Just Bought my First Mac, Just One Question

win2mac524

Well I just bought my first Mac today. I decided to go with an older, cheaper Mac.



Apple iBook (Firewire) Indigo G3 366Mhz

- 320MB Ram

- Mac OS X 10.3.9



It's running 10.3.9 and its great but I wanted to upgrade to Tiger. I just wanted to know if it's worth it, and I wanted to know (from people who have done it) if it noticably slows down the computer.



Anyways, Im really loving it I can't wait to get a chance to really get into it.



Thanks,

Matt

mydo

WOW that's an old Mac. You're like 4 or 5 CPUs behind. I doubt tiger would slow it down too much but you wont be able to take advantage of most of the new features.

sthiede

what was your reasoning for going with such an old mac? did you just not have the money to go with at least a G4? not flaming, just asking

win2mac524

Well I wasnt planning on switching for a while, and when I saw this one on craigslist cheap I had to go for it. I couldnt find a good deal on any G4's, they all had problems. I saw this one for $150, its in really good condition and its pretty fast for what it is, so no complaints here.



Alittle background: Im 16 and without a job so I already wasnt looking to spend alot of money.



PS: Don't worry about the flaming, it was a reasoonable question.

sthiede

Quote:

Originally Posted by win2mac524


Well I wasnt planning on switching for a while, and when I saw this one on craigslist cheap I had to go for it. I couldnt find a good deal on any G4's, they all had problems. I saw this one for $150, its in really good condition and its pretty fast for what it is, so no complaints here.



Alittle background: Im 16 and without a job so I already wasnt looking to spend alot of money.



PS: Don't worry about the flaming, it was a reasoonable question.

oh your 16, thats a great reason for buying a cheap machine. 150$ is a great deal, and if your impressed with that machine, then is you save your money and buy a Mac with an intel processor, wow you will be super impressed. i almost did the same thing (i was going to buy a 12" iBook G4 for about $300) but my parents wouldn't let me. then my dad wanted a computer and i persuaded him to get one of the new macbooks and he was SO impressed he got me one of the C2D ones for Christmas (i paid for half however).



background: i am 15 and wise beyond my years

turnwrite

I had that exact machine for a while, and I ran Tiger on it with no problems. It was pretty slow, but that's just because it's an old machine, and if you are running Panther it shouldn't be too much slower than that. It is definitely worth it, Spotlight is fantastic.



Love those little clamshells, when I upgraded to a G4, I was so sad to leave my bright colorful laptop behind...

mydo

You should get more RAM IMO. My wife's old iBook has OS X and it seems fine. I wouldn't bother with Tiger though.

turnwrite

Quote:

Originally Posted by mydo


You should get more RAM IMO. My wife's old iBook has OS X and it seems fine. I wouldn't bother with Tiger though.

I think that those iBooks max out at 320MB.

flounder

Congrats, and welcome. Get yourself a job this summer and save your pennies for a shiny new mac

jvb

I had a blast with my first Mac, but definitely start saving for a new one!

max_naylor

Yeah, really do. When I was 13 or 14 I saved for my first Mac, a 450MHz G3 Indigo iMac! It’s now in my sister’s room, she barely uses it but I can’t bear to let it go. Design classic! Anyway, it took me like 4 years but I eventually saved up the money for a shiny new MacBook 2.0GHZ/1GB/100GB/white affair and got it in July. Never looked back. Now I’m sixteen, looking for a job (applied for the Apple Store 4 times and didn’t get a single reply), and saving up for other gadgety gear, like a monitor, Elgato EyeTV Diversity, Xbox 360, iTV, Mac Pro, etc. Oh well, now I’m just waffling on.



