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magarwal1217

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 26, 2007
15
0
MidWest
Hi guys, first post!

Anyway, I'm looking into buying a iMac G3 just to test the waters. Well the seller says its "366mhz and it has a dvd/cdrw and it has max os 9.0 it is a allinone mac".

I was wondering, is this a fair purchase for $20 and can this run Tiger?

Thanks.
 

R.Youden

macrumors 68020
Apr 1, 2005
2,093
40
For $20 that looks like an OK buy. It wont run amazingly fast but it will do what you want. I think to make Tiger run you need to download an update but there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

If you do buy it though I would look at getting some more RAM to put inside as Tiger is very RAM dependent.
 

mattscott306

macrumors 68040
Jan 16, 2007
3,769
0
As long as you have 256 mb's of RAM you'll be fine running Leopard (can't testify to the speediness).
 

magarwal1217

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 26, 2007
15
0
MidWest
What type of RAM would this take? I have both SD and DDR ram sitting at home, but does this take notebook SODIMM?
 

SteveG4Cube

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2002
347
0
MontCo., PA
There is no 366mhz iMac. It could be either 333 or 350:

http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=imacrevd&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC

http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=imacslot&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC

Either way, it's not a "supported" machine. You need to have firewire to support Tiger. (You don't technically NEED it, that's just an arbitrary line they created as a cut-off point for supported computers.

You can work around it and install it though. I've got it running on a 300mhz iBook. I found it easiest to remove the hard drive, install it in a firewire external box, and install Tiger through another computer, then re-install the drive. If you want something straightforward, you can either install 10.3 or find an iMac with Firewire and a DVD drive.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
For less than 100 bucks, get a faster cpu iMac G3. The old tray load iMacs are difficult to work on and the memory is a fortune.
 

SeVeN

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2006
621
10
San Jose
yeah, i'de get a 500 or 600 MHz G3 instead with like 1 gig of ram. thats what i did to test the waters
 

djejrejk

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2007
520
1
Uhh...
my uncle has an old imac 333mhz with 256 m of ram. He was not able to load tiger but that might be because it does not have firewire....

Works great with panther.. I would buy it for 20$
 

joepunk

macrumors 68030
Aug 5, 2004
2,553
13
a profane existence
The G3 iMacs never had a combo drive. They had either a dvd or cd rom or a burner, but never a combo.

On the advertised 366MHz (which never existed) the seller could have ment 266MHz.
 

brop52

macrumors 68000
Feb 26, 2007
1,620
3
Michigan
yeah, i'de get a 500 or 600 MHz G3 instead with like 1 gig of ram. thats what i did to test the waters

Don't remind me. I'm using a 500 MHz. iMac now... I do need to upgrade since I won't be able to use Leopard. I'm on Tiger right now and it runs fine if you keep the maintenance up. Unfortunately fragmentation does take its toll when you are low on available HD space.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
Don't remind me. I'm using a 500 MHz. iMac now... I do need to upgrade since I won't be able to use Leopard. I'm on Tiger right now and it runs fine if you keep the maintenance up. Unfortunately fragmentation does take its toll when you are low on available HD space.

Drop a bigger hard drive in it then. Those old 500mhz machines run Tiger great with enough ram and bigger hard drives.
 

brop52

macrumors 68000
Feb 26, 2007
1,620
3
Michigan
Drop a bigger hard drive in it then. Those old 500mhz machines run Tiger great with enough ram and bigger hard drives.

Nah. I'm going to be handing this comp off to my mom and I'll be getting a new one. I'm going to need to stream lectures next year in med school and not pull my hair out because it is too slow. (I also want to play some new games) :)

Also, my girlfriend bought me an isight and I can't use the thing in iChat. I can use it with yahoo but the quality is crappy because the comp is pretty slow. I'll be giving the isight to my brother who has an eMac.
 
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