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hopelessromance

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 6, 2005
7
0
Belleville, ON, Canada
Okay. So I'm super newb.
Anyway. My bassist has a few Macs and I play with them lots, maily his mini cuz its hooked up to the internet and has all the sound stuff plugged in it for recording ourselves in Garage Band.
The other day we were talking on MSN and he offered me his older Mac. The OS is 10.2.9 and he's going to try to upgrade it to 10.3.9 before I buy it.
Its a PowerMac G3 desktop and done a few upgrades to the hardware as well as software.
He says he'll give it to me for $300.
I'm going to buy it but I want to know if anyone has had any problems with this kind of computer and anything else I might need to know.
Oh and as a side note, I can't get highspeed where I live and it only has an ethernet port. Do you know if there is such thing as a dialup to e-net adapter? That'd save me the $50 for an external.
Thanks
 
We need to know how much Ram, Mhz and HD space it has before we can give you good advice.
 
The G3 chip ran from 233Mhz to 700Mhz .. so give us more information than the OS version (currently/possible version) if its under 400Mhz it wont run tiger by any means .. 400Mhz G3 is bare minimum for tiger ..

So if the G3 is 350Mhz it'll only run 10.3.9 as its highest OS
 
I don't know exactly what's inside this one.
I didn't ask the specifics he just said the specs are going to look completely different than what it has.
RAM = 256
Hard Drive = 13 MB ..I don't really mind that I don't store mass amounts of stuff.
Processor = 1 site says 350Mhz w/ 1 MB cache and another 400 Mhz
Is it possible to upgrade the processor? That and the memory I'd like to change if he hasn't already.
I appologize for being a little ignorant but none of these are likely to look the same as on the actual model.
Lets assume it was a stock model. Would it be a good deal. Even with no upgrades?
 
I forgot to add that I'm in Canada. Mini's are like $100 more here. Damn economy and such.
But I also have almost nowhere to buy a Mac. I can order online, which won't happen because my parents won't let me use their credit card or I can get used stuff off Chris.
Although there is an iMac G5 that went through the MicrAge downtown. i could only guess how much they want for it. It's expensive all the time let alone for a Mac.
I wish I had the willpower to save money.
 
hopelessromance said:
I forgot to add that I'm in Canada. Mini's are like $100 more here. Damn economy and such.
But I also have almost nowhere to buy a Mac. I can order online, which won't happen because my parents won't let me use their credit card or I can get used stuff off Chris.
Although there is an iMac G5 that went through the MicrAge downtown. i could only guess how much they want for it. It's expensive all the time let alone for a Mac.
I wish I had the willpower to save money.
I would say its worth around $150
 
hopelessromance said:
Okay. So I'm super newb.
Anyway. My bassist has a few Macs and I play with them lots, maily his mini cuz its hooked up to the internet and has all the sound stuff plugged in it for recording ourselves in Garage Band.
The other day we were talking on MSN and he offered me his older Mac. The OS is 10.2.9 and he's going to try to upgrade it to 10.3.9 before I buy it.
Its a PowerMac G3 desktop and done a few upgrades to the hardware as well as software.
He says he'll give it to me for $300.
I'm going to buy it but I want to know if anyone has had any problems with this kind of computer and anything else I might need to know.
Oh and as a side note, I can't get highspeed where I live and it only has an ethernet port. Do you know if there is such thing as a dialup to e-net adapter? That'd save me the $50 for an external.
Thanks
Go buy a Mini and you will have the latest greatest in a tiny and silent package that will smoke that G3. enough said, it aint worth $300
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
Go buy a Mini and you will have the latest greatest in a tiny and silent package that will smoke that G3. enough said, it aint worth $300
I know the guy I'm buying it from has one. I heart it ever so much.
And I have nowhere to buy Macs from. No dealers anywhere near here and I can't order online.
I think I'll probably still buy it. When you've ran a refurbished white horse PC with 256 RAM and a 12G hd, running 98 and ME most your life anythings better.
Thanks.
Oh yah. And that adapter. Does it exist?
 
Oh. I just realized I should clarify something.
When I google PowerMac G3 it tends to come up with some 90's PC looking thing.
That's not the one I'm buying.
This is clear and blue and pretty looking haha.
I don't know how to describe it. It looks like those Macs that were just the big tube screens with the cool colours in desktop form.
Just thought of that so I figured I should clear it up.
 
I wouldnt pay $300 ($260 US Dollars) for an old powermac G3. I think you will be disappointed soon after the purchase. It seems like you're already set on it, though. Good luck...
 
hopelessromance said:
This is clear and blue and pretty looking haha.

OK, so it's the PM G3 Blue & White, rather than the PM G3 Desktop. It ranged from 300 to 450 MHz (I don't know the other specs off the top of my head).
 
hopelessromance said:
I know the guy I'm buying it from has one. I heart it ever so much.
And I have nowhere to buy Macs from. No dealers anywhere near here and I can't order online.
I think I'll probably still buy it.

Well then sounds like you've made up your mind, good luck with the new computer.

For the record im with Donthurtme on this one.
 
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