APPLE powermac G5 good "kids pc"?

Golf1.6 · 26 Oct 2015 at 13:05

Hi

Just noticed that these were selling for £100 ish. Seems like a bargain machine. I want to buy one for my newphews and neices for their homework. They keep downloading malware ridden software on their Windows and it's annoying the heck out of me as I am constantly asked to fix their comp.

This seems like a really cheap way to fix this headache once and for all. Is this any good? also will it take a standard PC keyboard, mouse and monitor or will I need to spend £400 on these Apple branded peripherials to get it to work?

Ghosteh · 26 Oct 2015 at 13:14

I'd imagine they'd struggle to get any malware, as well as any software what so ever now considering it's the old PowerPC CPU architecture.

I could be wrong, but I would imagine it would just be a headache for anything to get done on it nowadays.

naty_morris · 26 Oct 2015 at 13:26

Great machines, but unfortunately will be difficult to find and run modern programmes on.

For such a task, i would say something like a 2007/2008/2009 21" imac would do a good job?
will have an intel chip, should run one of the more modern osx versions.
And if its a little slow, relatively cheap to upgrade the hard drive or ram.

I currently use a 2008 macbook, which would be of similar spec, was running very well, although struggle with a couple tasks. Put an ssd and added some more ram. Its like new again

Feek · 26 Oct 2015 at 15:08

It's not Intel so realistically, it's a waste of time and money.

Turbo-G · 26 Oct 2015 at 20:23

You'd be better off spending £250-£300 on a used 21.5" 2009 era iMac, that can still run the latest OS, and will still have a couple of years life left in it.

V F · 26 Oct 2015 at 20:53

Feek said:
It's not Intel so realistically, it's a waste of time and money.

Plus they are electricity guzzlers.

OspreyO · 26 Oct 2015 at 21:01

How are they installing stuff if they aren't admins on Windows.

Golf1.6 · 26 Oct 2015 at 23:30

the problem is they need to have someone on admin (their dad) to do any functional stuff like software updates, and he does sometimes give in to their nagging and let them run stuff on admin account.

hmmm. i didnt know that osx would be so rigid and wont allow new software to be run on there. at least windows 10 wont disallow windows xp software to run on it.

pretty lame

Golf1.6 · 26 Oct 2015 at 23:31

would a 2009 mac mini be any good?

Emlyn_Dewar · 26 Oct 2015 at 23:48

Yes, decent machines if you can get one cheap, a bit more kick than the 2006/2007 model, and doesn't chew through the electricity.
If they already have a Windows PC though, I'd just get better anti-virus, and put on parental controls...

OspreyO · 27 Oct 2015 at 00:26

I don't get it. Once a windows pc is set up properly it should give no grief. If you don't want to set it up right. You could just install Linux. But I expect all you really want is to switch to Mac.

In that case going to anything less than a core2duo would be madness. Those G5 are obsolete. Unless you are into vintage gear. Low end mac usually has good articles about getting the best out of old Macs like the minis.

Tunney · 27 Oct 2015 at 01:04

IIRC, the G5 doesn't come with WiFi are standard and you'll be lucky to find a card/USB adapter with Mac drivers.

Feek · 27 Oct 2015 at 08:36

Golf1.6 said:
hmmm. i didnt know that osx would be so rigid and wont allow new software to be run on there. at least windows 10 wont disallow windows xp software to run on it.

pretty lame

Not really, the whole hardware infrastructure has changed. The OS may look the same but it's running on completely different and incompatible hardware.

Ghosteh · 27 Oct 2015 at 09:12

Golf1.6 said:
hmmm. i didnt know that osx would be so rigid and wont allow new software to be run on there. at least windows 10 wont disallow windows xp software to run on it.

pretty lame

It's more than that, it's a completely different processor and architecture type, not simply an update to the OS. Software developed for the Intel version of OSX since 10.4 or 10.5 would, within some reason, work on any version up to the current version, unless the developer has placed restrictions on it.

The old versions of OSX for PowerPC Processors are built completely different, so you can't expect the software to work on them ones. Equivalent would be software developed purely for Raspberry Pi/ARM Processors and trying to get it to run on a Windows PC.

Skyboat · 27 Oct 2015 at 14:05

Just install a current user-friendly Linux distro on their existing Windows box.

Golf1.6 · 27 Oct 2015 at 15:16

Feek said:
Not really, the whole hardware infrastructure has changed. The OS may look the same but it's running on completely different and incompatible hardware.

well point is Windows works on virtually limitless different hardware combinations. Why cant Mac work on just 2 different platforms, on hardware they themselves designed.

tom_e · 27 Oct 2015 at 15:20

Golf1.6 said:
well point is Windows works on virtually limitless different hardware combinations. Why cant Mac work on just 2 different platforms, on hardware they themselves designed.

Full versions of Windows only work on x86 based processors, the same as the current versions of OSX.

There's massive amounts of work in porting from one architecture to another and the amount of work required to somehow have something that could run on both would be expensive and pointless.

Phate · 27 Oct 2015 at 15:48

Orrrr advise their parents to buy them a Mac, why should it come out of your pocket?

OspreyO · 27 Oct 2015 at 15:49

Don't buy an obsolete old computer if you want trouble free computing.