Who uses their PPC mac as their main machine?

[Liquinn]

My main machine is a 1.42 GHz G4 eMac. It's still got enough power for me to complete my required tasks without much trouble, your G5 will be even better.


Physically, it's pretty likely. I've got a 26 year old Apple IIc in perfect working condition. Also a 22 year old Mac Classic, flawless. (Well, except the floppy drive but I broke that on my own. ) But as a useful machine? I'd say if your needs are fairly basic, it should last a good 5 years. I wouldn't go as far as 10, I think we'll be dealing with a very different computing world that even your G5 won't be able to keep up with by then.

I see. It was £200 which was an okay price I think. It comes with Tiger which is good and I want to play around with an older version of OSX anyway.

And to think the Powermac G5s were top of the range at some point; I guess then again anything is.

What's your favourite PowerPC Apple ever made? I'm sure the G5 will be a good machine for a few years to come teehee =P

 

[SkyBell]

I see. It was £200 which was an okay price I think. It comes with Tiger which is good and I want to play around with an older version of OSX anyway.

And to think the Powermac G5s were top of the range at some point; I guess then again anything is.

What's your favourite PowerPC Apple ever made? I'm sure the G5 will be a good machine for a few years to come teehee =P

I honestly wouldn't know anything about G5 prices, I've never looked at them, but it doesn't sound like you overpaid or anything.

If you're not worried about having to use older versions of apps, stick with Tiger. It looks good, works good, and its fast. Leopard, at least in my experience, works OK on PPC, but really Tiger is best.

I'm not sure I could pick just one. I absolutely adore my eMac, its served me well and is still going strong, I plan to keep it as my main machine for at least another year or two. I once had an iBook G4 I also loved, my clamshell iBook is just cool as hell, iMac G4's are crazy beautiful... the list goes on. The G3/G4 era was Apple's golden one IMO.

 

[Liquinn]

I honestly wouldn't know anything about G5 prices, I've never looked at them, but it doesn't sound like you overpaid or anything.

If you're not worried about having to use older versions of apps, stick with Tiger. It looks good, works good, and its fast. Leopard, at least in my experience, works OK on PPC, but really Tiger is best.

I'm not sure I could pick just one. I absolutely adore my eMac, its served me well and is still going strong, I plan to keep it as my main machine for at least another year or two. I once had an iBook G4 I also loved, my clamshell iBook is just cool as hell, iMac G4's are crazy beautiful... the list goes on. The G3/G4 era was Apple's golden one IMO.

Yeah true, I know what you mean. I'm not worried about not having the latest and greatest OS on it.

How long do you think I should be able to get good use out of a Powermac G5? 5 years or so?

 

[SkyBell]

Yeah true, I know what you mean. I'm not worried about not having the latest and greatest OS on it.

How long do you think I should be able to get good use out of a Powermac G5? 5 years or so?

Yeah, five years sounds about right. I would imagine at the end of those five years, it will be a bit of a snail compared to all the the new hardware at that time, but it will be a good machine until then.

 

[TSE]

I respect you guys that still use older, dated technology. It's kind of cool. I think the only other computer brand where people stick with their own "personal" machines as much are Thinkpads. I still see Thinkpads from 2003, 2004 being used at university along with older iBooks and PowerBooks.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I respect you guys that still use older, dated technology. It's kind of cool. I think the only other computer brand where people stick with their own "personal" machines as much are Thinkpads. I still see Thinkpads from 2003, 2004 being used at university along with older iBooks and PowerBooks.

Funny you mention that. I just pulled out my old Thinkpad. I've had at least 5 of them.

 

[jbarley]

I have a T40 Thinkpad, built like a tank and easily expandable in its day.

 

[TacticalDesire]

Yeah, five years sounds about right. I would imagine at the end of those five years, it will be a bit of a snail compared to all the the new hardware at that time, but it will be a good machine until then.

5 years of what? Music, Word Processing and such should work fine 5 years from now, assuming formats don't change too dramatically to a point where Office 2008 and Leopard can't support it, but I've got a feeling web browsing will become a bit much for it. Only time will tell. The newest G5's are already 7 years old, and add another 5 years? I don't know of anyone still using a 12 year old machine regularly. Especially as their primary machine. The oldest machines I still see regularly are 2003-04 era P4 machines. And even those are on their last legs. But like I said, only time will tell. I hope I'm wrong. I could use a few more years out of a couple of my machines too .

