I can't Find Anything I Don't Like About my G4!
Written: Jun 11 '01
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Pros: Very fast, easily expandable, CD-RW, easy to operate
Cons: not compatible with older equipment.
The Bottom Line: I recommend this for graphics work or for families that need the ease of use this machine offers.
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| chilliwi's Full Review: Apple Power Macintosh G4 Multimedia |
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Pros: Very fast, easily expandable, CD-RW, easy to operate
Cons: not compatible with older equipment.
The Bottom Line I recommend this for graphics work or for families that need the ease of use this machine offers.
Recommended: Yes
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I have had my Macintosh G4 computer for about six months now, and I absolutely love it! I have been using Macs for graphic design for about 5 years, and this is by far the best machine I have used. Since I am not made out of money, I opted for the 466Mhz/128RAM/30G Hard Drive/G4 for $1699. A 533Mhz for $2299, and a 733Mhz for$3499 were also available but out of my price range, as well as a 450Mhz Dual Processor model for $1499 and a 450Mhz G4 Cube for $1499. I chose the 466Mhz over the others for a few reasons: I didn’t want to spend more than $2000, it is as fast as a 700Mhz Pentium III (my sister has one and we compared them), it included an additional 128MB of free RAM, making for a total of 256 MB (expandable to 1G of RAM), it has an internal CD-RW, and it is easily expandable. This model has three USB ports which can be used to connect up to 127 devices, two firewire ports for ultra-fast connections to digital cam corders, etc, four PCI slots for installing and connecting SCSI (or other) devices, and ports for both VGA or newer Apple monitors.
Setting this computer up was a snap! I took it out of the box, connected the keyboard to a USB port, connected the mouse to the keyboard, plugged the monitor to the computer, plugged it into the wall, and started it up! 5 minutes, tops. The operating system software (OS 9) and internet software (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft Outlook) were already installed. To connect to the internet, all I did was click on the icon that said, “Browse the Internet.” It let me set up my internet account step by step allowing me to use my existing service or try Earthlink for free for a month. Done and online in less than 10 minutes, including registering my new computer!
Mac G4s now come with the Apple Pro Keyboard, which replaces the compact any annoying one that shipped with the blue and white G3s; and the Apple Optical mouse, which doesn’t use a rollerball, but rather moves the cursor optically. The mouse is also standard size, not the small round one that came with the G3s.
My G4 also included iTunes and iMovie2 which are very family oriented. iTunes is software that makes it possible to listen to internet radio, create your own playlists from existing music CDs, convert songs to MP3 files, and burn music CDs. iMovie2 is software that allows you to make and edit home movies. The CD-RW drive also doubles as a DVD player, allowing the viewing of DVD movies.
Another feature of the G4 is voice commands. Yes, like on Star Trek (well, almost). When an error or alert pops up on the screen the computer speaks it (in the voice you choose) as well. It will also speak anything you type in. This is optional – you can use any alert sound (or none) you choose. If you have a microphone (not included), you can set up voice commands (about 40 pre set commands) to do basic tasks that you speak, without touching the mouse or keyboard. For example, you say, “Shut down”, the computer shuts down. I realize that this probably doesn’t have much of a practical use (at least not for me), but it is kind of fun none the less.
Another great feature is the free software upgrades. When I go online, once a week I get an alert saying that I am not operating with the very latest versions of certain software. It gives me the option of downloading the newest versions of Quicktime, Internet Explorer, and many other software & utility upgrades. This feature has already saved me money. I went online to order CD burning software (my G4 came with iTunes which allows the burning of music CDs, but, not general data CDs). A window popped up stating what software versions I should have, and on that list was a utility called CD Burner. I downloaded it immediately. A few minutes later a created a backup CD of some important files. This particular software is not the deluxe version that I was going to purchase, but it gets the job done!
So far so good. I am amazed at how easy it has been to connect different devices (printer, scanner, ZIP drive). I have had no problems so far, so I don’t know how tech support is, but I guess that not having a need to call is a good thing.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1699
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: 401-500
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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chilliwi
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Location: Lake Michigan Shore
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