mac noob questions.... help?

Hi, i think i might purchase a G4 for my first mac cause im tired of windows. Now, I would use it for music, pictures, homework, chatting, and the net. So do u think a Power Mac G4 with 512Mb ram would do it? Like be fast enough and reliable? Can i take a 512 stick outta my pc and put it in a G4? Also i'm wondering about the mac file types. Does a mac still open jpegs, bitmaps, png's, gif... those picture files? Or is it a different format on teh mac? And does OS X open mp3 files? Or is that just windows...??

Oh BTW, does anyone know any good canadian or american online stores that sell powermac G4's for a half descent price?

THanks for the help in advance!!!

What model are you thinking? My iMac G3 (see specs under "Mac specs") does/would do all that perfectly, so I don't see why a G4 wouldn't.

Im thinking about the one that the online apple store jsut solf out of... the Powermac G4 1 or 1.2Ghgz....

i'm sure that'll be enough horse power for sure.

I bought the iMac G4 1.25 GHz back in June and with the 1GB of RAM it has been wonderful. I regularly use Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop Elements along with iTunes running in the back and its been smooth sailing so far.

I've got a 1.33GHz G4 with 768MB RAM (useful for video editing). Currently, I've got Safari open, iTunes (plays MP3 files and a whole lot more!), QuickTime, iPhoto (sorts all your photos out), Dreamweaver MX 2004, Fireworks MX 2004 and Photoshop Elements 2.0 - it's running perfectly fine with no slow downs at all.

I'm a switcher, two weeks ago. No problems at all. OS X has a great program called Preview which allows you to view every single picture format that Windows can, plus a few more. So all your JPG, GIF, PNG files etc will be fine.

I would buy it from the Apple Online Store. It's from Apple themselves, so you know you're going to get a good quality machine, not a second hand pass down.

Any questions you have on a Windows to Mac switch over, I've just done it, so ask away!

Thanks people!! It's just to bad that apple stopped making the PowerMac g4's....

How about an eMac? Nice and cheap. Come with a monitor too.

!! A PowerMac for chatting and homework? Unless your homework consists of video or audio manipulation, or resource heavy computing like compiling software, or you like to play games, A PowerMac is definitely overkill. Respectfully, sir, I recommend you go for something a little cheaper and more practical.

If you would like to go mobile, I can recommend the iBook G4 as I have first hand experience with it, unlike other Apple computers. It ran me about $1500 with the government employee discount (I was in the Army at the time), but it's quite nice. If all you're going to do is surf the web, chat, and do homework, I'd definitely consider getting one of the cheaper model. eMacs are kind've ugly, but even they'd get the job done. Just about anything in Apple's store can do what you want with ease, so you have the liberty of picking your own price.

Another thing to consider with the PowerMacs -- I don't think a monitor, keyboard, or mouse comes with them. As you can see from the Apple site, a monitor alone can cost you more than a whole iBook (!!), which has a built-in keyboard and trackpad. If money's not an issue, hey, go all out. Mathematics considered, however, you could end up paying $3000 for a computer with power you'll never use.

I'd still rather get something thats reliabe. Also i might be doing some work in Maya. So i need a half ass machine. And yea, i don't really like the emac CRT. Its to big to all sit on the desk, and it is kinda ugly. THank's anyways tho!

I REALLY want to make the switch, but macs are just to expensive.... i think it would be well worth it tho.

THanks!

I REALLY want to make the switch, but macs are just to expensive.... i think it would be well worth it tho.

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Yeah, for the price I paid for my iBook, I could have put together a brand new, "top-of-the-line" as they call it, PC and monitor. And that was at a discount! I opted for the more expensive iBook because I had to see what all the fuss was with OS X. I had been struggling with Windows and Linux in the PC world, and thought OS X might be a decent break from that, and man, is it!

I don't consider Macs overpriced or expensive.

I looked around a lot before I bought my PowerBook and there is nowhere you can buy a 12" notebook that's this powerful, with a DVD-R and a proper processor (most Windows laptops have little Intel things).

Switch - it's great!

