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The longevity of Macs
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Professional Poster
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I think this thread should be in the Pro forum more than other forums
MacNN'ers, please chime in on the longevity of your Power Macs. Is anyone here still using the graphite G4 as their main computer? Secondary computer? Chime in on how awesome it still runs despite being 6 years old.
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My staff artist is still limping along on a Feb. 2000 Sawtooth, but it's been upgraded to the max. 2 x 120 gb drives, 2 gb RAM, 1.25 ghz CPU upgrade, etc.
I'm limping along on a 2002 Quicksilver, myself. We've got a Cube up front in sales, but it mostly sits there.
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When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
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Moderator Emeritus
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Originally Posted by macintologist
I think this thread should be in the Pro forum more than other forums
MacNN'ers, please chime in on the longevity of your Power Macs. Is anyone here still using the graphite G4 as their main computer? Secondary computer? Chime in on how awesome it still runs despite being 6 years old.
I had a sawtooth but three years ago it ran like crap for anything other than basic use with current applications...If you are using the machine with the software from that age it will work fine, but you aren't going to find a machine that is chugging along superbly. Now, if it was heavily upgraded so that very little is left of the original machine, that is a different story, but that is not the same thing at all. As a chassis some of the older ones could last a while, but as machines they didn't have nearly as long of a lifespan.
--Scott
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I just recently replaced my 400MHz Sawtooth G4 Tower with a MacPro. I had my Sawtooth running 10.4.6 on a 1GHz G4 with Zip drive (shows its age, eh?), 1GB memory, 120GB hard drive, and Radeon 8500. Still did everything I wanted though it did bog down when I did much (e.g. writing term paper in Nisus Writer Express, surfing numerous reference sites in Safari, and listening to iTunes). Great machine but dated for sure.
Like my 1989 Honda Accord, never a problem...NEVER.
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Senior User
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I replaced my PM G4 400 AGP one and a half years ago, and now it is sitting in the dark inside the closet what a waste!
My wife still limps on a tiBook G4 500!
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Long-time visitor here, but new member.
I picked up my Sawtooth G4 450 in October of '99 and it is still my main machine, though unfortunately, I haven't really made it work hard until this year where I started working with larger picture files (>500 MB) in Photoshop. I find <200 MB files to be relatively pain-free to work with, but it can still be a struggle at times. However, I think I only have around 900 MB of RAM. I never got around to getting more for some reason. It has been a champ since day 1 and I've had real no issues to speak of. It is definitely smooth and stable, though I'm definitely ready for an upgrade. I'll pick up whatever top-end Mac Pro is out come the release of CS3, and possibly Leopord. Until then, I'm still quite happy with my G4. I'm still really fond of its case design, so I'll probably have to keep it around.
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I use a Sawtooth from 1999 as my main machine. I heavily upgraded it over time to a 1.4Ghz G4, 1.38 GB Ram, 120 and 80 GB HDDs, a Radeon 9800. It does everything I want it to do (perhaps with the exception of HD video over 480i). I use this computer as my main computer even though I have much faster wintel boxes. Probably won't upgrade until I can save up for a MacPro or if Apple releases a mid-range headless box.
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Macbook 1.83 Ghz CD, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB HD, OS 10.6.2
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I think it depends on the enviroment. A lot of Pros who make a lot of money off their computer are going to upgrade regularly. However, home and small business users are probably more likely to upgrade simply because PCs tend to slow down due to adware and installed software. And sadly, the cost of having a tech come out and reformat your machine is approaching the cost of just buying a new (and significantly faster) bargain box dell or whatever.
-Xy
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MacPro (2.66, 4GB, 4x250GB, X1900+7300, 2x Dell 2005fpw, Samsung LNT4061)
MacBook Pro (2.2, 2GB, 120GB)
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My staff is dragging his feet through mud with the old G4 Dual 533mHz (512mb). Runs too slow with PS and AI (CS). My Macpro coming in this month, so my Dual G5 2gHz will be his work horse. I am surprised the old Dual G4 can still be sold with the 17" CRT (without HD) for $200 (Sin Dollars).
