[Koralatov]

My Mac addiction continues apace, and I have plonked down £80 for a Blue Dalmation iMac G3. It's not actually for me, but rather a present for a friend of mine--I think she'd get a real kick out of the styling of it.

However, I intend to upgrade the hell out of it before I give it to her; slam in two 512MB RAM sticks and an 80GB hard-disk. My questions are as follows:

1. Can I upgrade the ports to USB2 somehow?
2. Can I get an internal CD-RW/DVD-ROM for the G3, or am I SOL in that respect? I imagine she'd like it a lot more if she could watch DVDs on it as well.

I realise I'm probably not going to be able to upgrade to USB2, but I thought I'd ask anyway. It'd definitely make it easier for her when she comes to syncing her iPod with it (it'd be slow as molasses otherwise), and also for downloading photos into iPhoto.

So, people, is it possible?

[mcurule]

Hey there Koral!

I think he have the same addiction LOL.

I bought 2 imac g3s from ebay cause i love their design and upgraded the crap out of them.

What I did:

logicboard upgrade : from 350 Mhz to 600 mhz (USB 1.0 and firewire)
cd upgrade: from plain CD-ROM to DVD-ROM (very easy upgrade)
hard drive: from 6GB to 120 GB
RAM: from 120 MB to 512 MB

I got all the parts from ebay for very cheap, you can find internal DVD-roms for the imacG3

However i dont think you can upgrade the USB cause i think thats part of the logicboard chipset. not sure though about it

Internals of imac G3 are a little tricky, if you have any questions send me an email

Nick

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Koralatov 

1. Can I upgrade the ports to USB2 somehow?
2. Can I get an internal CD-RW/DVD-ROM for the G3, or am I SOL in that respect? I imagine she'd like it a lot more if she could watch DVDs on it as well.

No.
Yes, but I don't know if it has enough CPU to play DVDs smoothly.

[imitchellg5]

It should play DVDs smoothly if it is a dalmation iMac since those are 500 or 600 MHz (can't remember which). The RAM will help. I will admit that upgrading an iMac G3 is kind of an dead end, there is only so much you can do. I only got one because it was free, and I love messing around with OS 9.

[mcurule]

Originally Posted by mduell 

No.
Yes, but I don't know if it has enough CPU to play DVDs smoothly.

600 mhz play ok

[analogika]

The original iMac DV was 400 MHz and played back DVDs fine - albeit under OS 9.

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by mcurule 

I bought 2 imac g3s from ebay cause i love their design and upgraded the crap out of them.

What I did:

logicboard upgrade : from 350 Mhz to 600 mhz (USB 1.0 and firewire)
cd upgrade: from plain CD-ROM to DVD-ROM (very easy upgrade)
hard drive: from 6GB to 120 GB
RAM: from 120 MB to 512 MB

I got all the parts from ebay for very cheap, you can find internal DVD-roms for the imacG3
[...]
Internals of imac G3 are a little tricky, if you have any questions send me an email

Thanks for the input, and the offer of help--it's very much appreciated. Depending on how it goes, you may get a frantic email requesting aid from me.

I bought the iMac for the same reason--I absolutely love their design, and my friend is always asking why I'm so obsessed with Apple, so I thought the best way to show her would be to get her one as a house-warming present. Normally, it would be much cheaper to just get her to come round and play with my iMac, but she doesn't live in Aberdeen anymore...

On a related note, if it doesn't get any better, perhaps we should start the first group of Apple Anonymous, to try and overcome our addiction together.

Originally Posted by analogika 

The original iMac DV was 400 MHz and played back DVDs fine - albeit under OS 9.

Cheers, analogika. That pretty much answers my question! I'll be scouring every last trace of OS9 off the hard-disk and putting Tiger in its place--it may be horrific snobbery on my part, but I genuinely cannot stand OS9. It seems so primitive compared to Tiger, and it lacks the iApps, which I love.

Whilst I agree with imitchellg5 on the relative dead-end of upgrading an iMac G3, I still think it's a worthwhile endeavour, and a good way to introduce someone to Apples. And besides, it's not really that expensive--less than £200 in total, which is less than I've ever seen a G4 go for. Throw in the fact that she'd like the form-factor, and it's in 'her' colours, and I think (in this case) it's a winner. The only problem is getting an Airport card for the damned thing at anything like a reasonable price--due to their scarcity, they seem to go for upward of £50 in the UK, and something similar in the States. I was lucky enough to get one for my iBook for £30 including shipping from New York, but I think that was a one-off.