Is this Mac Alright?

ShoulderChip

Hello there,

my sister just contacted me with an opportunity.
She has been told that as her place of work updates their computer roughly every 3 years she can buy the older stock.
She was offered a Mac computer for 70euro with a monitor.

She said that it has G4 on it and a sticker saying tested in 2007.
while I was looking at this wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G4
she described it as Grey and funky looking so it seems to match either the quicksilver or MDD models in the picture.


I have no experience with macs really, but was just wondering what do ye think of those computers? are they decent? could I upgrade them to the latest mac operating system or would they be any use?

Basically would it be worth 70 euro and would it run quick enough and offer something different to my windows laptop.

I am naturally inquisitive and want to have a mac to get my hands around (that may not be the phrase I was looking for!)


ps. sorry if calling it a mac computer is not the right term.

kevteljeur

It's probably not a bad machine to work with, and definitely at the right price (actually, it's a steal). You'll definitely be able to install Mac OS 10.4. Maybe not 10.5, but there's no harm - I know plenty of people who are perfectly happy with 10.4 and not overly bothered to upgrade, and you don't need to be at the cutting edge to get the Mac experience.

In case this means anything to you, that Mac won't be Intel compatible. Newer macs use an Intel processor, probably like your notebook, and some software only runs on those. For €70, it's barely worth mentioning though.

redenemyjoe

Yeah and there's still plenty of Power Pc software floating about.

Appleguy

If both she and you decided you wouldn't like it id be glad to take it for €70 or €80 to replace the pc at home.

Its actually gone ridiculous. I bought it in transition year 7 years ago and it now takes 20 minutes to load to even let you go onto the internet.

Id appreciate the favour if its going to waste,

cheers

appleguy

ShoulderChip

sorry appleguy but I am kind of excited about the prospect of it now, if it doesn't work our, or I don't end up using it i will let you know.

Appleguy

I don't blame you one bit. Gentleman, id appreciate it if its left lying there.

Cheers Appleguy

Type 17

For €70, that's worth getting.

There is one of these (actually, a 1.25 GHz 'mirror-doors' model) in my brother's office and it works great on 10.4.11 and there is no perceptible difference in speed compared to the 2.0 GHz iMacs (in fairness, they are only used for running email, MS Office, and a Filemaker DB from a Mac Server, but that means that your one should make a great 'everyday' machine).

The only time it shows its age is downloading to a USB stick - these models are only USB 1.1, so we use the USB of one of the other Macs and connect to it through the (Ethernet) LAN when necessary.