I recently replaced the Mac Mini I use to host my web development with a PowerMac G4. (Story: the Mini was mine, a personal purchase I made to support my work on Scriblio and other WordPress-related projects, but recent changes in our network and firewall policy made the machine inaccessible from off-campus without using the VPN. Having a personal machine sit at my desk at work isn’t as useful if I can’t use it conveniently and for para-work activities, so I wanted to take the Mini home.) The first challenge was replacing the x86-specific apps and daemons with PPC versions, the next one was in coming to terms with how dramatically slower the dual 1GHz G4 is from the 1.66Ghz Core Duo.
John Poole‘s 2006 blog post confirmed what I was feeling: G4s are way slower than I realized at the time.