My main computer right now is my 4-year-old Sawtooth G4. I see that's already been mentioned. There's a big difference between the Sawtooth and everything that came before it. Mine has a 450Mhz processor, 20G HD, AGP video card, Firewire and USB, CD drive (not writer), and a dead built-in Zip drive. (Eh, who needs Zip drives anyway?)
This is the first computer I've ever had that I wasn't looking to replace within a couple of years. It's just over 4 years old, and still running as good as the day I got it. I've upgraded it from OS9 to 10.1.5, then to Jaguar, and now just recently to Panther, and I'm perfectly happy with its performance. I'm actually not drooling to get one of the new G5s, because I'm so happy with my G4. I run Photoshop on it, Illustrator, InDesign, Office, and a bunch of other stuff. I run OSX's built-in Apache to use it as a testing server for Web sites I develop. It does everything I ask it to, without a single complaint. I just upped its RAM to 896 from 386, but it was actually running Panther really well with 386 -- it would really only get sluggish when I would open several dozen images in Photoshop all at once.
It has the original processor that came with it, the original video card (which is AGP), the original HD, original everything except for the RAM I just added.
I've just been musing this week about what a workhorse this computer is, and how amazed I am that I'm still so happy with it four years later.
If you get the Sawtooth you mentioned, RAM will definitely be a better upgrade than a new processor. The processor in the Sawtooth is fine, but 128 megs of RAM really isn't sufficient to run OSX -- not if you want to launch any programs once you've booted the computer.
Sonja
At 1:40 PM -0600 02/19/04, Rad Craig wrote:
I currently have a beige G3/233 desktop. I am going to be trading it in on a little newer version, probably a lower level G4. Which model first offered AGP? The goal is that I want to run OS X and it will NOT install on the beige G3...I've tried it.
Anyway, I want to know what you guys suggest for a decent G4 (which model) that I can either upgrade with USB and Firewire or that already has USB and that will allow me to use an AGP video card. Funds are extremely tight, so I'm looking for the best bargain I can get right now. I'm trading two of these beige boxes and one iMac in on the G4.
I have a GeForce 2 card in another PC right now, what do I need to do in order to get that to work in the G4 I get?
I plan to upgrade the processor in the G4 after I get it, probably to 700mhz or higher.
Rad...
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