Where to get an iMac G3

[sk8er123]

Hey people,
Getting straight to the point, I've never owned a G3 mac, and I know they are all obsolete and slow but I've still wanted to try one out. Been looking at ebay and it looks like it would cost over $70 bucks for a G3 iMac in decent condition!! My better judgement finds it hard to spend that kind of money on a ~15 year old computer that I just wanna play around with for kicks and giggles... So does any one know where I could get a G3 mac for a more reasonable price, or is that just how it goes?
Thank you very much.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

Try your local classifieds or electronics recyclers.

 

[MatthewLTL]

i have a iMac G3... it dont power up anymore, CD Drive broke and the CD Drive cage and IDE cables have long been lost but im sure it can be fixed you can have it if you want

 

[bunnspecial]

There were a couple listed on the Lexington, KY Craigslist a few weeks back. Both were slot loading-he had a graphite for $10 and a "flower power" for $40. They were in Nicholasville, KY and claimed to be fully working.

I exchanged a few emails with the guy and started to make him an offer on the pair(he said he was open). I ended up not doing it because I really don't get super excited over iMacs. If he still has them, I'd guess you could probably get him down to $30-40 for the pair, since he seemed sort of anxious to sell when I talked to him.

If he still has them, it might be work your time to deal with him. Cincy to Lexinginton is about an hour to an hour and a half(depending on where you are), and then another 15-20 minutes on to Nicholasville(depending on where he is). It would probably cost you less than shipping them(those things aren't cheap). The Flower Power doesn't really appeal to me, but it is an interesting part of Apple history-if I'd gone it would have been the main reason I'd bough them(see parallel thread about collecting).

 

[A.Goldberg]

Craigslist or Goodwill your best bet.

You could check out eBay and such but shipping is a killer on those things.

 

[sk8er123]

There were a couple listed on the Lexington, KY Craigslist a few weeks back. Both were slot loading-he had a graphite for $10 and a "flower power" for $40. They were in Nicholasville, KY and claimed to be fully working.

I exchanged a few emails with the guy and started to make him an offer on the pair(he said he was open). I ended up not doing it because I really don't get super excited over iMacs. If he still has them, I'd guess you could probably get him down to $30-40 for the pair, since he seemed sort of anxious to sell when I talked to him.

If he still has them, it might be work your time to deal with him. Cincy to Lexinginton is about an hour to an hour and a half(depending on where you are), and then another 15-20 minutes on to Nicholasville(depending on where he is). It would probably cost you less than shipping them(those things aren't cheap). The Flower Power doesn't really appeal to me, but it is an interesting part of Apple history-if I'd gone it would have been the main reason I'd bough them(see parallel thread about collecting).

Yeah I think I will look into that, they showed up in Cincy cl because of "few local results", I will probably email him. Gosh all the powerpc macs in cincy go for wayyyy more than Louisville or Lexington!! What's up with that?! Is it because they are a little bit bigger cities? (well actually lexington and cincy are about the same so idk). Grass is always greener on the other side I guess but it sure seems like there are more deals in Ky

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i have a iMac G3... it dont power up anymore, CD Drive broke and the CD Drive cage and IDE cables have long been lost but im sure it can be fixed you can have it if you want

Shipping cost to Cincy from Mn tho... EEK! But I really do appreciate the offer though! Ugh blasted shipping... Same dilemma on ebay, bad thing about CRT macs they weigh a lot haha

 

[bunnspecial]

Yeah I think I will look into that, they showed up in Cincy cl because of "few local results", I will probably email him. Gosh all the powerpc macs in cincy go for wayyyy more than Louisville or Lexington!! What's up with that?! Is it because Cincy is a little bit of a bigger city? (well actually lexington and cincy are about the same so idk). Grass is always greener on the other side I guess but it sure seems like there are more deals in Ky

The grass is always greener

The PPC deal I ever made(at least of computers that I actually had to pay for) was in Cincy. A guy on the north end of town had 15 G3 and G4 towers that he just wanted to move, and sold me the whole bunch for $40. Some of them were too far gone to save, but several booted right up and several others only needed minor repairs or to have missing parts replaced.

I completely cleaned out my car then drove up and met him in the parking lot of Microcenter

BTW, I haven't checked the population numbers recently but you have to remember that Lexington and Fayette County now have a merged government and the population statistics reflect that. There aren't that many big towns around Lexington where people commute for work-Nicholasville and Versailles are probably the main ones, but they're not that big. Most folks consider Frankfort(my home town) too far away from Lexington for a regular commute, although everyone goes to Lexington on the weekends and of course a lot of people come in(from all over) for basketball games at Rupp.

For all intents and purposes, I consider NKY part of Cincy, and I think that if you included the people who live in NKY and commute into Cincy you'd get that number a lot higher. My sister and brother in law live in Union(actually on the outskirts of the NKY area) and he commuted to the north side of Cincy for two years(he's a pilot, and now just has to go to the airport to go to work).

But, anyway, I digress...as I said the ones in Nicholasville are already cheaper than Ebay prices and it would probably cost you less to drive there and get them than to have them shipped. If you do buy them, I'd suggest getting both, as I do think he'd give you a good price on them.

 

[sk8er123]

The grass is always greener

The PPC deal I ever made(at least of computers that I actually had to pay for) was in Cincy. A guy on the north end of town had 15 G3 and G4 towers that he just wanted to move, and sold me the whole bunch for $40. Some of them were too far gone to save, but several booted right up and several others only needed minor repairs or to have missing parts replaced.

I completely cleaned out my car then drove up and met him in the parking lot of Microcenter

BTW, I haven't checked the population numbers recently but you have to remember that Lexington and Fayette County now have a merged government and the population statistics reflect that. There aren't that many big towns around Lexington where people commute for work-Nicholasville and Versailles are probably the main ones, but they're not that big. Most folks consider Frankfort(my home town) too far away from Lexington for a regular commute, although everyone goes to Lexington on the weekends and of course a lot of people come in(from all over) for basketball games at Rupp.

For all intents and purposes, I consider NKY part of Cincy, and I think that if you included the people who live in NKY and commute into Cincy you'd get that number a lot higher. My sister and brother in law live in Union(actually on the outskirts of the NKY area) and he commuted to the north side of Cincy for two years(he's a pilot, and now just has to go to the airport to go to work).

But, anyway, I digress...as I said the ones in Nicholasville are already cheaper than Ebay prices and it would probably cost you less to drive there and get them than to have them shipped. If you do buy them, I'd suggest getting both, as I do think he'd give you a good price on them.

I'm towards the north side.... I am now filled with jealousy and hope at the same time... (about your deal you got from the northside) I guess my powerpc deal will come some time or another.. And about the population, I was wondering why it seemed so high compared to cincy, and I do agree a large workforce and a lot of larger businesses come from NKY and I consider people who live in NKY to be part of cincy, i mean of course, theyre in the 275 loop anyways haha.

Anyways, just mapped it and its a little over two hours which all in all could be worse, little more than I would usually think to go but I'll probably shoot an email this week and go pick one (or both) up. If all this freaking snow goes away. (7-10 inches downtown today )

 

[bunnspecial]

We're getting 1-2" an hour in Louisville now...and to think it was pooring down rain 12 hours ago. The Lexington stations this morning were saying 4-6". Wave 3 here in Louisville now is saying 10-12" for the Ohio Valley and south. We also got probably a good 1/2" or so of sleet before it started snowing, which is going to turn into a sheet of ice once temperatures drop tonight.