On Sep 1, 2004, at 9:50 AM, Nina Sutcliffe wrote:
Hello,
I'm new to the list here. I have a Beige G3/266Mhz with 320 megs ram and I'd
like to upgrade it to a G4. I've heard that it can be upgraded to a G4/500
but the problem for running certain programs is that it lacks a USB port. My
model also doesn't have an internal modem. My mac tech thinks it's a waste
of time and money to do an upgrade, but I'm wondering. It's a solid machine
other than the fact that it can't run some of the newer software that
requires G4.
My own home machine is a G4-450 upgraded G3 DT with 768 mb of RAM, an 80 GB drive, a 40GB drive, a Toshiba DVD-R/RW CD-R/RW with a ATA133 drive controller, a Radeon 7000 video card and a USB/Firewire combo card. It runs OS X 10.2.8 quite well, but that's a total investment of something like $700 over the three years I've owned it. There's no way I could possibly recoup that if I sold it now. I'd do much better to part it out.
Your Mac tech is right. I've put this system together over time, but still spent a lot of money on it over the years, and it's really only a low end G4 system. The lowest original G4 from Apple the Yike is a better system.
If I were to start now, I'd save that money, and in all likelyhood just buy a G5 iMac. (Lust Object #1 right now 8-)
The beige G3 series has, imo, reached the end of it's economic life-span...lavishing money on them now would be better spent buying an upgraded system, not system upgrades.
A minimal G4 upgrade is about $140, 800Mhz is $250, a USB card is $10-$15, so if you're comfortable with that kind of expenditure, go for it. If you're running programs that need a G4 you want to upgrade the memory, too. That costs $126 for 3 256 MB DIMMS right now to max it out.
That puts you in the range of $275-$380...
For that money you could probably score a G4 Yikes machine, or even a G4 Sawtooth, which gets you built-in firewire, built-in USB, a faster bus, better video and continued OS support, or even (if you're lucky) a newer system than either of those.
A few hundred bucks would upgrade a Sawtooth to a 800 or higher MHz G4, and it'll keep up with that processor, or let you just buy a newer G4 mac to start with.
You don't mention the software you want to use, but if it requires a G4, you don't want to try it with a minimal system I'll wager.
The low price these systems get on e-bay is indicative of their value right now.
They're good solid computers, but it doesn't make economical sense to spend a whole lot on upgrading them.
-- Bruce Johnson
This is the sig who says 'Ni!'
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