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dankar you should up grade CPU.HD and max out on ram and see the difference. PM with Dual CPU and PCI slots are very upgadeable under $700. I have a post on that in other thread. Mine works really well with CS2.
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It's "Brewed" not "Juiced"
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Junior Member
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Originally Posted by wubrew
dankar you should up grade CPU.HD and max out on ram and see the difference. PM with Dual CPU and PCI slots are very upgadeable under $700. I have a post on that in other thread. Mine works really well with CS2.
Thanks. Thought of that, just that my business has a 3 years equipment upgrade plan. And sadly for non-intel Mac, there are very little graphic cards options.
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'Awesome' is of course, relative.
Until a month or so ago I was using my trusty 9600 which was nine years old. Of course I had over the years upgraded it (G4/700, 1.4 G Ram, 18G SCSI (additional externals). 32MB Radeon MacEdition, USB and FW cards, etc.) I had it running Panther just fine thanks to XPF and it was quite suitable for my needs (teaching/graphics).
But I fixed up a G3 B/W for a friend and was impressed with the ease of upgrading a 'new world' machine, so I picked up a Digital Audio, added 1.5 Ghz proc, 1.25G Ram, two UW SCSI drives and controller I had kicking around and 8500 video card.
The pickup in speed was noticeable in opening Photoshop and some processes. While the base is 6 years old it feels 'new' to me. My 9600 is now a very reliable backup.
Maybe not 'awesome' but pretty "Smooth" to me.
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I've given B&W G3s (400-450MHz, 512-768MB of RAM, running Tiger) to a couple friends in the past year or two to use for email/web browsing purposes, and they worked great!
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Professional Poster
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Originally Posted by dankar
My staff is dragging his feet through mud with the old G4 Dual 533mHz (512mb). Runs too slow with PS and AI (CS).
I don't get it, when that machine came out it was considered lightning fast and Steve Jobs raved about it. Why not just stick to that machine and that older version of Illustrator and it will seem plenty fast like it used to.
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Originally Posted by macintologist
I don't get it, when that machine came out it was considered lightning fast and Steve Jobs raved about it. Why not just stick to that machine and that older version of Illustrator and it will seem plenty fast like it used to.
Sounds good, but unable to due to:
Yesterday's fast machine is today's slow ones. In my line of work, Advertising, Promotion and photography. Calls for a faster machine due to the sheer size, a working file can sometimes get. Around 300mb - 1 gb. This can sometime bring my dual G5 to it's knees, what more a dual 533mHz G4. Latest DTP softwares offer better workflow and simplified features that saves on time and productivity, on top of that, I do get files sometime in a higher version, so having a older version would not make sense.
I have been holding off from purchasing the MacPro 3 gHz for awhile, latest I spend more time waiting for my Dual G5 to crunch data and complete the task it's being assigned to. Because of that my MacPro coming in on the 28th Dec. 20 more days...
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Well said dankar. " Go forth and Diddle no more " with thine MacPro 3 ghz. Pray thou that all software thou shall need thereforth on be Universalized.
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It's "Brewed" not "Juiced"
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dual 500 with gig of ram, 200 gigs of hd space and no real plan to replace it, knock on wood, seeing have have no cash what so ever to replace it.
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I GOT WASTED WITH PHIL SHERRY!!!
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I use a B&W 450 as a music server. It runs pretty much 4-5 days a week for the majority of the day and has no problem with X.3. If i have to it can do browsing and MS Office with acceptable performance. Has 802.11g, USB2, and 200gb of drive space.
Not bad for an 8 year old machine.
