Thinking of getting a used Powermac G4

I am thinking about eventually purchasing a used Powermac G4. It would be used as a second computer. Meaning I would probably just use it for web surfing, word processing, and maybe a little youtube.

I noticed that the prices on Powermac G4's are pretty affordable. I am still deciding which one would be best suited for me. If I do decide on purchasing a used Powermac G4, should I get a dual-powered machine, like a 867 MHZ x2? Or, would a single processor, like a 1.25 GHZ work well enough for me? I am planning to use Leopard. I know that Leopard requires at least 512 MB of RAM. So, I planning to purchase one with around a gig. I can always upgrade it later.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

G'day and welcome to the forums.

If the G4 is your choice, go for the Mirror Disk Door 1.25Ghz single processor model. The 867 dual is a 133MHZ system bus speed, and the 1.25 runs at 167MHz and uses faster memory. Leopard will run very nicely, but you will need more than 512MG memory to be happy. 1GB m,inimum and suggest 2GB m akes for a very nice machine.

It will always be faster than the 867 MHz, which despite the dual processors, will only ever work at that speed, and not as some folk think twice the 867MHz.

Here are the 1.25 specs:-

Power Macintosh G4 1.25 (MDD 2003) Specs (Mirrored Drive Doors 2003, M9145LL/A, M8570, PowerMac3,6) @ EveryMac.com

Agreed with Harry. Get the 1.25Ghz model. There is a Dual 1.25 and Dual 1.42Ghz models also but they tend to still be quite pricy. Max out the RAM if you can afford it but 1GB minimum.

Thanks for your quick response and your suggestions! I will keep definitely this advice in mind!

Just one word of warning. You said you may be doing "a little YouTube". Even a faster G4 (depending on it's GPU) may still not deliver the smoothest YouTube videos.

- Nick

Yeah, It's not that big of deal. I probably won't use Youtube that much. Also, how would multitasking be? e.g. Would I be able to have either Safari or Firefox open while a program like Neooffice is running? Once again, thanks for everyone's help!