PowerMac G4 users out there?

[Erasmus]

It isn't even set up right now, but I still have my G4 Cube. It has the stock 450 mHz G4 and 16 MB ATI Rage Pro video card, but it has 576 MB RAM and a 40 GB 2.5" 5400 rpm IBM Travelstar hard drive (the original drive was very loud and slow). Unfortunately, its Firewire ports stopped working a while ago, or I might be using it with a couple external drives as a fileserver right now.

Ha! I'm typing this on my 450Mhz G4 Cube. Mine also has its original 16MB ATI Rage Pro video card, and 512Mb RAM. As my sig suggests, I put in a 250Gb HDD when its stock 20 died. My Firewire ports still work (I think) but I've only used them once or twice. Original 15" LCD screen of the time too.
Hooray for G4s!
BTW, Who was it who insulted the G4 Cube???
Grrr...

 

[_bnkr612]

Ha! I'm typing this on my 450Mhz G4 Cube. Mine also has its original 16MB ATI Rage Pro video card, and 512Mb RAM. As my sig suggests, I put in a 250Gb HDD when its stock 20 died. My Firewire ports still work (I think) but I've only used them once or twice. Original 15" LCD screen of the time too.
Hooray for G4s!
BTW, Who was it who insulted the G4 Cube???
Grrr...

Cubes are sexy. The MacMini is no replacement that's for sure. Ive is struggling with the engineers right now, that's why the new one isn't out.

 

[FF_productions]

Just check out the sig. This machine sometimes feels faster than my iMac G5 that it replaced. I got a pretty good time on the Photoshop speed test, beat my iMac by a few minutes. I'm still upgrading the machine to get the most speed out of it and haven't found a reason to get another computer because it's been serving me fine for the past month.

I've been contemplating intel, but the Mac Pro's aren't out yet and it's very early in the transition for me. I'll probably get a MacBook Pro for college, I need the power for Final Cut Studio.

 

[Nermal]

I don't know what the licensing restrictions would be, but I would gladly make a copy of my (what I think is) Rhapsody install disk. It's branded as Mac OS X Server Release 1.2

I'd better pass, I believe it's still under licence. Besides, I got my mitts on a copy of Jaguar Server to play around with

 

[apunkrockmonk]

I'm posting this from my Sawtooth 450mhz file server.

It has 600GB of storage space currently.

I plan to fill it to the gills with hard drives as the need arrives.

I will be keeping this machine forever most likely.

Works great!

 

[Xeem]

Ha! I'm typing this on my 450Mhz G4 Cube. Mine also has its original 16MB ATI Rage Pro video card, and 512Mb RAM. As my sig suggests, I put in a 250Gb HDD when its stock 20 died. My Firewire ports still work (I think) but I've only used them once or twice. Original 15" LCD screen of the time too.
Hooray for G4s!

Mine still has the 17" Apple Studio Display CRT (with ADC connector) that it came with; to this day it remains one of my favorite monitors. Anyway, this thread has helped inspire me to pick up some hardware for $20 from woot! that will let my Cube at least have a role as a wireless internet box and torrent client for all of my (solely freeware, of course...) downloads.

 

[solvs]

I put in a 250Gb HDD when its stock 20 died.

You know, you could just buy a copy of SpeedTools to break that 128GB limit. Or partition it into multiple pieces, if you haven't already. Not much point in having 250GB and only using half of it.

 

[leekohler]

I just bought a dual-core PM G5 in April. I sold my old G4 sawtooth that I upgraded the hell out of to a friend at work. It now has 1Ghz processor, 1.75 Gb RAM, a 64 Mb VRAM Radeon 900o Pro card and two hard drives. I loved that computer and got a bit misty-eyed when I sold it. I had it for almost 6 years and if I weren't starting to get into video editing, I would have kept it for even longer. I still have my iBook G4 though. I love it. I was going to sell it and get a MacBook, but I'm not impressed with them yet (integrated graphics, yuck). Oh well, they'll get better with time.

BTW- the friend I sold the PM G4 to loves it. It's his first Mac. His PC now sits in the closet.

 

[TDM21]

I bought my QuickSilver PowerMac from these forums back in January. It actually came in pieces and had to reattach all the CPU spacers in the right place. After a PMU battery upgrade, the system booted up perfectly. Since then I have upgraded the video card to a 9800pro and the CD-Rom drive to a Pioneer DVD burner. I hope to have the processor upgraded by the end of the year as well as a SATA card and hard drive.

I know, I know, some would say to sell it and get a G5 or MacPro after all the money I have thrown at it, but I like the look and expandability of the QS. Plus I don't need the system for power since I'm only in college. This PowerMac is more of a hobby to play around with and see what I can get it to do.

