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Anyone still use a PowerPC mac as their daily machine?
- Thread starter Appleuser201
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Yeah, agree.
Not everyone has the same needs and some (more than others) are willing to create or adapt workarounds to make what they have work.
And not everyone has $1500-3000 every time there is an incremental upgrade.
If you can own multiple systems for cheap that with a bit of work can achieve the same thing as a modern machine, why not? Especially when they are more reliable?
And for a lot of us, workflows and processes are slow to change or don't change very much at all in the fields we work in. So whether we use an old app or a modern app, if the end result is the same - who cares what platform and program it was done on?
The price point these older Macs are available at makes the choice even easier. That doesn't even get into Intel Macs and the added versatility of being able to run Windows on them with (gasp) current software.
Finally, not everyone needs what the new stuff brings. I don't need Continuity, or AirDrop, or this or that. It's not part of my workflow. So why must I have a Mac that has that feature set if I don't need it?
I see this perception on the iPhone forum as well, so I'm not unfamiliar with the assumptions that get made here. It's just a different context.
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This is why my 17" MBP is a 2006 model and my 15" MBP is a 2008 model. They both look as close as possible to PowerBooks.
In the case of my 17" MBP, it's 32-bit so Snow Leopard max. And my 15" MBP maxes out at El Capitan (I could lose WiFi and put High Sierra on it).
It's nice to be able to use these Macs for anything else my PowerPCs just can't do, but they aren't my daily drivers.
There's a thread on here somewhere though where I speak of my sliding scale for Mac purchases. Every year I inch into early MacIntel farther because that older hardware gets cheaper.
What I've been noticing in the last year or so is that early Intel is beginning to hit rock bottom prices on local for sale sites. I've seen very few PPCs recently, and the ones that do show up are pretty expensive, whereas a couple years ago you could get an iMac g3 or g4 tower for 25 dollars. I don't know if prices for Intel macs will ever begin to rise back up as PPCs have, since many of the mid-2000s designs are pretty bland in my opinion.
Yeah, the problem with the market is that a lot of the remaining good condition PowerPC Macs have either been sold off or finally died. That is driving up the prices of the remaining stock. Add in the speculators who gamble that the buyer is unaware of PowerPC (or are unaware themselves) and that also drives things up.
I don't see the price of the older Intel Macs getting too expensive. Apple seems to have made more of these than PowerPC because at some point, Apple was no longer niche. While there are a lot more defective Macs out there with the Intels than there were with PowerPC, the sheer volume of the remaining stock as well as the fact that these Macs are Intel is helping to keep the prices low.
Eventually I will hit the point where my sliding scale runs into the trashcan Mac Pros, but I will probably have moved on to something else at that point. I also don't expect to move much past 2008 when it comes to the MBP. These Macs will still be viable for years yet.
@MacBH928 - Old habits die hard and I think most of the regulars here are happy with the edge-well-worn, despite the apparent security risks and challenges.
I have been using Macs since I was a kid (around ‘88). I have NEVER had a Virus, Worm, Trojan, Malware, Spyware, Adware, Ransomware, or any kind of hacking attempt made on any of my Macs during this time. I don’t push them through any kind of security challenges, but none of my PowerPC and Intel Macs have had any kind of security problems.
My most recent Mac is currently a MacBook Pro 13” Early 2011 which I picked up for AU$20 (and then spent AU$150 on 8GB of RAM, 128GB SSD and a new battery). I installed Mojave 10.14.1 using the Unsupported Patch.
My oldest Mac is the 1998 Wallstreet PDQ which is capable of running Mac OS 8.1 - I tend to run Tiger and Panther on the PDQs though.
My PowerBook G4 12” from 2005 (Tiger), my Mac Pro 3,1 and my MacBook Unibody 5,1 from 2008 (both on El Cap) all see the most daily action. With the 11,2 G5s, Mac Mini G4 and a PowerBook G4 17” (all from 2005 with Tiger/Leopard Dual boot) coming in second place.
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I've had my Quad for a year and 11 months now. I got it from a trusted source and other than adding in my drives and some other mods in the first few days I haven't opened the Mac since then. I've never even looked at the pump. It's on 24/7 at full power and never sleeps. So far it's done well.
I used to be intimidated by this, but I haven't had any problems so it's considerably lessened that fear.
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Well…in the last three days I have updated my resume, edited some art and put together a PDF for a portfolio. All using InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CS4.
My Quad was more than capable.
As far as price goes, I've actually found the complete opposite to be true. The older these things get, the less usable they become. I've recently been selling off a lot of my PowerPC hoard on eBay, and I've barely been able to give the things away. One of my 15" PowerBook G4's barely netted me $50 on ebay, after being actively listed for an entire week.
I am asking WHY do you do it, I will guess its not because you are trying to save money because $1500 Mac Mini is probably more powerful than all your machines and you can stretch its use for the next 10 years. Which would equal to $12.5 a month in expense.
I am not sure how your computers are still working 10+ years later especially laptops because many other computers give out much earlier on, my only guess is you keep fixing them and replacing the parts yourself. I wonder if they even still sell batteries for PB G4 from '03.
How do you connect the G5 to the 4K tv? Do you use mini display port to HDMI adaptor?
And what do you use the '99 G3 as daily driver for? That thing is like 400Mhz
I guess that he's using a DVI to HDMI cable to connect the TV and his G3 tower is his server.
