i need to upgrade almost instantly from 2 old g3s from the office to a g5
is the imac all in one anygood ...?

also where would i find a couple of second habd emacs for the kids?

cheers matt

imac is great but if you want to upgrade in the future the desktop is the way to go.

try apple bits in melbourne for some second hand emacs.
and send me a pm if you want a second hand g5

I'd highly recommend a 2nd hand MAC. I just got a Dual 500MHZ G4 Powermac (after owning 2 17" PBooks - 1.33 & 1.5GHZ) and i'm loving it..

it only cost me $500 to get back on the mac platform and my alternative was a 3GHZ P4 windows machine and i chose this over it..

I feel that speed wise it isnt any different than my Powerbook 1.5GHZ in terms of surfing, itunes, dvd player etc. Even saying that iPhoto and Photoshop arent that much slower (or noticably lagging) wouldnt be a lie.

It is slower at iMovie rendering and Final Cut rendering but its still doesnt lag.. rendering always takes time, but otherwise its just as snappy.. in imovie the "preview" action takes longer.. eg its a litte lagging very slightly.

iPhoto it can still click through without lagging at all... so im pleased with that.. not even zooming on a 6mp photo lags..

It does have slower program start up times.. ever so slightly and i only really noticed it in preview.
Not that it really matters..

Hope that helps in terms of will it be quick enough..

I'd say after using this old machine that a G5 1.8GHZ iMac could be used extremely well in alot of situations.. best value for money mac out there.

Buying a second hand Mac is a great idea. However, be mindful that PC style depreciation does not apply the same way with macs and you will be happy. Nick at applebits is worth a look as is ebay, although ebay is not so much of an option for instant gratification. If you have a set budget and some time and patience ebay is definitely the place. The trading forums here are worth a look but emacs don't generally come up for sale that often here (no idea why). They are not that common on ebay either. I feel this is probably because they are reasonably high spec machines for the price (I don't want to hear comments like: "but the VRAM...... or whatever). Upgrade options are limited but bear in mind the original projected target market for these machines was such that many of the original users will not need or want to upgrade them before moving on to newer hardware. The basics, CD/DVD, HD and RAM, of course, ARE all user upgradeable.

thankyou all for your responses


cheers matt

The drives in an eMac are only user upgradable if the user wishes to void their warranty.

Yes yes yes!

Buying a 2nd hand Mac IS a great idea. About 4 years ago i got an iMac 333 tray loader at an auction. I still use it as my main Mac, and it runs great. The only probs i've had with it have been to do with software, or have needed a serious CUDA reset. Other than that, its a terriffic machine for its age, and not only does it run OS X decently, but it totally blows the socks off any equivilent PC!

not one brand new Mac i own all 2nd hand *cheers* my Dual 800mhz Quicksilver G4... all my 5 x 400mhz iMac's my Powerbook 500mhz... even my old Apple IIe ranging from that to LC Range... to Performa range.... to Quadra range... all 2nd hand! even the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (PC Flashed) was 2nd hand

As he was after a couple of secondhand eMacs for his kids, standard warranty cover, Applecare extended or being less than one year old seemed unlikely; not impossible but still unlikely. In the unlikely event that he gets a machine(s) still covered by warranty it becomes an appropriate warning. People generally get nervous about the one thing they can upgrade without problem (RAM) while hard drives are generally only going to be replaced during the standard warranty period due to failure (especially with an all in one machine). I'm pretty sure that most people would be aware that messing with the insides of a machine, any machine, usually invalidates any normal warranty cover. As such, a warning seemed unnecessary. My mistake maybe.