When is a free g4 not free?

[MacTurtle]

When you look at it and think... Now wouldn't it be nice if.....

A friend in my web dev class in college is giving me his old sawtooth g4.

450mhz g4 sawtooth
256 memory
20 gig hard drive
dvd

This will be a nice upgrade from my b&w.

Then I start thinking.. I've got memory I can plug into it, and a friend has a spare 60 gig hard drive he'll give me.

That brings me to wanting a processor upgrade. Let's see, $199 for a 1ghz Sonnet upgrade.

Now I want a decent vid card that supports core image. I can buy a flashed FX5200 that will run at agp2x speed on ebay, another 90 bucks.

Oh, wouldn't a superdrive be nice? Another 75 bucks for a single layer apple dvd drive from macsales....

It turns out this free computer isn't quite so free!

Still, it's cheaper than a mini.

I'm getting a new toooooy!!!!

 

[homerjward]

When you look at it and think... Now wouldn't it be nice if.....

A friend in my web dev class in college is giving me his old sawtooth g4.

450mhz g4 sawtooth
256 memory
20 gig hard drive
dvd

This will be a nice upgrade from my b&w.

Then I start thinking.. I've got memory I can plug into it, and a friend has a spare 60 gig hard drive he'll give me.

That brings me to wanting a processor upgrade. Let's see, $199 for a 1ghz Sonnet upgrade.

Now I want a decent vid card that supports core image. I can buy a flashed FX5200 that will run at agp2x speed on ebay, another 90 bucks.

Oh, wouldn't a superdrive be nice? Another 75 bucks for a single layer apple dvd drive from macsales....

It turns out this free computer isn't quite so free!

Still, it's cheaper than a mini.

I'm getting a new toooooy!!!!

you paid $75 for a dvd burner?!
but i agree, nothing's ever *quite* free. an example would be i got a free memory card with my digital camera, but i needed a $10 memory card reader to use it because my camera wont transfer pics from the sd card to the comp, only from the builtin memory

 

[MacTurtle]

you paid $75 for a dvd burner?!
but i agree, nothing's ever *quite* free. an example would be i got a free memory card with my digital camera, but i needed a $10 memory card reader to use it because my camera wont transfer pics from the sd card to the comp, only from the builtin memory

(chuckle) well, I haven't paid for anything yet. Do you have a cheaper burner someplace that's supported natively by osX? (avoiding patchburn if I can)

And actually, when I get to buying a vid card, I'll probably post a WTB here for one. I'd just as soon keep sales "in the family" if I can. Someone, somewhere is bound to have a card they want to find a new home for.

 

[XNine]

Meh, buying a flashed card runs risks. Sure its cheap, but cheap PC equipment is why we are Mac users. Because we get the best (as far as long-lasting and interoperability) hardware out there.

You're right saying that it's cheaper than a mini. But what about airport and bluetooth?

Maybe these things do not concern you, but they do me. Plus the power consumption on the mini is less and you'll notice this in your electric bills. Kinda strange, but true!

 

[MacTurtle]

Meh, buying a flashed card runs risks. Sure its cheap, but cheap PC equipment is why we are Mac users. Because we get the best (as far as long-lasting and interoperability) hardware out there.

You're right saying that it's cheaper than a mini. But what about airport and bluetooth?

Maybe these things do not concern you, but they do me. Plus the power consumption on the mini is less and you'll notice this in your electric bills. Kinda strange, but true!

Eh, I've got an airport card on hand I can put in it. Sure it's only 802.11b, but that is what I run at home anyway. As for bluetooth, I do have on hand one of the dlink usb bluetooth widgets so I can go that way too.

Yes, the mini uses less power, but since I plan on unplugging one of the old PC's I've got around here, I figure I'll call it a wash on power usage in the house.

As for buying a flashed pc card, yes, I know there are risks, but I haven't found an agp vid card that will run in a sawtooth (agp 2x only) that supports full core image. I've found a pci 9200 ati (blessed by apple/ati), it'll be about the same as the mini then on vid support. The last AGP vid card that will run in a sawtooth and that was blessed by apple and ati I think was an ATI AGP 8500.

Besides, I like mussing about with hardware. I think this sawtooth will fit that bill for now. Maybe I can put off buying that ibook I wanted until after the new intel laptops are out... Or maybe someone will want to dump their ibook cheap when the intels are out, who knows.

Hrmm.. macsales has a faceless sony single layer superdrive for 45 now. That might be just the drive upgrade I can afford.

 

[Chaszmyr]

True, still cheaper than a mini. Also true that it still won't be as good as a mini.

 

[MacTurtle]

True, still cheaper than a mini. Also true that it still won't be as good as a mini.

Ah, but miles above my b&w

what can I say, it has a low bar it must overcome.

 

[aquajet]

True, still cheaper than a mini. Also true that it still won't be as good as a mini.

No, it'll probably be better.

If you spring for a 1.2ghz, it'll be just as fast as a mini...xbench confirms that. Plus you'll still walk away with a faster DVD burner and a better video card. Even a modern 7200rpm drive on an ATA/66 bus can eat a 4200rpm drive on an ATA/100 bus.

 

[MacTurtle]

No, it'll probably be better.

If you spring for a 1.2ghz, it'll be just as fast as a mini...xbench confirms that. Plus you'll still walk away with a faster DVD burner and a better video card. Even a modern 7200rpm drive on an ATA/66 bus can eat a 4200rpm drive on an ATA/100 bus.

That's nice to hear. I was looking at getting just the 1ghz upgrade, but the 1.2 is only 40 bucks more I think. Might be worth it.

 

[homerjward]

(chuckle) well, I haven't paid for anything yet. Do you have a cheaper burner someplace that's supported natively by osX? (avoiding patchburn if I can)

And actually, when I get to buying a vid card, I'll probably post a WTB here for one. I'd just as soon keep sales "in the family" if I can. Someone, somewhere is bound to have a card they want to find a new home for.

at newegg.com you can get a pioneer 110 (the successor to the drive in the currently shipping in powermacs) but i *think* though i could be wrong that any after-market drive requires patchburn
btw, the 110 is $40

 

[mikemodena]

I would suggest getting atleast 1GB of RAM for it to run really really well

 

[Chaszmyr]

I would suggest getting atleast 1GB of RAM for it to run really really well

1gb might have diminishing returns on that comp, cuz it will have a really slow FSB.

 

[Roy Hobbs]

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