Mac's

[RR_Trials]

I am going to have a nice £400 after this summer holiday and I'm looking at a new computer.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/17-iMac-G4-800-with-...1QQcmdZViewItem

I want this computer but i need serious advice before i dive in and buy one.

How much is ram for an apple?

Would this computer allow me for light gaming?

Is it going to be any good for armature video editing?

Will it support duel-screen?

Do they usual come with that 'airport' card so i can connect wirelessly?

Do they come with that cool built in blue-tooth that i know some macs have?

Please feel free to comment on these particular macs. Also i wouldn't mind seeing the back of one too see were all the things plug in so i can see how many USB slots there are.

Thankyou very much!

[Krisboats]

I would have a look for you, but the link doesn't work so i can't see what sort of spec the machine is.

The ram in my dads G5 is standard kingston ram, which costs about £35 for 1gb. If they're still using that kind of ram in the computer your looking at expect that kind of price for it, though it'll obviously be more expensive if you purchase it through apple.

The macs usually support dual screens, but without seeing the graphics adapter on the machine i wouldn't be able to say for sure. Macs also have issues with dual screening, for instance random program windows won't drag over to the second screen unless you drag them off the top edge of the first one and slowly slide it along to the second. Theres also a few other bugs with mac dual screens.

Edited August 6, 2007 by Krisboats

[Dai the Socket]

I would have a look for you, but the link doesn't work so i can't see what sort of spec the machine is.

The ram in my dads G5 is standard kingston ram, which costs about £35 for 1gb. If they're still using that kind of ram in the computer your looking at expect that kind of price for it, though it'll obviously be more expensive if you purchase it through apple.

The macs usually support dual screens, but without seeing the graphics adapter on the machine i wouldn't be able to say for sure. Macs also have issues with dual screening, for instance random program windows won't drag over to the second screen unless you drag them off the top edge of the first one and slowly slide it along to the second. Theres also a few other bugs with mac dual screens.

I've been using dual screens for ages, as long as they're both the same size / resolution, you're fine with dragging issues. It's just how you've got the layout of the screen setup. For example I've got a 20" Cinema display and then my 15.4" MBP. Obviously full size windows on my 20" wont' drag over to my 15.4" 'cos they wont fit. Not that many bugs, well none that I've experienced.

Link doesn't work for me. Meh Macs are okay lol, £400 might not get you a nice one though. Maybe a half decent one second hand, what models are you looking at? Just iMac?

[RR_Trials]

It is a G4 its like a halfdome with a screen on an arm its hard to explain i will try and ge tthe link to work cheers for the help mate.

17" iMac G4 800 with Office:Mac, iLife04, Elements 2.0

^ if you copy and paste that into the search it will only come up with one, it is that one .

Edited August 6, 2007 by RR_Trials

[Tomm]

Nah that's not great to be honest. I might pay like £220 for it but no more (and that's mainly because it looks nice, not because it would be fast). It'll be at least 3-5 years old.

Bluetooth - Almost certainly not. It was an optional extra on iMacs until last year I think (when it became standard), so there's an outside chance.

Airport - slightly more likely but again I think it will have been an optional extra. See HERE.

It should do dual screens, yes.

It's got OS X Panther which is OK, but once Leopard comes out (soon) there will be less and less support for Panther as it will be old compared to Tiger and Leopard.

I'm not quite sure where you've got dual screen issues from Boats - I certainly haven't had any - it works flawlessly on mine. Maybe this is something from the olden days? Panther?

Ram is just the same price as for any other computer, but it depends what type you need. You can use the Crucial memory chooser thing (Google it).

[RR_Trials]

Thankyou for all the advice so far, it would mainly only realy be for a bit of movie editing and some light gaming say AA or somthing?

Cheers.

[Dr. Nick Riviera]

Thankyou for all the advice so far, it would mainly only realy be for a bit of movie editing and some light gaming say AA or somthing?

Cheers.

even though those are two of the most demanding things you can do with a computer.

[Tomm]

I don't know what AA is, but no. Since when have Macs EVER been good for games? Plus that's pretty old so it'll be rubbish for movie editing too...

[ManxTrialSpaz]

I doubt it will do much gaming or editing at all:

Processor Speed: 800 MHz

Memory (RAM): 256 MB

DOn't know ho well Mac's handle editing software, but 800MHz and 265 Mbs of ram won't get you too far on a pc...

[Krisboats]

I'm not quite sure where you've got dual screen issues from Boats - I certainly haven't had any - it works flawlessly on mine. Maybe this is something from the olden days? Panther?

