Re: Considering an iMac

[John Slavin]

Well first and foremost, get one of the machines that was released in 
1999 or later.  That's when they went from 66 to 100 Mhz bus, and the 
RAM slots are much easier to get to.  Moreover you don't have that 
confusing 8 GB limit on the IDE bus which requires that the drives 
larger than 8 gb be partitioned and OS X be on the first partition.  
Most of these models start with drives of at least 10 GB, so you can 
get by for while with that if necessary.  I think the processors for 
these models started at 350 Mhz for the CD model.  The DV models 
started at 400 Mhz and had DVD drives and firewire.  (There are some 
non DV models that have a DVD drives, but not firewire, so keep and eye 
on that.)   We have one of the 400 Mhz DV models here at our office and 
have been very happy with it.  I just bought one of newer 450 Mhz 
models a couple of weeks ago on ebay.  It has the optical mouse.  I 
gave $325.00 for it and spent another $70 or so to add a 256MB DIMM.  
If you get one with a firewire plugin, you can add a aux. drive later, 
either dvd or cd burner, or even external hard drives.  I prefer the 
dvd drive internally myself.  My kids have an imac in their room and 
watch movies all the time.  Sure we could have another tv and dvd 
player, but then you've got to find a place to put it.  LowEnd Mac has 
the specs for all these models.  I'd check there.

On Tuesday, April 6, 2004, at 02:29  PM, Matt Jordan wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking for some advise and the general "lowdown" on the various
early G3 iMacs.  I hope to purchase one but before I do, I figured 
that it
would be best if I ask people who know more about them.  Based on the
information below, which iMacs should I consider?  (I do not want to 
spend
too much money on this system so I am expecting it to be around 500 
MHz or
less.)

Use: I want this as a "secondary" OS X machine and would like to use it
for mild Photoshop, a few 3D games (like Myst III: Exile, which 
reportedly
runs fine on any iMac), websurfing and general applications.  Things 
don't
have to be blazingly fast by any means but I don't want to be 
frustrated
by poor performance.  Stability is a must.

Upgrades:  Maxing out the RAM is definately a first on the list of 
things
to do.  Also, do iMacs accept any newer ATA drive?  Do they benefit 
from
faster ATA/133 drives and 8MB cache models?

Ports:  Firewire would be nice but I could certainly live without it.

Which iMac(s) would be best for me?  Anything I should know?  Any
suggestions?
Thanks a lot!

Matt

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John Slavin
Kirksville, MO
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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