Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

WOPR · May 25, 2005, 11:58 AM

Some of you may have read my horror story with the new iMac G5, and I've vowed never to buy another until they redesign it. So now I'm thinking about maybe spending less, to get a used 17" iMac G4 - probably a 1ghz model, maybe a 1.25 if the price is right. I've never really heard anything bad about these Macs so I'm assuming it would be a good buy. Anyone got anything I should know?

My 867mhz rev.a PowerBook is great but I'd like to have a desktop as my main machine. I can't afford a PowerMac and the iMac is a dog so I think I may just save some money. I've never liked the design of the iMac G5, I ordered it for it's specification. But today I was looking on ebay and as soon as I saw an iMac G4 I smiled - I always thought it was a classic design.

discotronic · May 25, 2005, 12:29 PM

Look at Apple's Special Deals section in the store on the web site. The offer refurb iMac G4 models fairly often. The price is slightly high. I think the 1.25GHz 17" Superdrive goes for about $1099. I wish I would have held onto mine. I never had a problem out of it and the overall speed of the machine was great. I had 768MB RAM in mine and it did fine for everything I did. Playing games wasn't the greatest in the world but it can handle just about any modern game out for the Mac except Doom 3.

If you have a choice get the 1.25GHz model. It has faster RAM and it was the first model to offer USB 2.0. Also, they are truely "whisper quiet" unlike the iMac G5.

pinkoos · May 25, 2005, 02:06 PM

On the contrary, I regret selling my original G4 700 a couple of years ago. Here's my story about selling my mini and buying a used G4 iMac:

I think the mini is a great computer, but in the end, it wasn't for me. I didn't like the port limitations (only one FW), the slow hard drive, the one memory slot, the questionable voiding of warranty issue and all the silly wires snaking out of the back.

Recently, I've found myself wanting to get back to the G4 iMac I had several years ago.

Well, I happened to come across a local deal which sealed it for me in terms of getting rid of my mini:

17" G4 1.25/256/80/Superdrive for $700, lightly used. It didn't come with any accessories except for the power cord, but I already had a KB/mouse from my mini, I didn't need the CDs since I was going to be installing Tiger on it, and I grabbed the round speakers that came with the G4 700 iMac I recently purchased for my son and plugged them into this one (my infant son doesn't need no stinkin' speakers!).

Anyway, this thing is awesome! The 17" widescreen is bright and beautiful...no dead pixels and super crisp and sharp. I've ordered a 1 gig RAM stick to put in the open slot and a VGA adapter so I can span my existing 17" LCD with the hack in place.

I know I'm taking a chance with the all in one design and no warranty, but I couldn't resist at that price for a local, no hassle sale (didn't have to deal with eBay).

I ended up taking a $100 loss on the mini for what I paid for it and what I sold it for, but I look at that as a $20/month rental fee (I had the mini for 5 months).

I just wish I would have skipped the mini and gone for a G4 iMac to begin with.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, the G4 iMac is probably the best designed computer Apple has made and they would be wise to bring back a similar form factor for future iterations.

WOPR · May 25, 2005, 02:43 PM

These are just the sort of replies I was expecting to be honest. Once I'm back from my holiday next week I'm going to hit ebay. Apple UK doesn't seem to sell iMac G4s on their refurb store.

iLikebeer · May 25, 2005, 02:51 PM

Good choice. My G4 iMac is in no danger of being replaced for at least a few more years.
If you're fidgety and move around in your chair a lot, this computer will become addicting. I think I adjust the monitor at least once a minute.

eddiecatflap · May 25, 2005, 03:09 PM

yep , that monitor movement thing is a stunner ! it's the one thing that i really love about my imac G4 and the one thing that annoys me about the G5 version

zeebe · May 25, 2005, 03:13 PM

I was really thinking hard of selling my G4 1GHz, but after hearing some comments here, maybe not. Does anyone know of the model of DVD-R DL drive Apple is using in the new G5 iMac? That way I can just purchase that and install it. I already installed a 250GB hard drive, was fun to do!
Thanks

discotronic · May 25, 2005, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by zeebe

I was really thinking hard of selling my G4 1GHz, but after hearing some comments here, maybe not. Does anyone know of the model of DVD-R DL drive Apple is using in the new G5 iMac? That way I can just purchase that and install it. I already installed a 250GB hard drive, was fun to do!
Thanks

The drive in your iMac is a full size drive. Here is a place that sells a drive that will work in your iMac. It is kinda on the expensive side but is guaranteed to work. :

http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/m...Code=STORDVDRW

Other drives might work but I am not sure about the whole bazel issue. The new iMac has a slot load drive which is basically the same as what comes in the PowerBook and iBook.

