Is OSX OK with a 400 mhz G4?

steve666steve666
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I'm not into owning a vanity mirror for a computer and I don't want to spend $1700 on a tower that should cost $999 so I have decided to buy a used G4 tower. Now I realize it will probably still cost me $1200-$1300 for one but I'll have to live with that. The question I have is whether OSX is sluggish on a 400 mhz G4? Has anyone upgraded their older G4 tower with OSX and how fast or slow do you find it to be? Thanks in advance..................
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    naplandernaplander Posts: 17member
    Hey,



    I have a G4 400 with 384mb of RAM, and I find OS X fine.



    Mind you, I have never tried it on any other machines, so I can't really say. OS X is still slower than 9, but since 10.1....it seems fine to me.



    Good luck on your purchase
  • Reply 2 of 23
    bill mbill m Posts: 324member
    TiBook 400/384mb

    MacOS X 10.1.2



    It works just fine and as soon as I can get rid of Classic, its performance will certainly be MUCH better.



    Every now and then there is a certain lag on some finder operations, but that is greatly reduced (oxymoron) when Classic is not running.



    Lotus Notes and Photoshop for X are coming this quarter, so in my case, Classic will be a non issue really soon.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    bogiebogie Posts: 407member
    yes its fine.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    x704x704 Posts: 276member
    steve: 6 months ago I bought a G4 466 off ebay for $1200. You should get it over the 400 version becuase it has a 4x AGP port (instead of 2x) & a 133mhz bus/ram (instead of 100 mhz). I suggest you wait a bit because as soon as the new PM's are announced that should push the price down even more. Seems like you can now pick them up for about $1000.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    Steve:

    I have a 450mhz G4 with 512megs of RAM and 10.1 is super spiffy. No problems at all. I play Quake 3 on it with the included ATI Rage 128 (16 meg) and Quake runs just great.

    Its also loaded with tons of apps and the latest version of all of them (Photoshop, Office etc).



    The only thing I ever used the PCI slots for was a SCSI card for my CDRW which I don't use anymore since I just bought a firewire 24x burner.



    I'm thinking I might sell the G4 and get an iMac since I really want a flat screen, dvd burner, 32 meg card and I never used the PCI slots.



    Are you interested? Instead of both of us going through the eBay crap maybe we can work something out. I'll throw in the old 4x CDRW too. Private message me if you're interested.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    macmaniacmacmaniac Posts: 183member
    [quote]Originally posted by Willoughby:

    <strong>Steve:

    I have a 450mhz G4 with 512megs of RAM and 10.1 is super spiffy. No problems at all. I play Quake 3 on it with the included ATI Rage 128 (16 meg) and Quake runs just great.

    Its also loaded with tons of apps and the latest version of all of them (Photoshop, Office etc).



    The only thing I ever used the PCI slots for was a SCSI card for my CDRW which I don't use anymore since I just bought a firewire 24x burner.



    I'm thinking I might sell the G4 and get an iMac since I really want a flat screen, dvd burner, 32 meg card and I never used the PCI slots.



    Are you interested? Instead of both of us going through the eBay crap maybe we can work something out. I'll throw in the old 4x CDRW too. Private message me if you're interested. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hey Steve,

    I'd definitly take that if I was you! Offer Willoughby a grand. That "willoughby" a steal!

    I just might if you don't.

    S
  • Reply 7 of 23
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Thanks for all the info-you guys rock! I have a grand to spend(finally!). I can get a monitor for free because I have a $400 credit to use at Staples, which should get me a black NEC 17 in monitor and a HP printer. I need to sell my PM 8100 and a 17 inch Mag Innovision monitor (I want a Black Monitor <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" /> )



    Is the 466 much better than the 450 because of the 4x AGP? Does the 450 have 2xAGP or is it PCI? I am mixed up with all the models Apple came out with the same names-its hard to tell which is which!



    I had thought the 4x AGP came out on the 533 mhz G4's? All I know is that I'm ready for a new machine. My 8100 is rock solid but its time to move up. I was considering waiting for the next G4 rev to come out because they always lower the price of the base G4 tower to $1299 to get rid of them. What to do, what to do.............................
  • Reply 8 of 23
    nostradamusnostradamus Posts: 397member
    I would not consider any G4 tower machine under 466Mhz. Yes, the 466Mhz comes with 4X AGP and the new motherboard w/write combining. This is significantly faster than a 400Mhz G4.



    Wait until the next PowerMac announcement from Apple and watch the prices of the older models drop.



    I can guess that when Apple announces new PowerMacs, the street value of the current $1699 QuickSilver will drop to about $1100-$1300. I highly recommend you get a 733MHz QuickSilver once new PowerMacs are announced. If you can't, try and get a 533Mhz G4.



    Also consider that OS X did not come preinstalled on older machines. If you want OS X on these machines, you will have to spend $130 to get a copy.



    [ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: Nostradamus ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 23
    bogiebogie Posts: 407member
    Does a 400 G4 run it well? Yes. Would I, however, also say that for that kind of money I would want more.



    Oh and new Power Macs at Tokyo if no one has figured that out.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    Nostradamus, thats a good idea, I will wait till March and see what happens.



