Flat Panel iMac G4 - What to do?

[Swimace]

Hi guys. I'm a PC owner and always have been since MS DOS but recently I have been given free of charge a Flat Panel iMac G4 - Thats what I guess it is the current owner (my girlfriends mum) doesn't know what it is herself and bought it about 2 years ago because it looks pretty! Mac users pah! :D lol

But joking aside I've seen it myself and from doing a bit of research and looking at pictures online I've deduced it's a Flat Panel iMac G4. I admit it looks pretty sweet but I've not really used macs before, although we've got them at University I tend to stick to the windows machines.

Anyway, I do a lot of web design and Photoshop etc. They urged us in the graphic design dept. of my Uni to use Macs but when I retreat to the more techy side I get pushed to the PC's. I would like to utilize the mac, as its a free tool and also supposed to kick *** with photoshop, and video editing (which I'm just getting into) etc. Maybe it could take some workload off my PC, I use my PC for everything image editing Photoshop, web design, gaming, listening to music, got a 5.1 surround hooked up to my room all corners, its nice! I use the PC for it all really.

My PC is a Celeron 2.8Ghz with 2GB of RAM running a Radeon x1600Pro AGP card and a very nice 19" LCD screen Nothing special by all means and Not very powerful but it's all I can afford at the moment before an upgrade, maybe in about a year from now, but for now It's great and I love it.

So...

Should I use the Mac? If so what for? (i've got the room for it) I have a router with space to plug in an extra computer - will the Mac network with the PCs?

Or...

Should I just sell it?
confused

Thanks in advance.

Olly.

Potential new mac user in the UK

[krazykrl]

Without knowing more specs of the Mac, I can't really say what you could use it for. Can you post a pic or look up the specs my the Model number so we know exactly what you got?

Chances are though, even if it is G4, that's better than any Celeron chip I know of. Put a good amount of RAM in the Mac and you'll have a nice machine.

I do video editing with my Macs, if I do any editing of photos, I do it on the Mac (I could do it on the PC, but my Photoshop is installed on the Mac). I have my music library on a PC, not because it is better, just because it happens to have more hard drive space.

If you started using the Mac more often, got to know the OS a little better, Photoshop and other applications I think you will learn to like it a lot more than your PC. I wouldn't sell it, only if to upgrade to a better Mac!

[Swimace]

Ha, great reply. :D

Thanks.

I know it's pretty useless you not knowing the specs of the machine and I apologize for that but I've not actually GOT it yet (I'd hope I'm not that useless on Macs i can't find out the specs lol) I've been really busy. It looks like I'll be collecting it Sunday now so I'll post up the full specs of the machine when I do.

Thanks

[Adrynalyne]

Finder > Applications > Utilties > System Profiler. All the info you need and more.

[Swimace]

Right sorry for the huge delay, the Full Technical Specs are:

CPU: PowerPC 7455

CPU Speed: 800 MHz

FPU: integrated

Bus Speed: 100

Data Path: 64 bit

ROM: 1 MB ROM + 3 MB toolbox ROM loaded into RAM

RAM Type: PC133

Minimum RAM Speed: 166

Onboard RAM: 0 MB

RAM Slots: 2

Maximum RAM: 1 GB

Level 1 Cache: 32 KB data, 32kb instruction

Level 2 Cache: 256 KB on-chip, 1:1

System Software: 10.2.3 Ä 10.2.4

Screen: 15

Video Card: NVidia GeForce2 MX

VRAM: 32MB

Maximum Resolution: 24 bit 1024x768

Optical Drive: 32x/32x/10x/8x CD-RW/DVD-ROM or 32x/16x/8x/8x/4x CD-RW/DVD-RW - not sure yet

Hard Disk: 60GB 7200 RPM

ATA Bus: ATA-66

Ethernet: 10/100Base-T

USB: 3

FireWire: 2

Video Out: VGA, mirror only

Audio Out: stereo 16 bit mini, Pro Speaker

Audio In: stereo 16 bit mini

Speaker(s): mono

Microphone: mono

Modem: 56 kbps

AirPort: available on 800 MHz model <-mine

Gestalt ID: 406

Power: 130 Watts

Weight: 21.2 lbs.

Dimensions: 13.03" H x 15.1" W x 10.6" D


So, is it up to much or shall i send it farewell on eBay?

[krazykrl]

Well, it all depends on what you want to use it for.

I think if you maximize the RAM to 1GB, then you have a great machine for doing lots of things.

Gaming? Probably not. Web design, absolutely. If you use Adobe products they may be a bit at times but they won't be excruciating. Listening to music is not problem and of course, video editing would be possible, to an extent. I wouldn't keep this machine if you plan on being a Final Cut Pro user, but if you're going to be using something like iMovie for video editing than this Mac would do fine.