This one might work also and it is supported natively in Tiger:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...261791&CatId=0

WOPR · May 25, 2005, 04:02 PM

Cool, all the iMac G4 fans are coming out to cheer me up

As soon as I get back from my holiday I'm goint to trawl ebay and see what bargains I can come up with. What's the differences between the 1gh and 1.256ghz 17" models, apart from USB2 and chip speed? Anything else?

WOPR · May 25, 2005, 04:06 PM

OK, MacTracker has answered my question. Different gfx card (though still 64mb), internal bluetooth optional.

Anand · May 26, 2005, 04:24 PM

I regret it. We used to buy Window's computers (like our Compaq Presario) and would replace them when they died. Yes, after about 2-3 years, they would start having problems and would basically just die. So we replaced our Compaq with a original iMac 800 in 2002. Typically my wife said we could buy a new computer when it died. Well, thats the problem. I want a fancy new computer! But the iMac is still working perfectly. My wife loves the iMac and won't let me buy another machine!

nforcer · May 26, 2005, 04:44 PM

My iMac G4 was a good machine. I had one of the first models (700Mhz). It ran very cool and I never had any hardware-related problems with it. The video card (geforce 2mx) leaves a lot to be desired, but then again so does the 5200 in my first gen iMac G5.

As long as you don't plan to do anything intensive (video editing, heavy gaming) it should be fine.

kmarketing · May 26, 2005, 05:33 PM

Hi,

I just got a 1ghz 15" for $400 locally. My sis just got a 1.25ghz 17" with applecare on ebay for $560. The person lived around the area so there was no shipping. She's in heaven!!

I think mine will be a good machine for guests when they come over or just a beautiful decorating piece. I had the imac g5 for a while, but we just never fancied the design as much as the screen on top of the ball. And the screen-swiveling is probably the one feature that will make it a keeper for a long time to come.

BrunoBruin · May 26, 2005, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by WOPR

OK, MacTracker has answered my question. Different gfx card (though still 64mb), internal bluetooth optional.

We have both the 1GHz and 1.25GHz models in my office. Go for the 1.25 if you can. With a faster processor and bus, they definitely feel peppier, and the graphics card supports Core Image effects (the card in the 1GHz model does not).

pinkoos · May 26, 2005, 08:05 PM

Funny: BrunoBruin is the individual I had sold my original G4 700 iMac to a couple of years ago!

BB: I hope it served you well!

Mac-A-Rui · May 26, 2005, 11:42 PM

I love my imac G4 it's the 20" last model to be made before th G5's came out. Love it, so quite compared to it's neighbour (PC 3.2ghz 512ram, and a bunch of other crap) love the screen to, could have sex with it but don't want goo all over it hehe! I'm looking into buying an imac g4 for my gf so we'll see!

CreepDogg · May 26, 2005, 11:48 PM

I definitely like the form factor of my 1GHz iMac G4. It looks very 'classy' - the G5 looks more like a 'toy', and as others have stated, the moving screen is very handy. The performance boost of the G5 is tempting, but I'm not nearly at a point where I can justify replacing my G4 - it does everything I need.

My only regret is that I can't add %*%^'in USB 2.0! There seem to be more and more peripherals that lean towards USB2 than FireWire (including the iPod, although I know it works with FireWire as well), and it would be handy. I've also been tempted to trade for one of Apple's refurb 1.25's, but I have a hard time justifying that too for the price difference on a machine that 'old'. I've even thought about looking into getting a 1.25 motherboard to replace mine, but have never had enough of a need to really go there...

CaptainHaddock · May 27, 2005, 12:03 AM

I also recommend the 1.25 GHz G4 iMacs. I got one the last week it was available, and I don't regret waiting for the G5s. The video card handles all Tiger's eye candy, which is nice.

It was completely quiet with Panther, but the fans are louder under Tiger for some reason. (I've even filed a bug report.)

BrunoBruin · May 28, 2005, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by pinkoos

BB: I hope it served you well!

As a matter of fact, I just recently sold it on myself, to a friend who was fed up with Windows and wanted to switch! It's still running like a champ!

