Apple Power Macintosh G4 (M7824F/B) Mac Desktop

They multiply.

A few weeks ago I reviewed an older Apple Power Macintosh G3 computer, which I had purchased to replace a modern desktop PC. The desktop PC was fairly fast (AMD Athlon XP 1800) and well-equipped, but the flurry of viruses and worms floating around the internet these days simply left me frustrated at the constant updates, patches and fixes required for connected computing in the 21st century.

I switched to macintosh for my laptop computer, which is what I use for my critical work and school projects. Since the laptop is my primary computer, I spared no expense and bought the latest PowerBook G4 12", as I value mobility over large screen size. The family desktop computer, however, is tasked with far easier work, mainly my wife's e-mail, my daughter's educational games and as a repository for files and digital photos.

The blue and white G3 (400 MHz Rev 2) was perfect for that task, running both OS X 10.3 (Panther) and OS 9, however there was a problem. My daughter liked it so much that my wife couldn't get on it for her e-mail and I had to look at sad eyes every time I wanted to use it (and its 15" LCD). The solution? The G3 went upstairs to my daughter's room and its place was filled with, you guessed it, an AGP Graphics Power Mac G4, commonly referred to as "Sawtooth", which was Apple's internal codename for this model.

Like the G3, this G4 is running at 400 MHz, however it has 512MB of RAM (the G3 has 384), an AGP video card (ATI Rage Pro) which still has 16MB of VRAM and is not Quartz Extreme capable. Like the G3, it has a 100MHz system bus and a semi-fast 32-bit ATA controller. This G4 also came with a DVD Rom and zip drive, making for a very nice machine indeed.

As for set up, well that was easy, I did added a 40GB Western Digital drive to the 10GB Quantum that came with it, and partitioned the large drive into a 30GB partition for Panther and a 10GB partition for OS 9. the old 10GB drive is dedicated exclusively to Virtual PC, with both Windows 98 and Windows 2000 installed.

The G4 using OS 9 doesn't feel any faster than the G3, which is about what I expected as the two run at the same clock speed and OS 9 itself is not optimized to take advantage of the G4's Velocity engine. Panther is also about the same as the AGP video card is not Quartz Extreme enabled, and the OS functions such as the finder are not also not accelerated by the G4. That doesn't mean that the two are equal, far from it. PhotoShop 7 oozes on the G3 under OS X when applying filters to large images, but is quite fast on the G4 (slower than my 1GHz PowerBook, however). Ditto converting CDs to MP3s in iTunes or manipulating tracks in GarageBand. I haven't tried iMovie, but I'm sure it would be slow on the G3 as well.

Other than the Velocity engine and slightly better video card (DVD movies are VERY impressive on the G4), basic performance is about the same, which makes sense as the two designs are very similar despite using structurally different motherboard designs. The "Sawtooth" G4 was the first PowerMac to support AirPort, and also was the first to support booting from FireWire and USB drives.

In my review of the G3 I said that it was the first modern Power Mac, and in many ways that is true, however strictly speaking, the Sawtooth G4 can also claim that distinction. The G3 (and the "Yikes" G4 which shares motherboard design with it) cannot boot from FireWire or USB, and of course rely on PCI graphics, making them "transitional" machines, rather than fully modern. The Sawtooth models, on the other hand, support all of the boot options of the latest machines, including pressing the "Option" key at boot up to select boot device and pressing "X" at boot to ignore startup disk choice and boot right into OS X. The other thing that makes the Sawtooth model modern is its ability support Quartz Extreme with a simple video card swap. So-equipped and with a faster processor installed, a Sawtooth G4 can give the very latest G4 towers a serious run for their money, loosing only in bus speed and drive controller, the latter easily fixed with a PCI ATA card.

Does it make sense to buy a Sawtooth and upgrade it to 1.25GHz, Quarts Extreme and fast ATA? No, a brand new Power Mac G4 will probably be cheaper and will have the new quiet enclosure, faster system bus, AirPort Extreme Gigabit ethernet and a host of other improvements the last five years have brought. What the Sawtooth model will give you is outstanding value as an entry-level used Power Mac, while retaining the ability to upgrade slowly as your needs outgrow its abilities.

