of your PC and I can recommend a setup. I have installed Mac OS X on everything from AMD CPUs, Pentium 4s all the way up to new i7s. Of course there's nothing better than the real thing, but as a trial it's great.
 
I got it....

Ok I got it and so far so good, I mean I can tell it's limited in some respect. Seeing the specs from my OP what's the most I can max this out at? What's the newest software I can update the OS to? I already noticed I'm on iTunes 9.2.1 and I have some concern about my jailbroken iP4....

Any advice on what to add to the machine to help it out? I see there's 2gb RAM I can buy....
 
Upgrading the ram to 2gb should be the most glaring choice, and will give you the best results.

Another option is to put an SSD in it, but putting a 200-300 dollar low capacity SSD in a dated machine that was only 200 dollars is silly.
 
It's iTunes 9.2.1 as that's the highest OS X 10.4.11 Tiger supports (OS shown in picture). I recommend you do a fresh install of Leopard to have a smoother computer, and be able to run more recent software.
 
pt0016 said:
It's iTunes 9.2.1 as that's the highest OS X 10.4.11 Tiger supports (OS shown in picture). I recommend you do a fresh install of Leopard to have a smoother computer, and be able to run more recent software.
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Can I install Leopard on this machine? Will it run better? I didn't think it was a good idea to upload the new software on this old machine....
 
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