# Help me pimp my Mac! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 29, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015 "2007-01-29T21:31:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/1 "2007-01-29T21:31:37Z")
I’m starting this thread here because my question seemed to specific for GQ, but I think of it as a GQ-ish question. I don’t have cable or satellite TV, and I like it that way. But I’ve become hooked on _Battlestar Galactica._ After watching the miniseries and the first two seasons on DVD, I’ve begun buying Season 3 episodes from iTunes. The last one I watched was “Exodus, Part 2.” My computer is a G4 from 2001 with about half a gig of memory, running Tiger, and to watch these episodes in Quicktime I have to reboot and start Quicktime before starting any other apps. Even then the motion is a little jerky, and after ten or fifteen minutes the audio gets out of synch with the video. A more modern Mac is not currently in my budget, so I want to upgrade the current one. I haven’t yet maxed out the RAM, so that’s a possibility, and I could also buy an aftermarket video card. Would either (or both) of these measures improve the TV-watching experience, or am I inescapably limited by my older, slower processor? Tangentially, why are BSG episodes so big? Each one is about 450 mb. I bought an episode of _Lost_ a year or so ago, and it was only 200 mb…less than half the size! I know _Lost_ is produced on film, while BSG is made on HD videotape, but if that made a difference at all, you’d think the _Lost_ ep. would be fatter. I would, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![wasson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/2 "2007-01-29T23:03:18Z")
In the last year, they’ve doubled the resolution of shows bought from iTunes. They look better but they’re much larger files. How fast is your processor? How much is in your budget? I just sold my Duo Core Intel Mac mini for $500 on eBay… I bet you could find a similar deal and get into a much faster computer. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/3 "2007-01-29T23:07:57Z")
[QUOTE=wasson] In the last year, they’ve doubled the resolution of shows bought from iTunes. They look better but they’re much larger files. [/quote] Good to know! > [@](#): > > How fast is your processor? How much is in your budget? I just sold my Duo Core Intel Mac mini for $500 on eBay… I bet you could find a similar deal and get into a much faster computer. I’m thinking more in the $100-$150 price range. ---
**Author:** ![wasson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@wasson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wasson)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/4 "2007-01-29T23:22:08Z")
For $150 you can get a nice little pile of RAM… I just went from 512 to 2 gigs in my MacBook and the difference was crazy. Unfortunately I have no experience in upgrading G4s… I’m relatively new to the Mac game. I do know from talking to a Mac tech that there are G4 processor upgrades available via an expansion card. Maybe something to scour eBay for? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/5 "2007-01-31T01:09:34Z")
More memory. I have a 1.5 GHz G4 PowerBook with the 128MB VRAM video card upgrade, and when I had only 512 MB of RAM, downloaded HD video was jerky and almost unwatchable. I thought, there’s no way my computer can _not_ handle this. I’d been wanting more memory for a while and when I finally installed another GB, it made everything run much, much more smoothly. Dashboard used to make everything run slowly for about a minute while memory swapping was going on. Not now. I don’t get the couple of seconds of spinning beachball when I’ve got my usual 20+ pages open in Safari and open a Flash-intensive page anymore. And video runs smoothly, even with huge detailed files. Memory is your friend. Memory makes the system go 'round. Max out your RAM and it will make a noticeable difference. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/6 "2007-01-31T14:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sleel] More memory. [/QUOTE] Well, I just ordered a new 512mb stick from TigerDirect. This will max out my G4’s memory at just over a gig, so I guess we’ll see if you’re right (and I suspect you probably are). And if TigerDirect’s prices on video cards are representative, I couldn’t have afforded to go that route anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/7 "2007-01-31T19:14:19Z")
You don’t state which Mac G4 you have. However, most tower units have upgradable processors. [Here’s](http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEG42M1200/) a 1.2 GHz processor for $200. (Note that this one many or may not work with your particular system.) I’ve upgraded my 667 MHz Digital Audio PowerMac G4 to a 1.47 GHz and is was amazingly easy and made a tremendous difference. This model is the same vintage as yours. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pimp-my-mac/390015/8 "2007-01-31T23:42:49Z")
Take a look at [Other World Computing](http://www.macsales.com/). They might have better prices on memory and other upgrades than Tiger. The only reason I bought memory in Japan instead of from them was that with shipping and currency conversion it would have been slightly more expensive and would have taken more time. I ordered an external hard drive from them last year because despite those factors it was cheaper for what I wanted than I could have found even in Akihabara.