Old G4 Too Old? Options

[razor_usmc]

Howdy everyone. I have been looking for a Mac that I can afford to do some music (and maybe home movies) with a MIDI keyboard and get started with creating a DAW.

My uncle has a very old dual G4 450 mhz that I could buy from him and start using in my home. Is there still software out there that I could use for a long while, is this Mac powerful enough for my recording needs, or is this way too old to really be worth my time? He says it has mac OS X9 currently as the OS. IS that a problem?

Where would I start looking to find the software I need to get started with this older machine?

Any other tips welcome/appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Razor

[jeffty]

Yeah, that one is getting a little long in the tooth but there is a reasonable upgrade that will get you a couple more years of good audio service with that G4. First make sure you have a heapin' heap of RAM, at least 512MB and preferrably 1 GB or more. Next for a modest price you can upgrade the CPU and bring it up close to current speeds. The upgrades are easy to do and these days you can get a 1.4 Ghz G4 (or faster) for that Mac for under $250. This will enable you to use OSX and pretty much all the latest software with some practical limits, after all it still won't be a dual-core G5, I made this upgrade last year and it made my G4 733 useable again for pro audio production.