For Christmas I got my oldest nephew a Mac. No I didn’t spend $1000 or more. I scoured the internet for a used Mac that would be self contained to keep my cousin from buying anything extra. What I found was a large market for old Macs made 8 years ago to present. I picked an 2002 eMac with upgraded memory and OS X.
It arrived on Friday and I’ve spent the last few days configuring it and looking it over. I have to say I’m very pleased. This is an old white G4 700 MHz model with 512 Mb in a 17″ monitor and a DVD Reader/CD Writer on a 40Gb hard drive. The System Profiler shows that one of two memory sticks are installed. The eMacs can hold up to 1 Gb and another stick of this PC133 is super cheap now that’s 2-3 generations old. The hard drive is probably the original since it’s a 5400 rpm drive. The memory has been upgraded, because these originally game with 128 Mb.
About 10 gig is taken up by OS X and the basic apps. Right now it has 28 gig left for music, movies, games, and homework. It’s possible to add an external USB drive for more room. Transfers won’t be fast through the USB 1.1 interface, but it will work.
An Apple keyboard and mouse were included. They are USB and the keyboard has a pair of USB connections on either end. There are three USB ports. Two are taken by the keyboard and mouse. There’s also Firewire, modem, ethernet, mini VGA, microphone and earphone jacks, and power.
The case is fairly seamless. I had to look for the power button on the side with all the jacks. It doesn’t stick out and I couldn’t feel for it. There are several silver dime size hex nuts around the monitor on the sides. This is probably where you unscrew it to work on it. I didn’t notice until I started trying to figure out how to add more memory.
For a while I struggled to get the CD open. There are now buttons on the computer for this. Apple keyboards have and eject key. This kicks the door open. CDs are tray loaded as opposed to slot loaded on my MacBook.
The condition is excellent. A few colorless scratches in the plastic on the back and a slight bit of extra brightness on the monitor. These are things you would only notice if you were looking for issues. The color seems faded, if white and clear plastic can fade.
The only issue I have is the weight. This thing is really, really heavy for its size. I would guess 40-50 lbs in 2 ft3. It’s easy to underestimate it.
So, how does the G4 compare to the Core 2 Duo? The OS X UI is a little slower, but not drastically. Certain tasks take longer, like installs. This could be from the old ATA-66 5400 rpm drive too. There’s a little lag in Expose and Dashboard, which could come from the built in 32 Mb 5 year old video card. There’s a little more delay when switching between certain apps like Firefox or Safari with a lot of tabs. These both consume 100+ meg.
Nothing was too slow and everything opened. The best comparison is Windows XP then, 2002, and now, 2007. It runs faster on newer hardware, but it’s quite useable on the hardware available when it came out. Of course the OS X I’m using is Tiger, 10.4.11, not Leopard,10.5.1.
I’m really quite amazed. This is a computer with everything built in and good enough to run Web and Word on a current operating system and it only cost $170. To top it all, it’s an Apple product. When it came out this model cost someone $1000-$1100, as much as my MacBook costs now. For some comparison, an XBox 360 cost $400+. An iPod Touch costs $300. A new 19″ monitor alone costs $170. Vista Home Premium costs $110+
This is a good deal for a kid or older person who doesn’t want or need a modern computer. The interface is as cool as Vista’s, more stable, and more secure. I would recommend this to someone who needs a computer for basic tasks, but can’t afford the price of a new computer. It’s worth the sub $200 price tag.