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Picked up an iMac G4 today!

T

three

Cancelled
Original poster
Jan 22, 2008
1,484
1,227
I was going about my day, running errands, and checking things off of my to-do list that I have been neglecting the past few days. I checked Twitter and had a friend (who knows I am addicted to PowerPC Macs) suggest that I stop by this specific pawn shop, as they had a few iMac G4 models out and for sale. I stopped by, saw a very dirty (VERY beat up) early 15" 700MHz model going for $30 and a fairly clean and in good shape 17" 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD model going for $50. After making sure the iMac powered on and works properly, I quickly purchased it and brought it home. I spent a good 30 minutes cleaning it with soapy water (being very careful of course) and a Magic Eraser. Most of the marks and dirty spots came right off. I still need to do a little bit more cleaning but it's good enough for now. After I cleaned it, I installed an Airport Extreme card, wiped the HDD, re installed Leopard, and installed a few "essential" applications. I've had a 700MHz 15" iMac G4 for a good number of years, and although I love it to death, I've always longed for a 17" or a 20" iMac G4. I wasn't going to pay eBay prices for one of these so I'm glad I found one for a good price in town!

Here's some crappy pictures. :D
 

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Very nice! Enjoy. Always great to find deals on classic machines like this one.

three said:
I was going about my day, running errands, and checking things off of my to-do list that I have been neglecting the past few days. I checked Twitter and had a friend (who knows I am addicted to PowerPC Macs) suggest that I stop by this specific pawn shop, as they had a few iMac G4 models out and for sale. I stopped by, saw a very dirty (VERY beat up) early 15" 700MHz model going for $30 and a fairly clean and in good shape 17" 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD model going for $50. After making sure the iMac powered on and works properly, I quickly purchased it and brought it home. I spent a good 30 minutes cleaning it with soapy water (being very careful of course) and a Magic Eraser. Most of the marks and dirty spots came right off. I still need to do a little bit more cleaning but it's good enough for now. After I cleaned it, I installed an Airport Extreme card, wiped the HDD, re installed Leopard, and installed a few "essential" applications. I've had a 700MHz 15" iMac G4 for a good number of years, and although I love it to death, I've always longed for a 17" or a 20" iMac G4. I wasn't going to pay eBay prices for one of these so I'm glad I found one for a good price in town!



Here's some crappy pictures. :D
Click to expand...
 
looks really cool... You got it for a nice price and it's really nice to look at. I'm curious as to why you like the G4 macs so much? Are you planning on using this as your main system? I remember my Powerbook G4 12" inch fully loaded was kind of a dog with performance. I remember thinking, why don't they just switch to intel CPUs? Of course we know how that played out. I think Apple finally was able to compete with windows based computers because of the switch to intel. I think it would be really cool if someone could mod that system you bought with a hackintosh or something like that...
 
Miltz said:
looks really cool... You got it for a nice price and it's really nice to look at. I'm curious as to why you like the G4 macs so much? Are you planning on using this as your main system? I remember my Powerbook G4 12" inch fully loaded was kind of a dog with performance. I remember thinking, why don't they just switch to intel CPUs? Of course we know how that played out. I think Apple finally was able to compete with windows based computers because of the switch to intel. I think it would be really cool if someone could mod that system you bought with a hackintosh or something like that...
Click to expand...

Thanks Miltz and Ih8reno! I'll be honest in saying that I like G4 iMacs so much just because of the looks. They're gorgeous. I'm not planning on using it as my main machine, I downloaded a older version of Spotify and am planning on using it as a iTunes music host / podcast / Spotify jukebox machine. Right outside of the frame of the pictures is my Hackintosh. I totally agree with you. I personally like PowerPC (older) Macs just because they're all unique and special in their own way. I might not use them to their full potential but I like looking at 'em. I'm glad that Apple did make the jump to Intel, as what you said, they can finally compete. I'd love to convert this iMac to a Hackintosh, I don't have the skills and the patience to do it though.
 
three said:
Thanks Miltz and Ih8reno! I'll be honest in saying that I like G4 iMacs so much just because of the looks. They're gorgeous. I'm not planning on using it as my main machine, I downloaded a older version of Spotify and am planning on using it as a iTunes music host / podcast / Spotify jukebox machine. Right outside of the frame of the pictures is my Hackintosh. I totally agree with you. I personally like PowerPC (older) Macs just because they're all unique and special in their own way. I might not use them to their full potential but I like looking at 'em. I'm glad that Apple did make the jump to Intel, as what you said, they can finally compete. I'd love to convert this iMac to a Hackintosh, I don't have the skills and the patience to do it though.
Click to expand...

You might surprised those intel computers that are smaller than the mac mini might just fit inside the base.
 
Miltz said:
You might surprised those intel computers that are smaller than the mac mini might just fit inside the base.
Click to expand...

fhall1 said:
They'll fit inside the base but getting them to drive the display is the hard part.
Click to expand...

I've seen a few iMac G4 modifications where they used a Intel Nuc for this, I'd do one of those in a heartbeat if I could. Fhall1 hit the nail on the head, I've done some research and in my understanding, it's not easy getting the display to work without some heavy modifications. That and I don't want to tear apart a perfectly working iMac G4, If I was to do the modifications, I'd get a non working model.
 
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