- Joined
- Jul 26, 2010
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 1
- Your Mac's Specs
- Power Mac G4 QuickSilver (2002) - single 800MHz CPU, 1.25 GB RAM, GeForce4 MX (64MB), 40GB, 10.5
Hi there, looks like I'm the new kid on the forums.
I can't exactly say I have never owned a Mac before - I still have a IIsi in storage in my mother's basement! - but I am definitely a born and bred Windows user who has had her fair share of Linux as well. I have occasionally worked on OS8 and OS9 machines, but missed the OS X band wagon entirely. That is, until recently, when I started doing tech support and we get the occasional Mac user. If I'm lucky, they either bought incompatible hardware or the hardware just died. If I'm not so lucky, it's often a problem in their system - in which case I have to go check the iMac in our testing lab (which - I swear - hates me with a passion), or dive into some websites and forums to find possible fixes since I know next to nothing about the current systems. It's starting to get mildly annoying. Yet, the two guys a week I get (and at least one is usually an easy fix) do not justify splashing out on a Mac I only want to familiarise myself more with the system.
Rather unexpectedly I stumbled across the solution this weekend, at a new place that sells second hand PCs. A friend was looking for a laptop and there was a G4 sitting on a table. I vaguely remembered we had some of those in art school when they were new (gee, I just made myself feel old) and decided to take it home. There was no OS on it because the shop owner had just formatted it but luckily I got OS X Tiger (the four CD version) as well.
Set it up at home, tried to figure out how to get the DVD drive to open for about 20 minutes and then made the mistake of doing a standard install so it installed Absolutely Everything. I fell asleep several times during the process.
Once it finally booted I finally got to see the specs and apparently what I have here is a QuickSilver (2002) with a single 800MHz CPU and 512 MB RAM installed. It comes with its most likely still original 40GB hard disk (which screeches like a dentist's torture instrument), a ZIP drive but no AirPort card.
The graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX with 64MB VRAM which doesn't appear to be a standard configuration according to EveryMac.
Now what I'll definitely do:
- Replace the hard drive. The current one is making my teeth hurt and will probably die soon. I got a 80GB WD Caviar that should do.
- Up the RAM to the maximum.
- Add a wireless card. Already found a compatible one.
- Add a USB 2.0 card. I decided that when trying to transfer some stuff via USB key.
What I might do:
- Change the graphics card to either the "original" Ti4200 or a ATI Radeon 9000 pro Mac edition.
- I have seen some nifty CPU upgrades but that I will only invest in if this machine gets some serious amount of use.
Don't need a screen because my current one has two inputs.
Might get a separate mouse and keyboard though, not sure.
Would have loved to add a "normal" sound card but such a thing does not seem to exist apart from the audiophile ones with coax connections. Oh well.
Any thoughts on this setup? Did I miss anything or is there anything to watch out for?
I can't exactly say I have never owned a Mac before - I still have a IIsi in storage in my mother's basement! - but I am definitely a born and bred Windows user who has had her fair share of Linux as well. I have occasionally worked on OS8 and OS9 machines, but missed the OS X band wagon entirely. That is, until recently, when I started doing tech support and we get the occasional Mac user. If I'm lucky, they either bought incompatible hardware or the hardware just died. If I'm not so lucky, it's often a problem in their system - in which case I have to go check the iMac in our testing lab (which - I swear - hates me with a passion), or dive into some websites and forums to find possible fixes since I know next to nothing about the current systems. It's starting to get mildly annoying. Yet, the two guys a week I get (and at least one is usually an easy fix) do not justify splashing out on a Mac I only want to familiarise myself more with the system.
Rather unexpectedly I stumbled across the solution this weekend, at a new place that sells second hand PCs. A friend was looking for a laptop and there was a G4 sitting on a table. I vaguely remembered we had some of those in art school when they were new (gee, I just made myself feel old) and decided to take it home. There was no OS on it because the shop owner had just formatted it but luckily I got OS X Tiger (the four CD version) as well.
Set it up at home, tried to figure out how to get the DVD drive to open for about 20 minutes and then made the mistake of doing a standard install so it installed Absolutely Everything. I fell asleep several times during the process.
Once it finally booted I finally got to see the specs and apparently what I have here is a QuickSilver (2002) with a single 800MHz CPU and 512 MB RAM installed. It comes with its most likely still original 40GB hard disk (which screeches like a dentist's torture instrument), a ZIP drive but no AirPort card.
The graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX with 64MB VRAM which doesn't appear to be a standard configuration according to EveryMac.
Now what I'll definitely do:
- Replace the hard drive. The current one is making my teeth hurt and will probably die soon. I got a 80GB WD Caviar that should do.
- Up the RAM to the maximum.
- Add a wireless card. Already found a compatible one.
- Add a USB 2.0 card. I decided that when trying to transfer some stuff via USB key.
What I might do:
- Change the graphics card to either the "original" Ti4200 or a ATI Radeon 9000 pro Mac edition.
- I have seen some nifty CPU upgrades but that I will only invest in if this machine gets some serious amount of use.
Don't need a screen because my current one has two inputs.
Might get a separate mouse and keyboard though, not sure.
Would have loved to add a "normal" sound card but such a thing does not seem to exist apart from the audiophile ones with coax connections. Oh well.
Any thoughts on this setup? Did I miss anything or is there anything to watch out for?
