The last time I was home visiting my folks, my Mom asked me if they made any small form factor computers, something bigger than a laptop but not a full fledged desktop. She was wondering, because she'd like a computer in her kitchen to store recipes on and to surf the web for recipes since her office is at the opposite end of the house on the other floor.
She doesn't want to spend a lot of money on it, probably less than $500. I could probably build a SFF PC with a cheap flat panel monitor for around that much, but once you factor in the cost of Windows, I'm afraid I'm going to be over that amount. There's not a massive amount of free counter space, and the smallest SFF cases tend to be kind of pricey.
I was thinking about picking up a G4 iMac for her. It seems like a good solution - the footprint is small and she can swing around the display so she can read it anywhere in the kitchen. They're pretty affordable (~$450) and can run OSX.
So how are the G4 iMacs? Are they reliable? Any major problems I should be aware of? Is there a better/cheaper option that includes an operating system?
She doesn't want to spend a lot of money on it, probably less than $500. I could probably build a SFF PC with a cheap flat panel monitor for around that much, but once you factor in the cost of Windows, I'm afraid I'm going to be over that amount. There's not a massive amount of free counter space, and the smallest SFF cases tend to be kind of pricey.
I was thinking about picking up a G4 iMac for her. It seems like a good solution - the footprint is small and she can swing around the display so she can read it anywhere in the kitchen. They're pretty affordable (~$450) and can run OSX.
So how are the G4 iMacs? Are they reliable? Any major problems I should be aware of? Is there a better/cheaper option that includes an operating system?
