Value of low-end G4?

mithrasmithras
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Tried checking out one of the new PM G4s from the Apple Store.



Compare to a similar new iMac:



iMac

G4 @700 Mhz

Combo Drive

256 MB RAM

40 Gb drive

15" screen

nVidia GeForce 2MX

$1499



Powermac

G4 @800 Mhz

Combo Drive

256 MB RAM

40 Gb drive

15" screen

ATI Radeon 7500

$2,298



That's an extra $700 for a slightly faster processor and some slots.



That $700 could buy you a bonus cheap PC for your trouble...



[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Mithras ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    I don't care. I'll never buy another all-in-one not upgradeable Mac. My iMac served my well for about 2.5 years. Now it's being sold because I cannot upgrade the processor to keep up with new software. In the next few years, I can upgrade my G4 if necessary.



    You have to think long-term. Yeah, they're probably comparable today, but this is an investment, not a beauty contest.
  • Reply 2 of 16
    imacfpimacfp Posts: 750member
    Doesn't OS X not work with processor upgrades? Anyway I was surprised that Apple doesn't allow the superdrive to be downgraded to a CD-RW or Combo. I guess if enough people complain they will. Personally I'd rather have my iMac.
  • Reply 3 of 16
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    $1,252.00

    733MHz

    PowerPC G4

    256K L2 cache





    256MB SDRAM

    memory

    40GB Ultra ATA drive

    CD-RW drive

    ATI Radeon 7500

    56K internal modem

    Configured for education only



    1,476 with combo drive and gf4mx sans lcd



    heres the real low end g4, and it is quite a value IMHO.
  • Reply 4 of 16
    power applepower apple Posts: 335member
    I think the low-end PM is decent value compared to the iMac. Not great, but ok.



    Remember, although it has the same processor, you get:



    faster bus-speed (133 vs. 100),

    faster harddrive (7200 vs. 5400),

    slightly faster (and upgradable) graphics card,

    4x AGP (vs. 2x AGP),

    4 PCI slots,

    internal expansion,

    Gigabit ethernet

    more RAM slots (with easier access),

    and your own choice of monitor.



    If these things are important to you, then the PM is the way to go.



    Of course, the iMac is still excellent value!



    [ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Power Apple ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 16
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]Originally posted by gordy:

    <strong>I don't care. I'll never buy another all-in-one not upgradeable Mac. My iMac served my well for about 2.5 years. Now it's being sold because I cannot upgrade the processor to keep up with new software. In the next few years, I can upgrade my G4 if necessary.



    You have to think long-term. Yeah, they're probably comparable today, but this is an investment, not a beauty contest.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    have fun. if you're buying a tower with the thought of upgrading the processor in the future then you must have money because G4 upgrades are ridiculous and not one has broken 500 yet.



    wrong reason to buy a tower
  • Reply 6 of 16
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]Originally posted by Power Apple:

    <strong>I think the low-end PM is decent value compared to the iMac. Not great, but ok.



    Remember, although it has the same processor, you get:



    faster bus-speed (133 vs. 100),

    faster harddrive (7200 vs. 5400),

    slightly faster (and upgradable) graphics card,

    4x AGP (vs. 2x AGP),

    4 PCI slots,

    internal expansion,

    more RAM slots (with easier access),

    and your own choice of monitor.



    If these things are important to you, then the PM is the way to go.



    Of course, the iMac is still excellent value!



    [ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Power Apple ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    1.) bus speed... difference will not be noticed 95% of the time and doesn't cost more for apple as the imac actually has PC133 ram

    2.) faster hard drive= couple bucks difference for apple

    3.)iMac is 4X AGP no?

    4.) 1.5GB max and 1GB max isn't much of a difference for 700 bucks

    5.) Expansion doesn't add much to cost



    the lowend should either have a superdrive or be cheaper.
  • Reply 7 of 16
    power applepower apple Posts: 335member
    [quote]Originally posted by applenut:

    <strong>

    3.)iMac is 4X AGP no?



    the lowend should either have a superdrive or be cheaper.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    No, the iMac is 2x AGP (not that the difference is much noticeable on the "low-end" cards (GF2mx).



    I agree with you that the PM should have had the SuperDrive. Then it would have been really good value. But I still don't think it is that bad.
  • Reply 8 of 16
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    I'm not sure but it appears the low end tower may have the MPC7445 process and the remaining towers have the MPC7455. Any one know for sure?



    <a href="http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail/0,1958,1035_747_23,00.html"; target="_blank">http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail/0,1958,1035_747_23,00.html</a>;
  • Reply 9 of 16
    razzfazzrazzfazz Posts: 728member
    [quote]Originally posted by applenut:

    <strong>

    1.) bus speed... difference will not be noticed 95% of the time

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Strange, in other threads in this forum everyone's complaining how they need DDR sooooo badly, and right here memory performance suddenly is not an issue?





