Power PC

[Andy1962]

Hi,

Forgive me as I am sure this has been covered somewhere on this forum.
I have only just joined and couldn't find anything about this issue.
Given that Apple, Adobe, Mozilla seem to have dropped support for the Power PC based Apple Macs what should I do with mine?
I have a G4 iBook and a G4 1.25Ghz tower system along with an Intel based MacBook Pro.
It seems that anyone with a rattyy old PC running WIN XP can download and use a current Safari browser, Adobe Flash update and Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird.
Given that these companies/organisations have now dropped the Power PC architecture like a bad smell what should I do?
Is installing Linux the best option in order to be able to continue to use my current hardware?

Mods - please move if in the wrong place.

Andy

 

[0007776]

Since you say you have an intel based macbook pro I would use that unless you have a real need to use one of the older PPC computers. They aren't that great anymore unless you just enjoy playing around with old computers or need to use old software.

 

[Liquinn]

Since you say you have an intel based macbook pro I would use that unless you have a real need to use one of the older PPC computers. They aren't that great anymore unless you just enjoy playing around with old computers or need to use old software.

What do you mean not great? Hmm...

I guess as much as I love my Powermac G5, I have to agree. And to think, this PPC Mac would have been the newest thing at one point.

I'm running Adobe Photoshop CS4 on my G5 with no problems.

 

[0007776]

What do you mean not great? Hmm...

I guess as much as I love my Powermac G5, I have to agree. And to think, this PPC Mac would have been the newest thing at one point.

I'm running Adobe Photoshop CS4 on my G5 with no problems.

They tend to be slow if you are running modern software, especially the G4s like the OP has. The G5s are still decent if the software you want to run supports PPC, but G4s aren't really worth using since they are so slow now.

 

[Liquinn]

They tend to be slow if you are running modern software, especially the G4s like the OP has. The G5s are still decent if the software you want to run supports PPC, but G4s aren't really worth using since they are so slow now.

True, I know what you mean. It's funny that my late 2005 G5 has more RAM than my 2011 Mini, but the G5 RAM is slower, but you get the point.

I guess it'd be best if the OP bought another Intel based Mac or a cheap G5. But it's his choice.

 

[max¥¥]

They can still be useful, tenfourfox will give you a decent web browser (basically it is the same as firefox). The g4 towers make brilliant file servers, i use a g4 as my main server (its the xserve in my sig). The iBook will be ok for browsing the internet with tenfourfox (but flash won't work), email, word processing and other basic tasks, just don't expect them to be as fast as your MBP

 

[Nameci]

They did not slowdown, they are ad fast as the day they are new. It is the users requirements snd expectations that deemed it slow. The demands of modern software made it to seem so slow. But actually if you run softwares during its time they are fast.

 

[iMikeT]

What do you mean not great? Hmm...

I guess as much as I love my Powermac G5, I have to agree. And to think, this PPC Mac would have been the newest thing at one point.

I'm running Adobe Photoshop CS4 on my G5 with no problems.

How did you get CS4 to work on a G5? CS4 was Intel only.

 

[Jessica Lares]

How did you get CS4 to work on a G5? CS4 was Intel only.

No it wasn't, at least most of it wasn't Intel-only. I run CS4 fine on my G5. http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-sui...-point-products.html#main_MacintoshSystemReqs

G4s are still great, it's the G3s that have the most problems under OS X these days. I don't have issues with Safari on my iMac G4. OP, do you just not want to run the older software?

 

[SkyBell]

They tend to be slow if you are running modern software, especially the G4s like the OP has. The G5s are still decent if the software you want to run supports PPC, but G4s aren't really worth using since they are so slow now.

The G4's definitely aren't speed demons they once were, but they aren't unusably slow either. For basic users such as myself, they work great. I can easily browse the web, listen to iTunes, chat with iChat, and be ripping a DVD with Handbrake at the same time, with no issues. How many people really need more than that out of a computer? If you need one for work, yeah, they probably won't be sufficient, but your average consumer needs no more than these machines still have left to give.

 

[Nameci]

How did you get CS4 to work on a G5? CS4 was Intel only.

CS4 runs pretty well on my dual processor powermac G4's and G5's.

 

[DrakkenWar]

Agreed with SkyBell and a few others.

G4's, especially the higher end models are quite useable even by today's standards. I know I use my PB for anything from web surfing to pounding out papers to finish my college degree. Along with iphoto, imovie, adium, handbrake, mail and whatever else I feel like needing open at the time. Is it is fast as my intel mini? Nope, but it does everything that I need it to do with minimal beach balls, and did I mention unlike my mini, I accomplish all of this with a dead silent PB? Yeah, they may be old, but they are defiantly not antiques just yet.

 

[KingKen1986]

Since you say you have an intel based macbook pro I would use that unless you have a real need to use one of the older PPC computers. They aren't that great anymore unless you just enjoy playing around with old computers or need to use old software.

Hey us ppc users can take offense to that. My PowerMac G5 is more than enough to get everything done that I've thrown at it, even the occasional game. "unless you just enjoy playing around with old computers" sheesh what's this world coming to.

