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G3 speakers or Macbook Pro

J

JakeNZ

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 26, 2011
31
0
New Zealand
I have an old iMac G3 slot loading in storage which I am considering using as a jukebox as I have heard they have fairly good speakers in them. I'm no audio fanatic who needs great sound but are they better than what is in the current model MacBook Pros? That is the only other Mac I have to compare too.
 
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Considering, that the G3 iMac is over a decade old and speaker technology has advanced over those years, depending on what MBP model you have, the MBP's speakers might be better.
What prevents you from testing it yourself?

Btw, the speakers of the 15" MBP are better than the speakers of the 13" MBP. And the speakers of the 17" MBP are better than the 15" MBP's speakers.
 
JakeNZ said:
It's in storage, not at my house.
I have a 13 inch model MBP, a friend of mine said that the G3 speakers would be better suited and I quite like the idea of having one set up in my lounge.
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The 13" MBP's speaker are not that good, I tested them myself and compared to my 15" and 17" they were rather flat in sound. I haven't tested a G3 iMac in a while, but when I did, the sound was okay, but it was run most of the time via an external speaker system anyway.
Does your friend have a G3 you could compare to?
And if you use your G3 as jukebox, which will work, though 10.4 is the latest OS it will probably be capable to run, thus limiting your iTunes versions, you could always use an external speaker system, if the sound does not suffice your aural needs. But know, that running the iMac (+ speaker system) will use more power than your MBP will need to be used as jukebox / audio playback device.
 
Oh geez, it's been about 7 years since I last touched an iMac G3. I completely forgot how its speakers sounded. I do know one thing though, and that's that all of the speakers on the macbookpros are horrible enough for their supposed improvements going from lower to higher end models to not matter. Based on this one video I just watched of the G3's speakers, they don't look that big at all.

You can buy multimedia speakers for under 50 bucks that would probably sound better (altec lansing).

The 13" MBP's speaker are not that good, I tested them myself and compared to my 15" and 17" they were rather flat in sound.
Click to expand...

Flat is a good thing!
 
TMRaven said:
Flat is a good thing!
Click to expand...

I am not versed in audi terminology, thus I don't have the correct words for the sound, but I guess you use "flat" for "not too much bass and pretty dynamic" or something like that?
Anyway, while the 17" MBP's speakers are not super-duper, they are quite good for its size, especially compared to the 13" and 15" MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
 
No we use thin, tinny and lifeless for those descriptions :p

OP what is your budget for a 'jukebox?'
 
iMac G3's that had slot loading drives had really good Harman / Kardon speakers built in. They really put out some great volume too. It will play music better than just about any laptop.
 
Hrududu said:
iMac G3's that had slot loading drives had really good Harman / Kardon speakers built in. They really put out some great volume too. It will play music better than just about any laptop.
Click to expand...

Got it out of storage today and you're right, not bad at all.
 
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