Windows User to Mac

[Mr. Dee]

Hello, I'm from Jamaica, where it is 99.999% Windows and I'm also a Windows user. The other 00.001% is the News Paper company that uses Macs for Page layout. I'm taking a trip abroad Summer 2004. I would like to know if it will be possible then to get a Second Hand PowerMac G4, 800Mhz for U$300. I really want to try OS X, its so freaking HOT! I also would like to know, will future versions of OS X, possibly 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 be able to run on that Mac when they are released in the future? Because if OS 10.3 can be running on a 300 Mhz White & Blue G3 without any hitches, why would it be impossible for future versions to run on a 800 Mhz? In terms of Memory I will add more to improve performance.


Does anybody know where I can get all the older versions of OS X at a very cheap price, versions 10.0, 10.1, 10.2. I want to start from beginning up to the very latest, just to see how it all began.

 

[davida]

Hi Dee,

I don't know whether you can get PM800 for that price. Macs usually do keep their value pretty good. My Quicksilver 867 is supposed to be worth $900-1100.

Best way is to look into local papers where you go to and start from there.

I do not know where to get previous versions besides apple at full price. Bittorrents maybe?

good luck

davida

 

[FuzzyBallz]

Ebay.com

 

[Sun Baked]

You're still thinking PCs with that price.

Anything capable of running the current OS will be -- not cheap.

The machines usually hold the value quite well until Apple drops them from the supported machines for the current OS.

But usually by that time buying those old machines and bringing them up to snuff, will cost about as much as buying a more expensive/current machine.

---

And as you look at some of the requirements of the current OS, you'll see that some of the features are not supported on "supported" machines like the B&W not having the capability for the GPU to handle some of the OSs eye candy.

Right now a G3 or better with builtin USB is the minimum.

You'll probably see a boxed OS and/or applications require a DVD drive soon.

 

[oldschool]

I know that here in Canada, the old iMacs with the G3 running at 400Mhz like the iMac DV SE, were between 450-600 dollars. Thats around what he is looking to pay, and runs 10.3 perfectly fine. I know my iMac DV SE runs panther as well as my powerbook G4 if not better. (the iMac does have double the ram though)

 

[Nermal]

A word of warning: you probably won't be able to run 10.0 and 10.1 on a G4/800. Typically, you can't boot a version of OS X that is older than the one shipped with your hardware.

As for getting an 800 for $300, you probably won't have much luck there. 1.25 GHz G4s are still selling new for $1299.

 

[FuzzyBallz]

Originally posted by Nermal
A word of warning: you probably won't be able to run 10.0 and 10.1 on a G4/800. Typically, you can't boot a version of OS X that is older than the one shipped with your hardware.

So that's how false rumors are started... Do you even have a G4/800 running Jaguar or Panther? We have 2 iBooks, G3/700 and G3/900, running Panther in my office, w/ 256MB of RAM each, running perfectly fine (Acrobat, Photoshop, Office, etc). How do you explain that Mr. Apple expert? Hmmm?

 

[Nermal]

Huh? I'm talking about running versions older than your hardware, not newer.

 

[snickelfritz]

A word of warning: you probably won't be able to run 10.0 and 10.1 on a G4/800.Typically, you can't boot a version of OS X that is older than the one shipped with your hardware.

This makes sense, since newer hardware architectures will often be unknown to older operating systems.

For example, I had a very similar problem trying to install Linux Mandrake on a new i865 chipset earlier this year; the CDROM drive could not be accessed during installation.
The same install disks worked perfectly in an older PentiumIII, and a new distro of Redhat9 worked fine on the i865.