some MAC questions

R B Customs · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:15

hey guys im possibly getting a G3 or oen of those all in one screen (old) macs this week as my college is getting rid of a load of them.
just some questiosn:

do they format like 'regular PCs'
is installing an OS on a mac easy ?
whats the best OS for a G3
What makes them so popular with designers !?!
what would be the equivilent rig in PC format, to a Mac G3 ( we talkinpentium 2.6, celeron, what ? ) - ive read that they have a 266Mhz CPU... but im sure this works in a different way to a PC... hence why im asking lol

any other info would be great !

thanks
ill no doubt be back with more threads getting it sorted out

Rick

semi-pro waster · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:21

I've never tried formatting a Mac and it has (thankfully) been quite a while since I have had to use one but they use a different file system to NTFS/FAT32 so I'd assume that the formatting process is somewhat different as well.

It ought to be pretty easy to do, Macs pride themselves on being user-friendly to the extent they normally hide-away options that could cause you to damage your PC.

Don't know.

They are popular mainly for historical reasons because the software was originally available on Macs only and/or the Mac was a more stable platform at the time.

Need a bit more info about what G3 you are talking about I'd think because there have been quite a few models from what I understand.

Please also note that I haven't used a Mac since iMacs were first out so I will be somewhat out of date and I've tried not to let my huge dislike of them show through too much

R B Customs · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:41

didnt realise there was different G3s... thought a G3 was a G3

if its not the G3 im getting it will be an imac... it will probobly end up on the bay within a week but im gonna try and gain a little experience from them since its free !

suppsoe i was just wondering what to do when i get it !.
id imaginwee it would be sooo full of 'stuff' havving being in a school all the time ! (although not on a network, just as stand-alones)
for example first thing id do if sum1 gave me a PC is format and ire-install windows, was just wondering if it was that simple

also, what abotu upgrades... or should i just not go there lol
Rick

semi-pro waster · 10 Mar 2006 at 16:03

If memory serves then the iMac could only really have the Ram or hard drive changed.

iMacs were 233mhz in the first instance if I recall correctly as well but later revisions were faster. Here is the iMac support page on Apples site which may help a little. I just can't take any product seriously that sounds like a womens hygiene item.

I'm trying to work out the speed in comparison to PC but I'm not finding it too easy, at a guess based on the rough time scale it should be comparable to maybe an old PIII of around 500-600mhz but that is a very rough guess.

R B Customs · 12 Mar 2006 at 02:15

anyone got any more info ?
Rick

melchy · 14 Mar 2006 at 11:05

It'll simply be a case of switching on the power, quickly putting the system install or System Restore disk in and then holding down C to get it to boot from the CD. Once booted double click on the CD icon, double click on the installer and follow the instructions. One of the options is to "Erase" the drive before installing. Simply follow the instructions through and thats it. You usually get two sets of disks, ones a System Install and ones a System Restore. The system restore disk is pretty much like a ghost image of the machine, i cant remember off the top of my head whether you get the erase option or not when using that, i'd suspect you do and it may be the better option to use. Unless its a really recent iMac or G3 it will be OS9.x that will come with it unless its a really ancient one when it may be OS8.5 or OS8.6. OS X is unlikely to work on the machine unless you happen to get lucky and pick up one with a lot of RAM. To be honest the older iMacs under 300Mhz are pretty slow. I've a 400Mhz one sitting on my desk next to me here and thats not all that bad. Its running the most up to date version of OS9 you can get. OS 9 is nowhere near as nice as OS X. Little tip, if its an iMac your getting, go for a slot loading one, not one with a CD tray as the slot loaders are the newer faster machines.

FreeStream · 14 Mar 2006 at 13:34

R B CUSTOMS said:
do they format like 'regular PCs'
is installing an OS on a mac easy ?
Yes, its so so much easier than Windows, acivation/CD code carp either.

whats the best OS for a G3
I would imagine 9.2.2, but 10.4 will work but not very quickly..

What makes them so popular with designers !?!
They work, dont crash (dont have all this driver crap as a PC has to - designed for ONE platform)

what would be the equivilent rig in PC format, to a Mac G3 ( we talkinpentium 2.6, celeron, what ? ) - ive read that they have a 266Mhz CPU... but im sure this works in a different way to a PC... hence why im asking lol
G3.. hmmm, If my DP G4 867s ruffly 2.8Ghz Dual P4, I would say 1Ghz Pent? Look at proccessors of the time, show a ruff idea of speed.

any other info would be great !
Get it, and love it, however, it may seem slow to a more modern computer, my 3 year old G4 is now starting to feel really slow compared to my X2, but its certainly more stable.

thanks
ill no doubt be back with more threads getting it sorted out

Rick

King_Boru · 14 Mar 2006 at 13:39

I got an iBook G3 at home.

900Mhz
640MB Ram
Radeon 7000 VGA
80GB HDD
15inch Screen

Runs everything I want it to, even Unreal 2004 (Low settings). I used to use it for Uni doing Maya, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash. Excelent piece of kit.

Hard to compare it to a PC counterpart, they run very differently.

I would recomend looking at a G4 or higher. G3's are very much dead.

R B Customs · 14 Mar 2006 at 15:01

Wow guys thanks a lot dfor the input !!!

im gonna ahve another peek tomorrow, theyre just getting chucked out / givven to charity, i doubt ill use it as much as my PC, but i just wanted to get to grips with the platform and smile and nod when ever i hear one of my college mates saying ' I HATE MACS ! ' lol.

cant get any better than a G3 for free

may not be as lucky and get a one witht eh built in screen, the old trans green Imacs ( liek on the advert with that fellow having a party? showing the TWO leads that coem from his computer..)

thanks again guys, Very good advice as usual !
Rick