PowerMac Gigabit 2X450 or QuickSilver 1X800

[InactionMan]

I was going to get an old G3 iMac off craigslist but I'm starting to lean towards an old PowerMac. There is a Gigabit PowerMac listed at $250 CDN and a Quicksilver for $379 CDN. I'd only use the machine for light photoshop stuff.

I'm looking for advice on which machine is more reliable, which would be easier to add extra HDs and RAM and which runs quieter.

I think the Quicksilver looks better but given that this would be hiding in my basement looks shouldn't be too important.

And lastly, is the price of either of either of these Macs reasonable?

thanks

[PB PM]

Those prices are about right for the age and speed. Some people say the QS is louder than the GE, but I think they are about the same. The QS may be the better buy, since it has a faster bus speed, although it is limited to 1.5GB RAM while the GE can take up to 2GBs. Either is a good machine, and upgrade CPU prices are getting better as time goes on, with speeds of up to 2Ghz single or dual 1.8Ghz. As for hard drive space, its the same, since the case didn't change that much, other than on the outside on the GE and QS. You would need a PCI ATA card for any drives bigger than 128GBs (or for more than two drives) for the GE and some early QS G4s so that is something to keep in mind as well.

[InactionMan]

Kind of a dumb question, I have a dead iMac DV+, will I be able to pop the hard drive into either of these models?

[PB PM]

If it is a 3.5" drive it should work just fine.

[dfiler]

Google for the application "MacTracker". It'll tell you exactly what changed between those models.