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Help The Newbie
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Sep 2006
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It's time to ask the experts. I want to dabble in MACs. I've been a PC guy since the begining and am really fed up. I bought an old i-mac at a garage sale for $10.00 and it works, but, 233mhz, 32mb ram, OS 8.5 and 3gb HDD. 1), how much ram will this computer handle? 2) where can I get RAM chips? 3) what is the highest OS version I can run on this machine? 4) Am I spinning my wheels on this? HELP!!!
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Welcome to MacNN
1) 1GB I think.
2) eBay. Just normal PC133 SDRAM
3) Panther (10.3) DO NOT INSTALL IT WITHOUT FIRST UPDATING THE FIRMWARE OR YOU WILL DESTROY YOUR IMAC
4) This is a 9 year old computer, it's not going to be super fast but it won't be too bad.
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Oh and BTW, your thread title sucks!
Next time put some info in it, "e.g 233mhz iMac, want some help upgrading it" or something like that.
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Admin Emeritus  Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
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Originally Posted by seanc
Welcome to MacNN
1) 1GB I think.
2) eBay. Just normal PC133 SDRAM
3) Panther (10.3) DO NOT INSTALL IT WITHOUT FIRST UPDATING THE FIRMWARE OR YOU WILL DESTROY YOUR IMAC
4) This is a 9 year old computer, it's not going to be super fast but it won't be too bad.
1. The maximum RAM is 512MB RAM, in the form of two 256MB PC66 SO-DIMMs, at least one of which must be low-profile to fit in the lower socket. Do not attempt to use PC100 or PC133 RAM in this model. Those are usually "high density" modules which will NOT work!! Note also that the installation process in this model is not for the faint of heart.
2. ramseekerŪ: Memory and Ram prices. Apple, PC, Digital Camera
3. I would not recommend running Mac OS X on that hardware, it WILL be frustratingly slow. Upgrade to 512MB of RAM and run Mac OS 9.1.
4. It's not a good beginner's Mac. I think you'd be better off getting a new Mac, since any skills you learn on the old iMac are obsolete.
tooki
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Yeah, Mac OS X Runs barely acceptably on my 900mhz G3 iBook with 384mb of ram. 900mhz is alot faster than 233.
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Admin Emeritus Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
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...and that iBook has a much faster system architecture that makes a big difference. Early iMacs make awful OS X machines.
tooki
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Originally Posted by macgeek2005
Yeah, Mac OS X Runs barely acceptably on my 900mhz G3 iBook with 384mb of ram. 900mhz is alot faster than 233.
I agree. I have a nice SLOW 400mhz G3 here with 384mb Ram. I guess I retract my earlier statement.
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Admin Emeritus Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
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Well, most 400MHz Macs had 100MHz system buses, and those weren't horrible under OS X. But the original iMacs had just 66MHz buses, which made a serious negative impact on OS X performance.
tooki
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Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Originally Posted by tooki
Well, most 400MHz Macs had 100MHz system buses, and those weren't horrible under OS X. But the original iMacs had just 66MHz buses, which made a serious negative impact on OS X performance.
tooki
It's perfectly usable but not fun.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Rockville, MD
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These are all just nuanced variations on "It sucks."
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