G4 PPC or G4iMac, cant decide

Timothy Gerges · #1 November 1st, 2006, 11:41 AM

Hi,
First time posting in a forum, so please be patient.

I have had a mac g4 ppc for quite some time, the PCI graphics one (2.6/350).
(whatever that means, still a little lost there, windows based computers are a little easier to understand when it comes to that)
Recently, I have had the choice of getting a G4 imac 17" 700 or 800 Mhz, but i'm not sure which is the better option. Some contructive opinions would be greatly appriciated.

Both have 512 mb Ram, the iMac has a 50gb hdd, and the powerpc 40gb.
The imac also boasts 10.4, on the powerpc, i have 10.3, but an incorrect version installed, one for the eMac, so its not performing the way it should at all.

I really dont know what i should do.
Something to discuss i would say..
Please help...

Timothy

Ferdinand · #2 November 1st, 2006, 11:59 AM

Well, all iMac G4s _are_ PowerPC. PPC's are all Apple's that have IBM chips (which is most of them). I am slightly confused...
Am I getting this right:
iMac Your Mac
50 GB 40 GB
10.4 Tiger 10.3 Panther
512 MB RAM 512 MB RAM.
How much MHz or GHz does your Mac have? What G4 ist it? You just wrote Mac G4 PPC, which can mean anything, from iBook and PowerBook to iMac, eMac and Mac mini. Please say which one you have. How big is the screen of your current Mac? How new is it? If you take the iMac definatley 800 MHz because its faster than 700 MHz.

Timothy Gerges · #3 November 1st, 2006, 01:39 PM

see, i told you this was my first time, No beginner's luck here...

My current mac is a G4 PowerPc PCI Graphics, i am also confused about the MHz, it says 2.6(350), it also sounds strange to me, but i dont think i am mistaken.
As it is just the tower, i use an ordanary compaq 17" screen.

**fryke** · #4 November 1st, 2006, 03:32 PM

Where does it say 2.6(350)? ... Go to the Apple menu and choose "About this Mac". There it should say something definite. PCI graphics probably mean it's a 350 MHz "Yikes!" PowerMac G4. The iMac certainly sounds like the better deal. You'll want the OS X license to be "good", though. Installing from an installation disk that came with another Mac is not a good idea in various ways. (Steve would probably say "Karma".)

Timothy Gerges · #5 November 1st, 2006, 04:21 PM

believe it or not, i am not going insane, although i am a little confused, however, confusion is good at some stage or another.
I attached a picture of the system profile. Just to show you what i mean, i know sometimes i dont come across to clearly.

eric2006 · #6 November 1st, 2006, 04:27 PM

You have a PowerMac G3, with a 350 MHz G4 upgrade (I think?). The iMac won't be as upgradable in some ways (PCI cards, multiple hard drives), but it will be much, much faster, sport a gorgeous design, and an LCD display. 512 of memory will be good for most basic applications, though you can add up to a gig, which would be optimal.

Timothy Gerges · #7 November 1st, 2006, 04:30 PM

so you think i should go for the imac?

eric2006 · #8 November 1st, 2006, 04:35 PM

Personally, I would. It's worth more than what you have now, too (unless you have some serious upgrades installed). It's quieter. It's faster. It looks cooler. Upgradability would really be the only factor that could hold you back, you loose the option to upgrade your video card, install multiple optical drives, multiple hard drives, etc. Of course, if you don't plan to upgrade, and don't have any upgrades installed, that's not really a factor.
You may want to read this: http://lowendmac.com/fishkin/06/1031.html