To put it simply, the 400 MHz G4 and 32-bit ATA controller are more than adequate for my current needs. Lets say that next year I decide to buy a DVD burner and start making DVDs from digital camcorder movies in iDVD. In that case, the 400 MHz processor and slowish drive controller may start to frustrate. A $300 processor upgrade and a $150 ATA card will give it 1GHz speed and fast drive throughput. Need FireWire 800 or USB 2? A cheap PCI card and they are yours. Want to offload video to the GPU, $200 will buy a Radeon or GeForce AGP card and enable Quartz Extreme. Done all together you may as well buy a New Power Mac at around $1300. Taken together the upgraded Sawtooth costs a fortune. I paid $400 for the computer, add the upgrades described above and you reach $700 or $800, which is still a good value for the power it offers, but close enough to the new one to make it a questionable choice.

That's the beauty of it though, you may never NEED to upgrade, and if you do, it can be done gradually and selectively. Frustrated by slow PhotoShop filters? Upgrade the processor. Want faster disk throughput for audio or video editing? Add a fast ATA card and 10,000 RPM drive. Want to play high-end games? A hot-shot video card will really help. just want to surf the web, listen to music and burn CDs in iTunes, watch DVD movies and use Word, Excel and PowerPoint? Just use it in stock configuration and enjoy outstanding performance, even in OS X Panther.

For $400 I feel that I got a terrific deal, even though that appears to be the going rate on eBay for such machines. B&W G3s typically go for about $100 less, and also represent an excellent value. Just decide if you need the AGP graphics (for Quartz Extreme upgradeability) and G4 processor for G4-optimized applications, and buy accordingly.

Finally, I'd like to warn of two potential pitfalls to buying a used Power Mac, G3 OR G4. First on the G3, Apple released a firmware update supposedly to improve stability. What that firmware actually did was add a pre-boot routine to the rom that checks for a G4 processor and if it finds one, does not allow the machine to boot. This was a deliberate attempt by Apple to cripple the G3 by preventing upgrades to G4 processors. While upgrade venders have gotten past the firmware block, it requires running a hack that may interfere with some future patch or even OS version.

For G4 buyers, be sure that you are getting the "AGP Graphics" or "Sawtooth" version. Apple also sold a G4 based on the same motherboard as the G3, with PCI graphics. The "Yikes" PCI G4 is not a bad machine, in fact it shares all of the good points of the B&W G3, the only problem is that they usually sell for the same price as the better Sawtooth model. You see the listings all the time on eBay, "Power Mac G4 400 MHz" with no mention of the video card type or motherboard design. Ask the seller and they will claim to not know much about Macs and not give an answer. Watch out, these machines will most likely be the inferior PCI version at the same price you would pay for an AGP model. The problem is, looking at the outside of the computer you simply cannot tell the two G4 models apart.

Now there are also honest sellers who list the "Yikes" model as what it is, and sell for a correspondingly lower price, usually $40 to $50 less than a comparably equipped Sawtooth. The Sawtooth is still a better value, but I wouldn't pass over a "Yikes" with a lot of ram or other upgrades if the price was right, just keep your eye on the total value equation and factor in the more restrictive upgrade options when you make your choice.

In the end, the Sawtooth G4 represents an outstanding value in an entry-level used Power Mac. While the processors aren't particularly fast, they are easily upgraded and offer all of the modern features and capabilities, albeit at a slightly slower pace than the newer machines. Sawtooth G4s are extremely reliable and well made, as evidenced by the fact that most of these now 5-year-old computers are still chugging away. Just like the B&W G3 that came before, they are extremely easy to work on with a clever case that opens even while the computer is running and puts the motherboard flat and in plain view, where it is very easy to make changes.

Finally, with the prices of new Power Macs at an all-time low, Sawtooth G4s have finally dropped below $500, at which point they make an outstanding alternative to new bargain PC or even a new eMac, the latter is undoubtedly faster, but still far more limited in its expansion capabilities.

*** Update 5/5/06 ***
Well, I've had this computer now for over two years, have upgraded it gradually, and will likely upgrade it again in the not too distant future. It is that good.

