I love my new G4
Written: Dec 31 '00 (Updated Jan 01 '01)
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Pros: Fast machine
Cons: Had to buy additional equip, lack of software
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| jajus100's Full Review: Apple Power Macintosh G4 Base |
First let me state my bias up front, I am a Mac bigot. We have Macs and Window machines at home, and I would much prefer working on a Mac any day of the week. I got my first Macintosh in 1988, it was the then brand new Macintosh II.
When my Power Mac 8500 was getting too slow to really run some of my new graphics programs, I knew that it was time to upgrade. I looked into the IMAC and G4 cube, but was disuaded from them since they could not be fitted with any additional cards etc. I also could never live with the small screen of the IMAC.
My new G4 is definitely fast. It is 400 Mhz. For those of you who are used to Pentium speeds, please do not make a direct comparison. A 400 Mhz Macintosh is probably equivalent to a 750 Mhz in the Pentium world. This machines runs my Corel Photo-Paint software easily. It is a very fast machine.
The biggest complaint about Macs is generally that there is simply not enough software available to run on them. Most business software is available for the Mac. I will admit, there is a lot of other software, however, that isn't. I am very into doing scrapbooking and Memory Books and using my computer for these projects. A lot of the software that is available either only runs on Windows or those that do run on the Mac run with limited versions.
There is a solution to this however! I purchased the Virtual PC package. This will allow you to run Windows programs right on your Macintosh. You have the entire Windows operating system right on your Macintosh. I have been very successful with this and I have not noticed the speed issues that a lot of people report. Granted, it is not going to run as fast as a native Mac application running on the Macintosh environment, but it is also not dog slow. I wouldn't want to run a high intensity game in this manner, but I have been successful using Ulead's Photo Impact in this way. I have also had some issues being able to print directly to my printer on the USB port while in the Windows environment.
Another recommendation is to add RAM to your Mac. A lot of people think that only the Mhz is important when determining how fast your Mac will work. The RAM is equally important. For graphics programs it is probably even more important. And, if you are planning on using Virtual PC, it is imperative that you get more memory. If using Virtual PC, I would suggest that you have no less that 128 MB RAM. I have upgraded mine to 192 MB RAM. This seems to meet my needs well. The way this system is designed makes adding memory a breeze! Getting access to the inside of your Mac is a piece of cake. Adding memory, cards, etc., is all very simple.
If you have other peripherals from your previous Mac, beware! The G4 comes equipped with only 2 USB ports and 2 Firewire ports. Most peripherals are going this route, so this is great, but if you have equipment that needs SCSI ports or serial ports, you will need to buy additional equipment. I needed to purchase a card to support my SCSI External drive and scanner. Although the drive works perfectly, the AppleOne Scanner that I have daisy chained to the drive does not. I tried calling Apple support, but they couldn't provide any help. They told me I need to contact the maker of the card because maybe it didn't support the scanner. I also had to buy something that connected to the USB port on one end, but allowed for serial devices on the other. I also needed to buy a USB hub, because the two ports were not enough. All of this just made for some added expense.
I also like the 9.0 OS. The new Sherlock feature is very useful. This allows one to search not only their own desktop, but also the web. When the OS was designed it definitely had the internet in mind.
The new keyboard and optical mouse are great. the machine itself is not as stylish as maybe the cube, but I think it still looks fine.
All in all, however, I have been extremely pleased with my computer. It also didn't hurt that since I know people who work at Apple, I was able to purchase the Mac at a discounted price!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1299
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: 301-400
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
jajus100
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Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 12 members
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