Installing X on an iMac

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
My mom's finally getting round to buying some more RAM for her old iMac, and I take it as a golden opportunity to X her...



Now, does neone have experiences with performance on iMacs? I think it's 400MHz G3, and it'll have 192MB RAM after the upgrade...



Any thoughts?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    not enough ram for that machine in OS X.



    stick with 9 unless you can go beyond that amount of RAM.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    rodukroduk Posts: 706member
    My mum runs OS X on a 400MHz iMac okay. I'd recommend a little more memory though. It was okay with 256Mb until she started using Photoshop Elements. Upping it to 512Mb seemed to improve things alittle. For what she originally used it for (email, web, word processing etc) 256Mb was fine. It still seems alittle slow to me even with 512Mb, but I guess speed is relative and it depends on what you're used to.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    K, 128's all she means she can afford...

    Thx for the intel m8s!
  • Reply 4 of 11
    INSTALL FIRMWARE UPDATE 4.1.9 BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!



    If you don't (like me, and thousands of others) you will have an iMac with a dark, flickering screen that will eventually fry if you keep it on longer than 30 minutes



    The 10.2 installer thinks it's installing on an LCD iMac, and the video connection is all wrong for a CRT.



    Good luck.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    I have a Graphite iMac 700 G3 SE with 768 MB of RAM.



    Even though 28 days after I bought it the hard drive failed (repaired in 2 days through Apple Care) after that and after countless installs, updates and myself moving to OS X completely last Fall...I have had no serious issues at all (knock wood). All periferals work and have always worked fine. The OS is "snappy" and applications run better or as fast as in OS 9.



    I think the 768 MB RAM does help performance...always has with Macs.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    its pc100 ram...256 is not much more than 128...shop around...



    My mom same G3 400 with 392MB Ram runs fine for office apps and browsing + bridge games in classic
  • Reply 7 of 11
    I run a lab, with 18 mac. All run on OSX.

    My slowest 6 machines are iMac 333. Tray loading not slot loading.



    The lowest amount of RAM is 160. OSX 10.2.3 runs fine on these. NO it is not fast but it runs fine.



    I actually was running OSX on bondi iMac (266) with 96megs of RAM. Yes it ran, but it was very slow, eventually turned it into a scanning machien, because UMAX is not writing drivers for their past scanners. (BTW I will NEVER by UMAX again because of this)



    Good luck, I understand what it is like to live on a budget, every $1 counts. Some don't understand this, they get to buy new computers every year or two.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    [quote]Originally posted by applenut:

    <strong>not enough ram for that machine in OS X.



    stick with 9 unless you can go beyond that amount of RAM.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Not true. I am currently on a 333mhz iMac with 192 RAM. It's no speed machine, but it's very usable.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    applenutapplenut Posts: 5,768member
    [quote]Originally posted by drumbug1:

    <strong>



    Not true. I am currently on a 333mhz iMac with 192 RAM. It's no speed machine, but it's very usable.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    what isnt true?



    i dont think think his mom is going to gain much except frustration if everything she used to do is now sluggish and just "usable"
  • Reply 10 of 11
    fishdocfishdoc Posts: 189member
    My personal experience and subjective opinions:



    Had an iMac rev a (233) with 384 MB, which I found too slow to use in 10.1, but acceptable in 10.2.



    I am on a flower-power iMac right now - (500 mhz G3, 640 MB). A little sluggish, but perfectly useable, and my wife thinks it is zippy.





    Fish
  • Reply 11 of 11
    [quote]Originally posted by applenut:

    <strong>



    what isnt true?



    i dont think think his mom is going to gain much except frustration if everything she used to do is now sluggish and just "usable"</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Here's all I know:



    I have had the same machine since August 1999 (because I can't afford a new one). I started with mac os 8.5, then I used 8.6, then I used 9. Now I use Jaguar. Sure, Jag isn't as fast as 9, but the stability is worth it and I would rather use it that ANY other OS I've had on this machine (I've also messed with Linux and open source stuff).



    Unless his mom is doing Photoshop work, Video work, or something similar that is taxing on the processor, I really doubt she will have problems. I use this machine for everyday stuff (web, e-mail, etc), but I also use it to do image work with the GIMP (not all of us can afford Photoshop) and web page work. I think his mom's machine with a lot of RAM would be fine (unless she is a graphic artist or a developer). If you want it to be zippy, he should go buy her a new machine. You can't expect an old machine to work like a new machine.



    In the end it's up to him. I was just trying to help because I have a similar machine using Jag.



    [ 01-17-2003: Message edited by: drumbug1 ]</p>
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