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General discussion

Recommendation for Used G4

Jan 20, 2005 2:54AM PST

I am looking for a used G4, I had a Quicksilver (Dual 1 GHz) which died and I need replace it inexpensively. I hope to keep this as cheap as possible (i.e. around 500), I know I will sacrifice performance, but such is life.

I heard that people have had more problems with the Quicksilver model dying than some others. Is the DigAudio or earlier models more robust?

Or is it worthwhile to risk another (lesser)Quicksilver?


I am not thinking of getting the mini because getting extra ram is too expensive and to use my studio display is an extra 100 bucks for an adapter.

Discussion is locked

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G4
Jan 20, 2005 9:08AM PST

I would go with anything from the Gigabit upwards, including the QuickSilver. Avoid the AGP Graphics model as the choice of Graphics cards is limited due to the AGP slot not being powered.
I believe all of the G4's are good machines and all are suitable for a serious processor upgrade card.

just my 10c

P

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Used G4
Jan 20, 2005 12:48PM PST

Alex, Please go to We Love Macs http://welovemacs.com/. They have used G4 Quicksilvers and others for sale. Great site!
Good service! Great technical help for ram, which is very inexpensive. One Gig for under $200. Try them. You'll like them.

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Beware-Don't Use We Love Macs...
Sep 24, 2006 3:06AM PDT

I used these guys based on this forum. To make a long story short; they placed a hold on my account for three times the amount of the order, they refused to take the hold off (had to wait five days with an overdrawn account), then their account supervisor hung-up on me. Approximately 5 minutes later I received an email stating that nothing in my order was in stock and all had been placed on backorder. This is all 5 days after I initially placed the order. Now That's service!?

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Agree
Sep 24, 2006 5:51AM PDT

I have found that WLM sure loved the stuff they had in stock and were constantly the most expensive.

I have not purchased anything from them, mainly because of their higher prices, so cannot comment on their business procedures.

Thanks for the heads up


P

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Dead G4
Jan 20, 2005 10:47PM PST

I forgot to ask in my first post. What did the G4 die of and why is it not fixable?

Just curious

P

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Dead Quicksilver
Jan 21, 2005 11:56PM PST

The logic board or CPU died. I took it to two different techs, who came back with the same conclusion. I don't know which one is dead, but either one is over $700 to replace and I don't know if both are dead. So at that cost it doesn't make sense.

Consequently I am little worried about putting money into a quicksilver again. Maybe I got the one bad lemon (it actually had problems for a long time, which in hindsight I realize as symptoms of something bad) but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then when testing if it was bad RAM the computer just died. I tried all sorts of remedies (PMU, changing power supplies) the thing is dead.

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Dead G4
Jan 22, 2005 1:27AM PST

Sorry to hear that. I had a similar thing with a G4 AGP graphics. Changed everything from RAM to HD, via multiple OS installs.
Turned out to be the processor that had died.
$700 is probably the price at Apple wanted for the processor but there are cheaper (much) alternatives.
I was lucky, I had another G4 in for repair so I swapped processors just to see. The thing fired right up! One OWC G4 processor upgrade later, the thing is now my main machine.
Just a thought.