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G3 iMac for $45 Worth it?

Bloo Ice said:
Hi. First post here! I currently use XP, and nothing but XP. I've never been against mac, and used OS X at school the other day. I'm a sucker for the eye-candy. Love it! Instantly I wanted a mac. But, unlike most people here, I'm poor. I can't just go out and spend hundreds of dollars. So, I did what I do best, search on eBay for something cheap. I saw a G3 iMac for $45, after shipping. [yeah, now someone will go snatch it up that I've provided the link]. I don't know jack squat about macs, and am wondering if this is a good deal. I don't plan to do much, just set it out and have it look nice, some web surfing, IMing, and word processing. Not a whole lot. And maybe play some music, but that's all I'm really interested in. That one has OS 9, and I looked around and have seen Tiger for about $70. IF that one is good, and IF I got it, would it be able to run Tiger nice and smoothly? Thanks!!!
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Possible but don't count on it. If you want Tiger to run smoothly and get all the eye candy, you need atleast a 1ghz machine.
 
hit me up if your looking for a cheap mac that runs tiger
i have a few of em
lmk
 
ivel said:
Try here.

Wegenermedia

iMac 400mhz

I too am looking to give the Mac World a try on the cheap.

Would this machine with more ram be sufficient to run OS X?
Click to expand...

Do you realize that you just brought up a thread that's over 6 months old...

As for your question, it's do able to put OS X on that machine, but you wouldn't get very good results. If your going to get an older machine, get one that's upgradeable.
 
macbaseball said:
Do you realize that you just brought up a thread that's over 6 months old...

As for your question, it's do able to put OS X on that machine, but you wouldn't get very good results. If your going to get an older machine, get one that's upgradeable.
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I just got here last night and trying to search before asking questions.

Is there a limit to how old a post you can reply to? :p ;) (kidding)

Lots of info here, I like it.
 
ivel said:
I just got here last night and trying to search before asking questions.

Is there a limit to how old a post you can reply to? :p ;) (kidding)

Lots of info here, I like it.
Click to expand...

Lol, well I just expected you to start a new thread that's all.
 
 
ivel said:
Do they sell used Macs at www.everymac.com?

I looked but didn't see that they did.
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They do not. EveryMac.com is a website used to look up Mac specs.

I betcha Bloo Ice already has his cheap iMac, this should be closed.
 
I think you should get a powermac G4, I think those could run tiger fairly easy then u can keep on upgrading it and use any type of moniter. You can get those for about 200.00, they a were a bullit proof motel line!
 
I recently got an iMac off eBay for $45. It was listed as an iMac 333Mhz Grape with 64Mb of RAM and a 6gb hard drive. The seller was local, so I saved the $35 shipping and drove to pick it up.

When I got there, it was a bit better than I expected. It ended up being an iMac Early 2001 model. indigo, 500Mhz, CD-RW (which I found out was broken after I got it home), 320Mb RAM, 20gb hard drive. It also came with a Pro keyboard and an

I've since cleaned up the keyboard and replaced the broken CD-RW drive with a DVD drive (and hoping that an upgrade to Tiger will recognize the drive), which currently is not being recognized)

My suggestion to anyone wanting a cheap iMac is to not go less than 400Mhz (although I was ready to buy a 333Mhz) and plan to spend some extra money to get it up to speed (RAM, drive, OS, other software).
 
I bought a G3 iMac locally (DV SE, the graphite 400MHz one with a slot loading drive) with 512 mb of ram and a 40 gb hard drive for $200. It runs amazingly well for a machine that old and had great performance under Tiger. I ended up upgrading to a new iMac within a few months but I'm planning to give the old one to my mom - it will actually run much better than the 2003 model Windows machine she's been having a lot of difficulty with lately.

Don't write the G3s off completely, they're good little machines.
 
flyguy451 said:
I think you guys are way off on this one. I have a perfectly functioning 333mhz G3 with 168 meg of RAM running 8.6. Yes, it's a tray loader too. Web browsing, email, limewire all work just fine. Just so you know I'm not a Luddite, I also have a 12" 1.5 Powerbook. There's lots of life left in those old iMacs, assuming you don't plan on doing graphics or video intensive applications.
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Yep. I have one of those. Don't use it as it makes more noise than a Boeing 747 @ take-off...
 
If you're shopping the G3 iMacs, Lowendmac.com has GREAT information on the various revisions.

I think somewhere around 400MHz is the sweet spot, as you get easy OS X installation (don't have to do partitions, can use large HD, etc.), Firewire (though you need to double-check), and completely fanless operation (the only sound these make are the HD's, pretty nifty!)

The most significant 'lag' I think you will run into with these machines is for digital photography. With even budget digicams starting at 4 or 5 MP, processing images on a 400MHz G3 is pretty slow. Other stuff- web browsing, email, iTunes, Office- are very, very usable IMO.
 
I echo madmax's post. The iMac is pretty cool for basic stuff, and you really do want something 400Mhz or faster. I'm really glad I ended up with the one I have now. Can't beat the deal I got, but I would imagine that spending a bit more money to get it up to speed will be worth it. My g/f is getting it, which is replacing the last desktop PC in the house (still have older P133 laptop that just keeps going).
 
There is an overclock now available for this model iMac. But I think it's $200, which pretty much defeats the point of getting it in the first place. At that point you're better off getting an eMac refurb from Apple, or a Mac Mini.

For $100 and under, it's a great little machine. Perfect if you want to have a 'internet browsing machine' in the kitchen or something like that, especially if it's networked and you can play music from your main machine, etc.

Even in 2006, I still think it is a very attractive computer.
 
chillywilly said:
And a quiet one, too. It will be nice to have that and the mini in the same room, leaving nothing but quiet.
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I would have bought one by now just for kicks, but I literally have nowhere to put it. And my wife will look at me funny, since we have a home eMac and I have a PowerBook... ;)
 
I still havent gotten a mac. I'm saving up for a refurb mini. I'm about 3/4 the way there, but some other issues have popped up lately that might delay that....but hopefully not. I'm just going to use my sony 19" crt with it for now, since it has 2 inputs...and until I get a mac keyoard, my ms bt keybo/mouse. But thanks all for all the helpful info
 
Hope you get your mini soon, Bloo. It's worth the $30 to get the Apple keyboard. Very nice to type on and there's no confusion in the keyboard layout when compared to using a PC's keyboard.

So far, my $45 iMac is turning into a great deal, even though it's been a bit of work. The CD-RW drive was broken, so I needed to replace that. After getting a bad DVD-ROM drive on eBay, the person I bought it from was nice enough to swap it out with a CD drive and a partial refund. I've learned how to dismantle the iMac pretty good now.

In the meantime, I used Firewire Target Disk Mode to install Tiger on the machine, which boots in under a minute (from hitting the power button to showing the desktop).... actually faster than my mini. It's a speedy little box and I plan to add a 512Mb DIMM. Maybe even a hard drive replacement (going to a 60gb or 80gb from the current 20gb).

If I could find another deal like this, I'd jump on it. These little iMacs are still good for little machines that are quite capable.
 
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