Just bought a G4 powerbook, is it worth it to upgrade anything?

Ok let me start by saying i am an architecture student that wanted to get into macs. I have used macs on occasion but mostly PCs. I am no computer god by ANY means but i know my way around a pc and have built a few. I wanted to get to know macs and ordered a G4 Powerbook (12") with a 1.5ghz processor, 1.25gb ram, 120GB HD and it runs tiger. A few questions along with any advice. I did some research first and for the price this seemed like the most valiant option to get started with macs. I will be using this as my portable laptop at school to do word processing, internet, itunes and possibly some photoshop or sketch up. Would it be worth it to upgrade to leopard and what other suggestions would a person more experienced with a mac suggest to do performance wise?
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!
-Kyle

I personally think that if your going to do Photoshop stuff, stick with Tiger as your Powerbook may struggle a little with Leopard and Photoshop.

You are pretty much maxed out for upgrades on that machine, unless you want a bigger HDD. It will be OK for now for all the apps you listed, but not for much longer. PowerPC Macs are quickly becoming obsolete since Apple switched to Intel. Leopard will run on it, but the next version of the OS, being released this year, is widely rumored to be dropping PowerPC support. Many applications are dropping support already.

Honestly, the best upgrade you could do would be to sell it now and get a used MacBook or any other Intel Mac.

That being said, if you left it with Tiger (or Leopard) and only used it for word processing, it should be good forever. Internet, iTunes, Photoshop, etc... on that machine your days are numbered.

Not looking for too much out of it.

I am basically just getting this computer to familiarize myself with the OS. I doubt I will be using it for anything that would require too much power. I just wanted something small and portable for at school to do some word processing, internet and some itunes. Would the upgrade to leopard be worth it for the extras? For the time being any work that requires more power I use my XPS but its a monster and a pain to bring to school. Hopefully I will be upgrading to a new mac in a year or two, i love macs. Thanks again!

Would the upgrade to leopard be worth it for the extras

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I have a PB, Tiger runs faster than Leopard on mine. I tried Leo, went back to Tiger.

I also own a Powerbook. For portabilty and light photo editing is the perfect companion.

I run Leopard on mine, not really a world-bench-breaking machine, but if what you want is to get started with the OS then installing Leopard could really be an option here. Yes, Tiger runs faster, but your are missing some key features in Leopard that are going to be there in the upcoming OS, Snow Leopard.

Coolwine said:

I am basically just getting this computer to familiarize myself with the OS.

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And that is an excellent machine for that purpose.