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Should I buy this updated B&W?

rdp5008

rdp5008

macrumors regular
Original poster
Edit-not B&W as title says...

I saw this on my local craigslist. I wouldn't mind having a desktop to go along with my 12" Powerbook. He is asking $450, fair price?


Selling my Apple Powermac G4 (was 466Mhz) now with upgraded Sonnet Encore G4 1.2GHz processor, 1.5GB ram, 40GB hard drive with fresh install of Tiger 10.4.9, and full version of Photoshop CS installed, with 17" Apple ADC Studio display. Runs beautifully!

Included:
Original boxes for G4 and display (99% sure still in storage)
Original OS 9 discs
Superdrive - Pioneer A106 4X DVD-R and 16X CD-R burning
Radeon 9200 dual display card installed (w/ box) for newer flat panel displays (worth $75 at least)
Airport card installed (worth $75 as well)
Full keyboard
Apple optical mouse
Zip 100 drive with 14 Zip 100 disks - all disks checked and still operational
17" Apple ADC Studio display - coating blemishes upper left, otherwise good screen (in photo just reflections lower right)
Ethernet port
4 port USB 2.0 card installed
2x firewire
2x USB (tower side) 2x on keyboard 2x on display
Internal card for adding 2 more ATA hard drives for a total of 5 drives internal
G4 tower floor stands
Apple speakers ​
 
Okay, this one comes with a nice monitor and everything else I need. I cannot afford a new Mac Mini right now.

Anyone have any experience with the Sonnet Processor upgrades?
 
rdp5008 said:
Okay, this one comes with a nice monitor and everything else I need. I cannot afford a new Mac Mini right now.

Anyone have any experience with the Sonnet Processor upgrades?
Click to expand...
Find out if the monitor is a LCD or CRT. Secondly, check out the refurbished Mac minis. The 1.66 GHz model runs for $429.
 
I agree with Eidorian. Those refurbished mini's are a bargain and will probably last you longer that the G4, but if you truly can't afford any other screen and need a superdrive, the powermac will be a solid performer.
 
Worth $450, maybe. Should they sell it at that price or should you buy it at that price? Probably not. Look into a refurb mini. Save a little more. Get a cheap monitor on craigslist, I see them for free or less than $20 all the time. It will be worth it in the long run.

Sonnet upgrades are pretty good by the way, but a core solo mini would probably smoke the G4.
 
I'd be more then willing to give the OP a free 19" CRT (I have 10 in storage.) if they pay for shipping. 🙄
 
Royale w/cheese said:
Any old Apple CRT? 😀 I would love one to match my old sawtooth like I had when I was younger. (7 years ago)
Click to expand...
Dell, NEC, ViewSonic, and Samsung. The majority of them are flat CRTs as well.

I believe that someone on campus is giving away an Apple CRT though.
 
And, it has to be said... unless the seller is giving up their license to Photoshop and Tiger, and including the original disks and serial numbers with the sale, then leaving the software on the hard drive of a machine being sold is piracy.
 
CanadaRAM said:
And, it has to be said... unless the seller is giving up their license to Photoshop and Tiger, and including the original disks and serial numbers with the sale, then leaving the software on the hard drive of a machine being sold is piracy.
Click to expand...

It sure is, and if they give those, I would pay $1000 for it. 😀
 
I think its a good package

rdp5008 said:
Okay, this one comes with a nice monitor and everything else I need. I cannot afford a new Mac Mini right now.

Anyone have any experience with the Sonnet Processor upgrades?
Click to expand...

Hello my friend,

I am a big G4 lover so mybay my opinion is not "objective". However if you don't have a display I think the package you are looking for is really ok. If you break it down in screen and computer it's getting even better. As far as I know Sonnet is the top of the brands in G4 upgrades and they have good technical service and reputation. Too bad that it's not a dual cpu. If your budget does not allow more, I would go for it.
One alternative you would consider might be a Mac G4 cube. If you are lucky you could find one with screen at the same price, however with the original and slower cpu. But in this case you wouldn't spend more but you would ende up with a true collector Mac that can be sold anytime so you wouldn't loose money on the long run. Going with this you can upgrade the CPU later on too but being able to work with it right now.
:apple:
 
The Sonnet Encore upgrades are okay, the thing that slows that machine down is the frontside bus. This seems to be a Digital Audio model, so it has a 133 MHz FSB. I personally don't think that upgrading the 1.2GHz to a dual-CPU card would make sense with the FSB. Also the memory architecture will be the next thing slowing the machine down.
 
Could I remind you that most retail boxed Mac OS X Versions say on the side and on the read-me, DOES NOT SUPPORT PROCESSOR UPGRADES.

