Selling a PowerMac G3 233MHz

Factory would be OS 8.0 which you can update to 8.1 as a free update from Apple. You're talking about a 16 year old computer thats not desirable in ANY way to be honest. Take whatever your first offer is.

This may not be the best forum site to post.

There is a 68k Mac Liberation Army that deals with old 68k and yes, PPC Macs. More people there will be interested, since most people on this forum are interested in only the "latest and greatest."

Be aware that shipping old stuff like that is cost prohibitive, so you likely will only find people interested who could drive or easily transport via a bus or train.

AaronM5670 said:

Yeah, I was afraid this might happen. I'm not trying to sell it here, just to judge if anyone still wants these things or if I should just take it to the tip.

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The biggest problem with these things is the had a terrible design. I have a CTO 333MHz model that I got many many years ago, and realized quickly why they never had the resale value of a B&W. The stupid case design makes a buzzing sound all the time, it caps out at OS 10.2 which I would consider the worst Apple OS in history, only 3 RAM slots, slow system bus, and just 1 HDD bay. It also lacks the video I/O that makes a PowerMac 7600 or 7500 with a G3 upgrade a better computer. So ya, if you can find anyone to take it, you've had a good day.

Honestly, if I had any real money to my name at the moment, I would gladly take it off your hands; unfortunately I'm in no position to spend even a cent.

eBay would probably be your best bet; prices for anything Apple tend to be largely inflated there.

You really have two options, IMO:

1) Post it on Ebay starting at the lowest price you can and then add shipping on top. You may get a few Pounds or Euro for it.

2) Come up with a price that you think a collector will pay and keep it at that price with the buy it now option or just start the auction at that price. Maybe somewhere around 20 Pounds plus shipping.

If you go with option 2 then you will likely have to keep posting the auction until someone bites. While the general public does not need that model, a collector that needs it for their collection will pay more if it is in good condition, etc. Post lots of real pictures of it, pictures of it running, pictures of all sides of the unit and list everything that is included - and what is not included if you are not including something.

Does it have a 800k floppy drive, or higher?

AaronM5670 said:

I believe it's 800k, although I'm not sure. Do you know how to check? I'm not familiar with it as I, along the rest of the Mac OS world, moved on to OS X 12 years ago. I haven't used a floppy disk since I was a little kid in the nineties. It's such a shame, it was a lovely machine in its day.

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Any floppy drive that shipped in a Power Mac would be 1.44MB. Really, I think any floppy drive in any Mac made after 1988 would be 1.44MB.

Swampus said:

Any floppy drive that shipped in a Power Mac would be 1.44MB. Really, I think any floppy drive in any Mac made after 1988 would be 1.44MB.

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Up to a certain point they could read and write to 800K floppies without damaging the data. I know my 1996 Performa could read and write to them. I'm not sure if the later G3 Macs could or not. Haven't tested my PM 8600's drive either.

It's likely not worth your time trying to sell this machine. You'll get $20 if you're lucky.

Intell said:

Up to a certain point they could read and write to 800K floppies without damaging the data. I know my 1996 Performa could read and write to them. I'm not sure if the later G3 Macs could or not. Haven't tested my PM 8600's drive either.

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It was the SuperDrive of its day (it was actually called that). It could even write to single sided 400k floppies. I'm not sure how late they were used either.

Edit: According to Wikipedia:

The first Macintosh model to include a SuperDrive floppy drive was the Macintosh IIx (1988). Every Macintosh and PowerBook introduced from 1988-97 (with the exception of the PowerBook 100, PowerBook Duo series, and PowerBook 2400c, which offered a proprietary external floppy drive as an option), had a built-in SuperDrive floppy drive. The last model to include one was the Power Macintosh G3 series, which was manufactured until January 1999.

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tevion5 is in Ireland, and just posted wondering about the most modern Mac that can write to 800K floppies. This happens to fit the bill, you may want to check with tevion5 about it.

But others are correct - the beige G3s just aren't worth a whole lot.

Anonymous Freak said:

tevion5 is in Ireland, and just posted wondering about the most modern Mac that can write to 800K floppies. This happens to fit the bill, you may want to check with tevion5 about it.

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That's funny, I saw that thread too after reading this one. I agree that you two should connect.