    One more question, on which model did that stupid ADC port begin? I might want to buy a digital LCD, but not Apples (I will buy a black one if I don't go for the cheaper NEC CRT). I understand that there is an analog vga port on the towers with ADC but not a digital port. I could plug in a CRT but not a digital LCD.



    Also, has anyone here seen a good analog LCD? NEC makes a few models as well as Viewsonic but I've heard that digital LCD's are much better-not sure if thats true............................................
  • Reply 11 of 23
    evil edevil ed Posts: 106member
    [quote]Originally posted by steve666:

    <strong>Nostradamus, thats a good idea, I will wait till March and see what happens.



    One more question, on which model did that stupid ADC port begin? I might want to buy a digital LCD, but not Apples (I will buy a black one if I don't go for the cheaper NEC CRT). I understand that there is an analog vga port on the towers with ADC but not a digital port. I could plug in a CRT but not a digital LCD.



    Also, has anyone here seen a good analog LCD? NEC makes a few models as well as Viewsonic but I've heard that digital LCD's are much better-not sure if thats true............................................</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Evil Steve, u'll want a 466 over the 450/400 cos it's also got a 133Mhz bus speed.



    If you don't mind CRTs then you won't mind analgoue LCDs. But if you're at all as picky as me then don't settle for anything less than a digital LCD, they're a lot better, clearer & sharper IMO.



    ADC began with the cube which was in the Summer of 2000. The 466 G4 came out Jan 2001 so it would definitely have ADC. Not sure about G4's before then... <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
  • Reply 12 of 23
    evil edevil ed Posts: 106member
    double post <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />



    [ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: Evil Ed ]</p>
  • Reply 13 of 23
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    That sucks. I decided not to get one slower than the 466, but if I got a digital LCD I wouldn't be able to use it. I believe theres an adaptor available but I heard it was $150!
  • Reply 14 of 23
    nostradamusnostradamus Posts: 397member
    Well, for $1300, you can get yourself a brand new 700MHz G4 iMac w/ a 15" digital LCD...



    That's always an option to consider.



    BTW, I've heard that you can find 733MHz QuickSilvers for $999 in education. I wouldn't be suprised after the new PowerMac announcement that retail prices dropped to that level.



    [ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: Nostradamus ]</p>
  • Reply 15 of 23
    gustavgustav Posts: 827member
    [quote]Originally posted by steve666:

    <strong>That sucks. I decided not to get one slower than the 466, but if I got a digital LCD I wouldn't be able to use it. I believe theres an adaptor available but I heard it was $150! </strong><hr></blockquote>



    No, that's the wrong adapter. If you want to connect an Apple display (ADC plug) to another card (like a DVI card on a PC) you need the $150 adapter.



    If you want to connect a DVI display to an ADC Mac the adapter is only $39. It's in the Apple Store under Display Accessories.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    superbobsuperbob Posts: 10member
    Works just fine. I use a G4/400 at home, and G4/450 Cube at work, OS X 10.1.2 on both. I've got no complaints about the performance.



    But I do have one problem with the G4/400, it is nearly 3 years old and has only the Rage 128 ATI graphics card, which I guess is not 100% supported by OS X and many OpenGL games crash on that machine. But everything is fine on the Rage 128 Pro in the Cube. If the machine you are looking at is more than a year old, find out exactly which graphics card it has, and give it a pass if it isn't the 128 Pro or better.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    kidredkidred Posts: 2,402member
    Ihave a G4 450/512ram (and more goodies) and while 10.1.2 is uasable, I can't use it as a full time OS. It's too slow for me to use when I am in crunch time. 9 is very fast and when I'm working, I fly along. That simply cannot be done in X on my machine.



    I'm selling mine too to get a new tower.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    stroszekstroszek Posts: 801member
    I have a similar question. I have a beige G3, 233mHz, 66mHz bus, 192mb RAM. Should I even bother, or just wait until i get a new computer? I'm assuming that it will be kind of sluggish, and I can't really afford that. any advice?



    [ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: Stroszek ]</p>
  • Reply 19 of 23
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    &gt;No, that's the wrong adapter. If you want to connect an Apple display (ADC plug) to another card (like a DVI card on a PC) you need the $150 adapter.

    If you want to connect a DVI display to an ADC Mac the adapter is only $39. It's in the Apple Store under Display Accessories. &lt;



    Kevin, you da man. Thanks for the info. One objection out of the way!



    Nostradamus, as for the $1299 new iMac its not a bad value but I don't like the inability to upgrade and quite frankly the looks don't appeal to me. I also have my heart set on a black monitor-I think it frames the screen better.............
  • Reply 20 of 23
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    I wish I knew someone in education so I could get that sweet $999 deal-that would be perfect and right at my budget!



    Either way, I will wait till March and see what price I can get the 733 mhz for. If still too much I'll go for the 533 and not lower than that.



    I'll probably start off with NEC 17 inch CRT at first unless I can swing enough money for a digital 15 in LCD, maybe NEC or SONY or IBM-all offer black LCD's.......................................
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