Don't get me wrong, I love my 12" PB G4. But if I attempt to do anything beyond surfing the net, it becomes unuseable. I always thought people used these for music production, graphic design, etc. I've tried GarageBand '06 and it barely ran. Photoshop is somewhat decent, but I don't see it being used by a professional all day everyday. And lets not mention anything involving video editing. Am I just trying to run apps that are too new? I use my G4 mainly for traveling... internet and iPhoto to import vacation pics but I also do music and some graphic design and would like to maybe use if for that as well. As of now my MacBook Pro handles all that.
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What were PPC Macs Used for when they were new??
- Thread starter Flyin Ryan
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miles01110
macrumors Core
DewGuy1999
macrumors 68040
Just about everything. Find some software that's period appropriate and you'll see what these machines could do.
It's all relative. Because you're used to faster computers the older ones seem much slower than they did before faster ones came along. Yes it used to take more than a couple of hours to render a DVD, but back then that was as fast as it got. So nobody noticed.
spinnerlys
Guest
Avid, an editing application was introduced to Macs at the end of the 80s, when PPC CPUs weren't in Macs yet.
As hardware progresses, software progresses too, and hardware is often ahead (see 64-bit, multi-core, ...).
I edited on several G4 Macs, one was even an iBook and it worked perfectly, it just wasn't as fast as we're used to now.
Look at the speed of the internet, 10 years ago most of us still only had ISDN, 15 years ago we had to use a modem that made strange sounds and gave us only a hundredth or less of current speeds. We could work with that then. But now, if we would go back and had to work with slower machines, we might get a heart attack in between waiting.
As hardware progresses, software progresses too, and hardware is often ahead (see 64-bit, multi-core, ...).
I edited on several G4 Macs, one was even an iBook and it worked perfectly, it just wasn't as fast as we're used to now.
Look at the speed of the internet, 10 years ago most of us still only had ISDN, 15 years ago we had to use a modem that made strange sounds and gave us only a hundredth or less of current speeds. We could work with that then. But now, if we would go back and had to work with slower machines, we might get a heart attack in between waiting.
That makes sense lol. That's the hardest aspect of using older machines is tracking down older versions of applications to run on them. But the fact that my G4 renders web pages that are geared towards todays hardware specs almost instantly is pretty amazing. My PC tower from 2004 seems pretty damn sluggish now but I used to edit audio and graphics with it. I guess we just get spoiled with each new innovation.
DewGuy1999
macrumors 68040
Here's a site I had bookmarked for old Mac free/shareware type stuff, might be helpful:
http://mac.oldapps.com/
It's all a part of Moore's Law, and to some extent, rampant capitalist behaviour.
On one hand, as new technology is developed, new software is designed to take advantage of said new technology, which usually includes performance enhancements unavailable in older technology. Thus, a computer that was greased lightning yesterday is molasses in January today. Part of this is technology based, but more than part of it is also planned obsolescence. There is absolutely nothing you can't do with a PPC Mac, but it depends on the software you ask it to run to do this task. If you keep period-appropriate software on your machine, then your performance will remain relatively similar to when it was new. If you continually ask more of it, however, it will fall further and further behind. There's no money in you keeping a computer for ten years, compared with someone who upgrades every other product cycle, so software and hardware design are tailored to those people's needs, not those of us who use older machines. Thus, support slowly erodes for older technology, even though it's perfectly capable equipment for certain tasks. It's all a question of money.
Case in point; if I were so inclined, I could still write books on a Macintosh SE. I'd have to live without some modern conveniences, but it could be done. Try finding support for that computer. 🙂
On one hand, as new technology is developed, new software is designed to take advantage of said new technology, which usually includes performance enhancements unavailable in older technology. Thus, a computer that was greased lightning yesterday is molasses in January today. Part of this is technology based, but more than part of it is also planned obsolescence. There is absolutely nothing you can't do with a PPC Mac, but it depends on the software you ask it to run to do this task. If you keep period-appropriate software on your machine, then your performance will remain relatively similar to when it was new. If you continually ask more of it, however, it will fall further and further behind. There's no money in you keeping a computer for ten years, compared with someone who upgrades every other product cycle, so software and hardware design are tailored to those people's needs, not those of us who use older machines. Thus, support slowly erodes for older technology, even though it's perfectly capable equipment for certain tasks. It's all a question of money.
