Should I keep my PowerBook G4 or buy a MacBook Pro?

Good morning,

You wrote:

I will be doing word processing, internet browsing etc, so nothing hard on the processor

Today, web browsing is rather hard on G4 Macs because web video is no longer optimized for PPC processors. My concern is that many universities use online instruction to supplement classroom time, and the technologogy for video and animation for some content may run poorly, or not at all, on a G4.

I think starting with a newer Mac can save you some nasty surprises.

Among my Macs I have a G4 12" which I dearly love and use for simple tasks. However as Allen Jones points out these are rapidly becoming obsolete if they aren't already. My vote if for a new Mac Laptop, you will not be disappointed. 🙂

Hello,

Like anything that cost a lot to buy, you have to way up the cost.

I know as a student, the cost of living is expensive. I would agree with Allen Jones. The technology is out of date even using some of the simplist of tasks like YouTube. On the other side of this, I still use my PowerBook for animation and many other things. I have a new MacBook Pro, but it don't get half the amount of use from it compared to my PowerBook.

If there wasn't a requirement by some of my applications to use an Intel processor, then I wouldn't be an owner of the MacBook Pro. The MacBook is a wonderful machine, the fact it runs up-to-date applications is great. Would I upgrade if my PowerBook could still run the latest versions of the software I require, then no I wouldn't have brought one.

The choice is yours.

Best of luck

You might want to factor this into your decision:

Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than seven years ago. Apple has discontinued all hardware service for obsolete products with no exceptions. Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products. These include ALL G4 models.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1752?viewlocale=en_US

RE: Hopefully the MacBook will last as long, or even longer!

It should give you good long service.

We bought my wife a Black MacBook 2.0Ghz in May 2006 to replace a 2000 G3 Pismo Powerbook. It served her well till she went with a MacBook Air in 2011. I have the MacBook now and use it frequently as it has 10.6.8 as the maximum OS X system.

This system retains compatibility with a scanner and printer that will not work with my MacBook Pro and Lion 10.7.4. In addition it has Rosetta so I can access older PPC applications.

I also have a Boot Camp/Windows XP Partition with which I can play some older Windows games (currently Elder Scrolls - Morowind, Daggerfall, Arena) and Delorme Street Atlas USA.

I will use this this little box for many years to come. Good luck with your new MacBook.

As hinted at in the prior post, the biggest surprise facing those, such as yourself, who upgrade from their PowerPC Macs to modern day ones is the software upgrade shock!

Unless the software you are currently using is "Universal" (that is, written for both PPC and Intel), then they are written only for the PowerPC CPU.

With the introduction of the Intel CPU in 2006, Apple licensed third party software which they called Rosetta. This transparently ran older PPC applications on the newer Intel Macs.

However, Apple's license to include Rosetta in newer versions of OS X expired with Lion and now both Lion and Mountain Lion do NOT contain Rosetta.

What are the five most important applications that you currently use, and their version numbers?

Allan Jones wrote:

Today, web browsing is rather hard on G4 Macs because web video is no longer optimized for PPC processors. My concern is that many universities use online instruction to supplement classroom time, and the technologogy for video and animation for some content may run poorly, or not at all, on a G4.

I agree. I loved my G4 PowerBook too, but side by side with a MacBook Pro the differences are painfully obvious. Current Web video is optimized for Intel mobile processors, which are capable of decoding video very quickly. A G4 cannot match it, therefore YouTube is hard to play and a G4 will never, ever play HD video.

Everything does depend on the applications. This is critical. You must find out what software versions are required for your courses, because if they will not run on a G4, or if they run very slowly, you must get a new computer as soon as possible.

The 12" G4 PowerBook was beloved by many, and for a long time Apple had no good replacement for the 12" G4. But when the MacBook Air came out, especially the 11" model, a lot of the same people who were so loyal to their 12" have gone over to the MacBook Air and are happy.

Even the cheapest MacBook Air will absolutely blow away a PowerBook G4 in every single area of performance you care to measure.

Many of us let go of our Powerbook 12"'s when the mid-2009 MacBook Pro 13" finally came out!

Yes, the 13" was the first wave; some 12" G4 owners were happy that there was finally an option under 15". There were still holdouts for which 13' was too wide, but the 11" MacBook Air took care of them...

I did not need to wait for the MacBook Air 11" to finally upgrade my Powerbook G4 12" (which I actually think is too small for my needs)

Powerbook G4 12"

MacBook Pro 13" (mid 2009)

MacBook Air 11"

Sorry to rain on your parade but if you have a new MacBook Pro you can not install Windows Vista. Only Windows 7 has been installable on new machines since Mac OS X 10.7 Lion was introduced.

The only way to get Vista with 10.7 or 10.8 is to have an older model MacBook pro with 10.6.8 installed. After the Vista installation one would upgrade the Mac OS X. In addition there have been no upgrades to the Vista drivers since 10.7 Lion so your hardware might be troublesome.

You could use a virtual machine like VMware fusion or Parallels.

10.7 and 10.8

Apple's Boot Camp FAQ lists the following requirements for OS X Lion and Mountain Lion:^[6]

• An optical drive
• Blank CD/USB media for installation of Windows drivers for Mac hardware
• 16 GB free hard disk space for 32-bit versions of Windows, 20 GB for 64-bit versions of Windows
• A full version of Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit editions)