Adopted Powerbook G4. Should I sell her?

July 21, 2006 9:11 PM

I just adopted a barely used 12” 1.33 G4 Powerbook free of charge. I’ve been a jealous WinXP user for some time and couldn't be happier with my new acquisition, but I’m a little torn over it’s usefulness.

Not so much as power is concerned, the cute little bugger will suit my needs just fine as it was pimped out from the factory with maxed out RAM and an 80GB HD, but from a longevity perspective. What does Steve have in store for the G4’s that are getting a little long in the tooth? Is there a timeline in place to phase out the G4’s in OSX? How about third party software, can I expect to see less being developed for the G4’s and 5’s now that the Core Duo’s are here? I know I can push this thing for awhile, but I hate feeling left behind and I’m wondering if ebay might be the way to go and just pick up a new Macbook instead.

This is going to be my primary machine, mostly for writing but with a little light photo and video editing thrown in for good measure. That said, if you really feel the need to tell me how underpowered my machine is I won’t be insulted.

posted by paxton to technology (19 comments total)

A relevant MacRumors thread.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 9:21 PM on July 21, 2006

The PowerBook G4 was and still is a great little notebook: nimble, slim, decent battery life and (unlike the MacBook) it runs relatively cool. You got this for free? Wow...you're one lucky guy.

Run it for a couple of weeks and then see if you still feel like giving it up on eBay. I'll bet you won't.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism at 9:25 PM on July 21, 2006

I wish I'd gotten the 12 incher instead of the 15, its just not anywhere near as portable.

You are a very lucky guy!
posted by fenriq at 9:27 PM on July 21, 2006

I'm currently typing this on the same model G4 powerbook as you describe. I suspect it'll survive as my portable computing solution for at least another two years -- it has enough RAM and CPU power to handle most things I ask Photoshop to do, and I'm satisfied with Final Cut Pro's performance so long as I'm not doing crazy compositing tasks. I realize it won't run Motion, but I have no burning desire to run Motion, so I'm not overly upset.

For the forseeable future, most Mac software will be released in Universal Binary format. Since Apple's still selling G5 towers, they can't cut the PPC architecture loose for several more years, at least, which means OS X upgrades. Likewise, most 3rd party developers will probably stick with universal binary for the same reason. As long as you're not seeking bleeding-edge video/animation software that exceeds the power requirements of your setup, you'll be fine.
posted by Alterscape at 9:28 PM on July 21, 2006

Perhaps sell it on Ebay and get a Macbook/Macbook pro so you can have a nice looking machine, but still use Windows.

As for 3rd party software - Most developers are releasing 'Universal Binaries' that will run on G3/G4/G5/i386 CPU's under OSX. The major publishers have been releasing these, and I imagine you will see support for this laptop for many years to come.

This is still a great laptop, just not nearly as fast as the spiffy new Intel based mac's.
posted by SirStan at 9:28 PM on July 21, 2006

Erm, they were selling them new until like a month ago. G4s are going to make up a significant portion of the Mac userbase for several more years. When Mac OS X 10.4 came out, the newest Mac not supported was 4 years old. I can't see this becoming an issue anytime soon.

I'd still recommend selling it on eBay. It's going to depreciate horrendousl, if it hasn't already.
posted by cillit bang at 9:37 PM on July 21, 2006

Computers, laptops in general depreciate horridly. Don't sell it just because its going to depreciate.
posted by SirStan at 10:10 PM on July 21, 2006

The first Intel Macs just came out in January, seven months ago. The vast majority of the installed base is PowerPC and will be for several years to come. I wouldn't worry about the OS or 3rd party apps ending support for it for at least a couple of years, and probably more like 4. And you'll want a new machine by then anyway...
posted by xil at 10:42 PM on July 21, 2006

In particular the depreciation it's already experienced makes it more useful as a computer than the dollars would be.
posted by RustyBrooks at 10:43 PM on July 21, 2006

A relevant MacRumors thread.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 12:21 AM EST on July 22

There is no such thing as a "relevant MacRumours thread", sorry. (Regardless of what it contains.)

I wouldn't worry about it becoming useless soon. A huge amount of 12" PowerBook G4s are still under warranty, if that tells you anything. Congrats on the inheritance--a free computer, Mac or not, is always a good thing!
posted by Mikey-San at 11:35 PM on July 21, 2006

Actually, as long as you're not gaming, your new PowerBook should be fine. The 12" PowerBook is somewhat under-specced in only three areas: the relatively slow CPU, the inexcusably weak 3D acceleration (worse, even, than the other PowerBooks), and the somewhat crappy hard drives that Apple bundles.

The hard drive is upgradable, of course, and if you're not gaming, you pretty much don't care about the comically terrible GPU. The CPU is fast enough to do just about everything else, although things like video rendering won't exactly run like lightning.

