Why is my mac so unforgiveably slow?

Question

I've got a G4 450 Mhz with 1.5 Gb SDRAM and two monitors and two processors. I've been following discussions on speed as my Mac feels slower than ever. I've restarted with the OSX CD and used the disk utility to repair permissions on the three HDs I'm using. I back up data every day and my two main HDs are less than half full. I've downloaded Cocktail and did the pre-binding routine. I've got MacJanitor and run it regularly. I zap my PRAM. I do new age chants in front of my screen while watching the spinnng beach ball of death. I have no idea what else to do-- I can't afford to work on a Mac because I can't get work done fast enough to keep the wolf from the door. On my Activity Monitor, InDesign, Safari and Go Live all take up to 90 per cent of the CPU from time to time. I run all kinds of programs at the same time because Dr Smoke says it doesn't matter. Should I pretend I'm running System 6 and run just one program at a time? I'll do anything anybody says -- I've been up all night, half of it watching that stupid beach ball. I am absolutely desperate. Is this old 450 Mhz thing just too slow in today's environment? Will I see a real speed increase with a hot new G5 and actually get some sleep or is there something else wrong?
I'm not kidding!! If anybody wants a used G4, you can have it pretty cheap right now.

Answer 1

Also as a rule of thumb, when you start the Activity Monitor, the free memory should be around 20%, and CPU cannot be 100% more than a few seconds.
If free memory is less than 5% all the time, then maybe your 1.5 Gb. are not enough.
In a dual processor, I don't know if you can see the load individually each processor, but they should run in parallel, not one having more load than the other.
Edgar
iBook G4   Mac OS X (10.3.8)