ISO....questions...

[MorzillA]

You've probably heard me say in the past year that I was going to update my G4. Well it looks like it will happen this weekend at an apple store here in Miami.
But before I take such a plunge I wanted to aske here, the real experts first as to exactly what I need, ok here are my specs.

Power Mac G4
400 MHz
256 MB
12.61 GB available in HD

I am looking to getting an external HD, a memory stick, a dvd/cd burner and of course Leopard! and possibly iLIFE as well.

For the HD: I am looking for one that I can use panther as well as time machine since I will be saving as much of my artwork as possible for latter uploading. Plus it never hurts to have an extra HD around!

As posted, my lil system is runing vigorously at 256 MB but I would like to either double that or triple that number.

For the dvd/cd burner something that can simply do the job.

And of course the lil extras such iLIFE and others to make my Mac experience better than any illegal drug I have taken in the past!

BTW: I went to a Best Buy and was taken aback to see a Mac section complete with one, yes ONE mac assistant there and let me tell you that table where the new iMAC was, was getting a bit too crowded for the PC section! LOL! gotta love that!!!
Anywhoo I was quoted roughly 400 to 500 for all plus an extra 60 if they installed it all for me right there at the store.
I know that Apple might be a bit more pricee but I don't have craploads of money and I really want to keep this computer, So far, it has outperformed all PCs I have used, and even the new laptop we have, running vista simple crap edition.

Thanks to all replies!

 

[irishgrizzly]

And of course the lil extras such iLIFE and others to make my Mac experience better than any illegal drug I have taken in the past!

You've got to find a better dealer, sounds like you've been sold sugar pills

 

[Umbongo]

Anywhoo I was quoted roughly 400 to 500 for all plus an extra 60 if they installed it all for me right there at the store.

Maybe you should look at what you can get used or from Apple before spending that much to upgrade such an old system. You can get a refurbished mini for $500 with Leopard and iLife '08 directly from Apple. You can get a used mini, with a superdrive, for under $400 via ebay.

 

[Random Chaos]

Want to warn you before you do this that Leopard requires a minimum of an 867MHz G4. It won't work on your 400MHz.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/techspecs/

 

[MorzillA]

You've got to find a better dealer, sounds like you've been sold sugar pills

so it was all in my head then?! dam!! LMAO

Maybe you should look at what you can get used or from Apple before spending that much to upgrade such an old system. You can get a refurbished mini for $500 with Leopard and iLife '08 directly from Apple. You can get a used mini, with a superdrive, for under $400 via ebay.

hmmmmm....Is ebay reliable when it comes to Macs?! I remember reading something about it here.

Want to warn you before you do this that Leopard requires a minimum of an 867MHz G4. It won't work on your 400MHz.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/techspecs/

so I would have to upgrade the processor on the system as well then!?

Thanks to all the replies....irishgrizzly I'll start looking for another dealer soon, Friday is around the corner!!

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

like the others have said, don't spend all that money to upgrade your old g4. you can get a mac mini with a dvd burner and a hell of a lot faster processor for the same price or maybe less. and you wanted to get an external hard drive anyways so it will hookup good to the mini or get a ministack. it's an external hdd that the mini sits on and looks like part of the mini. you will also most likely be able to use your existing monitor from your g4 and will be saving a whole lot of space doing do.

 

[MorzillA]

like the others have said, don't spend all that money to upgrade your old g4. you can get a mac mini with a dvd burner and a hell of a lot faster processor for the same price or maybe less. and you wanted to get an external hard drive anyways so it will hookup good to the mini or get a ministack. it's an external hdd that the mini sits on and looks like part of the mini. you will also most likely be able to use your existing monitor from your g4 and will be saving a whole lot of space doing do.

Thx for the support guys/gals, actually I wouldn't mind getting the new Mac! I almost creamed my self at Best Buy just being close to it!!

This is actually my first Mac! and parting from it seems so hard! I nearly got this thing for free! and I am still surprise that any ol' PC screen can work perfectly with it along with everything else! The only buggy thing with it is the key keyboard, when typing the keys sometimes get stuck or they become hard to press, but other than that, this lil G4 runs like new!

I dunno, I guess we have grown to like each other. Hope you guys can see how much I am fond of this machine and I how I would like to see it......uhmmm....blossom..?! into something that people will be amazed at!

 

[kps]

I dunno, I guess we have grown to like each other. Hope you guys can see how much I am fond of this machine and I how I would like to see it......uhmmm....blossom..?! into something that people will be amazed at!

As everyone else said, don't spend $400 to upgrade this machine; save your money for a new one.

If you really want to upgrade your G4, do it on the cheap.

Keyboard: Any USB keyboard will work. Under $10.

Disks: You can add another (or two, if you have tin snips) while keeping the one you have now. Ask friends if they have any "small" 30G or so left over from an upgrade, or buy a new 250G for $50 or so.

RAM: Get more. Look for one to four 256M PC100 or PC133 (the latter is more common and usually cheaper) from friends, Craigslist, eBay, etc. Around $20 each.

OS: You don't really need to upgrade, but if you do, find a used copy of 10.4 retail from someone who bought it but has moved to 10.5.

(Note: I'm assuming you have the G4 tower, not the Cube.)

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

just go the bst forums on this site and have a look around. someone is always selling something and you can find cheap upgrades for next to nothing. don't expect to run leopard on your machine but stay with tiger. upgrade to at least a 1gb (2x512 or 4x256) i have 2 sticks of 128mb that i'll give you for just the shipping costs. do you plan on burning dvds? you can get a cheap one for $10 or so. you can also find 100gb+ drives for around $25 each. depending on what g4 you own, it will be able to handle at least 3. you can find an apple pro keyboard like kps said for $10. you can spend less then $100 to get your computer running good. but don't expect it to be a powerhouse . i don't out of mine but they do what i want them to.