Any G4 users out there?

C

chas_m

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I didn't realize leopard and tiger were that similar. Leopard already came installed on the G4 when I bought it, so I guess my question would be....
will I see a bigger difference in performance if I switch back over the original tiger OS. You had mentioned tiger is "lightning fast" when that ram is maxed out (which mine is). What exactly will operate that much better with tiger?

Yeah, I don't know what he's talking about either ...

Leopard will work great on that machine, and so will Tiger. Leopard takes up a bit more space because of the various improvements, but if you already have Tiger you can just stay there, that's fine -- at least for now.

(how much longer Apple and devs will offer updates for Tiger is open to question.)
 
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cool...since I already have the new leopard OS installed, i'll stick with that. It sounded like I would be giving up performance by continuing to use 10.5. If that be the case, I would probably want to re-install the original tiger.
 
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I still use a G4 iBook (14", 1.42ghz, 60gig drive, etc), and run Leopard on it with no problems. It's mainly an internet, email, and portable DVD player at this point, but I'm setting it up as my mobile recording unit (using Traction and a Mackie Onyx Satelitte interface) now and it seems to work just fine.

Would love a new MBP, but Santa brought a new iMac (21") so it'll be a while before another new mac comes home.
 
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do you think mine will handle photoshop CS3? Im almost certain CS4 will be too much.
 
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do you think mine will handle photoshop CS3? Im almost certain CS4 will be too much.

Yeah, CS4 is too much. According to Adobe, you need at least a G5 Mac to run that programme. (link)

I think CS3 would be fine though. Here's a link from Amazon.

Also, yay for G4 Macs! I've got one too (a 12" iBook), and I still use it with pride. :)
 
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I use a G4 933MHz "Quicksilver 2002" model and for me, it's (almost) ideal for every-day usage, like trawling the web, email, the occasional bit of scanning and wotnot. :)

The only thing that I don't like about it, is the fans are loud (can still hear them 15+ ft away! :eek: ) but if I get the new job I'm going for on Friday, then I think I'll be treating myself to a Mac Mini out of my first pay packet (shhh... don't tell SWMBO!! ;) ;) )
 
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you bring up the fan issuse...i notice on my G4, it has a vent on the bottom left side and it looks like some vents on the back of the LCD display area. However, I have never heard the fan run! Its been completely quiet since I got it. Should you normally be able to hear the fan running? Also, where the vent on the left side is located, is where the laptop usually gets the warmest...never really hot, just warm.
 
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you bring up the fan issuse...i notice on my G4, it has a vent on the bottom left side and it looks like some vents on the back of the LCD display area. However, I have never heard the fan run! Its been completely quiet since I got it. Should you normally be able to hear the fan running? Also, where the vent on the left side is located, is where the laptop usually gets the warmest...never really hot, just warm.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that my G4 is a desktop model, not a laptop model.

From what I remember, when I had a G4 PowerBook, about 5-6 years ago, the fans on that were pretty silent.

Sorry if I misled you with my previous statement. It wasn't intentional. O:)
 
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not a problem at all...I actually was wondering about the fan issue the other day. I had asked my brother-in-law who has a MBP if he ever heard his fan running, which he said "nope!" Just thought i'd double check...Thanks!
 

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I use a G4 933MHz "Quicksilver 2002" model...

The only thing that I don't like about it, is the fans are loud (can still hear them 15+ ft away! :eek: )

WOW...I'm really surprised to hear you say that about your G4 933mhz desktop!

I have exactly the same model...and I have NEVER had a noise problem with the fans...in fact I hardy ever hear the fans.

I wonder if the bearings in one of your fans is going bad...or if your computer is REALLY dirty inside.

- Nick
 
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I do have to say, even though my G4 is already 5 years old, I love it so far. I can't believe how much of a difference coming from PC there has been. It's very user friendly. I thought this was going to be a big issue having to re-learn a new OS all over, but that hasn't been the case. The saying must be true..."once you go Mac....you never go back!"
 
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WOW...I'm really surprised to hear you say that about your G4 933mhz desktop!

I have exactly the same model...and I have NEVER had a noise problem with the fans...in fact I hardy ever hear the fans.

I wonder if the bearings in one of your fans is going bad...or if your computer is REALLY dirty inside.

- Nick
Hi there,
I think most of the noise is generated from the PSU fan; the fans on the processor are whisper quiet. :)

As far as dust is concerned, the inside of the case is pristine - I double checked the other day, when I replaced my DVD writer with a new unit and there wasn't a single dust bunny to be seen, let alone be evicted. :)
 
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I'v seen around on the forums and stuff about "G3" or "G4"
What are these suppose to mean? How would I check what my mac is?
 
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I'v seen around on the forums and stuff about "G3" or "G4"
What are these suppose to mean? How would I check what my mac is?
Well according to your profile under your name you have an Intel Mac so you won't have a G anything. G3, G4, etc were the computer processors on the old Macs which used PowerPCs and not Intel processors.

If you ever want to know about the specs on your Mac then just go to the apple icon in the top left corner and select "About this Mac" and then click "More info". Oh by the way if you have OS 10.5.8 then you have Leopard and not Panther. :)
 
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I didn't realize leopard and tiger were that similar. Leopard already came installed on the G4 when I bought it, so I guess my question would be....
will I see a bigger difference in performance if I switch back over the original tiger OS. You had mentioned tiger is "lightning fast" when that ram is maxed out (which mine is). What exactly will operate that much better with tiger?
OS X as a whole. Menu's won't lag, apps will open faster, run faster, things like that.

Yeah, I don't know what he's talking about either ...

Leopard will work great on that machine, and so will Tiger. Leopard takes up a bit more space because of the various improvements, but if you already have Tiger you can just stay there, that's fine -- at least for now.

(how much longer Apple and devs will offer updates for Tiger is open to question.)

Hrm, maybe it's just me, but in my experience Leopard is a bit of a dog, even on an upper end G4. That's not to say it isn't usable, it very much is. But I find that Tiger is so much more responsive, and it's worth missing the extra features of Leopard (Which admittedly isn't a big deal for me, since I never used any of them.)
 
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OS X as a whole. Menu's won't lag, apps will open faster, run faster, things like that.



Hrm, maybe it's just me, but in my experience Leopard is a bit of a dog, even on an upper end G4. That's not to say it isn't usable, it very much is. But I find that Tiger is so much more responsive, and it's worth missing the extra features of Leopard (Which admittedly isn't a big deal for me, since I never used any of them.)


so, if I wanted to reinstall the tiger OS...what are the steps. If i run the tiger re-install cd's will it automatically overwrite leopard? Also, will I loose any data (itunes, pics, docs) or are those safe on my hardrive?
 
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so, if I wanted to reinstall the tiger OS...what are the steps. If i run the tiger re-install cd's will it automatically overwrite leopard? Also, will I loose any data (itunes, pics, docs) or are those safe on my hardrive?

You cannot simply downgrade from Leopard to Tiger, ie. you cannot simply "overwrite" Leopard with Tiger.

If you want to run Tiger on your machine instead of Leopard, you'll have to do a Clean Install, which means that you will lose all of your data. So, back up your files, then insert your Tiger disc, reboot and hold down the C key to boot from the disc. From there, head over to the Utilities menu in the Menubar and select Disk Utility - use this to erase all data on your harddrive, then quit from Disk Utility and proceed with the installation process.


PS: I'm not a native English-speaker, so I'm sorry if what I write is a bit hard to understand.

Tommy
 

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