Second hand G3's and G4's have dropped in price here in Aus, mostly due to people trading them in at Apple Centres to get a G5. There is not much difference in price between a G3 B&W and the G4, smaking the G4 the better value. Ensure that the G4 is at least a 'Sawtooth' (350,400,450MHz) model as this was the first G4 with AGP graphics. The very first G4's 'Yikes' use the slower PCI graphics. Even a Sawtooth 350 will be a great start as you can put in up to 2GB of RAM!! That's quite a bit more than the 256MB limit of the 7100!
I personally went for the 533MHz from the 'Digital Audio' range 466,533 667 and 733 MHz, as you get faster 4xAGP graphics over the 2xAGP 'Sawtooth', the 1000MB Ethernet of the 'Gigabit' range, plus faster PC133 memory. As Bruce points out, you have a better upgrade route too. With a G4 you can also run software that is optimised to take advantage of the G4's AltiVec processing unit. To give you some idea I compared my G3 iMac with a 466MHz upgrade against a G4 466 running Panther and the same apps, and for stuff where software wasn't optimised for AltiVec, I didn't notice any significant difference in performance, then we ran PhotoShop that had been optimised, the G4 was suddenly light years ahead of the G3, that was enough to convince me to pay the extra readies to get the G4. I don't envisage upgrading for a few years yet unless my wife wants to treat me to a Dual 2GHz G5! Hope my tuppence worth helps. Pete -----Original Message----- From: G-List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thomas Baker Sent: Thursday, 20 May 2004 8:13 AM To: G-List Subject: A used G-Mac for a gift--but which model? I 'd like to buy a second hand Mac for a relative, and I could use recommendations what to look for (I'll probably get it off Ebay). Prices on used Macs have dropped to the point to where I'm thinking I that for a few hundred dollars I might be able to set him up with a much faster Mac with lots more storage for his digital photos, and the capability to attach a little USB card reader to get them into the Mac. It would be nice if his old serial port printers would plug into it also, or could be adapted to it. I'd sure like to hear any recommendations for what model of used G-Mac would do a good job for him, and be a good value for the money. TIA Tom Art website at http://www.ThomasBakerPaintings.com Archaeology website at http://www.nmia.com/~jaybird/AANewsletter/ -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