I'm using one of these right now, and it's pretty much my main machine. The only reason I'd have to replace it is that Civ4 is unplayably slow, and World of Warcraft is only playable outside of raids and with minimum quality settings. If that kind of thing doesn't float your boat, a G4 PowerBook is more than enough to fill your needs.
posted by majick at 11:47 PM on July 21, 2006

I've got both a 12" (1.5 Ghz) and a 15" (1.25Ghz) PowerBook, and the 12" is a wonderful little machine. It's so damn small and light I frequently think that I've lost it in my briefcase or backpack.

I guess it depends what you do with a computer; I generally use the Office suite, email and web, maybe iTunes, iPhoto, watch DVDs when I'm on the road and not a lot more. Both machines are more than adequate for these purposes. If your uses don't deviate markedly you'll probably be ok.

I'm planning for another year before I migrate to the MacIntel hw, and I suspect the 12" will fetch more on eBay as it's slightly newer / faster / smaller. Also unique, as Apple's smallest machine is now 13.3" unless they bulid something in the UMPC form factor (here's hoping!)

DISCLAIMER:I might be a Mac Fanboy but I'm NOT a profligate; a PowerBook is my primary machine and when the 15" was trashed in an accident last year - I needed a machine fast as I'm taking an MBA - I bought a replacement while in the Apple Store on Regent Street, and now I can't bear to sell the 12"...
posted by Mutant at 12:09 AM on July 22, 2006

Will it handle what you throw at it? Sure. Will a MacBook handle what you throw at it that much more sexily? You bet.

Is there a timeline in place to phase out the G4’s in OSX?

I'm sure there are internal guesses, but all we really know for certain at this point is that the next major revision of OS X, 10.5, will totally support G4s. One can deduce that all 10.5 updates will also support G4s. There's really quite a few out there, you know. 10.6? 10.7? Probably, but nobody can give you a guarantee.

How about third party software, can I expect to see less being developed for the G4’s and 5’s now that the Core Duo’s are here?

Not really, as long as there is a reasonable installed base of PowerPC machines, which there will be for many years. For regular apps, it takes virtually no extra effort to compile for PowerPC. You will, of course, miss out on things like Boot Camp and Parallels and Crossover.
posted by trevyn at 12:48 AM on July 22, 2006

That is the same box as my lawyer wife uses. I like to buy her a new one every three years or so... in that interval, replacement is usually warranted by general evolutionary factors.

That said, if you are planning to use it for writing and light editing, it's a wonderful box. Reliable, small, cool, pretty, and complete. It should make a wonderful tool for a while, and the smarts you gain vis a vis using OSX will work on new MacBook platform once you do decide to replace it. It's a high likelihood that when you do, you'll buy a MacBook. Meantime, you can save some bux and you can let evolution work in your favor.... MacBooks will only be better in a few years and you can let the start-up hiccups settle out.. you know, the heat, the fan noise, the discoloration...etc. You're getting almost all the benefits of being an early adopter without many of the headaches.

Keep it. Use it. Love it.
posted by FauxScot at 6:02 AM on July 22, 2006

I use one of them for *everything*. Keep it but keep plenty of hard disk space free for swap file - less than 5 gig free is asking for inconvenience.

It'll be ok for light video editing. you'll need a g5 or intel box for more serious stuff. Everything else,fine. Lucky guy ;)
posted by singingfish at 6:16 AM on July 22, 2006

What a great score! As someone who until recently worked selling Macs for an Apple reseller I'll just add that there are a lot of people out there wishing they had picked up a PowerBook, particularly the 12" model, before Apple phased them out and replaced them with the MacBook. So 1) You have a great machine there and 2) If you decide to sell it I suspect that you won't have much of a problem getting a decent sale price that would allow you to get a MacBook.

One other thing to consider is that the MacBooks have a glossy screen as opposed to the matte screen of the PowerBooks--for me that would be a deciding factor (can't stand the glossy).
posted by persona non grata at 7:48 AM on July 22, 2006

fwiw, and this is personal observation, but I've only just recently (past 2 years or so) seen developers actively not include OS 9 when developing apps. depending on the app you're writing, Apple makes it pretty ridiculously easy to build apps for both chips - it's literally one checkbox. Mac users tend to have a lot of inertia. finally, there's nothing saying you have to run the latest and greatest - by the time software stops being PPC-ready, Linux might be a good option even.
posted by mrg at 8:00 AM on July 22, 2006

Wait - he should worry because this computer will depreciate horribly?

It's not a car, folks. It's a laptop, and a damn fine one. It will be useful for years.
posted by shifafa at 8:39 PM on July 22, 2006

Thanks for the advice everyone. I spent the weekend reinstalling software and migrating data from a windows box.
So far so good.
posted by paxton at 9:29 AM on July 25, 2006