Big Fat Octopus · May 29, 2005, 08:59 AM

I love my 1ghz 17" iMac G4. It is quite and reliable. I like the G5 but the movable screen on the G4 is an absolute winner as far as I'm concerned.

Raining Down in Texas · May 29, 2005, 09:34 AM

Here's the contrarian point of view.

I won a 700 Mhz iMac G4 in a raffle, and it has been the most disappointing Mac I have owned. It replaced a 400 MHz G3 iMac DV as my main home machine. From day 1, I never felt like the performance of it was significantly better than the G3 iMac; in many cases it seems worse. I see the spinning beachball far more often on the iMac G4 than my iMac G3 or my Powerbook. I did clean installs of OS X on it and ran every optimization utility known to man, and it has never improved.

The LCD has developed a vertical line of blue pixels, which is usually the first indication of something going wrong with it. I can live with it until the screen finally dies, but I wouldn't invest any money to repair this thing.

pinkoos · May 29, 2005, 10:31 AM

Raining Down in Texas,

How much RAM is in there? I recently picked up a 700 MHz one for my infant son to start fooling around with. It has 1 GB RAM and it flies.

BrunoBruin,

Good to hear that!

southtdi · 10:43 AM

ABout 5 months ago my wife and I were about to buy her a new 20" iMac. We'll just before we comitted to it the Apple store had a firesale and the was, under the table, a 20" iMac G4. It had nothing to it but I was told if I wanted it they would supply the power cable. The unit was a little dirty and was clearly a demo unit that was bought, returned, bought again, and returned again.

I was wondering what was wrong with it for it to be reutrned so much. We'll since it was a purchase from a direct Apple store I knew it had a full one-year warranty on it and I coud get AppleCare for it. The store manager offered me a "impossible to pass up" priice on it if I would buy it then.

To not make this story any longer, the computer has been runningg perfectly fine ever since. There was a user on it when i fisrt got it but the Genius' had a little utility to remove them and put the machine back to it's first instal state. They also looked up the history and it appears the machince was never kept it's 2 purchase time more than a day. Could very well just have been two people who decided to not keep the machine since it was missing the keyboard and such.

The machine now runs Tiger, and I bought a pair of apple pro speakers for it as well as an iSub. Just this last week I came across an iGo desk for it where the person bought it for somebody butt they hatted the look. We'll the desk was two years old and still in the box. I got it cheap to just take it and now I feel my wife has an awsome looking setup.

Forgot to add that the machine had an extra gig of ram in it when I bought it.

Mrjinglesusa · May 29, 2005, 08:03 PM

I have been very tempted to upgrade my 800 MHz 17" G4 to the Rev. B G5 iMac. Problem is, it runs everything I throw at it perfectly fine. I just can't justify the upgrade right now. THe form factor of the G4 iMac is the best Apple has ever come out with in any of their computers IMO. I think I'll hang onto this guy for another year or two...

Raining Down in Texas · May 29, 2005, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by pinkoos

How much RAM is in there? I recently picked up a 700 MHz one for my infant son to start fooling around with. It has 1 GB RAM and it flies.

I have 768 MB. My 1 GHz TiBook (with 1 GB RAM) seems much faster than the iMac G4, even when running on battery at 667 MHz.

When I run top, there is nothing sucking up CPU and there is usually plenty of free RAM on the iMac. It just feels sluggish. One thing I have been meaning to do is create a new user account to see if there is something in my account preferences that is hosing up.

pinkoos · May 31, 2005, 03:11 PM

I don't know about all the specs on your TiBook, but remember that your iMac probably has a 5400 rpm hard drive, a 100 MHz system bus and 256K L2 cache. All these factors can make the iMac feel slower than your TiBook (though your TiBook may have an even slower hard drive, possibly 4200 rpm).

power142 · May 31, 2005, 05:43 PM

It's only a shame that the 7447A chip never made it into the iMac G4 (or did it?)... I've used a 1GHz 17" iMac and despite the 7200rpm hard drive, it feels a little sluggish compared with similarly clocked Powerbooks or even recent eMacs - this has to be a factor of the smaller processor cache, because the similarly-clocked machines that feel faster have L3 cache (7455) or full-speed 512kB L2 cache (7447A)

PeteWK · Jun 1, 2005, 02:01 AM

We have both the 1 ghz eMac and iMac (17 in.) at the office and both are great. The eMac has 1 gig of ram and the iMac 768. They both handle whatever general office tasks are thrown at them with ease.

