[zanyterp]

i have a powermac g3 (beige DT) and have tried to figure out which model i have and it has been to no avail (looked at ROM and not sure still) and would like more ram. i currently have 288MB-if i were to get a 256MB chip and i am limited to the 384MB, would it hurt my machine (i personally can't imagine why it would, but want to make sure that is corret logic)? or just be spending more money than i really need to?
as to hdd, ata100/133 are backwards compatible with ata66, right? i would like a new one too (4gb seems so small now a days) and most of what i see in larger models are either ata 100 or 133. i wouldn't be able to take advantage of the greater speed until i am able to upgrade. . .but it could theoretically transfer to the new mac, right?
thanks for your help and understanding with my questions!!

nick

[chabig]

You're Mac has three RAM slots. Each can hold up to 256MB or SDRAM for a total of 768 MB. You should be fine if you just plop in another 256MB.

And you're right about the hard drive. You can buy the latest drive and just use it. Then when you upgrade to a newer machine you can just transfer the drive to the new machine.

Chris

[jcadam]

unless you upgrade to a PMG5, which uses serial ATA. I wouldn't be surprised if iMacs move to serial ATA (would help with that small form factor!) soon also.

Even then, you could get an external FW enclosure, I guess. Or try using an ATA->serial ATA adapter.

[SSharon]

I have a beige G3 at home and upgraded (removed) the stock 4gb HD and put in an 80gb drive a long time ago. It hasn't had any problems and with the price of IDE drives so cheap don't worry about the SATA business stuff unless you plan on buying a huge drive to put in the G3 (but I think the max is 120-something). Then when you get a new comp. with SATA just put this drive in a firewire enclosure as mentioned since you don't want a (small) 80gb drive taking up a valuable slot (only 2 in the G5) where you could be putting in 250's