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BRO777 · Sep 17, 2004, 04:17 AM

I am a long time PC user. Taking the Plunge and buying a Mac. I will be buying used, I will be mainly Photo editing and some gaming on it. I have looked on Ebay so many models 733,800,867,933,dual CPU&etc. Which one would better suit my needs? Remember I am a new guy so take it easy on me. Thanks

Chinasaur · Sep 17, 2004, 04:29 AM

Originally posted by BRO777:
...so many models 733,800,867,933,dual CPU&etc. Which one would better suit my needs?

What is your price range? I would recommend going with the highest speed cpu you can afford... the 867 as a minimum to give you some speed before you upgrade.

When you DO buy, kit it out with at least 768MB RAM and a Superdrive if it doesn't have one so you can burn to DVD. OS X loves RAM and the more you have, the better the overall experience will be. A Pioneer DVR-series is easiest as they work out of the box.

You can always go the "lower end" route and get an older G4 and then spend the money you saved on an upgrade card from Giga (www.buygiganow.com) or Powerlogix (www.powerlogix.com) or OWT (eshop.macsales.com) or Sonnet (www.sonnettech.com/).

Feel free to ask questions ... people here are not _too_ mean

Welcome to the Mac family

Turnpike · Sep 17, 2004, 05:02 AM

if you are getting it out just to check out the OS, get the 733. Photo editing as a hobby should be more than adequate on it, if you have enough RAM. If photo editing is making you money, I'd go for the fastest you can afford. None of these machines are very future-proof, at the moment. Assuming you upgrade it, the best upgrade available for these is dual 1.2-dual 1.5 (didn't look it up, it is in this range) which, while damn fast today, will be an "okay" computer in 2 years or so.

If you get the 933 on the other hand, you might not be so inclined to upgrade so quickly. If you don't need an upgrade for 2+ years, funds might better allow a new (or at least newer) machine at that point.

Bottom line: any of those machines should handle OS X just fine (remember, newest OS releases -- ie 10.3.x, "Panther" -- are fastest) and should be good for a hobbyist, coder, or as a testing machine. If you need a "pro" machine, getting something that's a couple years old isn't probably the best way to go. The slower you go, the cheaper, but the more expensive you go, the longer it will last.

and dual CPU is the wave of the future. if you have the choice between fewer MHz and dual or more MHz but only one CPU, go for the dual. If you do more than one thing at a time, you'll notice it. I was amazed when I first got to use a dual -- I could do things that previously brought the entire system to its knees without it even flinching. A definite advantage.

Have fun with it, and good luck!

Lancer409 · Sep 17, 2004, 05:20 AM

You'll love it. I am a long time (relatively) windows user. I love my powerbook. I dont use my pc for anything other than gaming now a days

BRO777 · Sep 17, 2004, 05:40 AM

Thanks everyone for the feedback. At this time the wife is limiting me to about $1000.00 Thanks again.

jasonsRX7 · Sep 17, 2004, 03:42 PM

Well for $1000 you don't have to buy used. You can get an iBook or eMac new within that range.

I switched about 2 years ago, by doing the same thing you're thinking about. I got a used G4 on ebay, played with it, realized how awesome OS X is, and now I have a G3, iMac, Powerbook and a G5. There is no going back, that's for sure. You'll love it!

juanvaldes · Sep 17, 2004, 04:47 PM

I am sitting at a eMac right now and it makes for a fine system.
1Ghz G4, 1gig RAM (dont' buy from apple) 80 gig HD and DVD burner.

The exact same eMac (plus 25% CPU) is exactly 1000 (plus tax). A bit light on the RAM though :-/ (I consider 256 to be the real minimum)

Cadaver · Sep 17, 2004, 07:37 PM

I've got a G5 at home, but needed a decent Mac at the office as well. So, I built my own...

I bought a used Gigabit Ethernet PowerMac G4 (an older model - 100MHz bus speed, 2x AGP slot, 3 PCI) off eBay, added some RAM (some new, some left-over from old machines, for 1.25GB total), an OWC 1.4GHz G4 processor card, a Radeon 8500 video card off eBay, a spare 60GB HD pulled from an old machine, and a Pioneer DVR-107D superdrive... all for a hair over $1000. Recently added an el-cheapo USB 2.0 PCI card for some high-speed connectivity to my keychain flash drive.

Runs wonderfully. Very stable. I use it at work daily and its a joy for apps like Office 2004, Adobe Photoshop CS/InDesign CS/Acrobat 6 Pro, Osirix, Mellel, Safari, VirtualPC, Toast 6, Mail... Also acts as the host for all the various graphics I post online here and in other forums and runs a private email server. Ample power and should last for quite some time.