Ahead of the OS-You Get a Bargain
Written: Mar 01 '01 (Updated Mar 01 '01)
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Pros: Speed, storage space, up to PC hardware standards
Cons: the OS still needs to catch up...
The Bottom Line: Unless you make a living with your Mac George-Lucas-style, the previous generation G4 (400/450/500) should be fine.
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| beanbear's Full Review: Apple Power Macintosh G4 Base |
Abstract:
I won't go into a PC vs. Mac debate here - if you're here, there's a reason...but see below for some PC-compatibility info.
This is my tenth Mac over the years and it's by far the finest. The hardware is first-class and will truly shine when OS X hits. See the detailed review for revision history and migration information.
Industrial Design:
Based on the "El Capitan" case that debuted with the Blue-and-White G3's with the Yosemite motherboard back in early '99, the latest G4's up the ante with a cleaner, more crystalline design. The translucent look has yielded to a more diamond & graphite look.
The case still opens easily with the push of a button. Once opened, you get a view and access that is never seen in the PC world. Even the PC fanatics at arstechnica.com fell in love the case. Like the "Revision B" Blue-and-White G3's, all of the G4's have room, in theory, for up to 5 3.5" drives in addition to the Zip. Being able to cable them all together should be easy considering the amount of space and "free flow" area.
The build quality is first-rate with the appropriate mixture of textures and tones (if that matters to you). Personally, I have a soft spot for the more cloud-like look of the Blue-and-White case, but to each their own. The pro keyboard and optical mouse finally catch up the rest of the world - the previous iMac derivatives were crazy...
Motherboard Design, Revisions, Compatibility (so you know what you're really buying):
The latest models are Revision B "Sawtooth" models and incorporate the 466, 533, 667, 733mhz chips. They offer improved AGP graphics, digital audio with a Class T amplifier, and 4 PCI slots. When Steve Jobs will finally brings back 6-Slot boards is anyone's guess. Keep in mind that only the 667 & 733 models have the new G4 with the split Altivec - in short, the splitting up of the Altivec allows more parallel instructions for even faster multimedia work. Pro-level multimedia applications such as Media Cleaner Pro fly about 3-4x faster on our 667 than on our former 500mhz.
The G4's have been through a number of motherboard evolutions. The first generation (Yikes!) had 350 & 400 mhz chips and had essentially a G3/Yosemite board with a G4 chip on it. The upshot is that if you have a Gossamer (Beige) or Yosemite G3, you can migrate all your RAM into it if you'd been buying 3-2-2 PC100 RAM. The downside is lack of Airport compatibility, ATA66 support (for full 66MB/sec speed), and AGP graphics.
The "Revision A" Sawtooth was next and had 400, 450, and 500 mhz machines. There is a new 2-2-2 RAM spec, Airport, AGP, Apple's proprietary ADC video connector, and ATA66 support.
All G4's have full IDE support and reports on xlr8yourmac.com and others show that almost all PC-spec IDE devices can be used. This makes a powerful argument for getting a stripped-down G4 and buying PC-spec RAM, CDRW's, and hard drives. The Firewire & USB support is strong (more so for the latter) across the board, but Firewire is still a bit immature and nowhere near the 40MB/sec transfer speed since most external devices are still IDE-bridged-to-Firewire. Both Oxford and Texas Instruments have new IDE-to-Firewire bridges that promise 30MB/sec speeds and they are supposed to be imminent as of this review.
A Word about the ADC Video:
People have cursed Apple for the ADC video connection - just as Apple sort-of joined the VGA world, they went back to a proprietary connection with ADC in the Sawtooth models. The problem is that digital displays MUST be connected to the already-plugged-in power cord before the data cord - people have not paid sufficient attention to that and have been frying their expensive digital LCD displays. Having just one connector is not only elegant, but keeps Apple from having to repair thousands of expensive displays. As digital monitors become more prevalent, there is no choice but to move to a single connector (maybe even Apple-spec ADC), but Apple is painfully first again...
Anyway, the mix-matching of the displays and connections are bewildering - so make absolutely sure the display you are getting or have will work with the connection in your G4. Roughly, it goes something like:
Yikes!: VGA & DVI
Sawtooth (both revisions): DVI & ADC
PC Compatibility:
Up to the Yosemite G3's, most OrangePC cards (PCI cards with Intel-compatible chips on them) still worked. Although I don't know the specifics, it seems that with the Yosemite G3's and on, there were MANY more compatibility problems with those cards. The upshot is that they were pricey and that the G4's power Connectix's Virtual PC very well. We have the latest version (4.0) on our 667 and the optimization for the G4 really shows. It won't be ideal for gaming, but many PC apps feel quick & snappy. With a G4 and plenty of RAM (why would you buy a G4 with only a little?), Virtual PC will feel about as fast as a Pentium 150-200.
Our Experience:
The latest models are remarkably fast, even when limited with OS 9.X. You can't appreciate the speed even in those venerable Photoshop tests. It really becomes salient when you can compress 2 minutes of raw video in DVD-ready MPEG2 in just over 5 minutes - a ratio of 2.5:1. Even in our "old" G4/500 had a ratio (at best) of 12:1. Dual G4 machines have been able to barely get near the 10:1 mark.
The AGP graphics and built-in ATA66 support keep every PCI slot free for more specialized boards. We've populated ours with an Aurora Igniter (video capture) and an Initio Miles U2W (80MB/sec LVD SCSI). The GeForce graphics card is great, but not being a gamer, I can only say that our 2D experience has been first rate without any of the horrible driver problems we've had with ATI graphics cards.
Buying Advice:
It would be so much easier if Apple produced 17" iMacs, because I would tell home users and those who don't make a living of their Macs to buy one. That said, I'll address each buying audience seperately:
Home Users:
Remember that the G4's are really only faster than G3's in multimedia or scientific applications that take advantage of the Altivec part of the G4. OS X promises to change that, but the real daily benefits of the Altivec are still elusive. The 450mhz and faster iMacs are really speed demons, so if you don't need more than a 15" display or the expansion space, an iMac is the way to go.
If you're going towards the G4, you're best off trying to find leftover Yikes! models if you can make do with somewhat slower hard drive speeds and graphics. You can find 400 mhz models for under $1000 and they'll have better backward compatibility with a broad range of monitors.
Looking to Upgrade or Buy New?:
The standard drill applies - if you've got a LOT invested in your machine already, stay with it and get a G4/400 ZIF upgrade. They're under $400 now. But if you need to buy a USB/Firewire card, an ATA66 card, a new video card, etc...it's just cheaper to cut your losses and get a new machine. By the time we bought all of the above + a G4 ZIF for our Beige G3, it cost nearly $800.
Power Users/Rely on it for Your Livelihood: You've already ordered haven't you? :)
Pros: New models have blazing multimedia/scientific speed & all the right ports & connections. And so pretty.
Cons: Still a bit pricey but, even more serious, hard to come by.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2399
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: 601-700
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
beanbear
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Member: B Kim
Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 62
Trusted by: 7 members
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