Keep my Pentium 4, 2,4 or get an eMac?

[Willy S]

My PC broke and I was going to buy an eMac as our second computer to our iMac G5. Now I managed to fix the damn thing and suddenly I don´t necessarily need another computer.

This PC is a Pentium 4 2.4 GB, 2x512mb PC2700 Ram, cheap Asrock mainboard, 110GB Seagate 7200 RPM, Geforce 5700LE, SB live, DVD rom, CD writer and a poor LCD that I need to upgrade. I have a dual boot, XP/Suse 9.3

My question is, should I keep this PC or buy an eMac and try to use some of the PC parts in it? I don´t have enough info about this no-brand Ram other than being 2x512mb PC2700 and thus don´t know if it will run on the eMac.

 

[geese]

My PC broke and I was going to buy an eMac as our second computer to our iMac G5. Now I managed to fix the damn thing and suddenly I don´t necessarily need another computer.

This PC is a Pentium 4 2.4 GB, 2x512mb PC2700 Ram, cheap Asrock mainboard, 110GB Seagate 7200 RPM, Geforce 5700LE, SB live, DVD rom, CD writer and a poor LCD that I need to upgrade. I have a dual boot, XP/Suse 9.3

My question is, should I keep this PC or buy an eMac and try to use some of the PC parts in it? I don´t have enough info about this no-brand Ram other than being 2x512mb PC2700 and thus don´t know if it will run on the eMac.

What kind of answer are you looking for on a Mac message board?

I suspect you are looking for reasons/excuses to switch!

It all depends on what you're using yr computer for. Your PC has some decent bits in it. I dont know about the RAM, but you might be able to replace the eMacs HD with your own.

 

[Willy S]

What kind of answer are you looking for on a Mac message board?

I suspect you are looking for reasons/excuses to switch!

It all depends on what you're using yr computer for. Your PC has some decent bits in it. I dont know about the RAM, but you might be able to replace the eMacs HD with your own.

Are you saying that the people here are biased?

Yes I need some excuses!

 

[unfaded]

Really will depend on what you want to do with it. If you want to play higher-end games, don't switch. If you want to do... well, anything else, switch. Nearly every single one of my friends has switched over the last year and a half, and all of them like their iMac G5's, iBooks or eMacs better.

There are some things you'll have to get used to, so if you do switch, don't get frustrated. eMacs are only upgradeable in terms of RAM, Airport Card, and if you're adventurous enough, the hard drive. Unfortunately the graphics card you are give is the one you're stuck with. But you can always keep the PC around to play games if you fix it up.

Either way it goes, I would say for 99% of your daily activities that aren't games, the eMac is the way to go. I have the 1.25 GHZ model, and its great. Can't play some games but I have consoles for that.

 

[dmw007]

I say go for one of the new 1.42GHz eMac G4s (they just received some pretty nice upgrades).

 

[Abstract]

I'm actually going to recommend sticking with what you have if its all working and you really aren't going to upgrade your LCD anyway.

But do get an eMac if you were going to upgrade your LCD anyway. The eMac may be at a similar price, but you're getting a CRT instead (not necessarily a bad thing) and a new computer (plus its a Mac!)!!!

And for those of you who aren't reading all the way through, he has an iMac G5, so he's not a switcher. *shakes head*

 

[Maxiseller]

So it really just comes down to the fact you want a shiny new mac box?!

I know the feeling...thats how most of my surplus money gets eaten up! I say go for what you want to do - and I think it's clear that you want the eMac.

Load it up with 1GB Ram, upgrade the Superdrive and Hard drive at later stages...it's a solid machine with a lot to offer! Plus, the screen will be a lot better than 15" TFT - and it's supprisingly large when working at it.

 

[zen.state]

I saw a macworld benchmark that showed the new emac 1.42 to be about 5% faster than a powerbook 1.67. even though one is a portable its still a fair test as the emac is a consumer/education machine vs the pb being pro..

 

[GFLPraxis]

I saw a macworld benchmark that showed the new emac 1.42 to be about 5% faster than a powerbook 1.67. even though one is a portable its still a fair test as the emac is a consumer/education machine vs the pb being pro..

I would suspect the eMac is faster because the PowerBook has a 5400 RPM hard drive while the eMac has a 7200 RPM hard drive.

 

[Willy S]

Well, my PC isn't stable so I guess we need a new computer....and its going to be a mac.

I'm not totally 100% sure that I should pick the eMac and I need to melt the decision for a few days. I'm wondering whether Apple will appear with some surprises in June, e.g. a new mini with 7200RPM HD and a usable graphics card.

I guess that there is a large market for a little more potent computer than the mini and many people don't want a all in one computer. So there ought to be two minis. At the same time Apple should discontinue Powermacs with one processor.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Most of your components can't be used in a Mac. You'd be better parting it out and selling the parts off if the P4 can't be sold as one working unit (don't attempt to sell it as a working machine if you know there are problems... the bad karma will come around to you eventually).

If you do sell it in pieces, you could put your hard drive in a Firewire case as a second hard drive to any Mac. The 2 x 512 RAM is problematic, the Mini has only one socket. The eMac has 2 sockets, but the Superdrive model already comes with 512, so you could at best add one of the 512's for 1 Gb total if you were lucky and it was compatible. The RAM is too slow for the iMac or a G5.

Waiting for a Mini with a "Usable graphics card" - depends what you want to use it for. The current configuration is perfect for 2-D, office and graphic applications. If you want to do 3-D gaming, the Mini is probably the wrong choice.

 

[Willy S]

Most of your components can't be used in a Mac. You'd be better parting it out and selling the parts off if the P4 can't be sold as one working unit (don't attempt to sell it as a working machine if you know there are problems... the bad karma will come around to you eventually).

If you do sell it in pieces, you could put your hard drive in a Firewire case as a second hard drive to any Mac. The 2 x 512 RAM is problematic, the Mini has only one socket. The eMac has 2 sockets, but the Superdrive model already comes with 512, so you could at best add one of the 512's for 1 Gb total if you were lucky and it was compatible. The RAM is too slow for the iMac or a G5.

Waiting for a Mini with a "Usable graphics card" - depends what you want to use it for. The current configuration is perfect for 2-D, office and graphic applications. If you want to do 3-D gaming, the Mini is probably the wrong choice.

I plan on getting it with just a combo. I will lan the computer with my iMac and use its superdrive when I burn DVDs. I mainly use cds anyway.

My concerns are about 1GB of max ram being to little for the next years. Ram is so cheap these days that it is nice to have a possibility of using at least 2GB.

However, a new Mini if it comes, will probably only have one slot...