I’m thinking of buying my friend’s old G4 (Sawtooth 400 mhz). I want it as a complement to my current Athlon system (which is MUCH faster) just for the OS X experience and the variety. However, his system is unbearably slow with OS X, although its adequate with 9.2. It has 3x128 mb RAM - will maxing out the RAM make a large improvement? Will it be worth the trouble?
Also, can I upgrade the cpu? What other options do I have to make this system acceptable? I mostly plan to use it for Macromedia/Adobe and Quark programs, along with web browsing and other light stuff.
Whats a good price for this? Will a normal Sony Trinitron monitor work on it without an adapter?
I have a G4/466MHz, and run OS X 10.2.6. I’ve never noticed a significant speed problem, but my machine may have a more advanced bus etc. (i.e. it’s newer than the one you’re looking at). My machine also has an AGP graphics slot, which I don’t think the Sawtooth has. And of course, if you’re accustomed to a GHz+ system, I suppose the 400MHz Mac would seem really slow
Maxing the RAM will make a huge difference. I have 768MB in mine. OS X is a memory pig, and most of us agree that the more RAM, the merrier.
PowerMax is a good place to start for pricing used Macs.
Yes. That’s what I use, too. Apple thankfully abandoned their old proprietary monitor connection and switched to the “industry standard” connection used by PC makers.
I’ve been really happy with my G4. In addition to Photoshop and Dreamweaver, I also use it to play Diablo II and WarCraft III. Stability is great - my last reboot was 45 days, 7 hours and 31 minutes ago. Aside from one OpenGL conflict with Diablo II that froze my machine more than a year ago, the only times I’ve needed to reboot have been when I’ve installed system upgrades.
With OS X, you might also enjoy Apple’s new Web browser, Safari. Very speedy and comfortable to use. In fact, right now I have eight different Web browsers installed on my Mac, and Internet Explorer almost never sees action any more, except to test my Web page designs.
BTW - Kudos for writing “Mac” and not “MAC”. I’m on a mailing list with a bunch of PC users who seem to think Mac is an acronym, and it’s really annoying
I have a Sawtooth 400 mhz G4, with 448MB ram, running 10.2.6. It’s nowhere as speedy as the nifty newer ones of course, but I wouldn’t call it pokey, either; certainly not ‘unbearably slow’. I would guess that yes, the increase in the memory is probably what makes at least some of the difference.
Still, I can’t wait to get a new computer. I’d love one of the new G5s, but I might end up with one of the higher end G4s.
I’m typing this on a 400 MHz G4 (AGP graphics), with 384 MB of RAM, running MacOS 10.2.6.
I also have MacOS 9.2.2 installed on another hard disk on this same computer, and while it does seem somewhat speedier when running under this classic operating system, the slower speed of OS X doesn’t seem that particularly bothersome.