Case in point; if I were so inclined, I could still write books on a Macintosh SE. I'd have to live without some modern conveniences, but it could be done. Try finding support for that computer. 🙂
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
just look in the other part of this forum that explains all , there are people who have a 2.66ghz mac mini , i have a g4 mini with 1.42 ghz and i am totally happy with it and would not even wish for more speed , but these folk with the intel minis which offer loads more speed according geekbench are just never satisfied
apple gave them a intel core solo , they cried for a core duo , apple gave them a core duo they cried for a core 2 duo ...now they have a core 2 duo they are lying on the floor like little kids trembling with their feed on the floor and scream for a i5 or even a i7 ,
ok 2 years ago i was the same with my pc , it just could not be fast enough , overclocking and fitting water cooling and at the end even liquid nitro cooling
to squeeze out the last bit of speed , but then i think i grew up and thought why spend thousands on a pc that never will be the fastest on the planet when in reality i never really needed all that speed anyway😕
the ppc mac's is all you really need , just relax , they might need a bit longer by todays standards , but hey if you dont have that bit more time then i feel really sorry for you , and i am worried about your life expectancy , because you are stressed all the time which leads to a earlier death 😉
apple gave them a intel core solo , they cried for a core duo , apple gave them a core duo they cried for a core 2 duo ...now they have a core 2 duo they are lying on the floor like little kids trembling with their feed on the floor and scream for a i5 or even a i7 ,
ok 2 years ago i was the same with my pc , it just could not be fast enough , overclocking and fitting water cooling and at the end even liquid nitro cooling
to squeeze out the last bit of speed , but then i think i grew up and thought why spend thousands on a pc that never will be the fastest on the planet when in reality i never really needed all that speed anyway😕
the ppc mac's is all you really need , just relax , they might need a bit longer by todays standards , but hey if you dont have that bit more time then i feel really sorry for you , and i am worried about your life expectancy , because you are stressed all the time which leads to a earlier death 😉
Whats In There
i have an ibook g4 wich is like ur powerbook but the lower end edition. ilife works pretty fast on my ibook so my question is: HOW MUCH RAM DO U HAVE IN THAT THING?! even if u have the RAM maxed out, times do change so...
i have an ibook g4 wich is like ur powerbook but the lower end edition. ilife works pretty fast on my ibook so my question is: HOW MUCH RAM DO U HAVE IN THAT THING?! even if u have the RAM maxed out, times do change so...
well... now when i think of it... i've never gotten to edit on the intel macs i've used but i feel that saying your powerbook is unusable after trying to use ilife might be extreme...
spinnerlys
Guest
my reading comprehension = ZERO
Btw, violindoug, you can edit your posts using the
button, just like I did with this post, as I misunderstood your post.
Btw, violindoug, you can edit your posts using the
noodle654
macrumors 68020
PowerPC Macs, back in the days, did just about everything. I never seemed to have a problem with anything, until I started using a MacBook vs. my iBook and the MacBook put it to shame. The Quad G5 ran train on just about anything at the time, and it still does today, it is still faster than most of the C2D Macs.
Oh really?
What if I need to run CS5? FCS3? Virtualize Windows? Encode video that doesn't take hours and hours? What if it's simply not a need for speed high but I really do need more speed?
That's what annoys me about some of the users in this sub-forum. Many people seem to think that if you need an Intel Mac, you've got issues. There's plenty of software that simply does not run on a PPC Mac and if you need to run that software (or run it well) you need an Intel Mac.
I love my PPC Mac, and when I get an Intel Mac I won't be getting rid of this one. But at the same time I can't afford to have 7 minute videos taking over 2 hours to encode. For many people, a PPC Mac is sufficient. For just as many people (if not more) it's no longer a viable option. Those who, like zen.state, have the know-how to upgrade their G4 towers to the point where it's about as fast as an Intel Mac, more power to them.
macgeek18
macrumors 68000
PPC Mac's are still impressive,I still love my 2 G4's,who ever said a dual 867 can't do anything,yeah right,2GB of ram and it impresses your socks off. Who here uses Handbrake to encode video so that your Intel mac is free for minor stuff like facebook? I do I have my PM encode while my macbook is free to like surf youtube and macrumors. 😛
zen.state
macrumors 68020
I used to have a dual 867 MDD and loved it. Very solid mac indeed and based on history was the most reliable MDD.
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
i use both handbrake on one and mactheripper on another of my eMac's (1.42,2gb ram ,64mb vram) all connected via apple talk and router , never have looked at how long it takes , just cant be bothered to sit in front with a stopwatch , i ask them to do something and then they can do it in their own time, no rush , i have other ppc mac's to do other stuff (gives a new way to the meaning of multitasking , for every task a other ppc Mac ) for example i use to watch films on one of my iMac g3 via apple talk from the harddrives in one of my eMac's
macgeek18
macrumors 68000
I love mine,the best $50 I ever spent. 🙂 Yes I got mine with the dual 867 processors and 2Gb of ram,a 120GB HD,the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro with 64MB VRAM,and Airport for $50. I love Craigslist,I got it with no os and took a chance on it being dead,and well,popped in Leopard disk and it works fine. 🙂