400mhz,what can it do!!

[thahater]

hey guys,
i'm about to buy my sisters g4 tibook,it has 128mb of ram but im gonna update it.it's running osx.2. this is my first mac so i figured i'd buy a used one plus i want a notebook and i really dont have the money to get a new notebook.but it's only 400mhz at this speed what can it really do?will it run iphoto well and surf the net at a decent speed.i really just need it for storing photos surfing the net watching videos emailing just basic suff nothing that will tax the processor.i asked this questio yesterday os forgive me but before i spend $300 on it i want to know what can it do and is this a good buy.thanks for your advice.

 

[iGav]

Give it some more RAM and it'll be fine.

I recently bought a B&W G3 @ 300MHz and upgraded the RAM to 576 and overclocked it to 400MHz and I'm pretty impressed at how it runs 10.4.4 to be honest.

I wouldn't use it for anything taxing, but it zips along just fine as a file server and iTunes machine, and freakishly only take a handful more seconds to open Photoshop than my 1GHz TiBook.

So yeah... more RAM, and as long as you don't expect it to be a rocket ship, you should be dandy.

G

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Add 512 MB RAM, for a total of 640 MB, and it will be able to run Tiger and iLife '04 or '05 fairly well (I don't have any experience with '06). It won't be a racer, but still should be able to handle most things you throw at it.

 

[thahater]

thanks guys for the reassurance.i feel better about spending my money on it.

 

[iPhil]

Add 512 MB RAM, for a total of 640 MB, and it will be able to run Tiger and iLife '04 or '05 fairly well (I don't have any experience with '06). It won't be a racer, but still should be able to handle most things you throw at it.

iLife 06 will run on a G4 chip but if its slow G4 then it'll run slow on that system..

Yes PB G4 Ti will run iPhoto/web/email just fine with MAX Ram

 

[topher]

My imac sports a 400mhz g3 processor. And I just can't bring myself to pay for anything faster (192MB of RAM, too). Honestly...iTunes is better than on the 1.5ghz P4 wintel that I use at my job. iPhoto 4 works very well. Web browsing and email, ical, MS Office, are all completely and totally acceptable.

What I always find myself realizing is that the computer is just as fast as the day that I bought it. Some applications have become more demanding, which precludes me from being on the bleeding edge, but the majority of apps that I need are all completely functional on my machine.

You should be even better off, with your G4...

 

[thahater]

cool,like i said before i'm not really going to tax the processor.i have a windows desktop for more heavyduty stuff.but i'm trying to move over to mac form windows and just wanna make sure im getting a good deal.and as long as iphoto and itunes work well then im happy.also what about word and excel which i use how well will those programs work?

 

[Eidorian]

also what about word and excel which i use how well will those programs work?

They'll run just fine on the 400 MHz G4. As the others have suggested get as much RAM as possible.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Definitely throw as much RAM at it as you can afford - shoot for at least a 512MB SODIMM, preferably two of them for 1GB. G4s run OS X pretty decently if given enough RAM.

 

[Mord]

i'd buy a 550Mhz logic board on ebay for like 50 bucks, that way you get a much faster cpu and a radeon for QE which makes a huge diffrence in OS X.

 

[Jschultz]

i'd buy a 550Mhz logic board on ebay for like 50 bucks, that way you get a much faster cpu and a radeon for QE which makes a huge diffrence in OS X.

I thought the Rev A logic boards were a different chipset than the 550 and 667? I'm pretty sure it was? I have a 400 mhz TiBook, and love it. It does all my basic tasks pretty well, such as iTunes, Office, Safari. My TiBook also has an extra 512 mb of ram, for a total of 640. I haven't maxed out my ram yet when using 10.4, rather only half of it. Generally I have Safari, iTunes, and iCal open all the time. If you REALLY want to multi-task, upgrade to (2) 512 chips.

Otherwise, enjoy. The widescreen is awesome, but I hope you didn't pay too much for it. I got mine from a buddy for $400

EDIT: Whoops! Didn't see the $300 price. That's a fantastic price! Mine needs a new battery and a new
HDD soon, and even after $400, I'm still way under the cost of a new MBP. It does all I need in more. Enjoy!

 

[thahater]

thank you i feel much better about my purchase.

 

[26139]

My two cents...

Heck my bro uses Tiger on his iMac G3 (400mhz) for fairly basic stuff and we've never had an issue.

 

[BornAgainMac]

My iMac G3 450Mhz w/1 GB of RAM runs good enough with Tiger. Widgets, Spotlight, Safari are fast enough. Even iMovie when dealing with only DV video is fine. MPEG-4 or H.264 is not possible on my iMac even for playback. Way to slow for basic MPEG-4 playback, my iPod is more powerful. Can't use the latest versions of iLife or any version of Garageband.

