New Mac User

C

craigmp

n00b
Joined
May 11, 2005
Messages
45
I have taken on a side job doing some tech consulting work for an Architectual firm. Most of the computers that they use are macs. I was looking on ebay to buy a used g4 to try and learn some of the basics. Plus I've always wanted to learn how to use them. I found a few that do not come with an OS. I was looking at just buying a copy of OS X also off of ebay but I'm unsure what to get. Any suggestions? thanks in advance.
 
What speed is the G4? Is it a dual? What kind of video card?

OSX 10.3x (Panther) and OSX 10.4 (Tiger) really aren't all that different....maybe like comparing Windows2000 to WindowsXP (in classic mode). However Tiger has enough upgrades to make it worthwhile, and there have been some patches to get rid of intial problems.

When looking at older G4's, you may stack them up against the Mini. The Mini has the same if not better hardware than some G4's that aren't even 3 or 4 years old, and often a new Mini is cheaper. If you can find a G4 that is above 1.0Ghz and even a dual CPU one that would be beneficial. Plus the biggest advantage with a tower G4 is that you can upgrade the video card....though I don't know if all the old ones had AGP slots as opposed to just PCI. And 1gb of memory is great for OSX....2 is even better.
 
the lowest spec G4 desktop that I would consider for Tiger is the "Digital Audio" G4. This was the first with the new processor board socket and the first to run at 133mhz FSB. It also has firewire and is expandable to a 2Ghz G4 and comes with an AGP 4x (predecessor only had 2x), and can take a max of 1.5GB PC133 sdram. You can pick these up on ebay for less than $300 in various configurations. Look for G4 466/533/667/733 speed macs.

One of these with added ram and a cheap video card upgrade are more than enough for Tiger.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top