Money has always had something to do with it. My first 17 PowerBook was $152. I could afford that. I got more as they became less expensive, and quite a few have been outright gifts.
I don't NEED power, I just need capable. Of course, if capable takes too long though then that's a Mac I avoid using. I would not do what I do now on an old iBook G3 or say, a PowerMac 6500.
And yes, every once in a while I replace a part. But it hasn't been necessary for the last few years.
As far as the 4K TV connection, that's easy. The video card it's connected to is a Radeon X1900 XT. It's got dual DVI. All I did was plug in a DVI to HDMI adapter. HDMI is actually DVI with a different connector and the ability to carry audio. I don't believe there is a PowerPC video card for a G5 that has display ports.
The G3 is my server. I am running OS X 10.4.11 Server on it and it's both a file server and a drive for Time Machine backups for ALL my Macs. So, from that respect it's a daily driver because it's doing server duties 24/7. It's actually a 450mhz G3 with 1GB ram.
To have a MacBook that resembles the latest G4-Powerbook had also been my primary reason to go for an early 2008 MacBookPro with silver keyboard, non-glossy-screen and USB-3.0 trough PC-ExpressCard.
It's great and it's my daily driver now, mainly because of the option to use VPN/RDP to connect with my WinServer'08 at work fast and easy, which is kind of mission-critical (but also for streaming Video and listen to music with a BassJump2 subwoofer).
this is frankly getting quite annoying
the lack of user speed control in OS X On a DLSD is not due to the CPU they have, the DLSDs have 7447Bs like any other G4 Mac from that time period
if you boot linux on a DLSD you can clearly see DFS Half mode is working and you can control it if you wish.
What's quite annoying is that you're trying to provoke an argument out of nothing. The G4 in the DLSD has Frequency Scaling unlike any other PPC, regardless of it being the same chip, it's a revision in function.
That function being inaccessible in Linux is not an indication of anything.
its not a revision of CPU
the DLSD uses a 7447B CPU with the Processor Version Register (PVR) 8003105 which is used in other macs that have OS X user controllable CPU speed control
so once again the lack of user controllable CPU speed control is NOT down to the DLSD having a "new G4 revision"
also i said you can control a DLSD CPUs in linux if you wish, i did not say you cant.
you said and I quote literally:
and im unhappy with the select few members who keep claiming such especially as this is not the first time im bringing this up
when me and other members have debunked this myth and proven the DLSDs dont have special or "new revision" G4 CPUs.
its miss-leading to the point of a major mac info site was miss lead into editing the CPU information on the DLSD entry they had.
and im unhappy with the select few members who keep claiming such especially as this is not the first time im bringing this up
when me and other members have debunked this myth and proven the DLSDs dont have special or "new revision" G4 CPUs.
its miss-leading to the point of a major mac info site was miss lead into editing the CPU information on the DLSD entry they had.
And it is a G4 revision, in that DFS was only enabled on the DLSD - it's not a statement about the CPU, which we know is the same as the one in the 1.33 iBook for example. We had that whole discussion last year about the chap with the fake 'proof' - no one was in disagreement about the CPU in the DLSD but again, it's a revision in it's function due to the DFS which other Macs of the period don't have. And I believe you, yourself pointed to the different layout on the DLSD to facilitate DFS being enabled?
@LightBulbFun and @Dronecatcher ... Here's a thought... Would it be possible to use an Open Firmware trick to convince OS X into allowing the Energy Saver throttling options on a DLSD? Could you spoof a PowerBook5,6 identifier or something?
It'd certainly be useful - I like to have the option there instead of the machine deciding.
A1260.Which model number is that?
The A1260 and the A1261 are the last 15" and 17" MBPs before Apple switched to the unibody (MBP with the black keys).
Yep, A1260, the latest and the greatest of the early intel MacBookPros, that resemble the 15" Powerbooks. Take care to prevent the GPU from thermal distress, since most of the units have got a faulty GPU, that might die from a sudden thermal-death (but might be temporarily resurrected a similar way ... hmppf)
It's successor, the late-2008 unibody 15" MBP (as well as the 13" aluminium MB) with black keyboard , glossy screen and the unique, most convenient battery/harddrive-door at the bottom, is also a great machine, but unfortunately has a somehow poor battery performance compared to the PowerBook-like early intel-MBP.
BTW: If you look for a later MBP with a reliable battery-performance (those ones without the "battery-door" at the bottom), the 13" c2duo MBP mid-2009 and later and the 2009 c2duo 15" unibody pre i3/i5 MBP with "build-in" battery are rock-solid successors (you should go for an SSD to be happy with OS X 10.11).
Be aware of 2010/2011 15" MBP models. Those ones with additional high-performance GPU, since that GPU is prone to make them fail.
My 15" A1260 with Windows7/LeopardServer as VirtualMachines (VMware Fusion) and VPN-Connection/RDP WinServer2008 (reasons to make an intel MacBook my daily driver)
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This Gameplay Video was captured via screen_capture compiled from source. Using openGL's asynchronous texture fetching for extra performance and mpeg4 as compression method it was possible to record and play.[50% cpu usage with compression | 7% without], I edited the video with iMovie afterwards (same machine). Openarena had graphical bugs while recording, but it looks fine on screen.
Game performance without recording:
WOW: 60+ fps mid settings
openarena: 90+ fps high settings