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is a G3 300mhz Tower still usefull?

D

d-fi

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 12, 2004
81
0
Calgary, Canada
Hey

My university is getting rid of some of their old apple's putting them up for tender. So (potentially) I have a chance to buy the following computer for cheap.

Blue/White G3 Tower
300mhz
64 mb of RAM (no apple on the campus has 64mb of RAM must have striped as much ram out as they could :()
6 GB harddrive.
cd-rom
philips 15"CRT

Now assuming i could get this for next to nothing, would this still be usefull for wordprocessing, internet e-mail, real basic tasks. I realy just need it so i can work at home so i don't have to keep running to campus everytime i need to work on assignment.

Now i know i would need more ram but 256 MB dimms are reasonable(i'm hoping RAM would cost more then the computer :))

Thanks
d-fi
 
If it's cheap, go for it!

It'll be fine for basic word processing, internet, e-mail...

Up the RAM (it's quite cheap) and install OS X and you can even meke yourself a little webserver out of it.

Plus, IIRC it's quite expandable storage-wise.
 
yeah snatch it up, i wouldn't pay more than a hundred bucks or so (without monitor) but it's definitely still got it's uses. Don't expect to play complex games and do video rendering or anything obviously, but for the basics it'll work just fine.

paul
 
Yeah, for the purposes you stated it'll do great. Buy it cheap, get RAM (512MB if you can swing it, but at least 256), get Panther, and you'll have a nice little machine for the day-to-day tasks.
 
Sure; assuming it's a pretty good price. Then drop a couple hundred on an accelerator... $150 for a 500MHz rated G4, or $235 for a 900MHz G3, if you can live without AltiVec, from OWC
 
Originally posted by tiktokfx
Sure; assuming it's a pretty good price. Then drop a couple hundred on an accelerator... $150 for a 500MHz rated G4, or $235 for a 900MHz G3, if you can live without AltiVec
Click to expand...

IMHO that goes against the idea of a cheapo Mac. If you're gonna spend the money for the comp + RAM + accelerator, you may as well go look for a more "modern" computer...

Plus a "low" end G3 (300+ MHz) is just fine for simple tasks...
 
The B&W's were among the most robust, well-made and sturdy Macs ever built. They were awesome machines. I bought one 5 (or so) years ago which has been on practically 24-7 since then and is still running just like on day 1.
Never had a problem with it ever. Mine is 350 Mhz, and in fact, YES, even video editing and such is very possible if you load it up with RAM, make sure the HD is defragmented/optimized, etc.

For simple word processing, email, web, etc., this machine won't even be all that noticeably slower than current models (except for SW startup times), but these babies even now still run Photoshop very nicely, and are also quite capable for web design. I'd snatch one up if I were you. Make sure you'll have current SW and OS, though, not some legacy versions.
 
you have to throw ram into it. i have a 4 year old g4 450mhz - and only because of the 2gb of ram i can do the work i have to do (graphics).
for word- & excel-work your machine will be (almost) fine.
.a
 
I am actually using that very machine to post this reply. I bought my B&W G3 new and I've NEVER had a problem with it. We've gone through lots of problems with the whole range of G4's at work but my G3 just kept chugging along. The only things I added were a scsi card and LOTS of ram. I work for a newspaper and do a lot of work from home via Timbuktu which includes color correction of photos in photoshop, laying out pages in Quark and making ads using Illustrator/Freehand. Gaming performance depends on what games you like. Starcraft n/p, Unreal Tournament is OK, not great, and Warcraft III is unplayable. Forget something like Halo :p

My next comp will be a rev.b G5 if they ever arrive. I was all pumped to get one this month but it looks like I'll have to wait a little longer. I've waited this long so a couple months more won't matter.
 
One More "AY".

I use my B&W 350 for similar things (and itunes) and it works great. Four years with not a glitch. Also, I am running Panther with no problems. Very easy to add an extra hard drive if you need it and RAm, of course. Also, it is a very quiet machine. Consider yourself lucky!

:)
 
I'm using a beige G3 tower at 266 MHz with something like 192 MB of RAM as my server, and it's capable of handling several regular websites with server-side includes, a pair of Perl-based wikis, three Mailman lists, a Movable Type installation with MySQL, and our incoming and outgoing mail server.
 