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Mac Elite
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1) '99 B&W G3, 550mhz G4/1GB ram/Raptor/Radoen 9200: Still running geat w/10.4.8 & web, mail, light PS/ILL everyday
2) '00 DP 450 Sawtooth/2GB ram/3xRaptors/Radeon 9800: Still running great for all normal design work and everyday use too
longevity ? yea, we have that, 4 sure
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Personally I find it hilarious that you have the hots for my gramma. Especially seeins how she is 3x your age, and makes your Brittney-Spears-wannabe 30-something wife look like a rag doll who went thru WWIII with a burning stick of dynamite up her a** :)
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Originally Posted by zacharydz
I use a Sawtooth from 1999 as my main machine. I heavily upgraded it over time to a 1.4Ghz G4, 1.38 GB Ram, 120 and 80 GB HDDs, a Radeon 9800. It does everything I want it to do (perhaps with the exception of HD video over 480i). I use this computer as my main computer even though I have much faster wintel boxes. Probably won't upgrade until I can save up for a MacPro or if Apple releases a mid-range headless box.
I'm pretty much doing the same thing with a Digital Audio that originally had a single 533 G4 in it. I bought the machine for $500 in mid 2004 just to learn OS X, and fell in love with it. It now has a 1.4 G4, 1gb ram, a modded PC 9700 pro video card, PCI SATA controller with a 120gb drive, Pioneer DL DVD burner, and a Motorola PCI 802.11g wireless card. I probably should've just saved for a G5, but you know how financial stuff goes.
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Mac Elite
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My Macs generally last around 3 years but I generally find at that point I can recoup enough of the cost to justify plunking down some cash and buying a newer model.
I've had Macs last 5+ years in the past so, it really depends on what apple offers (and how much cash I have in the bank)
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Michael
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Originally Posted by macintologist
I think this thread should be in the Pro forum more than other forums
MacNN'ers, please chime in on the longevity of your Power Macs. Is anyone here still using the graphite G4 as their main computer? Secondary computer? Chime in on how awesome it still runs despite being 6 years old.
I'm still using my heavily upgraded G3 B&W as a FTP server and message center.
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I'm still using my first PowerMac, dual PowerMac G4 (FW800) 1.25, here. I bought it in Feb/2003 to replace my iMac 333. Owning a last generation G4 tower is kind fun actually.
I started out with a PowerPC 601 (1996) -> iMac G3 (1998) -> TiBook/G4 (2001) -> iMac G3 (2002) -> dual G4 (2003) - > iBook G4 (2005). Actually, I had been using the 2 iMacs and TiBook at the same time. Now, the dual G4 and iBook G4.
None of my Macs really died on me, like couldn't turn on and/or big repair bill. I'm glad that I skipped the G5. Meanwhile, I will jump to the Intel-Mac bandwagon in early 2007.
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I still use my maxed-out PM 6100/G3 for downloading large files in the background while I'm gaming on my Compaq. And of course Photoshop work, since I don't wanna go out and buy all-new gfx software for my PC. And with WaMCom 1.3.x and/or iCab 3.x, it's a fairly decent machine for comparably light web-browsing or academic research (no websites with excessive Java/JavaScript).
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Don't bully me, I got an Uzi... HOO-HAH!
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Mac Elite
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My 2002 G4 933 is still working fine. May do the Intel thing next year; however, I have a question:
Does anyone think that the Intel switch will, eventually, lead to less longevity in Macs? Now that Apple has the capacity to double processor speeds at a faster rate, is anyone concerned that OSX 10.8 won't run acceptably on an Intel Mac created back when 10.4 came out, some 4-5 years prior?
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Forum Regular
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Originally Posted by GORDYmac
My 2002 G4 933 is still working fine. May do the Intel thing next year; however, I have a question:
Does anyone think that the Intel switch will, eventually, lead to less longevity in Macs? Now that Apple has the capacity to double processor speeds at a faster rate, is anyone concerned that OSX 10.8 won't run acceptably on an Intel Mac created back when 10.4 came out, some 4-5 years prior?
