How well does OSX run on a G4/400?
 

Ive found some good deals on g4/400s and some 450's. I plan on running quarkxpress, illustrator, indesign, and photoshop on it. So my question: does the latest version of OSX run well on these low-end macs? Obviously its not going to be speedy, but can it handle the basics, ie., run the above apps, run multiple apps, websurf allowably quick, multiple windows open, run the newest features of OSX reasonably well without major slowdowns??? Any tips on how to speed up a old g4 for low $$, such as videocard, faster HD, etc?

Any input appreciated.

Well on a G4 powerbook 400mhz w/ 256mb, they work fine.
Like Linux, you can always adjust what services start to use less system resources.
OSX is a well designed system that operates seamlessly, but can be memory hungry. On a 400mhz machine, I'd take 512mb-1gb of ram over a better video card.

I have an iMac DV/SE, which is G3/400 mHz, and I'm running 10.2.8 without any major issue (I didn't feel like purchasing 10.3, but I understand that it works even better). Make sure to fill out the RAM as high as you can go.

OTOH, I just ordered the mid-level iMac G5. Whee!

iMac G5 eh? Lucky dog, you.. :)

So, both you guys say more ram, more ram it is then. Thank you.

Yeah, get as much RAM as possible. Also, get the latest OSX release possible as each consecutive OS release has been faster than the previous one (especially on older hardware). Keep an eye out for the lower speed dual processor PowerMacs. You should be able to find some DP 450's, 500's and 533's out there as OSX handles the DPs real well. Any way you cut it though, a G4 >= 400MHz w/ 512MB to 1GB of RAM will be plenty adequate.

More ram without a question, and if you have some extra loot, get a big and fast a hard drive as possible.

OS X is a real pleasure to work with.

I'm running 10.3 on a G4 400MHz 256MB just fine. It's not my main machine, but it was for a fortnight and I had no problems.