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EFFENDI · Feb 5, 2006, 05:44 PM

I found a pretty good deal on a PowerMac G3 (Blue and White)
The system is a 450MHz G3, 128MB RAM, 9GB HD

All said and done its around $90 shipped. Worth it? I'm considering buying it for a younger sibling to forcefully switch him to the Mac platform.

Now my question is multifaceted due to my limited experience with this generation of Apple hardware:
a. Is it worth buying an older Mac? It is out of warranty, and repairs will surely be expensive.
b. Will it run OSX Tiger?
c. What are the best upgrades? Is the CPU upgradeable on these? And how much does one typically need to spend to make this a "useable" system?
d. Am I the only one who thinks they are sort of ugly?

Now I should point out that I already have a spare 80GB harddrive, and a DVDRW that I could use...

OreoCookie · Feb 5, 2006, 06:14 PM

It will run Tiger, but barely. It's not fun to work with them (judging from my experience with a G3 400 and various iMacs of roughly the same speed), especially if they have less than 512 MB RAM. You can obviously upgrade them, but you should keep in mind that you can get a significantly faster Mac for a few squids more. AFAIK the fastest cpu upgrades are 1.1 GHz G3s …

What are the specs of the machine?

EFFENDI · Feb 5, 2006, 06:18 PM

Its 450MHz G3, 128MB RAM, 9GB HD.

I would like to get a newer iMac since he needs a new monitor, and I don't want to fool with ADB/ADC adapters and such. Ahh, decisions decisions..

bowwowman · Feb 5, 2006, 06:32 PM

Assumming your sibling wont be doing anything stressful with it, with 768mb-1GB of ram & your 80gb HDD & DVD, it will run tiger just fine, for a youngin.......

One cheap upgrade you could do for ~$30 would be a Radeon 7000 32mb video card. Using the "QE Extreme" hack, you can enable Quartz Extreme, and that will speed up the OS X gui & screen redraws to a usable speed, and will improve movie watching also.

Beyond the above & you may as well go for a Sawtooth or DA, which can be found for ~$180-300, and come out with a faster, much more usable & upgradeable system in the long run........

OreoCookie · Feb 5, 2006, 07:55 PM

128 MB is not nearly enough. 512 MB is the bare minimum.
I would think you can find better deals with used G4s.

Exizl del Fuego · Feb 5, 2006, 09:52 PM

I actually just did the same thing, but my purpose was to set up a high-capacity HD server. To that end, I picked up 1GHz G3 upgrade, 3x256MB DIMMs (already had 128MB), an SATA card and 4 large HDs. I'm very pleased with the results (and it runs 10.4 just fine), so it can be done.

That said though, it might not be the best solution for you. It'll take a bit of fortification to bring it up to speed.

The hard drive that will come pre-loaded on this machine is going to suck. It'll be loud, slow and unreliable. You really should replace it with that spare 80GB HD. Plus the machine only has an ATA/33 bus. You should think about a higher speed ATA card. $~100
As stated above, you'll need to add more RAM. The machine can only handle 256MB per DIMM, so plan on picking up 3x256MB DIMMs. ~$100
450MHz G3 may be workable, but it could be tough. I'd suggest looking at a high-clocked G3 upgrade. ~$200
Keep in mind that 10.4 only comes on DVD now (you have a pay extra and make a special order for the multi-CD install). You should utilize that spare DVD-RW.

None of these items are very expensive but by the time you're finished bringing the machine into 2006, you're really in the price range of a new (or used) Mac Mini -- which would be a better machine in just about every way. It was worth it for me because I wanted to take advantage of the internal HD space. But for you (or your brother) the Mac Mini is where you should be looking. Or maybe a used iMac G4? What do those go for, now?

lothar56 · Feb 6, 2006, 12:04 AM

I've got a B&W G3/450/13gb/640. I got it for $50 with only 128MB of RAM. I wouldn't buy an old mac for the purpose of upgrading it, it's reeeeally not worth it. But the machine runs Tiger fine and is great for web/email/office/Red Faction, etc.

JCT · Feb 6, 2006, 12:13 AM

I recently upgraded a "gift" G3 almost exactly like Ryan's -- it is now a fileserver in my lab.

I tried to use mostly parts that I had lying around -- the only real money investment was a SATA card and a pair of 80 GB drives. I made sure that anything I purchased could move "up" (e.g. into a more capable machine if necessary).

I have been pleasantly surprised by how well the machine runs -- I even plugged in a framegrabber and configured some lab imaging software on it without a problem.

Kind of amazing that this 7-year old machine can run Tiger. Just the thought of loading WinXP on some of our real old lab PCs is hilarious.

Good luck,

JT

lothar56 · Feb 6, 2006, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by JCT

Kind of amazing that this 7-year old machine can run Tiger. Just the thought of loading WinXP on some of our real old lab PCs is hilarious.

Agreed. I have some 9 year old Beige G3's that can run Tiger and work great as file servers. But the key to upgrading a mac is to do what you did...don't spend a lot on stuff you can't use somewhere else.

Exizl del Fuego · Feb 6, 2006, 01:16 AM

If you decide you DO want to get the PowerMac G3 route, I just hopped on ebay and found this guy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll..._BIN_Stores_IT

It's a PowerMac G3 300MHz with a Buy-It-Now price of $25. It's lower-spec'ed than your $90 one, but only on things you'd want to upgrade anyway.

EFFENDI · Feb 6, 2006, 01:25 AM

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I think I am going to try and scrounge up some more money, and find a used G4 iMac.

angelmb · Feb 6, 2006, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by EFFENDI

d. Am I the only one who thinks they are sort of ugly?

Well, even when it is all about personal taste, I find they really cool.

EFFENDI · Feb 6, 2006, 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by angelmb

Well, even when it is all about personal taste, I find they really cool.

Oh, they are plenty cool. I guess the design does kind of grow on you after looking at enough images though. Still, compared to the latest hardware, they are a bit ugly. Looking back I can only laugh. I guess Apple decided they could only do so much with beige....then it was colourmania, and now we are back to non-colour...what on earth is next?

bowwowman · Feb 6, 2006, 09:29 AM

f you decide you DO want to get the PowerMac G3 route, I just hopped on ebay and found this guy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...07&ssPageName= MERC_VI_ReBay_Pr3_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT

It's a PowerMac G3 300MHz with a Buy-It-Now price of $25. It's lower-spec'ed than your $90 one, but only on things you'd want to upgrade anyway.

Yea but that one is a Rev 1 machine (data corruption problem), and with shipping, would cost way more than it is worth.....

02gtstang · Feb 6, 2006, 04:00 PM

my upgraded beige g3 sold for $124 this morning. we'll see if the buyer antes up.

dave49er · Feb 6, 2006, 07:09 PM

I just recently sold a B&W G3 for $80 with your specs, except a 13GB HD. Tiger actually ran on it, but a bit slow. When I had 640MB or more in it, Tiger ran fine. It's not a game machine, but email, web surfing, general use (Word, Excel) it's just fine. Just put in the 80GB and some more RAm and it'll be fine.