Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory / Ram for your Mac. Top Quality, Competitive Prices, Lifetime Warranty. Expert Support and Video Installation Guidies too! 4.0GB Matched Sets from $87.99, Options up to 32GB. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Recycled Computing

Choosing My Next Low-end Desktop Mac

- 2009.05.19

Popularity: LEMLEMLEMLEM

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Now that my daughter's iBook G4 bit the dust, I must consider my options for replacing the desktop computer position that the iBook was going to take. After much hair pulling and nostalgia, I have narrowed down my choices in the used Mac field. They include:

  1. 17" 1.25 GHz iMac G4
  2. Power Mac G5
  3. Mirrored Drive Door FW800 Power Mac G4
  4. 17" PowerBook G4

17" iMac G4I guess my mind does wander a bit among the faded flowers of yesterday's Mac computers. But I have my reasons for each choice - or perhaps weird aesthetic reasons.

The flat panel iMac has one of those weird nobody-but-Apple-would-design-this thing going for it. Not only that, but it offers an incredible range of monitor adjustment. This is something that only appeals to a bifocal wearing dweeb like me, but trust me, my neck would love me if I choose this option. But the major reason for using this sort of iMac is that it is just flat out cool looking.Power Mac G5

A Power Mac G5 would satisfy my lust for power - power that a G5 processor could give me at a much lower price than an Intel box. I could load up the G5 with several hard drives and gewgaws and feel like Mr. Power User. As far as buying the maximum pre-Intel Mac computer, the G5 is the way to go. It could be expensive if I wanted a dual processor model over 2 GHz, though.

Mirror Drive Door Power Mac G4A cheaper direction would be to pick up a Mirrored Door FW800 G4. The G4 might not be as fast as a G5, but do I really need that much processing power? Yes, I could pretend to get a G5 tower and look like I need to move huge files and process fractals or something, but realistically, a G4 Mirror Drive Door could probably do what I wanted at a much lower price.

A PowerBook is not a desktop computer, you might say - and you'd be right! But I think that I have argued in the past that using a laptop as a desktop makes a certain sort of sense. No one would pretend that you can use a desktop as a portable computer, but a 17" PowerBook G417" PowerBook gives you a big enough screen (1440 x 900 resolution) and enough power (1.0 to 1.67 GHz) and connectivity to pass as an adequate desktop.

Besides, when I someday score that digital SLR, I will need a laptop with a big screen to edit images. I also have a 160 GB notebook drive that remains unused at this time.

Of course, all of this requires funding. I feel that the time has come for me to try out Leopard and see if the push feature of MobileMe is up to the task of keeping my iPod and a Leopard computer in synch all the time.

Decisions, decisions. LEM

Recent Price Information

Recent Recycled Computing Columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.