CRT iMac

[Shaun.P]

Hey, I was just wanting some general comments and answers to some of my weird questions:

I bought my G3 iMac 600 Mhz in January this year for £650. (I was shocked when they lowered the eMac to that price!!!). I just wanna know, how good is my machine.

I know it doesn't have state of the art components. (I bought 512Mb ram to make myself feel better about the eMac price cut, and also to sort of "future proof" it).

What are your comments on the iMac? Are they a good design? Reliable? Durable?

Please give me your thoughts and opinions (good and bad).

Again, I know this is sort of weird, but I'm just curious.

 

[iJon]

they are a great machine and i still love many of them with the certain colors i like. keep using it until you find it slow. the imac is better than the emac in 4 ways in my opinion. colors, lighter, has a handle, and is much much easier to work on and take apart. it really is difficult lifting that 50 pound emac with no handle and gripping that slick plastic.

iJon

 

[strider42]

that machine shuold give you years of serviceable life. Don't compare it to what comes out at the same price later on. you'll always be disappointed if you do that. its a great machine with a great design and is powerful enough for everyday consumer use.

 

[thebossisback]

Besides the iMac looks much bettr than the eMac

 

[sedarby]

As far as durability and reliability, I am still using my Rev A iMac from 1998 and yes it is running Jaguar quite respectably. When will I upgrade? When I have a chance to see user reviews and physically be in the presence of a dual 2.0 Ghz G5 PM. Honestly for most tasks your iMac will be more than enough. Upgrading to 512 MB was a very smart move. I have 384 MB in mine right now and it makes a huge difference.

 

[QCassidy352]

I love the crt imacs. It's a great design, and both reliable and durable. I just sold a 3 year old imac 400 on ebay, and it was still going great. Plus, it's the computer that saved Apple. How can you go wrong with that??

 

[TMA]

Hiya,

Thought i'd give you another 'gumdrop' iMac user experience. I own an iMac Indigo 500Mhz CDRW Summer 2001 machine and I absolutely love it! Here are a few good/bad points that i've noticed -

Good
- Still perfectly suitable and fast enough for my needs (Surfing web/chat rooms/iTunes Music dukebox/Occasional Movies and TV Episodes)
- It's style, size and form factor is still impressive.
- Fanless operation is GREAT - The only sound you hear is the HD and CDRW (if its in use) I replaced the stock drive with a Seagate Barracuda IV (widely regarded as the quietest HD around) and it's such a pleasure on the ears.
- Compact and durable. Would probably be ideal in a kids room or when space is low.
- Good looking Macs. My Indigo model feels like a brother of the original Bondi iMacs
- Attention to details, e.g 2xHeadphone ports at the front, Bass ports on the built in speakers, styling of the plastic and the transparancies, power light 'breathes' when in sleep mode, etc...
- Each Mac OS X release is faster, even though I consider my iMac to be ageing hardware. 10.1.5 was abit sluggish, 10.2 is fine, 10.3 feels alot NIPPIER
- A good set of ports. Firewire, USB, 10/100 Ethernet, Mirrored VGA out, etc...
- Can take 1gig of RAM
- Internal 15inch Monitor is pretty good quality. Never notice any flicker or much distortion.

Bad
- Original HD (Maxtor 20gig) made abit of a headache-inducing whine sound.
- Low RAM when purchased (128Mb)
- Mac OS X doesn't seem to be compatible with the Internal Mic. Randomly works with Audio chat in iChat never worked with Haxial Netfone.
- Machine sits too low on the desk. I got a Swan tilt and swivel stand that made a great difference.
- CDs/CDR's with thick or rough labels often dont eject from the slot loading drive easily. I have to grab it as soon as it pokes out upon eject and help remove it before it gets sucked back in. Could just be on my model, also could be a side effect of me opening the case to fit new HD.
- Lots of heat pouring out of the top. Side effect of the 'convection cooled' system seems to be that the unit doubles up as a heater.
- Internal Speakers interfear with the monitor when above half volume (give or take) Not a problem for me since I use external speakers.
- 'Breathing' power light (sleep mode) lights up my whole room at night. Sometimes I have to put a piece of card infront of it.
- CDRW seems very brand intolerable. All brands work, however many (most!?) fail on first attempt and require re-inserting. I am abit fed up with it caching all the files to HD, trying to burn a CD, having it fail and eject, re-insert CD and then cache all over again just to burn a disc.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. I don't think I really need to upgrade to G5 Power for another year or so at least.

