Hey there. I'm a novice when it comes to macs, but am thinking of purchasing a ridiculously cheap g3 imac to serve as an itunes device to store my (huge!) cd collection. I just have a number of practical questions before I make a move.
1) Since the mac's primary function will be to run the itunes program, I'm guessing it doesn't matter what processor speed I go for. Is there a minimum speed requirement to run the current version of itunes? Do I need to be running a particular version of mac os? Is there any particular advantage, in my case, to having a 400 or 450 mhz imac, versus a 350 mhz model?
2) I'm assuming that the g3 imacs and/or mac os x support a suspend or sleep mode, so that I don't have to shut down the computer every time I'm finished playing music. Am I correct in my assumption? If not, approx. how long does it take for a 350 mgz system to boot up from scratch and launch itunes? Let's assume there is a minimum of software installed - just os x and itunes.
3) On the g3 imacs, is CRT power-off supported? Or only "blank screen", with the CRT still powered on? Once I have itunes blasting away, there's no need to have the screen on and wasting electricity.
4) Is there a hard limit to the size of the IDE hard drive that the imac supports? I'd need to install a 250gb drive to store my entire cd collection at lossless quality. I'm assuming this is a 3.5" drive, not a notebook-sized HD, right?
5) OK, this is a long shot, but... is there any device (usb I'm guessing) that would allow me to watch TV on a 350 mhz or similar imac? I'm not talking HDTV or vid capture, just a standard catv tuner device. If so, what hardware requirements would I need in terms of processor and memory?
Well, I really appreciate your feedback on these questions. I apologize if they are rather basic, but like I said I have no experience whatsoever with macs. I do, however, love itunes interface, so hopefully these wonderfully cheap "recycled" imacs on ebay will be a suitable replacement to my clunky old stereo and cd collection. Thanks for your input,
Fungazi
1) Since the mac's primary function will be to run the itunes program, I'm guessing it doesn't matter what processor speed I go for. Is there a minimum speed requirement to run the current version of itunes? Do I need to be running a particular version of mac os? Is there any particular advantage, in my case, to having a 400 or 450 mhz imac, versus a 350 mhz model?
2) I'm assuming that the g3 imacs and/or mac os x support a suspend or sleep mode, so that I don't have to shut down the computer every time I'm finished playing music. Am I correct in my assumption? If not, approx. how long does it take for a 350 mgz system to boot up from scratch and launch itunes? Let's assume there is a minimum of software installed - just os x and itunes.
3) On the g3 imacs, is CRT power-off supported? Or only "blank screen", with the CRT still powered on? Once I have itunes blasting away, there's no need to have the screen on and wasting electricity.
4) Is there a hard limit to the size of the IDE hard drive that the imac supports? I'd need to install a 250gb drive to store my entire cd collection at lossless quality. I'm assuming this is a 3.5" drive, not a notebook-sized HD, right?
5) OK, this is a long shot, but... is there any device (usb I'm guessing) that would allow me to watch TV on a 350 mhz or similar imac? I'm not talking HDTV or vid capture, just a standard catv tuner device. If so, what hardware requirements would I need in terms of processor and memory?
Well, I really appreciate your feedback on these questions. I apologize if they are rather basic, but like I said I have no experience whatsoever with macs. I do, however, love itunes interface, so hopefully these wonderfully cheap "recycled" imacs on ebay will be a suitable replacement to my clunky old stereo and cd collection. Thanks for your input,
Fungazi