I have the Rev. B 20 inch iMac G5 and absolutely love it, your problems with it notwithstanding.

The G4 iMacs are wonderful machines and you can't go wrong with one. Stick with the DVD burning variety, though. And the faster the processor the better. You can get a 20 inch model if you look and that would be my choice.

PeteWK

hudson1 · Jun 1, 2005, 10:21 AM

I can't seem to find anything on Apple's website about specifications for the 20 inch iMac G4. They list USB 2.0 models of September 2003 as the last ones in the G4 line (15" and 17"). Was there another revision that doesn't appear on the specification web page?

southtdi · Jun 1, 2005, 10:26 AM

I think thery were pretty much the same thing. They have a 1.25ghz processor, superdrive (which I believe was standard), 256 ram, and a 60gb hard drive. Might be an 80gb drive, I have to look again.

PeteWK · Jun 2, 2005, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by hudson1

I can't seem to find anything on Apple's website about specifications for the 20 inch iMac G4. They list USB 2.0 models of September 2003 as the last ones in the G4 line (15" and 17"). Was there another revision that doesn't appear on the specification web page?

Go check www.apple-history.com. They list the last version of the iMac G4 which includes the 20 inch model. Regards,

PeteWK

discotronic · Jun 2, 2005, 04:00 PM

Also try www.everymac.com for information on current and discontinued Macs.

WOPR · Jun 4, 2005, 03:03 PM

Wow thanks for all your replies guys - I've just got back from my holiday and I've already started trawling ebay to try and get the model I want. I just need to be patient... I can't wait to get it though to get over the disappointment of that dreadful iMac G5 fiasco.

xenu · Jun 5, 2005, 12:55 AM

I'll also give the G4 iMac a good review.

It's the 700 Mhz model with 768 Mhz of ram, and running 10.4.1 nicely. As an added bonus, or not, there is no ripple effect in dashbaord.

Link · Jun 5, 2005, 03:18 AM

We have an original 15"er here, 800mhz setup with superdrive, I still consider it a great machine but the fan in that sucker is noisy, so I'll have to get in there one day and swap it out with something better (it might just be a noisy HD I dunno), either way it's really cool in comparison to those g5 imacs

NemesisEG · Jun 5, 2005, 09:28 AM

My iMac 800 is still going strong.

*thumbs up*

Metropolis Man · Jun 5, 2005, 11:51 AM

WOPR, I certainly do not regret purchasing the original 800-mhz flat panel iMac G4. It has been a wonderful machine with little problems. It did have a bad Ram chip one year after purchase and the original Superdrive recently had to be replaced. That's it. It will be a fine computer for my two daughters (4 and 9). But it's definitely time for dad to graduate to something bigger and better.

I also do not know what your "horror story" is with the current G5 iMacs. Personally, I can't wait to get a top-of-the line G5 iMac so I can play new games. Most current games will not even run on the G4 iMac with its snail video card. I am aware of the problems some people have had with the new iMacs. That's why I will purchase AppleCare.

WOPR · Jun 5, 2005, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Metropolis Man

WOPR, I certainly do not regret purchasing the original 800-mhz flat panel iMac G4. It has been a wonderful machine with little problems. It did have a bad Ram chip one year after purchase and the original Superdrive recently had to be replaced. That's it. It will be a fine computer for my two daughters (4 and 9). But it's definitely time for dad to graduate to something bigger and better.

I also do not know what your "horror story" is with the current G5 iMacs. Personally, I can't wait to get a top-of-the line G5 iMac so I can play new games. Most current games will not even run on the G4 iMac with its snail video card. I am aware of the problems some people have had with the new iMacs. That's why I will purchase AppleCare.

I did a thread on it so won't bore you, but basically Apple have not fixed the leaking capacitor problem. I had Applecare but I wanted a Mac that I was confident in, and receiving a new machine that was already leaking was most unimpressive!

CreepDogg · Jun 6, 2005, 10:30 PM

Well, with the Intel news today, I REALLY don't regret holding on to my iMac G4. I wasn't close to upgrading to a G5 anyway, but now my decision is clear - hold out for the iMac P4 or whatever they end up calling it. Actually may end up getting a PowerBook PM or whatever they call that - we'll see when the new offerings come out!

My G4 will serve me well until then...

