Apple G4

[remagavon]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33

Originally posted by: deathkoba

Originally posted by: djmihow
oh well, its not my computer, hes just learning and doesn't want to spend cash on something this old.

It's not that old and it'd be well worth it to upgrade to 512MB or even 1GB of memory to run OS X on. It's actually close to performance of a 2.4GHz PC and should last another 5 years or so. Unlike PCs, Macs hold their value and leading performance edge much longer.

You are saying a 400mghrtz G4 will run like a 2.4Ghtrz PC (I am assuming you mean a Pentium IV and not an AMD64 4000+)? That seems a bit of a stretch.

He's a fanboy. Don't feed the trolls.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: remagavon

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33

Originally posted by: deathkoba

Originally posted by: djmihow
oh well, its not my computer, hes just learning and doesn't want to spend cash on something this old.

It's not that old and it'd be well worth it to upgrade to 512MB or even 1GB of memory to run OS X on. It's actually close to performance of a 2.4GHz PC and should last another 5 years or so. Unlike PCs, Macs hold their value and leading performance edge much longer.

You are saying a 400mghrtz G4 will run like a 2.4Ghtrz PC (I am assuming you mean a Pentium IV and not an AMD64 4000+)? That seems a bit of a stretch.

He's a fanboy. Don't feed the trolls.

On most tasks, you wouldn't even notice the difference. Things like gaming will be slightly different. Otherwise a 400MHz G4 is more than enough.

 

[Steve]

Come on over and see how my mother's G4 400 feels. In my opinion: inadequate.


Seriously, you should see how long it takes to do simple tasks.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Originally posted by: sm8000
Come on over and see how my mother's G4 400 feels. In my opinion: inadequate.


Seriously, you should see how long it takes to do simple tasks.

Probably not configured properly that's all. Mine runs very fast. I can't tell the difference in most tasks between my A64 3200 rig.

 

[Steve]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. This is an upgrade from OS 9.2.2 (to 10.2) and I don't think everything went right. I did just purchase a Tiger DVD from here though, now that machine just needs a DVD-ROM Anyway her birthday is at the end of March, and I'm thinking of getting her a Mac Mini. Then I can take this G4 and teach myself Mac.

 

[ghost03]

a 400mhz g4 is probably equiv to a pIII at like 650-700, no 2.4ghz, but will get you through daily stuff. ram would help for osx but isn't necessary. and you can pick up a legit copy of 10.2 jaguar from otherworld computing for like 20bucks, definately worth a snag. it's an imac system restore disc or somethign like that, but it should work fine.

 

[Steve]

I've heard that 10.2 is a bit demanding for the older systems, and that 10.3 or later goes easier on them.

OP, Google for ShadowKiller, it may help a little bit.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: ghost03
a 400mhz g4 is probably equiv to a pIII at like 650-700, no 2.4ghz, but will get you through daily stuff. ram would help for osx but isn't necessary. and you can pick up a legit copy of 10.2 jaguar from otherworld computing for like 20bucks, definately worth a snag. it's an imac system restore disc or somethign like that, but it should work fine.

Severely doubt it... Either OS X is extremely bloated or something because I had a PII 450 with about 384MB of ram with XP and it was as fast for everyday tasks as my 3.5GHZ P4. I had the "pleasure" of using a G4 mac with OSX, it was painfully slow, just using wordprocessing was a PITA, there was limewire running and a webbrowser open but otherwise nothing was really open. It took a good 30 seconds -45 for word to fully open and it took about 2-3 seconds for a menu to popup.. You know what was really depressing about all of this? It's the fact that the machine had 768MB of ram! That and the fact that a machine with a similar clock speed and significantly less ram was much much faster.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: goku

Originally posted by: ghost03
a 400mhz g4 is probably equiv to a pIII at like 650-700, no 2.4ghz, but will get you through daily stuff. ram would help for osx but isn't necessary. and you can pick up a legit copy of 10.2 jaguar from otherworld computing for like 20bucks, definately worth a snag. it's an imac system restore disc or somethign like that, but it should work fine.

Severely doubt it... Either OS X is extremely bloated or something because I had a PII 450 with about 384MB of ram with XP and it was as fast for everyday tasks as my 3.5GHZ P4. I had the "pleasure" of using a G4 mac with OSX, it was painfully slow, just using wordprocessing was a PITA, there was limewire running and a webbrowser open but otherwise nothing was really open. It took a good 30 seconds -45 for word to fully open and it took about 2-3 seconds for a menu to popup.. You know what was really depressing about all of this? It's the fact that the machine had 768MB of ram! That and the fact that a machine with a similar clock speed and significantly less ram was much much faster.

Word and java are crap on OS X.

And yes, it needs a lot of memory. It's bloated. Memory is cheap, so it doesn't matter a whole lot.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Ronald McDonald
The G4 is a great computer. I own one, except the processor was upgraded from 400mhz to 1GHz. It also has 2 hard drives, 18gb and 20gb. Also has OS X on it with 768mb of RAM

OS X will run fine on 400mhz. More RAM would be nice.

I have a G4 running OS X 10.4.3. It has a 450mhz processor with about 512mb ram. It runs just fine. I'm adding a faster hard drive and eventually more ram, but OS X is VERY functional on my configuration. OP, go to Crucial and check out what's available:

http://www.crucial.com

512mb RAM sticks for my Mac are about $97 each. Tell your buddy to buy at least one 512 stick, OS X, and a 40gb 7200rpm hard drive. That should be under $200 if you shop around and will give him a really nice system to learn on.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: sm8000
Come on over and see how my mother's G4 400 feels. In my opinion: inadequate.


Seriously, you should see how long it takes to do simple tasks.

How much ram does her computer have, and is it running OS X?

 

[Steve]

It's running 10.2 on either 384 or 512MB of PC-100.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: sm8000
It's running 10.2 on either 384 or 512MB of PC-100.

Hmm, I can't speak for all apps, but mine runs pretty well. I've only been using it for a couple of days, though. OS X and iLife run quite well on my 450mhz/512mb pc100 machine. I like it. I need to drop in the 1.7ghz dual processor upgrade soon though...if only it didn't cost twice as much as the whole machine did

 

[jhu]

Originally posted by: deathkoba

Originally posted by: sm8000
Come on over and see how my mother's G4 400 feels. In my opinion: inadequate.


Seriously, you should see how long it takes to do simple tasks.

Probably not configured properly that's all. Mine runs very fast. I can't tell the difference in most tasks between my A64 3200 rig.

try running open office, firefox, mozilla, etc... yes, it will run. on my 266mhz g3, the response is so much slower than my 1.6ghz sempron 64. even the terminal response is somewhat slower. the frickin' terminal!!!

 

[drag]

If your comparing a 400mhz G3 vs a Pentium 1.2ghz, then I'd say that most users wouldn't notice the difference. Still doesn't mean that the 400mhz machine is anywere nearly as fast a 1.2ghz P4.

But saying that a 400mhz PPC machine is equal in speed to a 2.4ghz P4 is just silly. I've used plenty of Macs and have had groups of Macs ranging from 400mhz to dual 1.2ghz and when using Photoshop the differences aren't that great when working with small photos.

right now I have a 1.2ghz G4 Ibook with 1.25+ gigs of RAM vs a Desktop system with 2.0ghz Althon XP with a gig of ram. The Althon machine is noticably faster in every respect.