Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iMac G3
- Thread starter Andrew07
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The question is really how much upgrading will it need and how much are you willing to spend on it? Also, what do you want to use it for?
Its free. What's the problem?
I agree. What's to lose? It's free! If you end up not wanting and/or liking the iMac, you can always give it away to someone else.
Everyone's right...what's not to like about free ?
What make's it worthwhile upgrading is really the CPU speed and then the RAM and whether or not it has firewire. Anything 400MHz and above makes it capable of a little bit more than just browsing/email/iTunes and the RAM they take is perhaps disproportionately expensive as it's comparatively rarely used nowadays. 512k is the acceptable minimum (so even another 256k module from eBay might be a valid buy).
Without firewire you're left with only USB 1.1 which drastically reduces the connectivity potential and IMO means you shouldn't really spend any extra on it. If you've got 400+MHz, 512k and Firewire then I'd recommend snapping up a (working !) DVD-ROM drive that someone's pulled from a deceased one and popped on eBay. Then you've got a nice, easily portable little media centre that can browse and download as well. You'll need a MatSHITa SR-8184 BTW.
A red 450 was my first computer, we have 3 of the little cuties knocking around the house and it's still a pleasure to use them. I've installed Ubuntu Linux on a partition on one of the 600MHz machines.
For all their lack of grunt I think they're wonderful, silent design classics and there'll never be another machine that's just so damn loveable.
What make's it worthwhile upgrading is really the CPU speed and then the RAM and whether or not it has firewire. Anything 400MHz and above makes it capable of a little bit more than just browsing/email/iTunes and the RAM they take is perhaps disproportionately expensive as it's comparatively rarely used nowadays. 512k is the acceptable minimum (so even another 256k module from eBay might be a valid buy).
Without firewire you're left with only USB 1.1 which drastically reduces the connectivity potential and IMO means you shouldn't really spend any extra on it. If you've got 400+MHz, 512k and Firewire then I'd recommend snapping up a (working !) DVD-ROM drive that someone's pulled from a deceased one and popped on eBay. Then you've got a nice, easily portable little media centre that can browse and download as well. You'll need a MatSHITa SR-8184 BTW.
A red 450 was my first computer, we have 3 of the little cuties knocking around the house and it's still a pleasure to use them. I've installed Ubuntu Linux on a partition on one of the 600MHz machines.
For all their lack of grunt I think they're wonderful, silent design classics and there'll never be another machine that's just so damn loveable.
Do it
I got a 350 mhz imac g3 for free. I upgraded the OS to 10.2 Jaguar, The RAM to 1 GB, and the HD to 80 GB running at 7200 RPM.
It does you tube, facebook, email, word, excel etc, its a capable computer for everyday tasks.
They're also REALLY easy to upgrade.
I got a 350 mhz imac g3 for free. I upgraded the OS to 10.2 Jaguar, The RAM to 1 GB, and the HD to 80 GB running at 7200 RPM.
It does you tube, facebook, email, word, excel etc, its a capable computer for everyday tasks.
They're also REALLY easy to upgrade.
I bought a 600MHz/640MB/40GB "Snow" iMac G3 a few months ago as a second computer to keep at my mother's house and I LOVE it! Works great. It came with an Apple Pro Keyboard and an Apple Pro Laser Mouse, each of which are worth about what I paid for the entire computer. So I think you should take it, you might be surprised what you can do with it.
I have a 400MHz G3 iMac, and with 512 mb of ram, it has more than enough computing power to run a web browser and a word processor.
They're easy to upgrade and can handle the basics, so you have nothing to lose by taking it!
They're easy to upgrade and can handle the basics, so you have nothing to lose by taking it!