Mac Users... help? I guess?

[Bradfo69]

Well.... after many years of fighting it, I finally broke down and bought a product made by Apple. I periodically go to computer shows and have thought about getting something mac, just to find out what they're all about. I got a Powerbook G4 for $220 this afternoon. From what I've learned, it's the aluminum 12" one. It has OSX 10.5.8

So... first thing I'm discovering is that anything you want to do or download requires OSX 10.6 or better which I guess is called Snow Leopard or something. However... I don't know if this laptop can even run it since it needs to be a Macbook or higher (meaning it has an Intel processor rather than a PowerPC processor.) After an hour of playing and searching around online... I'm not finding anything yet that's useful I can run. Did I buy a useless dinosaur? I didn't know this was that old. I remember a friend being all excited about getting theirs a few years ago. Is this just another reason to hate Apple? Am I at the end of the line as far as OS upgrades?

I picked up two more regular laptops while I was there. (FYI - I sort of have a same problem with computers as I do with lasers. I'm now at *I think* 11 laptops and maybe 4 or 5 desktops. I wanted to upgrade a couple of my "laser only" laptops.)

[swamidog]

that's a very old laptop. the G4 chip is powerpc (risc) and is not compatible with the modern versions of OSX or anything compiled under intel.

it was discontinued in 2006.

Well.... after many years of fighting it, I finally broke down and bought a product made by Apple. I periodically go to computer shows and have thought about getting something mac, just to find out what they're all about. I got a Powerbook G4 for $220 this afternoon. From what I've learned, it's the aluminum 12" one. It has OSX 10.5.8

So... first thing I'm discovering is that anything you want to do or download requires OSX 10.6 or better which I guess is called Snow Leopard or something. However... I don't know if this laptop can even run it since it needs to be a Macbook or higher (meaning it has an Intel processor rather than a PowerPC processor.) After an hour of playing and searching around online... I'm not finding anything yet that's useful I can run. Did I buy a useless dinosaur? I didn't know this was that old. I remember a friend being all excited about getting theirs a few years ago. Is this just another reason to hate Apple? Am I at the end of the line as far as OS upgrades?

I picked up two more regular laptops while I was there. (FYI - I sort of have a same problem with computers as I do with lasers. I'm now at *I think* 11 laptops and maybe 4 or 5 desktops. I wanted to upgrade a couple of my "laser only" laptops.)

[Bradfo69]

Lovely... impulse buy gone bad. Oh well. I'm typing this on it anyway.

[swamidog]

it's not a bad machine. it's just hard to find modern software for it.

Lovely... impulse buy gone bad. Oh well. I'm typing this on it anyway.

[Bradfo69]

I know a lot of people that swear by their mac's including an ex-significant other and especially her daughter. I have "some" familiarity with them but never got excited enough to pay the stupid high prices for what you get. I "almost" installed Windows on hers as a joke once I knew it was possible to do.

[kitatit]

Hi Brad, alas, you just bought a nice tropical island.... With an oil rig planned for construction 200feet off shore. Oh and the boat to the mainland has done it's last food drop.... Doh!

Not totally useless and I know people still using them as there second machine.

The last PC laptop I bought in 2001 Was a Sharp with a Pentium 3 650mHz 180meg ram 10 gig hard drive. Windows ME.

I retired it in 2007. Currently I have a 2008 Unibody MacBook Pro 15" and is approaching 5years old and it is still running fine except I just replaced the battery.

As far as trying out Macs, the one you bought would be like buying my old Sharp laptop as your first try at Windows.

Oh and with the totally differnt non intel CPU, its a leap too far to expect it to be anything like a current Mac.

Once the sting has gone out of this one and you still want a taste maybe try a Mac mini. Or a 2008 onwards MacBook of some sort. 2009 onwards is best better as the batteries they use are massive leap ahead and depending on year and model, genuinely can last 5-9 hrs and have nice bright screens.

Good luck and I hope you don't get put off buy the limitations of this unit.

Kit

[Bradfo69]

Thanks Kit. iActually looked at a MacBook Pro about a year ago and honestly, as iWas standing there picking this up today I "thought" iWas getting something somewhat comparable. It's not a bad unit and iJust bid on MS Office 2004 for it on eBay for $10.

iShould also point out that iHave hosted this particular computer show at my facility a number of times in the past and know all these sellers pretty well. They haven't been around our way much recently and with a rare day off, iDecided to take a drive down near Washington DC to go to a show. The guy iGot this from is actually about 15 minutes from where iWork and iCould probably get Leon to let me trade up to something else if he has anything in stock.

[kitatit]

A couple of hundred bucks isn't much to lose to finding some useful stuff out. At least it's MacOs 10.x

There have been a lot of improvements since 10.5.8 but if you move to another machine with a later OS, you shouldn't find it too jarring. The MacOS upgrades are generally very gradual and usually pretty easy to make the transition to the next iteration. Also they are very cheap too.

[Bradfo69]

Still playing with it but even trying to get Quicktime was a bit of a chore since the version on Apple's site requires OSX 10.6 or better. Netflix of course won't work. If nothing else, since mac's are supposed to be so much less prone to hacks and viruses maybe I'll make it my porn surfing machine! LOL

[kitatit]

Oh yeah, porn machine plus :P