iMac G3 Purchase

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.

 

As long as you have 256 mb's of RAM you'll be fine running Leopard (can't testify to the speediness).

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

$20 bucks seems definately fair to me.

 

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$

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

That's worth a LOT more then $20 in my opinion. 350 MHz is PLENTY to run most OS X apps.