Used PowerMac G4

Here's the specs on that Mac.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermacg4/stats/powermac_g4_1.0_dpmdd.html

If you are going to run 10.5 & photo/video editing, you should max out the RAM to 2GB.

Note - You can run OS 9 & classic mode on this Mac with Panther or Tiger installed, but Leopard does not support running in classic mode.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

If you are immediately considering upgrading the processor, you are not looking at the right Mac for your needs.

Processor upgrades are much more expensive (and therefore the least cost-effective) way to upgrade a slow Mac. Processor upgrades do not seem to EVER decline in price -- But complete Macs that are a little faster are declining in price every day.

See if there is a faster Mac that has the power to meet your needs today. If you are handy, perhaps a used Mac where the original owner has removed the Hard Drive might be fast enough yet cheap enough for your budget.

Compare to cars: Buy this great car! It has the same motor mounts as the model with the bigger engine! \[That's silly -- you would simply sell the car with the smaller engine and buy the one you needed, not install an engine upgrade.]

MShuva wrote:
Do you think this will last me for the next 2-3 years? I won't be doing anything intense on this machine, just some simple things.

I have a 400MHz G4 which was sold in late 1999. I use it many hours daily & have never had a hardware failure. The earliest MDD models were sold in late 2002. So I see no reason that an MDD model should last 3-5 or more years (or when Leopard becomes obsolete).

 Cheers, Tom 😉

The MDD series of G4's are still very capable Macs and are still much in use today, but if you look through MDD G4 links at the PowerMax site,you can see that prices increase as more RAM or HD size is added. If your concerned about speed, have you considered Apple's Mac Mini line of Macs? The money you would spend on more RAM and a larger HD would almost give you the cost of the entry level Mini. It's much faster, more capable Mac than the top 1.25 Ghz speed MDD's, and comes with a 120 GB HD. It will run OS X 10.5 Leopard real well as well as be much better,faster Mac for video editing.
Something to consider.

It's a great machine, so if you wan to spend that sort of money (assuming you already have a keyboard and suitable monitor) then get it. Shame it doesn't come with the original set of discs.

It'll be fine for non-intensive tasks, but video editing will be slow, as it was in 2002. And it'll be even slower under Leopard. Which versions of PS would you want to run on it ? It's a dream with everything from PS 5.5 (OS 9) to CS2.

To give you some perspective I purchased an empty (no HD, no RAM) FW800 Dual 1.25 GHz from eBay in January of 2006 for $500. The machine is obviously holding its' value pretty well if they are still going for close to $450 with minimal RAM and HD.

I have replaced my Dual G4 for my use with a MacBook Pro, but the G4 still serves us well, I consider it a real workhorse. It now has 2 GB of RAM, over 500 GB of disk space and is running Tiger 10.4.11 with Classic also installed. I would think it would be great for everything but perhaps the Video Editing you are mentioning. The most taxing thing we do with it is burning various video items to DVD via Toast Titanium which it does reliably, but not as fast the the MacBook Pro.

I have run it with Leopard and it seems to run fine, but I don't want to lose the ability to run Classic so probably won't upgrade it for some time. I'm expecting that we'll use it for at least productivity activities for a few more years.

What is the jump in price if you start looking for used G5s?