Is This A Good Deal?

Hey, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I'm looking to get my first Mac, and I'm on a budget and found a G4 for $300 with:
Dual 867 MDD G4
1.25 GB RAM (2 x 512 MB; 1 x 256 MB; 1 slot empty)
Two 80 GB hard drives
Two video cards:
• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (supports Quartz Extreme; a bit noisier because it has a fan; currently installed)
• ATI Rage 128 Pro (Does not support Quartz Extreme; no fan, so it's quieter)
4-port internal USB 2.0 PCI card
Clean install of Mac OS X 10.2.3
Is that a good deal? Thanks.

wakeupinflames said:

Hey, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I'm looking to get my first Mac, and I'm on a budget and found a G4 for $300 with:
Dual 867 MDD G4
1.25 GB RAM (2 x 512 MB; 1 x 256 MB; 1 slot empty)
Two 80 GB hard drives
Two video cards:
• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (supports Quartz Extreme; a bit noisier because it has a fan; currently installed)
• ATI Rage 128 Pro (Does not support Quartz Extreme; no fan, so it's quieter)
4-port internal USB 2.0 PCI card
Clean install of Mac OS X 10.2.3
Is that a good deal? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I think you could do better... But, I look at hardware value, and I know that PC's depreciate more than that of a Mac.

Question-What will it be used for?

I'd use it for surfing the web, listening to music, watching movies, and I've always wanted to use Garage Band. So do you think that I should go for it or keep looking?

It's an OK deal. It's not going to be very good for long. It's only running 10.2. 10.3 is pretty old these days. It won't handle HD content, otherwise it might be ok, just really slow.

wakeupinflames said:

I'd use it for surfing the web, listening to music, watching movies, and I've always wanted to use Garage Band. So do you think that I should go for it or keep looking?

Click to expand...

If you just want something for that... Step up about $200 and get a new Mini, it will last far longer than that. I use my Mini for everything but, of course not gaming or graphics work...

INTELligent said:

If you just want something for that... Step up about $200 and get a new Mini, it will last far longer than that. I use my Mini for everything but, of course not gaming or graphics work...

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You mean $300 plus tax, right? Minis are $600 new.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883104030

My bad, my bad... I must've been thinking about a refurb model...

Look for a 1.25DP MDD, and if possible the FW800 model. Max out the RAM over time and you will find it a lot better than the 867 because of faster system bus speed, faster spec memory etc.

Alright, thanks. You said that 10.2.3 is pretty old, what's the newest OS?

wakeupinflames said:

Alright, thanks. You said that 10.2.3 is pretty old, what's the newest OS?

Click to expand...

The newest OS is Leopard... 10.5.2

10.5.4 actually

Dysfunction said:

10.5.4 actually

Click to expand...

Really? When did that happen?


EDIT: Jeez, I am about two weeks off... I gotta start paying attn to more Apple news...

It's not that bad of a deal. This is a five or six year old computer, so there will always be better out there. But it should kick butt for what you want to do with it. You can run Leopard on this system but tiger would be best.

If you bought the computer, you'd probably get two years of use out of it tops before this thing would be close to dead. Even if it's just a year, it's a year of messing around with apple and mac os x. For $300.

I'm quite sure that in a year, you could still unload this for at least $150 easy. So, I think it's worth the money. Spend the $79 on tiger when you can and you'll have a sweet machine.

dadsgravy said:

It's not that bad of a deal. This is a five or six year old computer, so there will always be better out there. But it should kick butt for what you want to do with it. You can run Leopard on this system but tiger would be best.

If you bought the computer, you'd probably get two years of use out of it tops before this thing would be close to dead. Even if it's just a year, it's a year of messing around with apple and mac os x. For $300.

I'm quite sure that in a year, you could still unload this for at least $150 easy. So, I think it's worth the money. Spend the $79 on tiger when you can and you'll have a sweet machine.

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Then he's $221 from a new PC that will last maybe 5yrs....

The mini and macbook are completely disposable products. In five years, they'll look more ridiculous than this 867mhz.

You talking about USB 3.0, SSD hard drives, LED screens, lower power consumption processors, DDR 3 RAM, Dedicated graphics, Blu-Ray, etc etc.

There's no way a mini bought now, will look as good as this old mac does six years later. My first gen macbook is two years old and I can't even run 64bit applications or install more than 2GB of RAM. Look how much apple has changed in two years.

The mini is a good computer, but it is every bit as disposable as the 867mhz, and for $221 more.

But hey, new, used, it doesn't matter. With Apple you have three choices. Go pro, go back to the store every three years, or stay behind technology.

dadsgravy said:

The mini and macbook are completely disposable products. In five years, they'll look more ridiculous than this 867mhz.

You talking about USB 3.0, SSD hard drives, LED screens, lower power consumption processors, DDR 3 RAM, Dedicated graphics, Blu-Ray, etc etc.

There's no way a mini bought now, will look as good as this old mac does six years later. My first gen macbook is two years old and I can't even run 64bit applications or install more than 2GB of RAM. Look how much apple has changed in two years.

The mini is a good computer, but it is every bit as disposable as the 867mhz, and for $221 more.

But hey, new, used, it doesn't matter. With Apple you have three choices. Go pro, go back to the store every three years, or stay behind technology.

Click to expand...

Yeah well, let him buy something that has collected dust for who knows how long because the previous owner apparently upgraded. You obviously don't know how much better the Intel is than a PPC much less the Core architecture. That old G4 will be the same shiny, obnoxious design in 6yrs along with its terrible 867Mhz PPC CPU. But, don't get me wrong, design isn't everything, let's also consider the capacitors and other low-scale components on that G4's hardware.

And who would keep a G4 to 2014?

I wasn't saying keep the G4 till 2014. Look at were your mini will be in 2014. In a lot worse shape than were an 867mhz G4 is in 2008.

To me, the question posted was for a foot in the door with apple. Not a permanent solution or a long term commitment. This is the posters first mac, they have a budget and wanted to know if this computer is able to run simple tasks. Which it is perfectly capable of. Will it last for ever, no. Would it be a great temp solution for a budget, you bet.

Every computer you have is complete over kill. Going to you tube, myspace, streaming video and music, running itunes, garage band, flash, will all work with that computer and processor. Probably not the best, but it will work.

And your right, I don't completely understand the core architecture of Intel and PPC, but I do know the specs to run web 2.0, apples applications and os. I know that my 1ghz powerbook G4 keeps up with my macbook no problem. I know that when I did tech support for apple, we used PPC G4 minis that moved every bit as well as my macbook. And I know that buying a new mini is as much of a waste of money as buying an old PPC. At least the PPC would be easier to trash when you have the budget to buy what you really want.

http://lowendmac.com/myturn/0803my/power-mac-or-mini.html

Not the best, but it works just fine.

its not a bad deal but you certainly can get better specs. I think I lucked out when I got my system which is the dual 1.25 and it was running 10.3 and recently upgraded to 10.5 and this thing is awesome. Sure its not some top of the line PRO model but it keeps up with my pictures, Internet and Email so it really depends on what you're gonna use it for.