iMac Classic G3's becoming unuseable by todays software
The old G3's are dying very fast. I have a old iMac G3 classic, and I can't run Final Cut Express, Final Cut pro, or GarageBand (I could, but w/o live feedback). There's a bunch of others out there too, like Maya (to expensive for my pocket) and a ton of other software titles that require a G4. All this new software and probably Mac OS X will all require G4's, and all the G3 users will be in the same postion Mac OS 9 users are.
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A Dual 1Ghz Pentium 3 PC with a GF4Ti4600 can't run halo like my mac can, it's no where near. Being realistic, if you want to be able to run the latest software, you have to buy a new computer every 3 or 4 years (in apple terms, PCs become obsolete before that).
Apple only supports what machines less then 5 years old? I hope in five years I have money for a new computer, but it is expectable, I mean they can't support legacy hardware forever, it eventually bogs down development I'd guess.
You can always run linux or BeOS...I'd guess either of them would be pretty fast
My brother has a 400MHz PowerMac G3 and his machine still keeps up with OS X though.
Seriously though, I mean you can't expect pro apps that need to be as demanding and cutting edge as possible to run on older machines, Maya, FCP/DVDSP are pro apps that require the newest generation of chips. G4 probably don't even seem suitable after using a G5 with them.
Why not complain about the IIc's? they were fast when they came out, but they don't even have the will power to run Mac OS X...
Originally posted by Nebagakid
Original iMacs are something like 6 years going on 7 years old. Macs probably have useful value for something like 6 years before they start to pose a noticeable and incredibly annoying lag in everything. Man, but if you try to remember how ****ing fast the first new G4's were, and now, I mean, when something new and fast comes out, it improves upon what was already there. Improvements are coming all the time...
Why not complain about the IIc's? they were fast when they came out, but they don't even have the will power to run Mac OS X...
Well, original iMacs came out in late 1998... that makes then 5 years old going on 6.
And the Apple IIc doesn't even have the power to run any version of the Mac OS. It runs Apple DOS. Unless you're referring to the Mac IIci and IIcx (and other ones in the II series, like the II, the IIx, and the IIfx). Those can run up to system 7.5. Obviously they can't run OS X, they can't even do OS 8 or 9.
Escher
Nevertheless, even from this point of view I think that Apple is still doing fairly well. I am running OS 10.3 ? and a fair bit of software - very well on my 2.5 year old iMac G3 500. Admittedly, I don?t run a lot of processor-intensive software, but if I had intended to I would not have bought what even then was the most inexpensive computer that Apple sold.
Originally posted by Altivec_2.0
More advanced programs you can't run on a G3. Such as Soundtrack, and live feedback in GarageBand, I'm a musician and would like these capibilities. And like before, hardly any video editing software is avalible for the G3, except for iMovie(wow)
That's not exactly true. I run an Avid Editing system on a 9600. Media Composer software is pretty "advanced." It can edit and playback 8 tracks of 16bit 48k audio PLUS several compressed video tracks all at once.
2 things make this possible:
1. Additional hardware (i.e. Avid PCI cards)
2. Software optimised for the operating system/hardware
There are plenty of people who used 9600s with ProTools for years.
The processor is not everything. There are many factors involved.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
yup, computers DO eventually become outdated... just be glad that yours lasted WAY longer than any PC bought at the same time...
damn skippy, 6 years and a pc cant BOOT INTO WINDOWS let-alone do anything basic like check e-mail (unless you like staying on ie3 and photoshop 4.5 and NT4-WS)
BTW: my friend has a 2si, is there a fimware hack that will let that run panther, he realy wants ITMS
the only problem was adding a slave drive made my life hell from Late August to unuseable through end of September. took out the slave and boom been working perfectly ever since.
Good thing my, sons only six and likes educational software (which has been harder and harder to find that work on pre G3)
Although, I think he's wising up, when he comes to my work, he always parks himself in front of my G5, and says where are those games again, daddy.
Originally posted by Escher
I have an immaculate original Bondi iMac/233/192, bought at intro in August 1998, sitting in my storage unit. It's best desktop Mac I ever owned, but no longer of use to me. Anybody want to buy it?
Escher
Expectations today seem somewhat bizarre, I had the exact same machine and I used to do all my graphic design on it when they first came out!
I used Photoshop 5.5. Illustrator and Quark 3.32.
It was great, and I still love the original iMac machine because of it... I also bet that I could still be *very* productive on it in an OS 9 only environment.
There is nothing wrong with old machines, people just need to see them in context, and not with OS X glasses and 21st Century application expectations.
I'd hang onto the Bondi, it will be a serious collectors item one day...
Peace,
Marc
Yea, and the PowerBook 145 I bought in 1992 for $1800 is now a doorstop
I know what you mean. I have a PB 160 and a 3400. The 160 still does Word quite well (version 5.1, the best ever) and I've been trying to use the 3400 for web browsing, but even on broadband it's still painfully slow at rendering today's web pages. Oh well, that's I had a PB G4