G4 PPC or G4iMac, cant decide

[eric2006]

You can put in PC133 SDRAM
http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...+and+500MHz%29

[just4funuk]

I brought approx 6months ago imac G4 800Mhz with 256MB memory and 80GB HD with a Faulty DVD Drive.

I have replaced the DVD drive and maximized the memory to 1GB (512MB PC133 (taken from P4) and 512 SoDimm). Before getting this machine my main machine was a Intel P4 2ghz to do most of my browsing etc on built about 3-4 years ago. But have always wanted a nice Imac but the price was the main reason why I had not got one. After seeing this imac going cheap because the CDrom drive had failed decided I had to have it.

Even though it is only an 800mhz which in the PC market would be classed as slow. I find this machine to be fast enough for my day to day usage which include surfing the internet and burning the odd CD or DVD. I have also manged to get medal of honor and some other games that run reasonably well on it.

To give you idea of the speed my girlfriend has a Amd 800mhz and to convert a track to MP3 most where taking 2mins +. On this imac most tracks where being converted in under 60 sec.This was using itunes to do the converting as the music was being converted to go on an ipod.

Upgrades that are possible include replacing the internal Harddrive to 127GB (ATA IDE 3.5") internally from what I have read and possibly limit less if upgraded with external harddrives.

The 1GB ram limit in my opinion is not a limit.

The only minus is the Graphics card built inside is only 32MB and no way to upgrade.But if your a games player you would be looking for a faster CPU anyway.

Sorry I got carried away.

But as you can tell I like my IMAC G4.

Would I use an intel again ? Well it looks like I may have to with Apple jumping c/ship.

[Timothy Gerges]

I was thinking, yeah, this does happen on the odd ocasion...
If i could upgrade the ram on the mac, that would be cool, but what would really make it a kick ass computer, would be upgrading the CPU.. How fast would it be with 1Ghz and 1GB ram, ram is not a problem, its the CPU.
Here in sa, finding mac stuff is like like looking for a windows computer in an american movie, (in my experience, this never happens). I know that sonnet and place like that make 1Ghz processors for g4s, but there is no sonnet in south africa.. Unless i am missing something
Would upgrading the CPU make that much of a difference?

[Natobasso]

I don't think going with the iMac is a good idea, especially if you want a computer you can grow with. I had a 17" iMac G4 800Mhz for two years and it always seemed a few steps behind when it came to processing power for my graphic design work. Even after I upgraded the RAM to 1GB it just didn't cut it.

Beyond the RAM upgrades, this computer just isn't very expandable. You're stuck with the video card and the internal parts require a licensed tech (except for the user-accessible RAM/Airport card slot).

If you want a more flexible computer, find a G4 or G5 tower, buy a monitor keyboard and mouse and then you have a computer that can last at least a few years with processor, RAM and hard drive upgrades. Don't go MacPro unless you want to be on the bleeding edge of current technology and have your software work even slower in Rosetta emulation for the time being.

[Timothy Gerges]

At the moment, the speed of the power mac isn't impressing me at all

[Michel PM]

I absolutely love this generation iMac.
Get the G4 800 Mhz model, the faster the better
The 17" and later the 20" LCD screens on these iMacs is a beautiful thing.
It'll be faster then your current Mac, but won't be as expandable/upgrade-able as a PowerMac, though.

Max the RAM to 1.0 GB!

The 32 MB 2X AGP card is this iMac's Achilles' heel, but it's designed to work with OS X Quartz and Quartz extreme graphics engine and hence won't use main CPU for screen graphics and redraws.
I do not believe there are any CPU upgrades fro these iMacs, though.
Have you looked online for newer versions of this generation iMac?
Newer versions can take more RAM and CPU speeds are faster G4's
Last of these models had MAX speed of 1.25 Ghz CPU's and can take up to 2.0 GBs of PC2700 RAM.
Plus these had 4X AGP cards that are 64 Mbs
These will,probably, cost more but would be a much more powerful machine!
Closer in power to the last of the PowerMac G4 towers.
Something to think about if you like the iMac you're looking at now.
I guess you can tell I really like this particular generation of iMac.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by Timothy Gerges

At the moment, the speed of the power mac isn't impressing me at all

I know this is quite old and you probably already upped the memory, but remember that you have a Power Mac G4....a rather old computer. While upgrading the RAM and getting a faster hard drive will help, there's only so much speed you can squeeze out of that CPU (barring any overclocking, which I don't recommend). So just take into account that you are dealing with an older computer, so you can't expect performance to be almost as good as a G5 or an Intel Mac....it's just not going to happen.

[Michel PM]

I just noticed where the dates are posted on these forums
LOL my bad!!
The location there in and the tiny size and style font make this easy to miss here!
I'll pay more attention in the future!
Obviously, the original Poster probably already made the decision and I am waaaay too late to the party!!!
LOL