Its tiger, on the mac downstairs. If you have like an open folder and try dragging it over to the second screen it sometimes just physically won't move over. Using 2 identical 17" Sony TFT's. Seems the only way to get it over is to take the folder to the top of the screen and slide it over at the top. Like i say, it only happens sometimes but it shouldn't happen at all. Sometimes programs won't drag over either... they have to be minimised into their name bar thing and you need to drag that over, just programs like safari or chess.

[RR_Trials]

I'm not sure what a good processor speed is but I would update the RAM to 1gig straight away?

[Tomm]

Its tiger, on the mac downstairs. If you have like an open folder and try dragging it over to the second screen it sometimes just physically won't move over. Using 2 identical 17" Sony TFT's. Seems the only way to get it over is to take the folder to the top of the screen and slide it over at the top. Like i say, it only happens sometimes but it shouldn't happen at all. Sometimes programs won't drag over either... they have to be minimised into their name bar thing and you need to drag that over, just programs like safari or chess.

What's the screen alignment set to? I bet that's what's wrong?

I'm not sure what a good processor speed is but I would update the RAM to 1gig straight away?

Errr, that isn't a good CPU speed. It's fairly comparable to PCs really, maybe a bit faster. So perhaps that Apple is comparable speed to a PC with a 1.2GHz CPU or similar. Either way, that old mac is not going to win any prizes for speed.

[Charlie Jennings]

It is a G4 its like a halfdome with a screen on an arm its hard to explain i will try and ge tthe link to work cheers for the help mate.

17" iMac G4 800 with Office:Mac, iLife04, Elements 2.0

^ if you copy and paste that into the search it will only come up with one, it is that one .

iMac's are obviously built in and are not as reliable as the tower Powermac's

Try looking for a Powermac G4 Quicksilver. These are fast as hell. They burn intels.

I may be able to sort one out for you. I'll post a spec/price for you

Edit: Mac's dont use much ram at-all. You will not notice it when you upgrade unless you are using programs like Photoshop, Illustrator..

If you are going to buy ram. Buy Crucial. it is expensive but it is fast as hell.

Here is a link for the Power Mac Quicksilver ram

Happy Maccing

Its tiger, on the mac downstairs. If you have like an open folder and try dragging it over to the second screen it sometimes just physically won't move over. Using 2 identical 17" Sony TFT's. Seems the only way to get it over is to take the folder to the top of the screen and slide it over at the top. Like i say, it only happens sometimes but it shouldn't happen at all. Sometimes programs won't drag over either... they have to be minimised into their name bar thing and you need to drag that over, just programs like safari or chess.

Why do people use 2 screens? I had a go with one before and I kept loosing my mouse of the screen

Your problem would be because of your graphics card.

Edited August 7, 2007 by cjskate

[Krisboats]

What's the screen alignment set to? I bet that's what's wrong?

I don't know. All i know is he called the mac support place and they just told him they've had people complain about this a few times and the only fix they know of is to minimise it and drag it over from the top.

Why do people use 2 screens? I had a go with one before and I kept loosing my mouse of the screen

Your problem would be because of your graphics card.

So he can have quark open on the left screen and photoshop on the right.

Its a software issue not a hardware one.

[RR_Trials]

I may be able to sort one out for you. I'll post a spec/price for you

Just showed dad, VERY interested of course I'll need a decent price or whatever. If you have a macbook or one of the older laptops i would buy on of those for a good price instead but either thankyou very much for the help your a star.

Has anybody used that program that you can run PC inside mac, its not bootcamp its the one were you can switch between the two without turning yourMac off, my dad has the program and hasn't even opened it and said if i buy a mac i can have it.

Dose anybody know the name of that screen because if i get a desktop Mac that would be the screen i would love, along with my screen i already have as the secrondary mointor

Edited August 7, 2007 by RR_Trials

[RR_Trials]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-Mac-Mini-20-Ci...hotohosting

Hmm maybe?

[Dai the Socket]

Just showed dad, VERY interested of course I'll need a decent price or whatever. If you have a macbook or one of the older laptops i would buy on of those for a good price instead but either thankyou very much for the help your a star.

Has anybody used that program that you can run PC inside mac, its not bootcamp its the one were you can switch between the two without turning yourMac off, my dad has the program and hasn't even opened it and said if i buy a mac i can have it.

Dose anybody know the name of that screen because if i get a desktop Mac that would be the screen i would love, along with my screen i already have as the secrondary mointor

I think you're on about Virtual PC (wiki).

I had it on my old computer and to be quite honest, It was f**king shit. I'm get to use bootcamp but from the reviews im quite excited. I don't want it to kill my Mac, being Windows and all I can't remember the screen name that you've pictured, but I remember them not being all that good. How much did you say you had? You can buy a brand spanking LG 22" for just under £200 which is pretty f**king good!