 

[GermanyChris]

Hey us ppc users can take offense to that. My PowerMac G5 is more than enough to get everything done that I've thrown at it, even the occasional game. "unless you just enjoy playing around with old computers" sheesh what's this world coming to.

I agree in principal with what you're saying but the software search will turn most folks off

 

[Tezzamacuser]

I have only been using a powerpc based mac for a few weeks and I can honestly say I dont have much trouble with compatability. The only thing I haven't got round is flash based browser games but this doesn't really bother me as such.

For youtube I use mactubes
My broswer I use Aurora

And I use Ilife 06 which still does everything I want of it office wise. Yes they don't seem as fast my fiance uses a late 2009 intel macbook which runs rings around my powerbook but it does everyhthing I ask of it be it a little slower.

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

No it wasn't, at least most of it wasn't Intel-only. I run CS4 fine on my G5. http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-sui...-point-products.html#main_MacintoshSystemReqs

G4s are still great, it's the G3s that have the most problems under OS X these days. I don't have issues with Safari on my iMac G4. OP, do you just not want to run the older software?

An MDD dual 1.42 is NOT slow, esp since it has 2MB L3 cache, used to indemnify the slow 167mhz bus. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

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G4's, especially the higher end models are quite useable even by today's standards. I know I use my PB for anything from web surfing to pounding out papers to finish my college degree. Along with iphoto, imovie, adium, handbrake, mail and whatever else I feel like needing open at the time. Is it is fast as my intel mini? Nope, but it does everything that I need it to do with minimal beach balls, and did I mention unlike my mini, I accomplish all of this with a dead silent PB? Yeah, they may be old, but they are defiantly not antiques just yet.

You can really speed up Leopard by stripping all Intel binaries from apps to system core files. You will be amazed at how much faster Leo is even on a PB G4 1.67.

 

[Starfighter]

I never felt any difference from that, but I guess I wasn't paying attention.

 

[GermanyChris]

An MDD dual 1.42 is NOT slow, esp since it has 2MB L3 cache, used to indemnify the slow 167mhz bus. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Depends on perspective..

 

[alexreich]

I bought a PowerMac G5 earlier this summer (see my sig) after toying with a 400MHz G4 for a year and a half. While computing performance improved greatly between the machines, I just could not limit myself to the PowerMac G5 for my day-to-day computing and gaming.

After buying a Radeon 9800 Pro for my G5, I was actually given parts from a friends gaming PC that he upgraded (motherboard, CPU, graphics card, RAM). After buying a power supply and PC case, and loading Windows, I've done pretty much all of my web browsing and gaming on my PC.

The speed difference between a Core 2 Duo PC running Windows 7 and a G5 processor running Leopard is night and day. I can run ALL of my favorite games at Ultra/High with the PC, while my G5 choked on most of the 'recent' games I threw at it. After being used to the lag and low-end performance of my G5, the PC is very snappy and refreshing.

I still have my G5, but once I buy all of my games for Windows I'll likely not use it much. I'll still use my Mac mini for iWork, iLife and other general computing needs, but my gaming and general web use is moving to Windows/PC.

PowerPC Macs were fun to play with for a year or two, but they're not in my best interests at this point. If you're not a PPC enthusiast, I'd say get a newer Mac or PC. The switch to a machine with an Intel chip from a machine with PowerPC chip is a very satisfying upgrade.

 

[wobegong]

Just to add my two cents...

I had two G4's in the past - a Mini 1.42, iMac 1.25 (maxed out with 2Gb RAM) and a Powerbook 1.67Ghz - All were dog slow on video encoding (which i did a lot with home videos) and photo work,any kind of half decent game was also a non starter but they remained just fine for browsing, email, iWeb work etc. I maybe didnt appreciate how slow until I got my G5 PM - that was really night and day...

Since then I have had a 2.4Ghz Core2Duo Macbook and now replaced that (relegated the old Macbook to a media server running 24/7 attached to my TV) with a nice i7 Macbook Pro. To be honest i didn't notice a HUGE difference between the G5 and Macbook, but the Macbook Pro is as big a difference over my G5 as my G5 was over the G4's.... Silky smooth, a real heavy lifter and encoding speed is just awesome.

However i still use my G5 as my main machine and so far am very happy with it, I do less video work now and for other things it operates just fine - Probably psychological as my laptop MacbookPro is my work machine I think i like just leaving it closed at the weekends/evening

 

[BinaryTim]

wishing upon a star...

The G4's definitely aren't speed demons they once were, but they aren't unusably slow either. For basic users such as myself, they work great. I can easily browse the web, listen to iTunes, chat with iChat, and be ripping a DVD with Handbrake at the same time, with no issues. How many people really need more than that out of a computer? If you need one for work, yeah, they probably won't be sufficient, but your average consumer needs no more than these machines still have left to give.

I bought an eMac on eBay last year for about $65. I think it was a 1.4GHz with 512MB RAM. It was brand spanking new in the box from a school district. I mainly just wanted it for the keyboard (which I've given up for an Apple Extended Keyboard II now, anyway, also purchased on eBay, also brand new), and then I resold the rest of the computer on eBay. But now I sort of wish I'd kept the eMac. It would have made for a nice second desktop system.