 

[rice_web]

If you ever hate the speed of your iMac, just remember a company called PowerLogix. Now, it's not the most ideal upgrade, involving shipping parts both ways and taking several days. However, you'll probably be able to push your 600MHz iMac into a 1.1GHz iMac by Christmas, with 900MHz upgrades available now.

 

[solvs]

Ah, you beat me to it. Yes there will be more CPU upgrades coming, so I wouldn't worry about that yet. Besides, 600MHz is fine for now. Especially with lots of RAM.

And don't forget, you had that computer for a little while before you would have actually been able to purchase the new eMac. However short a time it was, something better will always come along.

Bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

My dad has a 400 MHz iMac DV that's pushing three years old and it still works well. It's running 10.1.5 right now, I'll give him my copy of Jaguar when I get Panther.

You did yourself a service by upgrading the RAM. Back when I used the iMac a lot, I upgraded it from 128 MB to 384 MB because I was using Photoshop a lot.

It's a solid computer. I expect dad will keep it around for a few years more. It's the first comp we've ever had that was reasonably up-to-date when we got it.

 

[bennetsaysargh]

i am using a 400Mhz iMac a my only computer right now, and it is good. akthough a lot of things won't run on it (iChat AV, new games) it's reliable.

i want to upgrade soon though. not to a powermac though. i don't need it yet.

 

[Shaun.P]

Memory upgrade worth it?

Hey, I have 640 MB ram, and I was thinking of buying another 512 MB chip to top it off to 1 GB because I want to get Panther later this year and I want it to be prepared!

But is it worth it? Will I notice ANY difference with more RAM? If I was to buy it, it would be off eBay as the price of 512 MB ram goes for £30 as opposed to £60 (out of PC World).

What other things can I do to prepare my computer..."future proof it" if you will?

 

[MacsRgr8]

Originally posted by TMA
Hiya,

Thought i'd give you another 'gumdrop' iMac user experience. I own an iMac Indigo 500Mhz CDRW Summer 2001 machine and I absolutely love it! Here are a few good/bad points that i've noticed -

What a gr8 post.
I had (until shortly, gave it to my Mom who LOVES it) an iMac DV 400 Mhz, 384 MB RAM, 80 GB 7200 rpm disk: a beauty.
No trouble running Jaguar. I also had the iSub attached to it: As I live in an appartment, my neighbors downstairs sometimes had lights crashing down off their ceiling....

For everyday home use, the 15" iMac is in my opinion the best computer-deal there is. Doesn't take up alot of space, has all the necessary ports, fast enough.... and above all: cute.

You have alot of fun with it!

 

[visor]

Re: CRT iMac

Originally posted by FearFactor47
Hey, I was just wanting some general comments and answers to some of my weird questions:

I bought my G3 iMac 600 Mhz in January this year for £650. (I was shocked when they lowered the eMac to that price!!!). I just wanna know, how good is my machine.

Despite of having been obsolete technology the day you bought it - I hear they are quite rugged.

 

[thebossisback]

\

Despite of having been obsolete technology the day you bought it - I hear they are quite rugged.

Actulay, the G3 600 still isnt absolete. it can run most recent apps and it runs OS X nicely

 

[solvs]

Re: Memory upgrade worth it?

Originally posted by FearFactor47
Hey, I have 640 MB ram, and I was thinking of buying another 512 MB chip to top it off to 1 GB because I want to get Panther later this year and I want it to be prepared!

But is it worth it? Will I notice ANY difference with more RAM? If I was to buy it, it would be off eBay as the price of 512 MB ram goes for £30 as opposed to £60 (out of PC World).

What other things can I do to prepare my computer..."future proof it" if you will?

Don't buy it from eBay. Buy from an authorized Mac place or reliable reseller. Check RamSeeker or Newegg. I prefer OWC, but any good RAM will work. Samsung especially. Cheap RAM will not work, and eBay is hit or miss.

1GB will make your Mac MUCH faster, and well worth the cost. As will 10.3. CPU upgrades will be coming later as well. Again, OWC is good for that. Video card and I/O are almost impossible for iMacs, but you can always upgrade the drives. Plus, you can add external drives.