Order Placed

I ordered a new computer for the house yesterday. I've been seriously considering making a purchase this year and finally decided I could swing it. Especially since I ran across a great deal. The last two desktops we had at home were machines from work that had been replaced by newer hardware. I can't complain about that, because they were both Macs, and didn't cost me anything. Additionally, they were both from the high end of Apple's product lineup when they were new.

Of course, since they were being replaced at work, they were three or four years old when I got them, so I'm always wishing I had a faster machine at home. Especially since they've always been quite a bit older than the machine I use at work.

I'm not buying a brand new machine for several reasons. Cost is part of it, but a relatively small part since a new dual-core Mac mini can be had for about $800 now, and I'm spending about $850 for this new (used) machine.  Apple's ongoing switch to Intel processors complicated the decision a bit, but a need to be able to run Classic applications, plus the need to run Photoshop natively rather than through Rosetta's emulation were big factors in going with an older PowerPC Mac.

I ordered a dual-processor 1.25GHz G4 tower, which is the same kind of machine I use at work. While these machines are about three years old now, they are still very fast and capable machines. Additionally, according to Low End Mac, a dual-processor machine running OS X will give you about 75 to 80% more power than a single-processor machine running at the same speed, meaning a dual 1.25GHz machine is about equal to a 2GHz single processor machine.

If you're in the market for a used Mac this is really a good deal. Most places I've seen this model for sale want over $1,000 for them. And I got free shipping, which is worth about $70 or so.

I can hardly wait.

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