Wanting to switch, need advice

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Hey All

I'm a 17 year PC veteran user. Last week I got a friend of mine to lend me his old Mac for a week to try and now I'm in despair. I'm an IT consultant and spend my days on network administration and general Windows related tasks.
I can't afford new Mac right now, and quite honestly I'm not sure if I should do it. I use PC at home with AMD 64 3200+, 1 Gig RAM, 2 SATAII HD's, 256 Meg ATI X1600 video card. Mac I have been trying is a 4 year old G4 Dual 867 Mhz MDD, with 1.25 Gig RAM, 32 Meg Nvidia Card and 3 HDD's with combined storage of 220 GB, Airport Card. What shocked me the most is the fact that this old Mac runs smoothly and fast OS X Tiger, while my PC has a hard time running Vista Business I just bought. Here comes my question: Is it worth spending 450$ on the Mac I am currently using? I know that it's hard to compare PC and Mac, I just would like to know that if I do switch to Mac, I won't have to go out and buy a new hardware in a year or so to run new OS when it comes out. What I do with home PC is mainly, browsing the web, working remotely (using RDP, VNC and VPN), make backup DVD's as my 2 year old will destroy every original I buy, convert video to Divix for playing on the laptop, listen to music, use Skype and other chatting software. Can anyone out there give me advice?

Thanks in advance

Mac wannabe
 
M

MacHeadCase

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Welcome to Mac-Forums, misiekm1300.

My advice would be this: paying $450 for old tech like that? I'M not sure I would do it. Look at the new iMacs for instance. Let's say you never mind about the low-end 17" 1.83GHz processor model (Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory, not terribly awesome of you know what I mean...) but the 17" 2.0GHz processor model just above that is nice. This is brand new technology with warranty for $1,199.00 (if you are a student you can get an Edu discount - Apple refurbs are another great choice).

Granted this is almost 3X what you are willing to pay, but you might want to consider saving some money and getting that instead.

My two cents. :girl:
 
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It would be worth your while to check into the Mac Mini. It isn't saddled with the old PowerPC technology and would be much faster than the old Mac you're using. And if you're in the U.S., the price is only 150 bucks more than the $450 for the G4. A refurb would be even cheaper.

The assumption with the Mini is you use whatever monitor and keyboard you have kicking around. But load any Mac with as much RAM as you can — 512 isn't enough, so more would bump up the price.

The cheapest on the U.S. Mac Mini store page is $599. The specs page is here.

Edit: Can't see anything about it playing or recording CDs, though, just DVDs
 
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You will need the 1.83mhz Mac Mini in order to burn DVD's (via the Super-Drive).

See the specs at the bottom of this Page: Apple Mac Mini Spec Page

I agree, save and get a current tech. model. You'll be glad you did.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Dual 1.25 gig G4
That's weird Mac Mall sells a dual core 1.66 gig mini with a superdrive in it. "does not computer". Just wanted to mention if you are the type that likes to open up and upgrade, the mini isn't for you. Ram is about the only easy upgrade, others can be done but take some effort. Most other upgrades to are easier done externally using usb or firewire ports IMO
 
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Vista is a resource hog.

I've been using XP since it came out and IMO, it only started being "great" within the last 3 years.

I'm a gamer so I won't be letting go of my PC anytime soon. I also do many .NET stuff so I guess I'll be PC guy for life. However, I'm really looking into getting a Mac. I want to be able to edit my videos and do a decent job. There are some software for the PC that will do it but I've read many revies saying that Macs make it easier for you to do a better job.

I'm probably getting an iMac but the mini is still pretty attractive.

I can't decide right now. I'm torn between an iMac or building myself a C2D 6600 gaming rig with an Nvidia 8800gts. If only I was rich, I'd get both.
 
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Thanks guys

Hey all

Thanks for all your posts. Maybe I should rephrase the question a little...

Is 450$ US a decent deal for G4 Dual 867/1.25 Gb RAM/220 HDD/Airport/DVD and CD-RW combo drive/32 Meg Nvidia Card? Keep in mind that I already have a 19" LCD that I can use and am looking for a cheep way to switch.

As much as I'm drooling over the IMac, unless I get a buyer for my PC rig, it's will remain a dream. My other concern would be upgrade capabilities (Mac mini would not be the best choice I guess then. I want to have 2 hard drives and backup my stuff to the second drive in case first one fails. I do realize that external Firewire drive can be an option as well.

Any thoughts?
 
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It's not unlike buying a used car. You pays your money and takes your chances.

How well do you know the owner? How much mileage is on the odometer? Was it run 24 hours a day for five years? You could turn it on tomorrow and discover the drive is dead.

Can you compare prices? What's the same model or one close to it selling for elsewhere in your market area? Have you checked ebay just for prices?

I run a dual 1-GHz mirrored-door G4 that boots into System 9 (I still use it), and it's four or five years old. It has the original drive and it isn't giving me any trouble. But based on experience, I don't expect it to last much longer.

I have a small, free, startup app called SMARTReporter running in the menu to give me warning of impending doom. If you go for the deal, download it from versiontracker or macupdate.

You could check the same thing now from DiskUtility in the Utilities folder. Start it, and click on the very top hard-drive icon in the left pane, and read the info at the bottom next to S.M.A.R.T. Status. Mine reads Verified.
 
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Black Macbook, 2.0ghz C2D, 120gb hdd, 1gb RAM
your pc rig is fairly nice. you could sell it on ebay. just a thought, you could sell that machine for $800-$1000 easily.
 

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