[drloomis]

Is upgrading a G4 easy?

--Can I buy extra internal harddrives later and have them easily work like they would if I bought them from apple or do I have to buy other devices that I'm unaware of?

--Is installing an internal superdrive hard to do?

--If the G4 I buy doesnt' come with USB 2.0, I can just buy a card and put it in right?

I've been using a laptop for so long, I haven't had to deal with this stuff, well on a mac, ever.

Anything that you can't do unless you buy from apple?

I know that you have to get the bluetooth internal thing from apple and it can't be installed later.

Anything like that?

Thanks for the help.

[DrBoar]

Is upgrading a G4 easy?
=>if you by G4 mean the tower, very easy

Can I buy extra internal harddrives later and have them easily work like they would if I bought them from apple or do I have to buy other devices that I'm unaware of?
=>buy any har disk format it with the disk ututility included with your mac and you are all set.

Is installing an internal superdrive hard to do?
=>You have to pry lose the bezel so it some more steps than a harddisk but there are instrucions on the net (www.xlr8yourmac.com and others)

I've been using a laptop for so long, I haven't had to deal with this stuff, well on a mac, ever.

Anything that you can't do unless you buy from apple?
=>Not really but some of the graphical cards are only aviable on BTO (like the ATI 9600) and some features of the cards that are both BTO and retail has some differences.

I know that you have to get the bluetooth internal thing from apple and it can't be installed later.

Anything like that?

Thanks for the help.

[SSharon]

Which G4 tower are you talking about?

I have the dual 1ghz (MDD) and have added a hard drive and cdrw very easily. I got the hard drive from a local store, I just looked for an IDE drive didn't care whether the mac logo was on the box and formatted it and it works fine. The CDRW (a Lite-On) I got from newegg.com and it didn't say mac support either but xlr8yourmac.com had some very good tips as well as hacked apple drivers which I needed to be able to burn things (just putting the drive in with no software it was recognized but said no supported for burning). As for bluetooth, I don't use it, but I am almost positive you don't need an apple internal device you can buy an external "dongle" from anyone. I would search the forums for a better answer on that. Also make use of apple's web site b/c they have tons of installation videos that will point out every screw and lever you need to move, or they have pdf's with lots of images.
Hope all this helps.