I should really get I job shouldn’t I?

jvb

Quote:

Originally Posted by max_naylor


Yeah, really do. When I was 13 or 14 I saved for my first Mac, a 450MHz G3 Indigo iMac! It?s now in my sister?s room, she barely uses it but I can?t bear to let it go. Design classic! Anyway, it took me like 4 years but I eventually saved up the money for a shiny new MacBook 2.0GHZ/1GB/100GB/white affair and got it in July. Never looked back. Now I?m sixteen, looking for a job (applied for the Apple Store 4 times and didn?t get a single reply), and saving up for other gadgety gear, like a monitor, Elgato EyeTV Diversity, Xbox 360, iTV, Mac Pro, etc. Oh well, now I?m just waffling on.



I should really get I job shouldn?t I?

Just apply to tons of places, anywhere you can think of. A minimum wage paying job at a grocery store is better than no job at all.

mydo

Quote:

Originally Posted by turnwrite


I think that those iBooks max out at 320MB.

There's no way. Many times Apple spec's for max RAM are based on the ram cards that were available at the time the model came out. My 266 iMac is well beyond the stated max RAM from Apple.

turnwrite

Quote:

Originally Posted by mydo


There's no way. Many times Apple spec's for max RAM are based on the ram cards that were available at the time the model came out. My 266 iMac is well beyond the stated max RAM from Apple.

Oh okay, well I haven't tried it, that's just what I read.

max_naylor

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvb


Just apply to tons of places, anywhere you can think of. A minimum wage paying job at a grocery store is better than no job at all.

OK, just try telling that to my dad. He thinks I?m to good to work at Pret a Manger.

fatcatdj

you wont be able to download over 50% of the porn out there with that machine

jvb

Quote:

Originally Posted by max_naylor


OK, just try telling that to my dad. He thinks I?m to good to work at Pret a Manger.

If you're 16 there is no job that you are "too good for". And that is nothing to be ashamed about.

flounder

Max, my advice is to get a job as a bus boy at a fairly nice restaurant. The money will be OK, and you can parlay that into a job waiting tables during the summer when you're in college. Then the money is good, and you'll probably meet some cute waitresses to hang out with after work.

neebong

Lol.. i've still got a Old old G3 (266mhz) running 10.2.8.. sitting under my DVD player. Runs as a wee server! still works. still holds the majority of my decent tunes.. and is connected to my TV!



I've just got a new MacBook but, It just proves that old technology is still cool and works fine!



PS.. I agree with everyone else. Any job that gets a new mac for you, no matter what it is, is better than nothing!!

iggypopped

i recently got a DP G4 450 tower cause i always wanted one (pre-quicksilver model). it didnt make sense at the time. i got this one for under $250 on ebay, upped the ram to 768mb, and installed tiger. its surprising how well it runs tiger and modern apps, even when it only had 256mb ram! between the hardware and the OS, its impressive engineering... at least compared to the performance ratio you'd expect to see out of the windoze world. very very nice.



what i noticed on this machine was the latest 10.4.8 with all the patches seemed to speed things up over panther. it certainly didnt slow anything down. yeah you dont get all the visual fx, but the usability and functionality is there. stability is great. i'll probably install 10.5 to it if everything checks out there, and i prefer any macs in my household are running the same version of the OS. so i'd recommend you always run the latest OS your hardware officially supports, and i believe tiger qualifies.



grats on your first mac!

slewis

Quote:

Originally Posted by win2mac524


Well I wasnt planning on switching for a while, and when I saw this one on craigslist cheap I had to go for it. I couldnt find a good deal on any G4's, they all had problems. I saw this one for $150, its in really good condition and its pretty fast for what it is, so no complaints here.



Alittle background: Im 16 and without a job so I already wasnt looking to spend alot of money.



PS: Don't worry about the flaming, it was a reasoonable question.

I know what it's like to be stuck without the money to buy a Mac



My Solution, I spent several hundred hours (like 700 or more) researching everything about the Mac, and gave my family an OpenOffice.org Impress Presentation, and finally managed to get one in Novembor



I doubt you can get that $150 back, but perhaps you can try something similar?



Sebastian



Edit Damn I'm tired... I just recommended you throw 700 hours down the drain

You're 16, you can get a Job

I'm 14, I didn't have the same excuse



Sebastian