imac G5 questions

[newmacmom]

A coworker is offering to sell me her daughter's iMac G5 for cheap (like so cheap I am wondering why!), and I would let me daughter have it (she wants to start blogging, doing Kid Pix, etc). Anyway, what were the base specs on the G5? Is it basically upgradable if I want more RAM or hard drive or a different cd drive? Could I use the new Airport Extreme n with it?

She also said she thought it was red--did G5 have a color option?

Thanks!

 

[Queso]

There were three revisions of iMac G5. Revisions A & B were quite easy to open up and upgrade the RAM, Hard Disk etc. For Rev. C Apple redesigned the case to make it thinner, but as a consequence only RAM can be upgraded without a lot of effort.

The slowest iMac G5 was the Rev. A 1.6GHz, which came with a 17" screen. There were then 1.8GHz and a 2.0GHz models in that case design and a 2.0GHz model with a 20" screen before Apple brought out the Rev.Cs. The Rev. Cs came in either a 17" 1.9GHz or 20" 2.1GHz models, but included faster graphics cards and an iSight camera as standard. The Rev B & C. models also came with both BlueTooth and Wi-Fi built in. These were optional on the Rev. A machines, but you can still buy and insert the part from Apple.

Another point to remember is that the Rev. Bs & Cs came with 8x DVD burners (dual-layer on the Rev Cs), so it's really only the Rev. As that would require you to swap the CD drive out.

Lastly, providing the iMac has the Wi-Fi card, it will work with the new Airport Extreme, although only at the slower 802.11g speed.

More info on the specs here

 

[amiga]

There's never been a red iMac, only the white one... unless its an old CRT iMac and not one of the flat screen G5's? Might explain the price? I think they had G3's in 'em!