    [quote]<strong>and doesn't cost more for apple as the imac actually has PC133 ram

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    True, but there's a difference between having RAM that could in theory be used at 133MHz, and having a board layout and chipset that supports that frequency too.





    [quote]<strong>

    3.)iMac is 4X AGP no?

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    According to <a href="http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/hardware/Developer_Notes/Macintosh_CPUs-G4/iMac/2_Architecture/index.html"; target="_blank">the techdocs</a>, the iMac has AGP2x only.





    [quote]<strong>

    4.) 1.5GB max and 1GB max isn't much of a difference for 700 bucks

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well, it can make *all* the difference if you *need* more than 1GB.





    [quote]<strong>

    5.) Expansion doesn't add much to cost

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Huh? So adding PCI slots does *not* increase motherboard complexity and size?





    [quote]<strong>the lowend should either have a superdrive or be cheaper.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well, I think Apple always had a higher margin on the PowerMacs compared to the iMacs, so don't expect the PMG4 to cost just as much as an iMac minus the display price.



    Bye,

    RazzFazz
  • Reply 10 of 16
    x704x704 Posts: 276member
    Nice points RazzFazz. That said the new PM's are a little underwhelming ... ohwell. Unfortunately I sold my G4 3 weeks ago, I have to pickup something now ... Still $1600 for a new PM isn't bad.
  • Reply 11 of 16
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by imacSE:

    <strong>Doesn't OS X not work with processor upgrades?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    There are some upgrades that work with OS X.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    [quote]Originally posted by applenut:

    <strong>have fun. if you're buying a tower with the thought of upgrading the processor in the future then you must have money because G4 upgrades are ridiculous and not one has broken 500 yet. wrong reason to buy a tower</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I'm not buying the damned thing tomorrow, I said 3 years from now. Are you telling me that there is no upgrade path for Blue & White G3's today? Upgrading is my number one reason for never buying another iMac. The processor is just one upgrade path. There are several.
  • Reply 13 of 16
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]Originally posted by gordy:

    <strong>



    I'm not buying the damned thing tomorrow, I said 3 years from now. Are you telling me that there is no upgrade path for Blue & White G3's today? Upgrading is my number one reason for never buying another iMac. The processor is just one upgrade path. There are several.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    there isn't much upgrade path for a B/w g3 today. yea, you can buy a G4/500 to replace your G3/400 for 400 bucks. if that's an upgrade you think is worth the money



    or you can upgrade to a dual 500 for 1000 bucks
  • Reply 14 of 16
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    if you can buy through the education store, i found this....(i wouldn't buy the bottom line retail PM...think the iMac is a better deal...but if you need pci slots or a larger monitor, the 933 MHz PM looks like a good deal...but this is the best deal if you need a cheap tower....



    education store only:



    $1,252.00

    733MHz

    PowerPC G4

    256K L2 cache

    256MB SDRAM memory

    40GB Ultra ATA drive

    CD-RW drive

    ATI Radeon 7500

    56K internal modem

    Configured for education only



    add a 17 lcd--$959



    subtract the 300 for buying a PM and display on the same day and you get a total of $1911...not bad for a tower and 17 LCD



    doesn't come with superdrive, but is a very nice system...almost would have convinced me to buy a tower, but the new iMac is gonna be sweet...g
  • Reply 15 of 16
    bobthetomatobobthetomato Posts: 665member
    [quote]Originally posted by gordy:

    <strong>I don't care. I'll never buy another all-in-one not upgradeable Mac. My iMac served my well for about 2.5 years. Now it's being sold because I cannot upgrade the processor to keep up with new software. In the next few years, I can upgrade my G4 if necessary.



    You have to think long-term. Yeah, they're probably comparable today, but this is an investment, not a beauty contest.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Nobody has an upgrade card yet faster than a dual 500 for PowerMac G4s. I really and truly doubt there will be upgrades for the new PowerMacs. As far as an investment goes, a computer isn't much of one...
  • Reply 16 of 16
    steve666steve666 Posts: 2,600member
    The new tower is a major dissapointment. After souping up the new iMac and actually making it a much better value than the old iMac and making notebooks that are close to the price of wintels I thought they might be getting things right.



    The base tower is worth $999. They should drop the base tower out of the professional price range and use it as an alternative for the iMac for those consumers who demand upgradeability. I have a friend who really wants to buy a Mac but likes to tinker with the machine so the iMac is out. She said, and I agree with her, that theres no way she will spend almost twice as much as a Dell would cost.



    I am in the market for a new computer and I want upgradeability. I will not be reamed by Apple because I want a tower. Is there any secret as to why there is such a large market for used Macs? I will buy a used machine and if Apple came out with a base tower up to $1100 I'd buy it in a second.



    Steve Jobs needs to come down to reality. He HAS to accept the fact that the iMac will not appeal to everyone. If he really wants to grow market share (which I don't believe for a second, he just wants high margins) then Apple MUST have a reasonably priced tower!! Use the same graphics card as the iMac. Just make it reasonable!! Idiot..............
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