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Tenex
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Location: London
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 Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 3:33 am Post subject: What can an iMac G4 or PowerMac G4 do? |
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Just looking around eBay and I see a lot of these systems going fairly cheaply so I was wondering what could a G4 in one of these systems handle if I loaded say iLife 05 and Tiger?
I'm not familiar with earlier Macs and they seem to have incredibly small RAM some 128Mb most 256Mb and slow processors.
I'm mostly interested in iMovie/iDVD use and I could use them as iPhoto backups I guess. I realise they have fairly small HDDs but could these be upgraded easily (PowerMacs?)? I keep thinking a G4 iMac might be ideal for DVD playback for my 2yo....  I know the processors vary hugely so what's an ideal model?
Anyway, anyone currently use one of these models? What do you use it for? |
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Din
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Joined: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 191
Location: Lost Angeles
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 5:47 am Post subject: |
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Replacing my wife's G4 800Mz flat panel iMac today with a Mini duo. The iMac is fine in most respects, but is a bit sluggish running Tiger, and iPhoto (iLife '04) is definitely bogging. Machine has 768MB of RAM, and she uses it only for web, mail, iTunes and photo stuff, but it's no longer up the latter (with 9000+ files mostly 2-3 MB each).
If you aren't leaning towards heavy iPhoto use, it should be fine for what you are looking for, espcially if you boost the RAM and maybe stay at Panther. |
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greg
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 6:20 am Post subject: |
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| Din wrote: | iPhoto (iLife '04) is definitely bogging. Machine has 768MB of RAM, and she uses it only for web, mail, iTunes and photo stuff, but it's no longer up the latter (with 9000+ files mostly 2-3 MB each).
If you aren't leaning towards heavy iPhoto use, it should be fine for what you are looking for, espcially if you boost the RAM and maybe stay at Panther. |
With a library of several thousand digital photos, I saw significant performance improvements with iPhoto 06 on my 1.42 G4 mini.
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Tenex
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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I'm using iLife 05 on a G3 iBook and I have to admit it's better than 04 so I can believe that 06 may be better again.
Would it be possible to run iMovie/iDVD 05 on one of these? Would a PowerMac be better than an iMac if roughly the same Mhz? Not really sure of the difference between the two.
I have a little over a thousand photos currently but it'll grow. I think I may keep a lookout for an iMac G4 - missed an 800Mhz one that went for ~£225 the other day which with the inbuilt screen is probably well worth it. |
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Din
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Location: Lost Angeles
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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| greg wrote: |
With a library of several thousand digital photos, I saw significant performance improvements with iPhoto 06 on my 1.42 G4 mini. |
Agreed. I have one of those too (1.42 G4 Mini) with iLife '05. It's more than twice as fast as the G4 iMac though, between CPU and bus speed increases, which is what Tenex is asking about.
With a fast G4 powermac, he'd probably be OK. But I think an iMac G4 even with iLife '05 or '06, is going to be strained with a large iPhoto library. If that's a pretty secondary use for the machine, it might be OK. |
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greg
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Din wrote: | | Agreed. I have one of those too (1.42 G4 Mini) with iLife '05. |
You would benefit as well from an upgrade to '06. It really IS that much better. Going from '05 to '06 was an enormous improvement for me.
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fuji257
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Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 3:52 pm Post subject: iLife |
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http://www.apple.com/ilife/systemrequirements.html
Well and "old" G4 (733mhz or faster) sounds like it would get you by (1Ghz for HD Video).
I've been tempted to pick up some of the early dualies as I've seen the G4 (digital Audio) dual 533mhz going for well under the price of a new mini. The bus speeds are slower, but with a nice AGP card it could still smoke the mini on games. My Wife uses a 1.42Ghz eMac with USB 2.0 (the last one they made with 64MB Radeon) and its a killer box for the price if you want an All-in-One, but they are seldom on eBay, for now.
http://www.lowendmac.com/profiles.htm is a great place to compare specs of various models (and how to tell them apart). |
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Din
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Posts: 191
Location: Lost Angeles
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| Posted: Wed May 03, 2006 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| greg wrote: |
You would benefit as well from an upgrade to '06. It really IS that much better. Going from '05 to '06 was an enormous improvement for me. |
Have a core duo mini on the way for my wife, so that's covered.  |
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Tenex
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Location: London
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| Posted: Wed May 03, 2006 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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I hate eBay you look away for a few minutes and miss everything
A cheap 17" Core Duo AND two very cheap 17" G5 passed in the hour I was away from the keyboard.... |
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