[RR_Trials]

• 1.42Ghz PowerPC G4 Processor with 512K On Chip Level 2 Cache

• 1Gb DDR SDRAM

• 80Gb Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• Slot Loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)

• ATI Radeon 9200 Graphics Processor with 32Mb DDR Video Memory

• Built In 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet

• Built In 56K V92 Modem

• One FireWire 400 Port

• Two High Speed USB 2.0 Ports

• Built In Speaker and Headphone Jack

Ahh im a bit excited this has 4hours... should i or shouldn't I thats the spec, perfect condition with original pakaging.

[Krisboats]

• 1.42Ghz PowerPC G4 Processor with 512K On Chip Level 2 Cache

• 1Gb DDR SDRAM

• 80Gb Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• Slot Loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)

• ATI Radeon 9200 Graphics Processor with 32Mb DDR Video Memory

• Built In 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet

• Built In 56K V92 Modem

• One FireWire 400 Port

• Two High Speed USB 2.0 Ports

• Built In Speaker and Headphone Jack

Ahh im a bit excited this has 4hours... should i or shouldn't I thats the spec, perfect condition with original pakaging.

Definately don't expect to use it for gaming... unless you like the chess game that comes with OSX. Other than the graphics card, it looks like it should edit videos and things quite happily.

[ManxTrialSpaz]

• 1.42Ghz PowerPC G4 Processor with 512K On Chip Level 2 Cache

• 1Gb DDR SDRAM

• 80Gb Ultra ATA Hard Drive

• Slot Loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)

• ATI Radeon 9200 Graphics Processor with 32Mb DDR Video Memory

• Built In 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet

• Built In 56K V92 Modem

• One FireWire 400 Port

• Two High Speed USB 2.0 Ports

• Built In Speaker and Headphone Jack

Ahh im a bit excited this has 4hours... should i or shouldn't I thats the spec, perfect condition with original pakaging.

Original packaging? Shit! Go, go, go. Buy it now!!

Yeah, that was sarcasm

Post a price maybe? Then people can help give you a better judgement.

[RR_Trials]

Eeee sorry, i messed up again... its at £169.

I don't think its the 2nd generation MacMini, so dose anybody know if it will have a remote for front row?

[Jonny Jones]

Im tempted to say to get a £400 PC mate. Im completely a Mac person now, but I wouldn't spend hard earned cash on a G4 or a Mini, as they are really slow, and you'll be sitting there wondering what you spent your money on. You could probably spec a nice PC for £400 - im no expert though, just my advice. Ive got a PowerMac G5 Quad, ive spend about £3000 in total on it, its quick. But yeah, you get what you pay for basically, so if you want speed, get a new PC cos the G4's and Mini's aren't really up to it (from my experience).

JJ.

[Dai the Socket]

Original packaging's a pretty good indicator to whether someone's looked after their stuff to be honest, and if it's stolen or not.

Im tempted to say to get a £400 PC mate. Im completely a Mac person now, but I wouldn't spend hard earned cash on a G4 or a Mini, as they are really slow, and you'll be sitting there wondering what you spent your money on. You could probably spec a nice PC for £400 - im no expert though, just my advice. Ive got a PowerMac G5 Quad, ive spend about £3000 in total on it, its quick. But yeah, you get what you pay for basically, so if you want speed, get a new PC cos the G4's and Mini's aren't really up to it (from my experience).

JJ.

I dunno about that, if you don't know much better then the iMacs and Mini's are pretty good. My old Mac Mini which was 1.42ghz was pretty good with 1gb of ram in. My MBP with 2gb of ram and 2.2 Intel processor.

£400 isn't a lot, but you could get an Intel Mac Mini for that if you did have extra for a screen, but £400 won't get you much IMO.

[Fish-Finger-er]

Im tempted to say to get a £400 PC mate. Im completely a Mac person now, but I wouldn't spend hard earned cash on a G4 or a Mini, as they are really slow, and you'll be sitting there wondering what you spent your money on. You could probably spec a nice PC for £400 - im no expert though, just my advice. Ive got a PowerMac G5 Quad, ive spend about £3000 in total on it, its quick. But yeah, you get what you pay for basically, so if you want speed, get a new PC cos the G4's and Mini's aren't really up to it (from my experience).

JJ.

i was thinking this myself, as nice and shiny as macs are, £400 aint the best budget, but just for example, 2 minutes on ebay, looking at the windows offerings.

with 19" monitor etc if you want a full system, im sure this will beat the macs youve posted by a small margin, as well as havin more programs/games out

or baseunit only if youve already got a monitor, then for £400, again no pc expert, but sure it might be slightly better than the macs you posted. i.e this is fast enough to melt your face.

[Broomer]

Eeee sorry, i messed up again... its at £169.

I don't think its the 2nd generation MacMini, so dose anybody know if it will have a remote for front row?

Why you leaning on a ironing board in your avatar?