If the sonnets will work still, someone please tell me,: where can i get one, how much, and will it work in my g3 b&w powermac.

Wow, I love being able to ask real people things like that instead of online manuals etc..
 
penguinpaul said:
Could I remind you that most retail boxed Mac OS X Versions say on the side and on the read-me, DOES NOT SUPPORT PROCESSOR UPGRADES.
Click to expand...

According to what I've heard, they OS doesn't support them, but it doesn't mean it wouldn't work with processor upgrades. I guess the support comes from the processor manufacturers side.

Oh yeah, and this is what you'll need. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/encore.html
150$ for the 500MHz G4 and 300$ for the 1GHz G4.
 
rdp5008 said:
Okay, this one comes with a nice monitor and everything else I need. I cannot afford a new Mac Mini right now.

Anyone have any experience with the Sonnet Processor upgrades?
Click to expand...

G4s are currently on Apple's chopping block, as seen in the new iMovie '08 specs - I would hazard a guess that, within the next OS/iLife upgrade cycle, you will see the end of G4 support for most applications. There is no such limitation with the Mac Mini.
 
I cannot express how much you would gain from going with an Intel Mac Mini instead.

Longevity, space saving and much higher performance.

Go for the Mac Mini!

That upgraded tower is an illusion. It may sound maxed out, but it would be annihilated by a Core Duo Mini, or even better a Core 2 Duo.
 
I currently have a g3 B&W Pmac running as a file server so I have a little insight on how these old dinosaurs perform. I like you thought it would be so much cheaper to just upgrade one of these myself but it ended up costing me more than a price of a brand new mac mini by the time I was done and a mini would still crush my B&W. Mine is maxed out in ram and has a processor upgrade and a PCI sata controller for extra hardrives. The performance is ok but my 17" 1.67 Pbook still runs circles around it. I would highly advise within your budget of coarse to look into a newer mini or if you insist on an older Pmac at least get Pmac that already can support larger harddrives I think that starts with one of the quicksilver models. Knowing this info before I started my project I would have gone a different route. Hope this helps!!
 
Thanks for all of the input!

I ended up buying a Powermac G5 with a single 1.6 GHz processor, 1 gig ram, superdrive, 160 GB HDD (as told in another thread).

Only problem is it won't boot up! I am trying to get it up and running, if I can't I am going to sell off the parts. I got it dirt cheap from a guy who used it for work and just bought a new one when it stopped working rather than trouble shoot it! I'll keep ya'll updated. Thanks again for the advice.
 
penguinpaul said:
processor upgrade for me then! i dunno tho, 400mhz isnt that bad...
Click to expand...

I upgraded to a 1.0ghz processor from OWC. It was a simple install and after I maxed out the RAM it does its job fairly well. I would never do anything intensive on this P-Mac but thats not what I built it for.
 
I'll go against everyone else and say that it's a pretty good deal. $450 for those specs, that graphics card, that much RAM, and the Airport card, along with all the extras (speakers and monitor, provided the monitor is good) is a pretty solid deal.

EDIT: I've used several G3 and G4 sonnet cards. They all work with OSX fine in my experience.
 
disconap said:
I'll go against everyone else and say that it's a pretty good deal. $450 for those specs, that graphics card, that much RAM, and the Airport card, along with all the extras (speakers and monitor, provided the monitor is good) is a pretty solid deal.

EDIT: I've used several G3 and G4 sonnet cards. They all work with OSX fine in my experience.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree. The price of the hardware is a good deal since you could part it out and make money on the purchase, but in terms of performance for the price I do think a refurbished mini is the best bet. The only way I'd pick the powermac in this situation is if I needed to run multiple screens and needed extra hard drive storage.
 
ricgnzlzcr said:
Oh I agree. The price of the hardware is a good deal since you could part it out and make money on the purchase, but in terms of performance for the price I do think a refurbished mini is the best bet. The only way I'd pick the powermac in this situation is if I needed to run multiple screens and needed extra hard drive storage.
Click to expand...

True. The problem is, the G4 is kinda maxed out already. There's not much you can do to make it faster anymore. The FSB slowing the G4 down, it won't be even near a comparison to the Intel Mac Minis. Also the memory bus and hard drive bus are way slower. Regarding extra hard drive storage, true, you can add more internal HDs. But does it support large hard drives (over 128GB)? Besides, you can always buy a FireWire enclosure and stuff it with a 1TB HD and plug it in a mini. That's for storage. Btw, I always felt sorry for the PC users stuck with 1.44MB floppies, when I was cruising with my G4s Zip drive. 100MB disks, not bad. But it's horribly outdated. You get a Kingston 1GB USB memory stick for a couple of dollars and it does the same.
 
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