Mac Advice Required

[Slick]

Hi Guys!

I managed to blow up my main PC a couple of months ago (dont ask how), and I've been looking at getting a replacement.

I've been considering a Mac, I've never had one before but when looking at what I primarily use this PC for, I think a Mac might be suitable (web surfing, music/itunes, and I'd like to start recording music which I hear that garage band is excellent for). I also want something which is pretty stable and is likely to last a while (for these basic purposes, not too bothered about high end gaming...as I suspect no other Mac user is). Also I quite like the idea of getting something a bit different, I've got a couple of old Windows XP and Linux machines (which barely work), I use a Windows 7 on my media centre, and use a Windows Vista machine all day at work, so I like the idea of learning how to use a new OS.

Anyway I've got a monitor, mouse etc. and I'm on a pretty tight budget so I was considering a mac mini. However even these budget line PCs start at about £500 and I was hoping for something about half that.

I've looked on Gumtree, Ebay etc. and found a couple of nice mac minis with G4 processors for around £200, however I have a couple of reservations, which I was wondering if people could advise me on (as I said I have no prior Mac experience other than wiggling the mouse over the pretty icons in an Apple store):-

- I read in the technical specs of Snow Leopard that you can't upgrade to this on a G4 - is this a big deal and are there any significant changes between Snow Leopard and Leopard which I would be missing out on? Is it the same difference in usability between Vista and Windows 7?

- Also this previous point has got me a bit paranoid, would you be able to upgrade to the latest version of Garage Band? and if so, how much would this be likely to cost?

- What is the likelihood of Apple releasing another OS in the near future? Would they be likely to start phasing out support for key applications such as itunes on these older macs?

- The technical specs of about 1.6ghz processor, 1GB ram doesn't look great, since you can just about get phones with this spec now. As I said before I'm not a power user, but I don't want my machine to be really sluggish, would this be likely to cater for my needs?

- Also are there any other key points I should be aware of which I have probably overlooked?

Thanks for all the help in advance

Rich

[Slick]

ok I've found out some more information which might be useful, the one I'm interested in is running Mac OS Tiger and iLife 08. Will new applications (general ones used for web browsing, chatting, downloading etc) be generally well supported under Tiger and a power pc processor? or are there likely for application developers to phase this out?

I can't see many differences between Leopard and Tiger (other than visual effects) but if I wanted to upgrade to Leopard (not snow leopard as this isn't compatible), how much would this likely to cost (I can't see an upgrade package available on the apple website)?

As far as iLife08 goes, I can't see too many differences between iLife 08 and iLife 09 particularly in Garage band, so I think I'm ok for sticking with that.

The full spec is:
- Mac Mini
- 1.42 Ghz G4 Processor
- 1GB RAM
- 80GB Hard drive

I think I'll be able to get all of this for £200, is that a good deal?

Cheers!

Rich

[watercooled]

TBH if you're happy using Linux then I'd recommend building/buying a PC and using that - you'll get FAR more for your money. OSX is based on Unix like Linux so it wouldn't be as different as Windows-Linux or if you wanted to learn a new OS then try FreeBSD or something as it's about as different from Linux as Mac is really. It's not that I dislike Macs or anything, I just think the pricing is all wrong as they're just stupidly expensive as are the extras you can order (£300 for a 1TB WD HDD IIRC, for example). Also since Linux/Unix are free you can spend your entire budget on hardware.

[Slick]

I dont mind Linux, and it definately has some strong advantages over other operating systems and I've still got ubuntu running on an older machine. I also take your point that Macs are generally way overpriced, which is why I have always built my computers myself in the past. However on the applications side of things Linux will be a lot less well supported for applications such as iTunes (I realise that there are workarounds, but these are never as nice as the original software), there isnt a decent Garageband substitute, and I'm trying to start coding iPhone apps, which will be very difficult in Linux. Also with Linux I end always end up tinkering with it (which is one of the great advantages), but I end up spending a lot of time breaking it then fixing it, before tinkering with something else and breaking it again, I'd rather just have this computer which will be stable and work which I wont be able to mess with.

[watercooled]

If it's a Mac you're after for the software etc then you are probably best looking for a second-hand system like you said before. I'm not really sure what you'd be best getting though, other members will probably know the bargains to look out for etc and where to look for them.