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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Thinking about buying a Quicksilver

Thinking about buying a Quicksilver
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im_noahselby
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Mar 26, 2006, 12:10 AM
 
I'm thinking of buying a used Quicksilver or MDD PowerMac G4. I'm not a power user so I think I'll be fine with an older model. I will be coming from a single 1.33Ghz processor machine, so it would be nice if the machine felt as fast as what I used before. My main uses will be a little Photoshop, InDesign, Safari, Office, etc.. I wont be using the machine to play new games (maybe some older games).

I'm thinking that a dual 1.0Ghz/1.25Ghz would be sufficient for my needs. I'd appreciate any input from others in this forum. Remember, I don't want to spend a huge ammount of money, because I don't use a computer enough to warrant a $1500+ Cdn expense. I also want something that is easy to repair or upgrade down the road. I do not want an all in one machine, I've been there before. Mac Mini is also not for me. So I find myself looking at an older PowerMac.

I'm curious, to those who still use an older PM G4 (867Mhz +): are you happy with your machine? Is performance still acceptable?

Noah
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bowwowman
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Mar 26, 2006, 03:18 AM
 
For the uses you listed, any DP tower would be fine, given sufficient ram & HD space. However, most of them are still fairly pricey, averaging ~$700-$1200 (USD) depending on specs.....

And at similiar mhz, virtually ANY DP machine will be faster than a SP one, especailly in apps that can utilize both cpu's, like PS, OS X ect ect
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** :)
     
bboisvert
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Mar 27, 2006, 03:19 AM
 
I do all that on a iMac 800Mhz with 256MB of ram, for your needs unless your processing thousands of images and stuff, a DP is overkill. With OS X, its not the CPU speed that will make it happy its how much ram it has. Its hard to find a used DP Mac, people don't give them up. You might have better luck finding a older Mac and getting a CPU upgrade, but for the price you would pay you might as well get a iMac.
     
OreoCookie
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Mar 27, 2006, 06:57 AM
 
I'm also thinking why you want to spend that much money on an old used machine when you can get a used iMac G5 for less. With the screen hack, you'll be able to use your second screen, if you have one. But personally, to spend $1000+ on a machine which is roughly three years old seems a bit crazy (the PowerMac G5 was launched in September 2003). Another option might be the Apple Store which offers refurbished Macs at lower prices.
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im_noahselby  (op)
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Mar 27, 2006, 07:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie
I'm also thinking why you want to spend that much money on an old used machine when you can get a used iMac G5 for less. With the screen hack, you'll be able to use your second screen, if you have one. But personally, to spend $1000+ on a machine which is roughly three years old seems a bit crazy (the PowerMac G5 was launched in September 2003). Another option might be the Apple Store which offers refurbished Macs at lower prices.
I've seen PowerMac G4's go for less than $1000 Cdn in my area. Maybe not fully loaded dual 1.25 G4's, but that isn't what I'm looking for if it's going to cost me more than $1300 Cdn. Ideally, I'd like to spend $850-$1000 for a machine. Maybe a little more, if I feel it's worth that little extra. For a used iMac G5 I'm easily looking at $1200+ Cdn. Also, you are stuck with the iMac's display and I'm not convinced that it would be very easy to upgrade the HD or anything else on that thing. More can go wrong with the iMac as well and then my system is out of commition, until I pay Apple a lofty sum to repair it for me.

I've always liked the Quicksilvers, and won't pay more than I think it's worth. When the right deal comes along, I'll be all over it.

Noah
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OreoCookie
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Mar 28, 2006, 09:58 AM
 
Concerning the iMac, RAM and harddrive are fairly easy to install. You cannot swap the graphics card and the cpu, though. However, the graphics card that comes with an iMac G5 is more powerful than the stock graphics card of Quicksilver G4s. The iMac's display is also very nice, since it is wide-screen.

Do you also have a monitor? If not, you'd have to add that to your total as well … 

In any case, if you want to stick to Quicksilvers and MDDs, that's fine. If you decide to get a QuickSilver, note that the 2002 revision is known to have problems with larger drives, although in principle, they do support large drives (larger than 127 GB). The first revision of Quicksilvers, however, does not. Also, there was never a Quicksilver dual 1.25 GHz G4 (that was a mirrored door PowerMac), unless a Quicksilver was upgraded.

Also, at least in Germany, 1+ GHz Dual G4s are in the exact same price range as the rev. A single-cpu G5s (both, 1.6 GHz and 1.8 GHz) … maybe they might be interesting for you as well? They will be cheaper to upgrade (with more RAM and larger hard drives) in the future.
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im_noahselby  (op)
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Mar 28, 2006, 06:41 PM
 
Thanks for the info Oreo. I hope to be making my purchase in the next month. This type of info is definintely good to know beforehand.

Noah
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mountainash
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Mar 29, 2006, 02:18 AM
 
With regards to a monitor for a Quicksilver or MDD, you can just plug in a normal VGA CRT. CRTs are /very/ cheap these days, since everyone is moving to LCDs. It is also easy to upgrade the graphics card in a Quicksilver or MDD, you can get 9600s for under 100USD. You can also upgrade with USB 2, AirPort extreme, SATA, Firewire 800, Bluetooth etc often using generic PC cards.

The main reason I have Digital Audio and not an eMac or iMac (or even Mini) is that I /like/ upgrading. With some effort you can save money and build a nice machine. But it does require effort, especially hunting for bargains and Mac compatible stuff (which isn't neccessarily marked Mac compatible).

The easy route is to get an iMac or PMac G5. A little more spent now, could save a lot more later on. (or not, because this is computers and the future is hard to predict)
Power Mac G4 Digital Audio 533MHz 1.5GiB RAM, 2x 80Gb ATA HDDs, 320Gb SATA HDD, Radeon 9650 256MiB, Airport Extreme compatible PCI card, Zip 250, Pioneer 110, Firewire DVD burner, 21" CRT, Harmon Kardon Apple Pro Speakers, OS X 10.4.6
Powerbook Pismo G3 400MHz, 768MiB RAM, 80Gb HDD, AirPort Extreme PC Card, Bluetooth 1.1, DVD-ROM, OS X 10.4.6, Ubuntu 5.10, MacOS 9.2.2
To buy: RAM for Pismo, CPU upgrades
     
   
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