 

[SkyBell]

5 years of what? Music, Word Processing and such should work fine 5 years from now, assuming formats don't change too dramatically to a point where Office 2008 and Leopard can't support it, but I've got a feeling web browsing will become a bit much for it. Only time will tell. The newest G5's are already 7 years old, and add another 5 years? I don't know of anyone still using a 12 year old machine regularly. Especially as their primary machine. The oldest machines I still see regularly are 2003-04 era P4 machines. And even those are on their last legs. But like I said, only time will tell. I hope I'm wrong. I could use a few more years out of a couple of my machines too .

I have a Dell OptiPlex that is around 11 years old, it's still a very usable computer. Does web browsing just fine, iTunes, etc. It's no longer connected to the internet, but I don't doubt it would still be more then just tolerable. Most people need a little more than it can give, I suppose, but as a light user I'm still very satisfied with its performance.

How long a machine remains usable all depends on your needs.

 

[CAINuKe]

How long a machine remains usable all depends on your needs.

That is very much true, however, there is a difference between the windows machine and the PowerPC platform. Microsoft still supports windows XP and there is still a s*** ton of software for it that is current.

There is MAYBE 10-15 programs that are up to date and can be used on a PPC platform for todays use, I love PowerPC macs, I've had 5-7 of them. But there comes a time when you simply cant take your 1985 Toyota Carolla onto the highway anymore.

 

[SkyBell]

That is very much true, however, there is a difference between the windows machine and the PowerPC platform. Microsoft still supports windows XP and there is still a s*** ton of software for it that is current.

There is MAYBE 10-15 programs that are up to date and can be used on a PPC platform for todays use, I love PowerPC macs, I've had 5-7 of them. But there comes a time when you simply cant take your 1985 Toyota Carolla onto the highway anymore.

I will admit this point, Microsoft takes care of its customers for a lot longer than Apple does.

But that's irrelevant if you don't need current software. I sure don't, the older versions still work like they did when I first got them. My needs have not changed, therefore my software doesn't either.

And eventually, one day PPC will no longer be viable for nearly anyone. I know it's inevitable, but for now, they've still got a lot of useful life left in them for people like myself.

 

[CAINuKe]

I will admit this point, Microsoft takes care of its customers for a lot longer than Apple does.

But that's irrelevant if you don't need current software. I sure don't, the older versions still work like they did when I first got them. My needs have not changed, therefore my software doesn't either.

And eventually, one day PPC will no longer be viable for nearly anyone. I know it's inevitable, but for now, they've still got a lot of useful life left in them for people like myself.

It is actually a semi-valid point. The adoption rate for Windows XP was in far greater numbers than that of any Apple product sold PERIOD. The sheer mass is enough for them to keep updating it until 2013.

It is very relevant. HTML5 is becoming very commonplace and without a proper rendering engine for such code. Basic tasks become severely hampered. Java is another issue all together.

I'm not saying they are useless now, I still have mine. I am saying instead of relying on the PPC platform as a main system, save a little and get a slightly newer intel (CoreDuo/Solo) system and continue to use the machine you have now.

 

[davidg4781]

5 years of what? Music, Word Processing and such should work fine 5 years from now, assuming formats don't change too dramatically to a point where Office 2008 and Leopard can't support it, but I've got a feeling web browsing will become a bit much for it. Only time will tell. The newest G5's are already 7 years old, and add another 5 years? I don't know of anyone still using a 12 year old machine regularly. Especially as their primary machine. The oldest machines I still see regularly are 2003-04 era P4 machines. And even those are on their last legs. But like I said, only time will tell. I hope I'm wrong. I could use a few more years out of a couple of my machines too .

My mom's using my old 2004 era (more like 2003 as I used cheaper parts) AMD PC and she's doing fine with it. Granted, she's not doing anything fancy, just playing some online games and such, but it's fine and besides the fact that it's running Windows XP, I have really no issues using it when I go over to visit.

It could probably use a better graphics card though. The one I had it in went out and I quickly ordered a cheaper one off eBay. I THOUGHT it was one of the better ones but it seems to be worse than the one originally in it.

I've thought of upgrading that and popping some RAM in it... but I'm thinking I might get her a Mac Mini instead.

 

[SkyBell]

It is very relevant. HTML5 is becoming very commonplace and without a proper rendering engine for such code. Basic tasks become severely hampered. Java is another issue all together.