I think that apple will drop support for PPC macs faster than they have dropped support for other older computers (eg first gen, non USB G3s). But come on, compare a G3 to a G5 and there's a huge difference in speed and capibility. It only seems like intel is on the cutting edge right now because we're using products that are on the "leading edge" of the core architecture, wheras we were on the "trailing edge" of the G4/G5. Given what Apple is putting in their machines (the "merom" core 2 - a low power chip) I'm inclined to believe Steve when he says he moved not because macs needed more power, but because Apple needed a laptop chip.
Also, I don't think you're gonna see 10.8 in "4-5" years; Apple's internal development schedule has slowed considerably since OS X has matured.
-Xy
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MacPro (2.66, 4GB, 4x250GB, X1900+7300, 2x Dell 2005fpw, Samsung LNT4061)
MacBook Pro (2.2, 2GB, 120GB)
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Anyone who has a Sawtooth PowerMac with a single processor should go on eBay and get one of the dual processor modules (Dual 450 or Dual 500). They go for about $40-50. Just make sure you have the proper rev. motherboard that can take a dual processor.
I had a single processor g4/500 and it got bogged down easily and wasn't at all fun to use. It even had 1.5GB of RAM. I put in a dual G4/500 and it was smooth as silk. Great multitasking and it never got bogged down. 10x more usable for day to day activities.
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Leopard = Spring 2007
10.6 = Winter 2010
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Junior Member
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still using the G4 400 AGP. added the Sonnet 1.2ghz card ans some RAM.
iMovie will make it drag but other than that it's still usable...
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Senior User
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i havea dual G4 500mhz gigabit mac. it's been running flawlessly all 6+ years i'v ehad it. no processor upgrades, but a newer 7200rpm drive and over 1gig of ram makes it run very nicely. i do lots of photoshop work and it really hasn't been that bad, even working with raw files.
i only just now ordered a mac pro. think i'll give this machine to my dad. he's still using a ruby red imac lol.
can't wait!
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not all who wander are lost.
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Forum Regular
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Originally Posted by cgc
Like my 1989 Honda Accord, never a problem...NEVER.
Oh man, I had a 1987 Accord LX for about 5 or 6 years. Worst car ever. 2x starter motor, 2x CV joints, 2x Radiator, exhaust, numerous transmission problems, rusted out completely at 7 years old. I was filling it up at a gas station one time and all of a sudden I feel my feet are wet (lol). The pipe that lead from the gas cap to the tank had literally rusted out and disintegrated (they were recalled next year for that problem)! Don't compare Macs with Honda Accords please.
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Mac Enthusiast
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Originally Posted by thebunny
Oh man, I had a 1987 Accord LX for about 5 or 6 years. Worst car ever. 2x starter motor, 2x CV joints, 2x Radiator, exhaust, numerous transmission problems, rusted out completely at 7 years old. I was filling it up at a gas station one time and all of a sudden I feel my feet are wet (lol). The pipe that lead from the gas cap to the tank had literally rusted out and disintegrated (they were recalled next year for that problem)! Don't compare Macs with Honda Accords please.
But.... but.... Hondas aren't like that anymore... I've had my CR-V since '97 (that'll make it 10 years old soon) and it still runs like a champ. Even drove it all the way up to Vancouver, BC from San Francisco and back again, in 2002... good times!
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Don't bully me, I got an Uzi... HOO-HAH!
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Senior User
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Stockholm Sweden
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Sawtooth with ATI 8500, GigaDesign 1.2 1GB RAM, 120 GB HD. Loud and hot it is still a very good computer handle all common apps very well. Games past UT2003 does not work well. For that I have a Fujitsu Siemens Sempron 2600 &nvidia 6600
If it does not break down it will last me into 2008, and then both will be replaced by a quad core MP
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I'm on a PowerMac G3/300 with 768MB of RAM now. It runs very well for internet (without flash).
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Mac Elite
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Gigabit ehternet G$ (400 MZ), upgraded (though not tremendously) with a 933 MZ processor (which allowed me to keep it quite a bit longer), and 768 of ram. It runs and I use it daily. It is my main machine, though I also have a 12-inch PowerBook (first gen). The G4 tower does definitely get bogged down, especially with lots of applications open. Iphoto can be excruiciatingly slow, maddeningly slow, in fact.
