Upgrade G4 or get New iMac???

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I'd appreciate any advice.



Here's my current setup:



G4 450 (first generation G4)

16 meg ATI video card

512 megs of RAM

60gig HD (in total)

17 inch CRT



I'm thinking about either:



A.

Upgrading the tower to:

17 inch LCD

Radeon 8500 with 64megs DDR

DVIator adapter so I can hook up the LCD to that card

1GIG more of RAM.



B.

iMac 800mhz with Superdrive



The tower option would cost around 1600 which is less then the iMac. But why did I buy a tower if I'm never going to upgrade it? I used the PCI slots only for a SCSI card and now I don't even use that anymore. Maybe I should just move to the iMac???



What I do with the machine:

Web Development

Web Graphics / some other graphic work

light video editing with iMovie

A few games like Tony Hawk 2 and Quake 3

It's my main machine that I use at home.



Any suggestions? I really want an LCD now. I don't like the idea of an electron gun pointed at my head everyday anymore. So an LCD just might prevent brain cancer, if I'm lucky.



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    The only thing better with your tower option is that you'll get a better graphics card.



    People buy towers often for expandability, not necessarily upgrades. In this case, since you no longer need the expandability, I'd say the new iMac would be better. If you sell your tower, you'd come out even as far as money is concerned.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    [quote]Originally posted by starfleetX:

    <strong> If you sell your tower, you'd come out even as far as money is concerned.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You think I can sell my tower for the cost of the current iMac? Or did I read that wrong?
  • Reply 3 of 11
    imacfpimacfp Posts: 750member
    [quote]Originally posted by Willoughby:

    <strong>



    What I do with the machine:

    Web Development

    Web Graphics / some other graphic work

    light video editing with iMovie

    A few games like Tony Hawk 2 and Quake 3

    It's my main machine that I use at home.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    The new iMac is a much more powerful machine CPU wise and would give you a superdrive which is the best way to save iMovies. Since I don't play games anymore I can't say which would be better for that. Photoshop would run faster too I'd think. On the negative side you'd have less RAM (out of the box) and the same size hard drive and the same amount of screen area you have now.



    Upgrading your PowerMac would give you more RAM it seems, a better video card, and a larger screen. But you'd still have a 450 G4 vs. a 800 G4.



    It's hard decision, but unless you really want the extra Mhz and the superdrive of the iMac and the cool factor :cool: it might be best to stick with your PowerMac. But than again the iMac is a sweet computer and I'm getting one my self.



    [ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: imacSE ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 11
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Do nothing. The machine you're using now is fine. Do you have an AGP bus on that G4???



    Keep the machine you got now. Add RAM now. RAM is Cheap.



    G4 upgrades are stalled right now, but they'll come along soon enough. The whole G4 is stalled right now. That'll change this year. I bet we see a Ghz+ upgrade card once Apollo comes out, well a little after but by the end of 2003.



    There are some benefits to the mac you got. You could drop in another video card and a second monitor! Dual display is good. Internal HDD's are cheap and you've got lot's of room for them.



    I think that ussually upgrading isn't worth it, but you may have the one machine worth upgrading. There are a lot of PM users with early machines, and it's the only machine left in Apple's line-up with an easily upgradeable daughter-card. Upgrade makers will certainly offer something for it once they can get a supply of faster G4's. And, unlike the PowerBook, cooling won't be an issue. Wait.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Since you really don't use the PCI slots anymore then I'd say go for the iMac. But also, Matsu has some good points.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Do nothing. The machine you're using now is fine. Do you have an AGP bus on that G4???

    </strong><hr></blockquote>





    Yes, it has a 2x AGP. One tiny problem.....I'm working on a web project as a consultant and I'm getting paid in "hardware". They're a reseller, so I can get pretty much anything but up to about 1800.

    I could get cash, but the deal was really for hardware....long story.



    So if I asked for the iMac, I would get to keep the old tower also. I don't really have the cash to upgarde that though. So its either ask for the upgrades or ask for the iMac.

  • Reply 7 of 11
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Well in that case definately go for the iMac.



    By the way, are you gunna be at Palisades tonight playing with the iMacs?
  • Reply 8 of 11
    [quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

    <strong>Well in that case definately go for the iMac.



    By the way, are you gunna be at Palisades tonight playing with the iMacs?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I was there 2 nights ago. I signed up for the "Contact Me" thing on the desktop. They said its "first come first serve" and there's no wait list. But they would let me know 2 days before the iMacs came in.



    I probably can't get any of the hardware at that store though. The reseller will be able to write off whatever they give me and probably get it at cost anyway. Oh well, would have been fun to walk around Palisades with a big fat Apple box



    Oh, if you go tonight....ask the Genius how they get the "Contact Me" icon on the desktop without it having text under it. I wanted to know how they did that.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by Willoughby:

    <strong>

    Oh, if you go tonight....ask the Genius how they get the "Contact Me" icon on the desktop without it having text under it. I wanted to know how they did that. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I'll be at the mall tonight with some friends so if I remember I'll be sure to ask. I remember there was some app for OS 9 that allowed you to just have the icon without any text under it but I'll ask the Genius how they got it in OS X.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    I'm at Palisades now. Instead of going to the Genius bar I just asked the manager. He said that it's really just an IE link to the site and nothing else. He showed me that if you go to Show Info that you can add and remove the name. That's about it.



    [ 01-23-2002: Message edited by: EmAn ]</p>
  • Reply 11 of 11
    kidredkidred Posts: 2,402member
    I ahve the 450 as well and altho I'm getting a new tower I would get the new iMac as opposed to keeping my current tower, any day and night.



    In fact, I got the new iMac for my wife!! So I get to play on it!! Now where did my G5 run off to this time? Here G5, here boy!
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