 

[63dot]

I run a dual processor PMG4 (Gig E), with two 500mhz processors. You're not alone out there.

same here...still works great...and added features for mine are three 36 GB 10,000 rpm SCSI hard drives

my dad has a 20" inch intel imac and that machine is faster on native apps, and quieter but as we all know, there is still not a lot of native software for the mactels...this time next year, everybody out there in the third party software world should be on board with the new mactel machines

and where the PM was $6,000+ dollars, my dad's 20" inch intel imac was less than one third the price

it's amazing how much power one can get these days for an affordable price

 

[Kaioshin]

I use one at work (when I actually go there, my work allows me to do everything at home).
But I am uncertain what it's specifications are. If I remember I'll update this post once I'm there.

 

[Erasmus]

You know, you could just buy a copy of SpeedTools to break that 128GB limit. Or partition it into multiple pieces, if you haven't already. Not much point in having 250GB and only using half of it.

Yeah I know. But at the moment, I've used less than 80Gb, and don't see that increasing much very soon. If or when I get a new Mac, I'll format it in two partitions from the new computer using Target Disk Mode. That should work, shouldn't it? I'm cheap.

 

[solvs]

If or when I get a new Mac, I'll format it in two partitions from the new computer using Target Disk Mode. That should work, shouldn't it?

You should be able to partition the rest right now. It should leave your formatted partition as is. Um, just make sure to back up first.

 

[QCassidy352]

I've got a single 1.25 GHz Powemac G4 MDD, 3 HDDs in it 768 Mb of RAM and two optical drives Super and combo, and i love it to bits and wont be getting rid of until at least 2 years from now

my gf still uses a single proc 1.25 G4 with 1.25 GB RAM and the rest stock. Works great, and has since the day we got it. (she just saw me typing and said to say "I love it to the moon.")

 

[ricgnzlzcr]

You know, you could just buy a copy of SpeedTools to break that 128GB limit. Or partition it into multiple pieces, if you haven't already. Not much point in having 250GB and only using half of it.

You can partition a drive in order to break the limit of 128? Wow. That's really exciting

 

[Nermal]

In a few days I will have gone a step further - I just bought a Blue and White G3! (just waiting for it to arrive).

It finally arrived and I have a question regarding hard drives. According to Apple, it uses "Ultra2 LVD" drives, but the only ones I can find for sale are Ultra160 and 320. Are these drives backward compatible (ie. can I put a 160 or 320 in a B&W)? Also, do I avoid the 128 GB limit by using a SCSI drive?

 

[disconap]

I love my Sawtooth and my b/w. Both hold their own just fine (the b/w is a little slow, but not that bad). A G5 tower would leave either in the dust, of course; but the real benefit over most other macs for me is the 2gigs of RAM in the G4, it just makes it cook along faster than any other machine I've been on.

On the drives, if you have a SCSI card installed, there should be no limit problem (READ: should). The only ways to break the barrier is through a PCI drive card or through a software utility (I can't remember the name offhand, but I don't recomment it anyway). You should be able to use any IDE (PATA) drive out there.

 

[bartelby]

I have a 733MHz Quicksilver with 1.12GB RAM, it's original 40 GB HD and a 120GB HD. I use it nearly every day.
The only things that really bother me are:

The heat and noise it produces
It takes forever to startup
and
It no longer sleeps. So I have to shut it down all the time!

 

[Yoursh]

I just got a 466MHz G4 PowerMac today. Traded it for one of my used ipods from a posting on Craig's list. Came with the original install discs(10.2), original KB/mouse,CRT monitor, and a set of retail 10.3. From looking at it, it hasn't been upgraded at all.(128mb RAM, 30Gig HDD, ATI video card w/ ADC output) Now I have to find what I can upgrade on it. Woo. I think I finally found a replacement for my PC desktop that's not upgradeable.

 

[dpaanlka]

There are many G3s and 604/603 machines still in service. Yes, many many people use G4s.

 

[AlexMaximus]

My G4 stays!!

I have a Powermac G4 1,42 G Dual, 2Gig Ram and Radeon 9800/256MB.
In adition I have upgraded the noisy Power Supply Fans with a great Veraxfan option (M11). This machine is still super fast and I did not experiance any restrictions yet. There are stil many upgrade options left such as a nice SCSI controller with 15K drives. I also think about the new WD Raptor SATA 10K dirves together with the Sonnet SATA controller.
Sure, a new G5 PPC or Intel will be faster, however I always used my computers many years without problems.
At the end of the day you want to invest in technology you can easy transfer to the next generation. That means always buy the best screen, printer,, maybe even SCSI drives but I do not invest in CPUs very often. The G4's are actually such good machines that Apple had to build in artifical market restrictions in order to make the G5 more attractive. One example is the fact that apples apperture does not run on a G4. -Well, Adobes Lightroon runs super fast on it, which is the proof that it is not hardware related but market driven to push G5 sales volume.
I am sorry Apple, but you will not cut down my G4's product life cycle!