I plan to replace this machine in January/February sometime with probably a 24-inch imac. I keep vacillating, though, on that vs. a lower-end tower. Then this machine will go to my daughters, so they'll stay off mine.
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I'm currently on a Digital Audio that I've overclocked to 533mhz, added 768mb ram, a 120GB hdd and modded an ATI X800 Pro to work in it. Overall its a very nice OSX machine. Cost me a smidge over $500 including all of the upgrades and Tiger standalone of course. I'm currently debating if I should spend some money and get a processor upgrade. I had a Core Duo Macbook Pro a couple of month ago and wasn't particularly impressed with the speed boost, so I wonder if getting bringing this G4 up over a gigahertz would even help?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
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Not a Power Mac, but I'm reading this thread on a five-year-old Pismo, 400MHz G3 with 584MB of ram. I love it. Great for web-browsing, word-processing. Useless for video-editing, but runs DVD's perfectly, no skipping. I run Dreamweaver 8 and Photoshop CS all the time - MUCH more usable than I expected. Photoshop is actually kind of snappy (Dreamweaver 8 is never snappy on any machine ever...)
Considering desktops have longer usable lifespans than laptops, I'd say Macs stack up pretty well.
-Avanon
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DC 2.0 GHz PM G5/2.5 GB RAM/750 GB HD/ATI x1900 G5-Edition
Athlon 2500+/1 GB RAM/2x500 GB RAID/Radeon 9700
14" 1.42 GHz iBook G4/1.5 GB RAM/60 GB HD
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MacPro, MacBook Pro, MacBook, MacMini, iPad, iPhone, and much more...
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Mac Elite
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G4/400 is running as a house server of sorts, my main G5 2.5 dual far eclipses it in
performance but the G4 is pretty reliable for a going-on-seven year old machine.
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Mac Elite
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i upgraded from my 533mhz g4 to an imacg5 20" last month.
i have totally forgotten about the g4. i did install osx server on it last week. i need to buy a switch.
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{Animated sigs are not allowed.}
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Dedicated MacNNer
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Originally Posted by fleaplus
I'm currently on a Digital Audio that I've overclocked to 533mhz, added 768mb ram, a 120GB hdd and modded an ATI X800 Pro to work in it. Overall its a very nice OSX machine. Cost me a smidge over $500 including all of the upgrades and Tiger standalone of course. I'm currently debating if I should spend some money and get a processor upgrade. I had a Core Duo Macbook Pro a couple of month ago and wasn't particularly impressed with the speed boost, so I wonder if getting bringing this G4 up over a gigahertz would even help?
You will see a decent speed boost compared to the 533, but not anywhere near the speed of the Core Duo. I have a 1.4ghz processor in my Digital Audio, and it's more than enough for browsing, and an occasional game of Warcraft 3, but it's no speed demon. An Intel Mini is much faster, except for games.
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Junior Member
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Originally Posted by Zubir
You will see a decent speed boost compared to the 533, but not anywhere near the speed of the Core Duo. I have a 1.4ghz processor in my Digital Audio, and it's more than enough for browsing, and an occasional game of Warcraft 3, but it's no speed demon. An Intel Mini is much faster, except for games.
I figured as much, and the Mini is definitely a great buy. I just don't know if I want to move all of my internal HDD's from the G4 into external usb enclosures, loose a great video card like the X800, etc. etc. yet. The tower just seems more to fit my purpose, except for the fact that it has a slow processor and can't be upgraded to something current...
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Banned
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I have a Grape iMac DV 400mhz 128MB RAM/20GB/CDRW Running Panther Server 10.3.9.. I use it for netbooting when I get a bunch of macs into restore.. I can restore 15 systems with tiger in under an hour off that little thing.. and It amazes the PC guys that I can do it off a machine of that age.
