G3 Macs - still going strong?
After reading this story over at TUAW, I was inspired to start a discussion about G3 Macs. Is yours still going strong? Do you use it every day? Are you using it right now?
I have a 450Mhz Indigo iMac G3 and still use it almost daily (it's not connected to the net so I have to use my PC). OS X runs surprisingly well, obviously with a compromise on some of the visual effects, but that doesn't really bother me. I plan to by a MacBook for sixth form in September to run alongside it, but only cause it's a portable
. I think it's great that five year old Macs can run Apple's latest operating system, year Leopard's probably gonna be out of the question but I'll have my MacBook by then. My PC, bought in 2001 (same age as my iMac) is slowing right to a halt, and there's not a cat in hell's chance that it'll run Vista smoothly. Just goes to show...
I have a 450Mhz Indigo iMac G3 and still use it almost daily (it's not connected to the net so I have to use my PC). OS X runs surprisingly well, obviously with a compromise on some of the visual effects, but that doesn't really bother me. I plan to by a MacBook for sixth form in September to run alongside it, but only cause it's a portable
. I think it's great that five year old Macs can run Apple's latest operating system, year Leopard's probably gonna be out of the question but I'll have my MacBook by then. My PC, bought in 2001 (same age as my iMac) is slowing right to a halt, and there's not a cat in hell's chance that it'll run Vista smoothly. Just goes to show...
Comments
Originally posted by max_naylor
gonna be out of the question but I'll have my MacBook by then. My PC, bought in 2001 (same age as my iMac) is slowing right to a halt, and there's not a cat in hell's chance that it'll run Vista smoothly. Just goes to show...
Did you add tons of crapware like Real and Quicktime to startup? do you have or have you had lots of spyware? have you run system cleanup? and lastly; have you reinstalled?
and you got it in 2001; is it running ME or XP? computers do not get slower: they just get bogged down with crap; it is just as fast as the day you got it.
Originally posted by a_greer
...computers do not get slower: they just get bogged down with crap; it is just as fast as the day you got it.
I agree... however...
I don't spend NEARLY as much time "cleaning" OSX as I do XP... XP is just targeted by spam/bloatware to such a degree that it is impossible to maintain a "clean" system.
I kinda dread the day that OSX's market share gets any larger.
On the subject of PC's gettig slower vs. Macs getting slower. I'd say the PC's in my experience get more clogged with crap much more easily. Add to that my experience (YMMV) that OS upgrades are much smoother on the Mac side and usually do not bog down the machine the way Windows upgrades do.
sitting on my desk and loves me from day one (about
6 years ago, well time is fading away.
Originally posted by segovius
My missus is using our old imac G3 350mhz 7GB HD (!) - no firewire, no dvd. Ben running continually for years barring system updates.
It's running 10.3.5 and with the Shadowkiller haxie is not too bad just for surfing and emails.
Hey just upgrade the HD (as I did), say, put in a modern 80 Gig HD 7200
and the same computer will feel much much faster like an exchange.
Trust me.
David
Originally posted by hardeeharhar
Computers can get slower as components and transitors are not perfect and will degrade over time... albeit slowly...
THe only case I can think of where a computer slows down over time is if conductor drift is allowed to occur in the clock or PLL, subsequently slowing down the clock. The synchronous logic that makes up the rest of the computational parts of a computer is edge-triggered, and hence impervious to gradual physical changes so long as the clock period remains the same.
Fortunately, conductor drift, gate depletion, etc, take a long, long, time on any silicon, and especially on the relatively large silicon of the G3 class machines. Furthermore, it's just as likely for physical degradation to speed up the clock or PLL.
Back on topic: I have an old 350MHz Yosemite that I am tempted to beef up with a faster G3. If I find a good deal, I'll probably bite. 800MHz or faster, ideally. A 500+MHz G4 might also be an option.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
THe only case I can think of where a computer slows down over time is if conductor drift is allowed to occur in the clock or PLL, subsequently slowing down the clock. The synchronous logic that makes up the rest of the computational parts of a computer is edge-triggered, and hence impervious to gradual physical changes so long as the clock period remains the same.
Fortunately, conductor drift, gate depletion, etc, take a long, long, time on any silicon, and especially on the relatively large silicon of the G3 class machines. Furthermore, it's just as likely for physical degradation to speed up the clock or PLL.
Way to take all the humor out of his joke.
Originally posted by progmac
Way to take all the humor out of his joke.
Apolgies for being an engineer. If I made a subtle reference to relief efforts in the balkans, I'm sure you would take in a different stride than the rest of us would.
Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot
I agree... however...
I don't spend NEARLY as much time "cleaning" OSX as I do XP
I usally have to clean the cookie crumbs out of my keyboard once a week.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Apolgies for being an engineer. If I made a subtle reference to relief efforts in the balkans, I'm sure you would take in a different stride than the rest of us would.
Hah, you made me laugh out loud. Point taken
- Jasen.
p.s. Old Blue has been upgraded to a G4/800, so maybe it doesn't really qualify?
Originally posted by a_greer
Did you add tons of crapware like Real and Quicktime to startup? do you have or have you had lots of spyware? have you run system cleanup? and lastly; have you reinstalled?
and you got it in 2001; is it running ME or XP? computers do not get slower: they just get bogged down with crap; it is just as fast as the day you got it.
I reformat about every six months, and I have streamlined the startup process as much as possible, and have tried to optimise performance as much as I can. I don't think it's reasonable to have to erase the contents of my hard drive and start from scratch in order to get tolerable performance. It's a downfall of XP and all of its predecessors. I've had OS X on my G3 iMac since 2003 and it still runs as fast as the day I installed it. What's up with that?
It is also on a Network and where as sometimes my Quicksilver and Powerbook dont wont to talk to one another the 9600 is always ready to connect to the Network!