I'm not saying they are useless now, I still have mine. I am saying instead of relying on the PPC platform as a main system, save a little and get a slightly newer intel (CoreDuo/Solo) system and continue to use the machine you have now.

I could be wrong, but I do believe TenFourFox has (or at least is working on) HTML 5 support. I really couldn't tell you much about Java, I don't even know what it is or what it does. I just know my netbook constantly asks me to update it. (Seriously, what is it for?)

When the time comes to put PPC to rest, I don't believe I'll be getting another Mac. If I do, it will be CD system, that's around the time Apple just lost me pretty much completely. (Though I may very well end up eating those words, time will tell. )

 

[davidg4781]

I could be wrong, but I do believe TenFourFox has (or at least is working on) HTML 5 support. I really couldn't tell you much about Java, I don't even know what it is or what it does. I just know my netbook constantly asks me to update it. (Seriously, what is it for?)

When the time comes to put PPC to rest, I don't believe I'll be getting another Mac. If I do, it will be CD system, that's around the time Apple just lost me pretty much completely. (Though I may very well end up eating those words, time will tell. )

I just upgraded from a CD MacBook to a later model MBP. Honestly, aside from playing some fancy games and running Lion/ML, I'm not missing much. I'm looking to sell it but it seems I'm only going to get about $250, if that, so I may just keep it. It's a great quick little booger though. If it were a PPC Mac, I'd definitely keep it. Being Intel I guess lessens the attachment.

 

[vohdoun]

That is very much true, however, there is a difference between the windows machine and the PowerPC platform. Microsoft still supports windows XP and there is still a s*** ton of software for it that is current.

There is MAYBE 10-15 programs that are up to date and can be used on a PPC platform for todays use, I love PowerPC macs, I've had 5-7 of them. But there comes a time when you simply cant take your 1985 Toyota Carolla onto the highway anymore.

It took me a while to find the last available working version of Twitterrific recently, 3.2.4.

I did check a version recently of a heavily graphic Word document that was sent to me from a shop used in Word 2010 for Windows and displayed correctly in both Word 2008 PPC and Office 2011 for Intel.

It's a shame though Mountain Lion will be the last version for my Mac Pro. Can't believe it's starting to feel like my Mac Pro will be going through what I've been with Power PC in the next year or two.

I spend more time on PPC though. I just can't seem to get away from it.

I could be wrong, but I do believe TenFourFox has (or at least is working on) HTML 5 support.

I thought it was... according to http://www.neowin.net/ it's HTML5.

 

[CAINuKe]

I could be wrong, but I do believe TenFourFox has (or at least is working on) HTML 5 support. I really couldn't tell you much about Java, I don't even know what it is or what it does. I just know my netbook constantly asks me to update it. (Seriously, what is it for?)

When the time comes to put PPC to rest, I don't believe I'll be getting another Mac. If I do, it will be CD system, that's around the time Apple just lost me pretty much completely. (Though I may very well end up eating those words, time will tell. )

Java is basically a universal platform programming language, if its written in java script it will run on: iOS,DROID,OSX,Solaris,Linux and Windows. Basically anything that has the Java engine and the computing power to drive the application.

I've had the CoreDuo MBP and I didnt find it nearly the build quality of the Powerbook, it was always creaking and the case flexes quite a bit. Gets HOT HOT HOT just doing normal tasks for me. (Then again I have high demands from my machines)

I thought it was... according to http://www.neowin.net/ it's HTML5.

I was refering along the lines as when the processor cant run the engine fast enough to generate pages on screen, it happens when you are half way through a page and press *stop*.

 

[Liquinn]

Yeah, five years sounds about right. I would imagine at the end of those five years, it will be a bit of a snail compared to all the the new hardware at that time, but it will be a good machine until then.

True, I'm buying the Powermac G5 for a few reasons:

I love the case
I want a PowerPC Mac
I'll be using it for a bit of file storage etc and to browse the web lightly.

Two more days, I haven't been this excited to own such an old computer in a while :L

 

[SkyBell]

Java is basically a universal platform programming language, if its written in java script it will run on: iOS,DROID,OSX,Solaris,Linux and Windows. Basically anything that has the Java engine and the computing power to drive the application.

