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Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
Okay. So recently, I've decided that I want my own computer in the house (I'm 17 btw). However, since I don't really want to blow LOADS of cash, I just want something nice and simple for the moment.

I listen to a lot of music, and plan to get into Digital Photography soon, buying a Canon 350D in the summer (that's where all my money is going! :D) I use the internet a lot and also need to do a fair bit of word processing for school. And while I do enjoy video editing, it isn't a main concern at the moment at all.

What is however, is the fact that I will need to run Photoshop, since I draw a fair amount and thats actually how I make money, doing commissions and stuff. So that is a must. Plus, I'd use PS to work with the photos I will be taking.

Now, looking at what Apple has to offer at the moment, I'm not too keen on any of their current line up. Speed isn't a huge issue at the moment, but I really just want a space to keep my photos/music/work. I would get the Mini or an iBook at the moment, but I really would like to spend as little money as possible at the moment. The way I look at it, these machines are already 'behind the times' in terms of handling Core Image and H.264. So I might as well just buy something nice and cheap... just to tie me over until the funds hit the level where I can splash out on something REAL NICE (G5 nice) or Apple decide to bumb up the specs. Whatever comes first.

So, looking around eBay, I find quite a few G3 iMacs. Sure, they are old, but they will get the job done for now, right? Plus, buying the all in one option means I don't have to spend money on a screen. Also, I've found one REAL cheap, though the owner states that an 'Error Type 10' appears at startup, and he can't seems to find a way around it.

Sure, the portability of an iBook is tempting too, but these iMacs are sometimes around £60! Price>Portability!

If he's supplying the original system discs, and I even have clean blank HD's that I can swap in.... will I experience the same problem?


Also, is there a max on the G3 iMacs HD size? It's a 400mhz DV I believe. (with the DVD drive)

Many thanks for the responses to this LONG WINDED post!
 

OnceUGoMac

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2004
914
1
My friend had an iMac G3 500 mhz and used it with all the stuff you just mentioned. It worked very well. With my advising, he was running 10.3 with no problems. It's very smart of you to get the cheap now, expensive later models.
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
Well... in the end, the price of the iMac went up to £75... which was the cut off point that I wasn't prepared to go after...

But still, any help with my problem and any recommendations on the right Mac for me would be much appriciated!
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
Thanks for the info!

I've already gotten a feel with for OSX, with a 1ghz headless TiBook of all things! I'm prepared for a speed drop dont worry!

But like I said... it's mainly all about storage, and the Photoshop. I think with the Photoshop is where the problems will come....
 

OnceUGoMac

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2004
914
1
I disagree. I feel that although the G3 is slower than a G4 or G5, it will still get the job done. It's not like Photoshop came out after the G5. :D As for storage, I have a Lacie external hard drive and love it (my iBook has a 30 GB HD). I say go with a G3 now until you save up for the bigger purchase. It's a good strategy and I don't think the speed difference is that big of a deal, unless your under some sort of deadline while rendering loads of images. Good luck and take care. :)
 

Bozola

macrumors regular
I have 3 Imacs G3 running 10.3 and 1 running 9.2.2

Althought they can't do heavy video/3d rendering.. they are quite adequate for a bit of imovie/iphoto. They are great for my 15gb itunes. Added one 200gb external firewire drive to one

5 years life span... not bad!

Make sure you get one with 500mhz or greater and plenty of RAM
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
Bozola said:
I have 3 Imacs G3 running 10.3 and 1 running 9.2.2

Althought they can't do heavy video/3d rendering.. they are quite adequate for a bit of imovie/iphoto. They are great for my 15gb itunes. Added one 200gb external firewire drive to one

5 years life span... not bad!

Make sure you get one with 500mhz or greater and plenty of RAM

Someone posted earlier that the max a G3 iMac could use was a 128GB hard drive...

If you use it externally, does all the space show up on your 200 GB? Maybe the 128GB limit is for internal drives only...
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
The size limitation is for the internal ATA only.. FW drives are not effected by it (as they have their own (more modern) ATA controllers built-in).
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
yellow said:
The size limitation is for the internal ATA only.. FW drives are not effected by it (as they have their own (more modern) ATA controllers built-in).

Thanks a lot for that.

Also, does anyone know if how well Tiger would run on a G3 iMac? (Expose, for example, I don't think will work.....)

Last question I swear!

:p
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
Ass long as your iMac falls into one of the categories listed HERE and has the requisite minimum requirements, it'll run. I would make sure I have enough disk space and RAM. More of each is better..
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
Looks like the questions keep coming...

I was just wondering about files access speed.

Say I had brand new Mac... I don't know... a new iMac, for arguements sake.

If I plugged both a G3 and a G5 into a fast hard drive over Firewire, and moved a file over, would the speed difference, that I presume would be noticed be like night and day? I heard somewhere that the USB drives had to have their data processed btw the CPU before going into the hard drive, while this wasn't the case with Firewire. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The reason I ask this is that when I get a 350D/Rebel XT... shooting in RAW format will mean I'm working with 8Mb photos.... and I'll have a LOT of them to get on to the HD.

Will I be waiting overnight? ^_^
 

Passante

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2004
860
0
on the sofa
Borjan said:
Looks like the questions keep coming...

snip

The reason I ask this is that when I get a 350D/Rebel XT... shooting in RAW format will mean I'm working with 8Mb photos.... and I'll have a LOT of them to get on to the HD.

Will I be waiting overnight? ^_^


I had a G3 iMac. Handling photos from my Fuji S2 (6mp) was slow. Get a G4 like the mini if you are going to use photoshop or elements.
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
Passante said:
I had a G3 iMac. Handling photos from my Fuji S2 (6mp) was slow. Get a G4 like the mini if you are going to use photoshop or elements.

Was that mucking about with them in Photoshop... or simply sorting, storing and viewing them?

Once I take the pictures, sure I will do a LIGHT amount of work.. maybe just adjust the contrast and stuff...

But I don't plan on any photomanipulation stuff...
 

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
If you do get an iMac G3, make sure it is a model with Firewire. The earlier models did not have FW. Installing the hard drive is a bit of a pain, but doable. Replacing the slot-loading optical drive is not practical, so firewire external CD-R / DVD-R is the way to go.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com
 

wordmunger

macrumors 603
Sep 3, 2003
5,124
3
North Carolina
Transferring 8 MB files over USB 1.1 will be like watching grass grow during a drought. However, there are firewire media readers out there in the $30 range. The file transfer speed should be the same whether you're using a dual 2.7 or an iMac, as long as it's got firewire.
 

Borjan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 28, 2004
262
58
wordmunger said:
Transferring 8 MB files over USB 1.1 will be like watching grass grow during a drought. However, there are firewire media readers out there in the $30 range. The file transfer speed should be the same whether you're using a dual 2.7 or an iMac, as long as it's got firewire.

Man. Even though I 'knew' this, I didn't realise it until now! Thanks for the tip!

Seriously!
 
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