Upgrading Hardware on iMac USB2.0 1.25GHz

I have an ageing imac - the usb2.0 version G4 1.25GHz with 1GB memory.

I want to know would i make significant gains in performance if i upgraded it to 2gb memory? (ignore the fact that i can or cannot upgrade to 2gb - i know i can)

at the moment, the hdd is almost completely full with a few gb to spare, and my coimputer regularly beachballs with many apps running, and if azureus or a java based app is running, the cpu is almost maxed out continuously.

would a new bigger hard drive also solve my problems when combined with double the memory. i don't use many professional apps like creative suite or video editing, so processor power is not that relevant - its just an internet/email/itunes/photos pc and nothing much else

your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. i dont want to splash out on a new mac just yet..i can't afford it.

Surprised she runs at all chalkie with what you describe. Sure a larger HDD will assist and if you can improve the RAM, go for it. The G4 iMac has Firewire 400, here are the specs:-

Apple iMac G4/1.25 17-Inch "FP" (USB 2.0) Specs (iMac USB 2.0 - M9168LL/A) @ EveryMac.com

So pop the current internal into an exterior case and connect via firewire.

Select Apple Partition Map and partition how you wish, format Mac OS Extended (Journalled) and you have a bootable external HDD.

More memory and a larger HD will indeed help your performance quite a bit.