A few questions before my shopping trip tomorrow

Hello,

I have a mac g4 450Mhz and i have 320mb of ram. i think i am going to buy three 512mg of ram tomorrow. i think im safe on that sdram.

but after that i start to get a bit confused. i would like to make the computer wireless and the current 20gb harddrive i'd like to improve on? does anybody know how i can do this without going over the top on an old machine and not spending too much.

finally is it worth getting a dvd rw drive. i like loading music onto my computer and would this be better/faster with a new drive? (how do i find out what i've already got?)

hope someone can help as i'm wanting to get all this tomorrow!

cheers,
crispola;D

crispola said:

i would like to make the computer wireless and the current 20gb harddrive i'd like to improve on? does anybody know how i can do this without going over the top on an old machine and not spending too much.

Click to expand...

Any standard IDE harddrive should work in that. You can find them in computer shops and they are relatively inexpensive. Upgrading it can be a can be tricky. It isn't as if those iMacs are really that hard to open up, they are just a pain in the butt. I would recommend getting an external drive if you are looking for more HD space. That way you don't really have to worry about connectors and compatibility or even bother cracking the case.

Wireless... I would look for an AirPort card.... the original AirPort card...NOT the AirPort Extreme one... you need the ORIGINAL AirPort card (hope I made that clear enough ).
3rd party USB devices and things can be flaky and not all that reliable from one iMac to the next. The AirPort card would definitely work. You won't find it in a store, so search around online for resellers that have some in stock.

finally is it worth getting a dvd rw drive. i like loading music onto my computer and would this be better/faster with a new drive?

Click to expand...

Unless you have a "burning" desire to author DVD's, there really isn't much point in getting a DVD RW drive IMO. You probably at least have a CD/DVD drive already. If you want a burner, then most any external would do you fine.

thanks for the advice. i think i'll leave the dvd re drive. my mac is a powermac though. not an imac. does that make a difference. where could i find help for installing the hard drive. would i have to transfer all the stuff from my current one or can i just add another over the top. i heard that 120 is the maximum that my machine could take

It depends on which Power Mac G4 you have: some have limitations in what they can "see" in internal hard disk drive sizes (up to 128GB).


Edited to add:

Yep, looks like your model has that limitation all right. Read the article, there are ways you can circumvent that limitation, according to the website.

crispola said:

thanks for the advice. i think i'll leave the dvd re drive. my mac is a powermac though. not an imac. does that make a difference. where could i find help for installing the hard drive. would i have to transfer all the stuff from my current one or can i just add another over the top. i heard that 120 is the maximum that my machine could take

Click to expand...

Oops... hehe, I coulda swore it said "iMac".

Either way, it doesn't really change things. It would be the same hardware for both systems.
You are right about the drive size limit, though.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86178
I would still just get an external and partition it, though.

Machine Name: Power Mac G4 (AGP graphics)
Machine Model: PowerMac3,1
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.9)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 450 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 320 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 3.2.6f1

um, what does external and partition it mean? sorry! i;m only a few days in having my own computer

External is simply a hard drive that isnt put INSIDE the pc but instead sits outside connected usually by USB or Firewire (Type of conneciton your mac will have)

Patition is just like it sounds. Its splitting something. So just like you have a patitioning wall in your house splitting rooms up, you can have a patition in a hard drive making it appear as 2 drives whilst maintaing the same amount of space.

Hope this helps (and sorry to DB if im jumping in here)

~~ TS ~~

An external drive is just that... a harddrive that doesn't get installed inside your computer.
It connects through either a USB or FireWire port. Much better choice, since if and when the time comes to get a new computer, you don't have to go through the rigamarole of cracking a case, getting out the screwdrivers, taking out the drive, then repeat the process in reverse to put it in a new machine. You also don't need to go through any transfer, backup or other nonsense since the drive is an entity all itself.
Partitioning the drive is the act of dividing up the drive space into chunks.
For example, you can split a 600 GB HD into three, 200 GB sections that all show up on your Mac like 3 separate disks.

thankd so much guys i think im ready to go and get my things. I'll'm sure i'll perhaps need some more help in the future but im excited about getting my mac upgraded.

Cheers all.
crispola

See DB gave you the same answer as me, just without the typos

Cheers DB

~~ TS ~~

ahhh, im not ready at all!!!1 what do i need to go for the airport (original) to make my mac wireless?

This link here Clicky Will show you HOW to install it

This link here is an example of what you need to purchase to allow your mac to go wireless CLICKY

Hope this helps a little

~~ TS ~~

right, it says i need an airport base station. will it work with my house's wireless router (its connected to a pc at the moment)

Yup it will work fine crispola Airport base station is just apples wireless router. I use a D-Link router and its absolouty fine!

~~ TS ~~