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1998 iMac First Generation

H

hexonxonx

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 4, 2007
4,610
1
Denver Colorado
I came accross a pretty good condition iMac, the first generation iMac from 1998:

imac.gif


According to what I've read, it has a 4GB HD, up to 256MB ram, a CD drive, 2USB ports which both would be used by the keyboard and mouse which are original, no WiFi, ethernet port, modem and 15" display. It would be a nice internet machine and I'm not sure what version OS it's running.

The pawn shop is asking $125 for it. Is this a good deal? Anyone still using one of these?
 
Yes we have one that runs OSX Tiger smoothly but not exactly quickly. It's a neat machine and if nothing else it looks cool. Unless it's NIB I wouldn't pay over $75 for one.
 
Mr. Giver '94 said:
Yes we have one that runs OSX Tiger smoothly but not exactly quickly. It's a neat machine and if nothing else it looks cool. Unless it's NIB I wouldn't pay over $75 for one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I saw a few on eBay and the starting bids were about $50. I was thinking the price the shop was asking was too high but then they allow for some bargaining. Still I don't think they would go below $100.
 
If it's something you want then go ahead and pay $100 for it. After all it's not exactly something you'll be looking to sell in the future. (unless as a collectors item)

They are really cool little machines and you can say you own a piece of history. I'd suggest going with the pawn shop and paying a bit more. Ebay is always a hassle for me to deal with and shipping will probably make the price over $100 anyway.

Enjoy. :)


Is it the same color as the picture you posted?
 
Mr. Giver '94 said:
If it's something you want then go ahead and pay $100 for it. After all it's not exactly something you'll be looking to sell in the future. (unless as a collectors item)

They are really cool little machines and you can say you own a piece of history. I'd suggest going with the pawn shop and paying a bit more. Ebay is always a hassle for me to deal with and shipping will probably make the price over $100 anyway.

Enjoy. :)


Is it the same color as the picture you posted?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is the exact model and color I posted above. I went to the pawn shops in my area hoping to find an oldie Mac computer and only one shop had one. I may just get there at 10AM when they open and ask them to power it up and let me play with it a bit. If everything works, I'll buy it.
 
hexonxonx said:
Yes, it is the exact model and color I posted above. I went to the pawn shops in my area hoping to find an oldie Mac computer and only one shop had one. I may just get there at 10AM when they open and ask them to power it up and let me play with it a bit. If everything works, I'll buy it.
Click to expand...

Cool! We have one exactly like the one in the pic and the color is really nice. I think it's the best shade of blue they made them in. Good luck with the purchase and good idea re making sure everything works.

I'm not sure if it'll run Leopard but I know it will run 10.4.11 without a problem. :)
 
Try craigslist or some thing, you will probably find one a lot cheaper.
Some one was selling one here with a larger HD, and 1gb of ram fr only 50 bucks
 
I have one in my cupboard.

For $125 you'd want it to come with all the original discs, including MDK and Kai's Photo Soap. And hopefully a hard disk upgrade (up to 128GB).

It originally came with OS8.1 (I bought mine on the first Saturday after launch), and it'll run up to OS9.2.2 OK. Not sure about OSX 10.3 and above, it'll run them, but it won't be quick. OSX 10.2 was fine on mine, but I upped the RAM to 256MB - it originally came with only 32MB.
It also runs some older Linux versions extremely well, I tried OpenBSD v3 and it was insanely fast.

Quick Note re the hard disk - if it's larger than 8GB, this model iMac must have the whole of each OS installed, installed in the first 8GB of disk. Usually achieved by partitioning into a 7.9GB and the rest and installing all the OS's into the first partition.

And another quick note about OSX 10.2 and above, you **MUST** upgrade the firmware on the iMac before even attempting to install OSX 10.2 and above. Blows the video circuitry if you forget.

Your money, and a piece of history, but for that money I'd want a much later G3 iMac or a G4, 500MHz G3 minimum, DVD drive and FireWire.
But it would make a great retro games machine - Age of Empires, Diablo II, Myth II Soulblighter ran like a dream.
 
Do not pay more than 50 bucks unless it has everything previous poster mentioned, discs, keyboard, mouse, original packaging etc.

I vote, too, for an iMac g3 500 for the same price. Better graphics, more memory and firewire. You can also put an airport card in the later iMac G3s, if you really need to.
 
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I would vote for craigslist. I picked one up for about 20 bucks. 400 mhz slot loader in great condition.
 
Lovely little historical nugget of Apple history.

I have one just for the sake of it. It's running OS X Server 1.2 (the Rhapsody one - love seeing it).
 
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