If you look for an equally equipped and equal power laptop, it won't be much cheaper than the iBook. Even PowerBooks are not really overpriced, because they're very well equipped, plus they are much thinner and lighter than PC laptops in the same price category.

By the way, I bought my sigle 1.25GHz Powermac G4 (the last one) for about 1500,- Euro, including an additional 512MB RAM module. That's just a little more than you paid for your iBook, cde-woods, and it's still way faster than the fastest iBook. Plus it's upgradable. It didn't have a screen though...

I say what I said, because a little over a year ago I built a 2.4 ghz P4 machine, with nvidia GF4 Ti4200 with 128mb video, 512 mb ram, new case, new hard drive, and everything brande new. It ran me $700. I know those specs might not be average now, but around the time I made it, they were hardcore. I paid $500 for a 17" LCD screen for it, and all together it came to $1200. That's still less than this 14" 1.2 ghz powerbook, with 512 mb ram and 32 mb video card.

I understand this is a mobile machine and is thus going the be more expensive by default. But you won't get a new PowerMac with those specs for $700 either. Granted, I had to put it together myself, and didn't receive any kind of support for it, but I doubt all that is worth the difference between a $2000 PowerMac and a $700 PC. That's comparing modern PowerMac prices to a year old PC's price. I bet I could built a computer with a PowerMacs specs right now for even less than $700. Of course, it wouldn't have OS X, and that makes all the difference, and is why I'd still opt for the more expensive PowerMac.

Also, I compared the price for my iBook to notebook machines from IBM, Dell, and a couple others last night. You're right about the notebooks, the iBook is the best value on the market. I couldn't find anything with similar specs at an equal or lower price.

If you really wanna get a powerMac G4, look for refurbished. These are IMO just as good as new and with warrantee

Yea... i was looking on www.powermax.com at the powermac G4's (mirrored doors). But the only crappy thing is that they dont come with the Operating System CD. But the OS is already installed. I would get an iMac, but i jsut don't like how it looks. I would buy and old one, but the 15" is to small and the 17" is too expesive. I wish they had mroe selection. And money is DEFINATLY an issue. I'm looking to spend maximum of 1400.

Any ideas??

I'm talking in canadian dollars.... so an iMacG5 would start at $1749. Now i'm looking at the G4 iMacs... and the Gigabit Ethernet G4's.

Thanks again...

Ok, now im looking at ibooks. You no the VGA mini port? If i bought the adaptor to hook up the ibook to an extrernal monitor (17"), can i change the resolution to 1280 x 1024? Or will it just be the same, maximum resolution of 1024 x 768?

Thanks!

Hey, I have a Gigabit Ethernet PowerMac G4. You can see the specs of it in my sig. I absolutely LOVE it. I don't think I'll ever switch back to PC now. I just switched to Mac maybe a week or two ago. Boy was this the best decision I've made so far in my life, lol.

say what I said, because a little over a year ago I built a 2.4 ghz P4 machine, with nvidia GF4 Ti4200 with 128mb video, 512 mb ram, new case, new hard drive, and everything brande new. It ran me $700. I know those specs might not be average now, but around the time I made it, they were hardcore. I paid $500 for a 17" LCD screen for it, and all together it came to $1200. That's still less than this 14" 1.2 ghz powerbook, with 512 mb ram and 32 mb video card.

I understand this is a mobile machine and is thus going the be more expensive by default. But you won't get a new PowerMac with those specs for $700 either. Granted, I had to put it together myself, and didn't receive any kind of support for it, but I doubt all that is worth the difference between a $2000 PowerMac and a $700 PC. That's comparing modern PowerMac prices to a year old PC's price. I bet I could built a computer with a PowerMacs specs right now for even less than $700. Of course, it wouldn't have OS X, and that makes all the difference, and is why I'd still opt for the more expensive PowerMac.

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You're forgetting one thing, though. A Mac is inherently faster than a PC. My mere dual 450MHz PowerMac G4 is just as fast as, if not faster than, my Dell PC with a 2.0GHz Pentium 4 processor. Also, I am now a firm believer that the Mac OS is just a heck of a lot better than the Windows OS in every single way. I guess I could consider myself a true convert now... I've had this computer for only a few weeks now, and I'm already a zealot, LoL.