Three questions.

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Hello. I was thinking of getting my first mac machine (laptop preferable), and i was wondering if anyone could refer me to a place where i could find a good used mac machine (something that could run and/or comes with osx preferably, i used that in some graphic arts classes before, so i am somewhat familiar with that). Also, I noticed that newegg.com has some geil ram for macs that is 184 pin dimms (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=geil+mac+memory&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0) and i was wondering if ddr ram that i use in my PC is compatible with mac systems. And finally, i have heard that linux operating systems will run on mac hardware, is this true?
Thanks.

[Buzz]

#1) http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71508/wo/7e7xSjG1Tujd27PeUKC14aoLMf1/0.0.15.1.0.6.63.0.0.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?80,55

#2) As long as the RAM specs are identical it should work.

#3) Possibly, but you'd have to hack the OS to make it run on a Linux system. This hacking will inevitably make the OS less stable. There's no out-of-the-box way to get the Mac OS to run on anything but a Mac system.

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Thanks for the responses, but i was actually wondering about putting linux on a mac system, not the other way around. A lot of those refurbished machines seemed a bit pricey still, any other places i could check out?

[Buzz]

Well there's ebay. Honestly, if you want an OSX native Mac, it's not going to be dirt cheap. You're still going to be looking around 1k. Macs don't depreciate at the same rate as PCs.

I don't know and haven't read of anyone wanting to put linux on a Mac system or anyone successfully doing so. I believe the current RSC chips may prevent that. However with the switch in 2006 to x86 chips it may be possible then. But not any Mac pre x86.

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Thanks for the responses, I was wondering if there is any sort of comparison chart that stacks mac's G series of processors (G3-G5) against pc processors like intel and amd performance wise. I know that mac processors generally have a low operating frequency, but i really don't know much in terms of what 1.43 ghz is like on a mac system vs. 1.43 ghz on a pc(i hope this makes sense, i wasn't really sure how to word this question).

[Buzz]

Here are a few links:
http://www.apple.com/powermac/performance/

http://www.barefeats.com/pentium4.html

http://www.barefeats.com/macvpc.html

http://www.barefeats.com/mac2pc.html

G3s are more closely compared to a Pentium 2 or 3 chip. G4 - P3 or 4. If you are concerned about speed, you really should look for G5 processors.

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Thanks Buzz.