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Senior User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Chicago, Earth
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I've got a DA DP 533 that I upgraded several years ago to a DP 1.0GHz proc. My wife has been using it for the last 3 years as her home machine and she still raves about how much faster it feels than her new PC at work.
I just picked up a MBP and gave her my PB so I will be putting the PowerMac up on eBay, but the only reason I am getting rid of it is because the 2 of us do not need 3 computers. The beast has been ROCK SOLID from day one.
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MBP - 2.33GHz C2D, 3GB RAM, 256MB VRAM, 160GB HD
PB - 1.5GHz G4, 2GB RAM, 128MB VRAM, 80GB HD
PM - Dual 1GHzG4, 1.5GB RAM, NVidia GForce 3, 2x 80 GB HD
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Right here
Status:
Offline
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i have a imac g4 800mhz and a g4 tower that was upgraded to a 800mhz , Still use it for work and play, runs like a beauty after 6 years. One of the main reasons i love my macs, i had a gateway laptop only 3 years old and it was CRAP...i say "had one" because i threw it out a window after it dumped a 400 page script i had been working on. yes, i threw windows out the window. and now my faithful macs are here working for me untill i migrate to a Macbook pro. i love my imac.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Status:
Offline
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i've got a sawtooth 450 (originally purchased in winter of '99) running 10.4.8, 2gb RAM, two 120 gb hd's, a 60 gb connected to the interrnal fw port, an ATA RAID card with two 80 gb drives, a dual layer dvd burner, flashed PC Radeon 8500, an internal zip 250 (that i haven't touched in 5 years ), and i just put in a usb 2.0 card. it's my main computer, with my iBook G3 700 as my take along. i just finished a big project using CS2. works great...of course, if you're willing to have some patience when it comes to filters and such. it's rock solid, though.
i'd like to shove in a processor upgrade, just to make it a bit zippier.
tr
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Sep 2003
Status:
Offline
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I've a rather large collection of old-world beige hardware, like IIci's, that are still perfectly functional, and I know of one in full production even today, some sixteen years after the machine's manufacture!
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If engineers ruled the world, the trains might not run on time, but they'd go really fast, and when they derailed, would explode and kill thousands!
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2006
Status:
Offline
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PowerMac G4 "Yikes", 350mhz. 896mb ram, 120GB hard drive, ATI Rage 128 pro. Works like a charm!
Macintosh SE/30. 16mhz, 32mb ram, 1.2GB hard drive. Works like a Charm!
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Seattle
Status:
Offline
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Blue & White G3 from Feb. '99 - so, coming up on seven years old. Used almost everyday.
Two years ago it was retired from a workstation and put to work as a server.
It runs 24/7 as a web development / demo server with apache and mysql, it's also an iTunes server, file storage, and runs nightly remote file backups.
Now as to longevity there are two types: how long the machine lasts, and how long it is useful to you.
Unless you get a total lemon Apple hardware will outlast it's usefulness.
Useful life is relative. I'm writing this on a five year old iBook G3 which is still fine as a living room web surfing machine.
I know a business where they still had 2 Quadras (c.1993) running an old version of MS Word on OS 7. This was in 2002. They seemed a bit pokey but they did the job. I helped them get them onto the local network for file sharing and even had them on the Internet running Eudora.
The cool thing is that Apple's machines hold their value longer. You can actually sell a five year old Mac.
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You can take the dude out of So Cal, but you can't take the dude outta the dude, dude!
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: My mind (sorry, I'm out right now)
Status:
Offline
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I've had pretty good luck with my Macs:
Mac II - 1988-2001 - still running when retired.
Power Mac 8500 - 1995-2006 - still running when retired.
Dual 800 Quicksilver - 2001-2006 - died four years after lightning strike in 2002 (pretty much a direct hit which fried my cable modem and router).
Mac Pro - 2006-???? - As long as it doesn't get hit by lightning, I expect to get a decade or so out of it with five or six years as my primary machine. The wireless network should help.
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The first commandment of ALL religions is to provide a comfortable living for the priesthood.
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