Which is better ? iMac slot-load 700 or G4 tower 500 dual ?

Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
198
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Hello, for simple straightforward use (ie, no video, art stuff) which is the better machine in your opinions ?

700Mhz slot-load iMac (PC100 ram)
Dual 500Mhz G4 tower (pc100 ram)

also I might be able to get a Dual 450Mhz if I don't get the 500 Dual.

OR a 800Mhz G4 tower.

I know my kid will want to use it for stuff and usually the requirements are minimum 800Mhz.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
 
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
3,612
Reaction score
95
Points
48
Location
Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
which is the better machine in your opinions?
700Mhz slot-load iMac (PC100 ram)
Dual 500Mhz G4 tower (pc100 ram)
Dual 450Mhz if I don't get the 500 Dual.
800Mhz G4 tower.

Of those 4 options and the uses you say the computer will be put to, and considering things like space occupied, no external monitor required etc, I'd suggest the iMac. I suppose its major drawback is that it's USB 1, which is slow by today's measure, but that also applies to the other models you've listed. You'll hardly notice the speed difference between 700 and 800 MHz.
 
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
8,967
Reaction score
287
Points
83
Location
London
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini Core i7 2012 | White 2009 MacBook 2 Ghz | 733 Mhz G4 Quicksilver
are you going to connect a modern iPod to any of those systems?
 
OP
J
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
198
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Yes, definitely a 4th generation iPod. But that would be for listening out of the iTunes/speakers rather than using it as a gateway to putting tunes on it.

Would a dual 450 be noticeably different to the 700-imac ? Or a dual 500 for that matter. Max ram would likely be 512mb, I'm guessing.
 
Joined
May 18, 2008
Messages
3,612
Reaction score
95
Points
48
Location
Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
Would a dual 450 be noticeably different to the 700-imac ? Or a dual 500 for that matter. Max ram would likely be 512mb, I'm guessing.

The 'dual' bit is for raw power rather than speed. Dual processors were great for heavy-duty graphic and sound editing work. Yes, you would notice a speed difference between a 450 or 500, and a 700.

I recommend that you get Mactracker (it's free) to compare. For example, it will show that you can put 1 Gb of RAM in an iMac 700 (the last of the early, colorful iMacs), more in a tower machine, depending on the OS you intend using.

Respecting your budgetary decisions, have you considered an eMac? From 2004, they went to USB 2 and into GHz-level processing speed.
 
OP
J
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
198
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Last Xmas I bought one cheap, on ebay, it was listed as working, just needed some bits to add plus HD. The shipper did an almighty ballsup of the packing. It shipped in a plastic bin liner with half the amount of packing peanuts and foam needed to ensure a safe transit. I installed all I needed and got the chime. 2 hours later after doing my updates and checks I got 3 beeps and no chime or screen. The shipper offered a partial refund, I relisted on eBay and basically lost about $10 after all was said and done.

I would love to try an emac but money's tight and the machines I mentioned are pretty much near free and for the taking.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
Personally I would go for the 500MHz DP Gigabit Ethernet. It will take 2GB RAM, you can install a faster 7200 RPM HDD with 16 or 8MB cache, and faster graphic cards such as an ATI Radeon 9000 Mac Pro with 128MB RAM.

Also towers are great to work with to change HDD, memory, optical drives and burners, AGP Graphics Cards and PCI cards such as USB 2.

Later on if you wish you can install a CPU upgrade to run leopard.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top