First off, it remains the family desktop computer, and now that I run an all-Mac law office, it also syncs to .Mac and gives me scheduling access at home. It runs the latest MS Office 2004 for Mac, burns through PhotoShop filters like no tomorrow and plays all but the latest games rather well. It is also the best machine I have access to for video work.

Okay, the upgrades. First to go was the 400MHz processor, which was replaced with a 1.0GHz Sonnet about 15-months-ago. The processor upgrade made a huge difference on games, not much difference anywhere else. Its not that the new chip isn't MUCH faster than the old one, it is, but rather that not much of my other activities are particularly processor intensive. Encoding movies is much faster, as is applying PhotoShop filters, but I just don't do those things very often.

Upgrade number two was a Pioneer DV-109 DVD-RW drive. While a bit over a year old, it is still cutting edge, with Dual-Layer support and consistently fast burn times (don't remember the specs, but makes my PowerBooks feel slow). Under OSX 10.3 Panther the drive was not natively supported and required a hack called Patchburn to make it work with the iLife apps, but under 10.4 the drive is supported natively and works great.

The next upgrade was bumping the ram from 512MB to 768MB. I will soon double it to 1.5GB. This is the most important upgrade that can be made to any Mac, though at 512MB it was already comfortable for household use.

Next to go was the ATI Rage Pro video, replaced by a 32MB NVidia GeForce MX card. This card supports Quartz Extreme, but not the newer CoreImage from 10.4, and so, will probably get the ax fairly soon. I've been looking at ATI 9800 cards and that is probably the way that I'll go, with a 128 or 256MB model the real choice to be made. GeForce FX cards (same as in my PowerBook 12") are much cheaper and also support CoreImage and DVI out (the real reason I want a new video card), and so those are also a serious option.

Finally, just a few days ago I installed a combination USB 2.0 / FireWire PCI card and a 200GB hard drive. The USB and FireWire worked without any drivers, but the large hard drive required me to purchase a 3rd party driver to allow the outdated ATA controller to recognize a larger-than-128GB drive.

In addition to the modifications made to the computer itself, I also gave it one of Apple's current Pro keyboards and the previous-generation Pro mouse, and a shiny-new Samsung 19" LCD monitor. That monitor, while gorgeous connected to the VGA output on the nVidia card, really cries out for DVI, and thus is the source of my further upgrade plans.

Now the really important question I had to ask before the lastest round of upgrades was whether to bother at all, or just buy a brand-new Mac Mini for $600. The hard drive was $120 ($150 if you add the driver), the USB 2 / FireWire card another $80, and I can expect to spend at least $50 for a new video card and $20 for a DVI cable. That's $300 less than the new Mac Mini, which while supporting DVI, will absolutely never accept cheap and fast desktop hard drives wihtout using an external enclosure.

In its favor, the new Mini with its Intel solo chip is probably a bit faster than my 1.0GHz G4 on its archaic 100MHz system bus, but not enough faster to make much of a difference on the software that I actually use. Furthermore, the Mini uses a laptop DVD/CDRW drive instead of the fast Pioneer, and has shared graphics, instead of whatever AGP video card I choose to install. While the money I could get by selling my old PowerMac would likely make up for the difference in price to get the Mini, in the end the old PowerMac just seemed like a more versatile option. That, and its already a member of the family.

Truth be told, the real reason to upgrade rather than replace is that none of the remaining upgrades are particularly urgent, and thus can be done gradually, as finances permit. The USB 2.0 and large hard drive were important for purposes of backing up from my office iMac, which is our file server. My backup routine is redundant, meaning I copy all data to more than one place. I have it on the iMac drive, on a portable USB drive that is always attached to the iMac, on my PowerBook 15" and finally on the home PowerMac. If any two of these machines or three of these drives fails, I will still have all of my data up to the last backup. The portable drive is backed up every night, the PowerBook every morning, and the portable drive comes home every weekend where it is copied again. Complex, but it works for me.

What is amazing is that in this age of Intel iMacs with 20" widescreens, a 7-year-old Mac remains not only a viable computer, but a reasonably modern one that will do anything a new one will do save run Intel-optimized applications. Yes, a Quad G5 is significantly faster, but the last generation of PowerBooks sure aren't. Not bad for age 7, especially since PCs of similar age are now essentially dumpster delights.