I've had the CoreDuo MBP and I didnt find it nearly the build quality of the Powerbook, it was always creaking and the case flexes quite a bit. Gets HOT HOT HOT just doing normal tasks for me. (Then again I have high demands from my machines)

Ah, makes sense I suppose. But it kind of sounds like you would really only need later versions of the Java platform to run more current software. As long as you stick with older software and an older version of Java, it doesn't seem like it would be too much of a problem. I guess it would probably play a big part as websites get more and more resource hungry, but personally I pretty much only visit forums such as this one, and use mobile versions of other sites because they're usually designed better than full ones anyway.

I had the 1.83 CoreDuo mini at one time, for about a year and a half. It wasn't a bad machine by any means, plenty of power and never failed me once. (until I killed it trying to upgrade the RAM) But I never formed an attachment to it like I have my PPC macs, even though it was the first Mac I ever owned with OS X. PPC is just special, for one reason or another. Intel just isn't.

 

[Liquinn]

I downloaded VisualBoyAdvance on my Intel Mac and it says

"You can't open the application VisualBoyAdvance because PowerPc applications are no longer supported".

Hmmm... that kinda sucks =/

 

[jtkc]

My G5

hello, i registered here a few years back.
I bought a 20in iMac G5 ppc 1.8ghz, 150gb hd, journal'd into two 75gb drives. Lacie 250gb ext hd.
No airport card.
The logic board was replaced before i owned it with what i was told was a non-apple supported board. From a friend who was an Apple Genius.
the blu-tooth connection doesn't work either.

My G5 quit working on me back in December of 2011.
It froze up while it was running. I hit the restart button. Then it shut off, and never restarted.

I can hear a faint clicking noise coming from the area beneath the monitor when i depress the power button on the back. The clicks seem to come from the center of the white area below the screen closer to the vents.

 

[Zotaccian]

My G5 quit working on me back in December of 2011.
It froze up while it was running. I hit the restart button. Then it shut off, and never restarted.

I can hear a faint clicking noise coming from the area beneath the monitor when i depress the power button on the back. The clicks seem to come from the center of the white area below the screen closer to the vents.

Power supply is dead, it is located directly behind the Apple logo, those clicks and of course the machine not powering up at all hint that it is power supply failure. Power supplies can sometimes be found from eBay with reasonable price but usually they are ridiciously priced, atleast when shipping costs are added to the actual, might be different case if you live in USA.

 

[jtkc]

Power supply is dead, it is located directly behind the Apple logo, those clicks and of course the machine not powering up at all hint that it is power supply failure. Power supplies can sometimes be found from eBay with reasonable price but usually they are ridiciously priced, atleast when shipping costs are added to the actual, might be different case if you live in USA.

thanks i was told thats what it was.
i have been looking at mac parts retailers. and its rather on the higher side of (ideal price range lol) but its still reasonable.
i cant believe how much the ppc logic boards are selling for. one place wants 1k or higher for them! i was astounded.

is replacing a power supply a task that a person with average knowledge of electronics, components, etc could complete? Or is it a task best left to certified tech?

 

[vohdoun]

Power supply is dead, it is located directly behind the Apple logo, those clicks and of course the machine not powering up at all hint that it is power supply failure. Power supplies can sometimes be found from eBay with reasonable price but usually they are ridiciously priced, atleast when shipping costs are added to the actual, might be different case if you live in USA.

Bet it died from a static charge from all the dust clogged inside the power supply. It's amazing the dust that blows out aiming the dust can nozzles beyond the two little intake fans for the PSU.

I wonder if there was ever a distinctive buzz from it when in use. Pretty steady buzz which comes from the dust and it's wonderful ways with all the power elements in the power supply.

 

[jtkc]

Bet it died from a static charge from all the dust clogged inside the power supply. It's amazing the dust that blows out aiming the dust can nozzles beyond the two little intake fans for the PSU.

I wonder if there was ever a distinctive buzz from it when in use. Pretty steady buzz which comes from the dust and it's wonderful ways with all the power elements in the power supply.

To answer: i do not recall hearing a buzzing noise, although the fans near the end of the power supply's demise. Did sound like they were laboring harder (sound they were making) than i recall them doing, or sounding. Make sense to everyone?


huh, never thought to clean up past the vents, probably doesn't help the fact that i'm a smoker that smokes inside his apartment, and forgets to open the windows to cycle the old air out and new fresh air in.

that brings up another question i wanted to ask.

what is the best way, to clean out tobacco resin dust from the internals? regular canned air, or does that sticky resin need something else to remove it?