Your Powerbook will be a step up from my old system. You can probably find a lot of free or cheap OS 9 programs and use Classic as your main operating system and it will run smooth.

 

[QCassidy352]

Well, it's all relative. If you're used to a 400 mhz CPU (or no OS X at all!) then it feels fine. If you're used to a faster set up it's going to be painful.

For example, my family has a 1 Ghz emac with 640 RAM; that's way faster than what you're getting. But it still feels pretty pokey to me compared with my 1.33 Ghz ibook with 1.5 GB RAM. I know those systems don't sound all that different, but believe me, it's quite noticable. I'm sure people used to dual G5s or duo core intels would be pretty upset with how my ibook performs.

So if I were in your position, I wouldn't buy a 400 mhz G4. But then again, if I weren't used to a faster mac, I might.

 

[Jschultz]

I think RAM is everything.

Before this TiBook, I had a 1.42 ghz mini with only 256 mb of ram. I thought it was way pokier on basic tasks like I use than my TiBook with 640 mb of ram.

Compared to the 12" 1.5/512 PB I used to have, yeah..but beleive it or not...Those faster computers don't do basic tasks MUCH faster than the older machines. A little apples to oranges, but...my parents' 3 ghz P4 computer with 512 mb of ram isn't super blazingly faster than my ol' TiBook when using Office or the internet. Same thing with iTunes.

 

[frankblundt]

i was using my B&W G3 350 (running Panther with 1GB RAM) as my main (web) work machine up til mid last year, running Photoshop, Go Live, Illustrator, Mail, Safari etc. simultaneously, so it should be no problem.
It's now doing good work as a DVD player, iTunes, backup and Web server.

And when i started out i was doing actually more strenuous kind of stuff (pre-press, with big Photoshop files) on a 486, then a IIci, Quadra 700, 8100, Umax 150... so it can pretty much always be done, just not as quickly.

 

[Phatpat]

I just got a 333mhz Powerbook G3 with 320mb of RAM, and it runs surprisingly well. Haven't tried iPhoto, but I use Dreamweaver, Word, Safari, Mail, and iCal heavily with no issues.

As most people have said, add some ram and you've got a solid computer.

 

[California]

I owned that Tibook 400mhz for four years. At the end, I pumped it up with a gig of ram and a 7200rpm hard drive, and then I took it in to Daystar to have them bump up the CPU to 550mhz AND put it back under warranty.

Then I sold it to a good friend of mine who is now running Tiger and iLife 04 (simply because I didn't have 05 on anything but iBook system discs) and it is GREAT.

It is a great machine. My only suggestion outside the ram, the CPU and hard drive upgrade is that you get a ice stand or Macally Ice pad for it -- all powerbooks age with heat issues and keeping them high and off the desk will also help your wrists while working on it.

Oh, yeah and i had them put a combo drive in it too. With the bumped up CPU , I would not be afraid to put a superdrive in it, either.

 

[thahater]

Daystar where can i find information on this company? i would like to pump up the speed,and get a combo drive for it.thanks

 

[tuartboy]

Daystar where can i find information on this company? i would like to pump up the speed,and get a combo drive for it.thanks

http://www.daystartechnology.com/

 

[kmarketing]

Hi,

Great thread. I love my ti400 so much that I sold the aluminum powerbooks that I had. I just couldn't tell too much of a difference between the performance for my basic portable needs - typing, surfing on the net, watching movies, music, photos, etc. I also got a great deal on my g5, and the difference between that and my aluminums was just so drastic. So I took the philosophy of cheapest portable ($300 with the upgrades) with the best desktop that i could afford ($900). I saved a ton of money and couldn't be happier.

Battery life is a ton better with the titanium over the aluminums (I get 3.5 - 4 hours compared to <2hours with my aluminums). And since my powerbook is in mint condition, I have to say it's a dream to use and look at. Plus, they are so easy to upgrade. Changing the hard drive takes less than 10 minutes.

I think you will be please with your "new" machine. Having had many of the titanium and aluminum line, I can't believe I am so happy with an cheap old 1st edition titanium powerbook.

 

[disconap]

I ran off a G4 400mhz tower for ages. I just upgraded it to a 1ghz Sonnet card about two months ago or so, and the only real increase in performance has been in, obviously, processor intensive stuff (Quicktime encoding, Photoshop/Illustrator, etc.). Everything else runs just a touch faster than it did under the original processor. A G4 400mHz will be totally fine for the majority of everyday uses, just do as you plan and up the RAM and you should be good.