AboutJeffrey J. Wrobel Expertise I can answer OS compatibility questions, from OS 7 to OS X 10.5.x Leopard. I have extensive experience in software installation, use, and troubleshooting as well as many aspects of high level hardware repair. Any questions about peripherals and their Mac-compatibility are also welcome. I am very current in all aspects of the Max OS, while having an excellent breadth of knowledge of older machines. My work keeps me in constant contact with Mac suppliers, products, and problems, enabling me to not only draw on my past experience, but also to add to that experience every day. Living in Rhode Island with family near Cape Cod, Mass has proven to be a bit lacking in Mac popularity (Yankees are slow to change), but momentum is building for Apple.
Experience
Past/Present clients My life experience has taken me from the US Army to working with the criminally insane. Pursued a philosophy degree while working in pyschology, then ended up doing graphic design, marketing modular construction products, and ultimately starting the computer business that I now own. At 41 years old, I plan to make my triumphant return to college and get a master's degree in philosophy.
Clients include a multi-million dollar international manufacturing firm, a nationwide jewelry/gemstone distributor, numerous town libraries, 2 school districts, a few celebrities, a famous author, a prominent film maker, Brown University & RISD faculty and students, and numerous small businesses and individuals in Rhode Island, Cape Cod, and Boston. I also have a nationwide Powerbook/iBook/Macbook repair program and I sell refurbished Mac parts. The growth of my company, which was a record-breaker in 2007, has been a direct result of my customer service and the experience gained through helping the folks that use All Experts.
Expert: Jeffrey J. Wrobel Date: 6/5/2008 Subject: Power Mac G4 upgrade
Question Dear Jeffrey,
I have a Power Mac G4, and it's running Panther version 10.3.9. It has a 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 1 MB L3 cache, with 512 MB DDR SDRAM.
I'm needing to upgrade my QuarkXPress to 7.0, and the system requirements for this software says it needs to run on Tiger
and a "G5 or faster PowerPC®-based processor or Mac® Intel®-based processor (G4 minimum)"--this is the part I don't understand. Does this exclude my G4?
I would like to upgrade my G4 to Tiger and to whatever processor I need if I can to meet these requirements, and avoid having to buy a G5. Do you think I can do this?
Regina
Answer Dear Regina,
You have uncovered one whopper of a confusing system requirement from Quark. Your quote was absolutely right on and they has succeeded in thoroughly confusing probably everyone that is using G4s and needs Quark 7. One of the many small reasons and some big reasons that a great deal of Quark users are defecting to InDesign. This is my interpretation:
There are rarely programs that refuse to work in one processor that work in a similar processor. Both the G4 and G5 are PowerPC processors and although many Apple programs are very picky about speed and processor, third-party applications like Quark list their requirements as requirements to get the program to truly work fully as it was designed, but they will work with other processors. Being that your G4 is on the fastest 20% of G4s and has very similar response times to the G5, I would be willing to confidently say that your machine would work (they say G4 minimum because it will work in a G4, but ideally the G5 or Intel processors would allow Quark to work faster). They put their RECOMMENDED requirements, and then the G4 is the MINIMUM. So, I would make sure that your RAM is upgraded to at least 1.5 GB and you will be able to use Quark 7 without too much difficulty. If you do, Quark would have to take it back, but I doubt that is the case.
For RAM, go to OWC at the URL below. They are very reputable, inexpensive, and their service is excellent. The 1GB upgrade would be 2 512MB modules and would cost $42 total--not bad, huh?