My beige 300 is still clunking along without any real problems to speak of, other than a lack of speed. If you dump enough RAM in as others have said, you'll be fine. And correct me if I'm wrong, but if those are blue and white case g3's, you can even run Panther on them. worth a shot...

I still use mine at home as a daily machine workhorse, running my own personal webserver, hosting my music collection for my other macs over airport, and basically being a general workstation. It'll do pretty much everything my other machines can do (albeit much more slowly), except run panther.

If they're still available, get it. monitors are cheap. :)
 
I've got a 266 here with 384 and it runs pretty well on OS X. The time to install OSX is pretty long, but it actually runs pretty well.
 
Originally posted by true777
The B&W's were among the most robust, well-made and sturdy Macs ever built. They were awesome machines. I bought one 5 (or so) years ago which has been on practically 24-7 since then and is still running just like on day 1.
Never had a problem with it ever. Mine is 350 Mhz, and in fact, YES, even video editing and such is very possible if you load it up with RAM, make sure the HD is defragmented/optimized, etc.

For simple word processing, email, web, etc., this machine won't even be all that noticeably slower than current models (except for SW startup times), but these babies even now still run Photoshop very nicely, and are also quite capable for web design. I'd snatch one up if I were you. Make sure you'll have current SW and OS, though, not some legacy versions.
Click to expand...

i'm with you 100% on that. I got my blue g3 in the fall of 99 and have not looked back. no problems to speak of, ever. I have upgraded the hell out of it but its still the same old reliable powermac only faster. its the most reliable thing in my life to be honest. runs panther quite well but i'm sure the G4 upgrade has a lot to do with that.
 
It'll be fine as long as you don't plan on running anything more demanding than Starcraft
 
If you get enough RAM, it would be able to run Panther fine. However, if you're only using it for such basic tasks, OS 9 would be snappier and would be enough to serve your purposes.
 
Originally posted by gwuMACaddict
boat anchor?
;)
Click to expand...

That's a wee bit harsh, a better use would be as a wheel-chock for your car on a steep hill:p.

In all honesty Pump it full of RAM, install OS 9 if it doesn't already, and you'll have a reliable work horse, that will make a great server in years to come, after you no longer need it for desktop tasks.
 
modem

I just realised that this machine doesn't come with a modem, an item that i would find quite helpful:D Do i have to buy a 'special' apple modem, or can i just chuck in any PCI modem?

What are my options for a modem?

d-fi
 
Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure you can just through in any old PCI or USB modem. You're in luck, they come cheap nowadays :p

Then again, don't go spending money before somebody has confirmed this.
 
Originally posted by Opteron
That's a wee bit harsh, a better use would be as a wheel-chock for your car on a steep hill:p.

In all honesty Pump it full of RAM, install OS 9 if it doesn't already, and you'll have a reliable work horse, that will make a great server in years to come, after you no longer need it for desktop tasks.
Click to expand...


i was teasin'.... we have an old imac at home that we use a dedicated mp3 server for the rest of the house and all the stereo systems via iTunes
 
You're not going to be able to just throw in any PCI modem.

The vast, vast, vast majority of internal modem cards for PCs rely on having the CPU do most of the work... i.e., software. And basically none of them work with any OS besides Windows... even Linux/whatever on x86.

Looks like you can get Global Village internal modems that are made specifically for the modem/serial slot in the B&W G3s on ebay for ~$20 though.

ebay auctions
 
Also, while some people may say that throwing accelerators into old Macs is a waste of money... it all depends.

Say

$100 for a B&W G3
$235 for a 900 MHz ZIF G3
$90 for 512MB RAM

$425 for a machine that's not a barnburner, but is very close to the speed of current low end new Macs at at least half the price. Sometimes paying twice as much for the latest, and some extra HD space etc makes sense, and sometimes you just don't have the money for it.
 
while the PCI modems probably won't just plug and play, there is a host of USB options that work like a charm, and plenty of them come with mac drivers, although OS X recognizes a bunch without them.
 
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