Dale Sorel · Jun 6, 2005, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by CreepDogg

Well, with the Intel news today, I REALLY don't regret holding on to my iMac G4.

I just upgraded my old 700 MHz G4 iMac to a screaming G5 iMac... no regrets here

WOPR · Jun 7, 2005, 02:15 AM

I got one!! 1.25ghz 17" with USB2, 768mb RAM and 80gb disk. All boxed as new, I just need to add a bluetooth dongle. Should be with me by the weekend, I can't wait!

dru · Jun 10, 2005, 10:39 AM

My only regret is that Apple changed the design when it moved to the G5. I don't want to give up the screen movement and I'm talking about the first generation too!

Performance is A-Ok and improved with Tiger.

WOPR · Jun 10, 2005, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by dru

My only regret is that Apple changed the design when it moved to the G5. I don't want to give up the screen movement and I'm talking about the first generation too!

Performance is A-Ok and improved with Tiger.

I think the design of the iMac G5 is a massive step backward from the G4, and my heart sank as soon as I heard the first rumours of it being an all-in-the-screen design.

macwayne · Jun 11, 2005, 01:35 PM

I love my G4 20 inch imac. Even though I bought a mac mini when it first came out in January, I rarely use it and find myself always going back to the iMac. It's a classic and functional design that seems as original as the day it was introduced. I could use the power of a G5, but it just doesn't do anything for me aesthetically. This is one machine I'll never part with.

WOPR · Jun 11, 2005, 01:40 PM

My seller shipped my iMac today so I should get it on Monday or Tuesday, I'm so excited!

dotmil · Jun 11, 2005, 10:07 PM

Bought my 700MHz G4 several years back; it's most likely the best computer purchase I have ever made. Since then I've maxed out the memory, upgraded to a 120GB 7200RPM HDD, and a SuperDrive. It's still my first choice of machines to use, and much more dead sexy than the G5's are. If I could upgrade the processor just a bit, this would still be my machine for many years to come.

osxrules · Jun 11, 2005, 10:53 PM

I don't like imacs because you are limited to one display. I got a Mac Mini for that reason alone. I picked up a refurb 17" CRT for next to nothing and it works great going as high as 1920x1440. I always thought Mac monitors, especially LCD had too low resolution support. Both my old imac and ibook had a 1024x768 limit - drove me mad.

The Mac mini is very portable too. I take it with me when I stay at a relative's house and use their displays. It has one slot but I've still got 1GB Ram in it and it's running very smooth. The graphics card is a bit low spec but it's probably still better than an imac G4.

I do like that the G4 imacs have tray drives though. I can't stand those slot drives. They don't support any non-standard discs. Even the ones that installers come on like for digital cameras etc.

Anyway, I'd take an imac G4 over an imac G5 if it came to design. I think the G5 imac is ugly and fairly impractical with the ports and cd drive positions.

Mike Pither · Jun 12, 2005, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

I also recommend the 1.25 GHz G4 iMacs. I got one the last week it was available, and I don't regret waiting for the G5s. The video card handles all Tiger's eye candy, which is nice.

It was completely quiet with Panther, but the fans are louder under Tiger for some reason. (I've even filed a bug report.)

you haven't got virex antivirus software installed by any chance?

discotronic · Jun 12, 2005, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by osxrules

I don't like imacs because you are limited to one display. I got a Mac Mini for that reason alone. I picked up a refurb 17" CRT for next to nothing and it works great going as high as 1920x1440. I always thought Mac monitors, especially LCD had too low resolution support. Both my old imac and ibook had a 1024x768 limit - drove me mad.

The Mac mini is very portable too. I take it with me when I stay at a relative's house and use their displays. It has one slot but I've still got 1GB Ram in it and it's running very smooth. The graphics card is a bit low spec but it's probably still better than an imac G4.

I do like that the G4 imacs have tray drives though. I can't stand those slot drives. They don't support any non-standard discs. Even the ones that installers come on like for digital cameras etc.

Anyway, I'd take an imac G4 over an imac G5 if it came to design. I think the G5 imac is ugly and fairly impractical with the ports and cd drive positions.

The 1GHz and 1.25GHz iMac had a 64MB Nvidia 5200U GPU and the earlier models had a 32MB Nvidia GeForce2 MX GPU. The GPU in the Mac mini isn't drastically better than the lowest GPU in the G4 iMac line.