Worth buying 10.3 for 600MHz iMac?

g_warreng_warren
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
My parents have 600MHz G3 iMac, which I find painfully tedious to use sine I use a Mac mini with 10.4.3.



They are currently running 10.2.8 with 384Mb memory, and whilst they do not use it for anything fancy, the version of Safari is pretty useless. it will not load eBay properly when listing items, and crashed when I tried to add pictures to my blog.



Will the version of Safari with 10.3 but any better, and make their system a little zippier? Was thinking of buying a cheap copy from eBay. Thoughts? Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    I would say just do it. Safari in Panther is much more up to date and compatible than the Jaguar version. And Panther is just so much better and polished. Of course you will make sure to install the latest Panther updates.



    Now, this machine is a G3, so I am not sure about performance improvements. I guess it would be better, but other G3 users here can tell you more than me.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    For first aid go and try Opera. if you can get 10.3 cheap enough, it could be worth it for Expose... for me at least that's much bigger than anything in 10.4. I take it the machine can't run 10.4?



    The main thing that should limit how much you put in software upgrades is the possibility of getting an altogether new computer. I'm somewhat in the same boat here. My mom is still fine with a 700MHz G3 iBook with 384MB memory and 10.3, but it's getting a little slow, and (IMO) not worth buying an Airport card for. Later I'll probably upgrade to something with Intel inside, and she gets my iBook - a twofold speed and memory upgrade, built-in Airport and Tiger wrapped into one.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by G_Warren



    Will the version of Safari with 10.3 but any better, and make their system a little zippier? Was thinking of buying a cheap copy from eBay. Thoughts? Thanks



    My experience with putting Panther on a G3 was that it made a HUGE difference in speed.



    Jagwyre to Panther -> Huge speedup

    Panther to Tiger -> Can't really see any difference.



    I would definitely recommend it. The new Safari would be faster also.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    if you can find a copy of panther for under $40, i'd say go for it. otherwise, maybe switch their browser to mozilla firefox (arguably better than safari though i don't use it) or perhaps opera.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    We have Tiger dot 3 on our iMac DVSE 400. It seems to us that a speed difference is seen over Panther. I would definitely agree that Panther made a big difference over Jaguar. Things like Mail, Safari and Addressbook just seem to work better on Tiger on this old machine.



    Why go with Panther anyway. Won't Tiger cost you just as much? ;-)
  • Reply 6 of 10
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by G_Warren

    My parents have 600MHz G3 iMac, which I find painfully tedious to use sine I use a Mac mini with 10.4.3.



    They are currently running 10.2.8 with 384Mb memory, and whilst they do not use it for anything fancy, the version of Safari is pretty useless. it will not load eBay properly when listing items, and crashed when I tried to add pictures to my blog.



    Will the version of Safari with 10.3 but any better, and make their system a little zippier? Was thinking of buying a cheap copy from eBay. Thoughts? Thanks



    Well, my little blue friend (slotloader iMac 350 G3) runs

    Panther 10.3.9 like an ace. It is - despite its age -, still a perfect

    machine for all Internet related stuff, Office and iTunes.

    No speed demon anyway, but very usefull and crash resistant.



    Hope that helps.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    kaiwaikaiwai Posts: 246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by lundy

    My experience with putting Panther on a G3 was that it made a HUGE difference in speed.



    Jagwyre to Panther -> Huge speedup

    Panther to Tiger -> Can't really see any difference.



    I would definitely recommend it. The new Safari would be faster also.



    Well, for me, I've got an iBook G3 600Mhz, and I noticed a slight tweak up in speed using tiger, mind you, I guess it was more the effect of the excitement of getting an iBook rather than anything material
  • Reply 8 of 10
    kiwimackiwimac Posts: 80member
    I use Panther on my rev c iMac (266hz 256Mb ram) and it goes along fine, its only used for web, msn and apple works
  • Reply 9 of 10
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Yes. My 600 MHz iBook with 384 MB of RAM runs snappier under 10.3 than it did under 10.2. My folks' 400 MHz iMac also perked up after the upgrade. Definitely worth doing.



    On an another topic, how depressing is it to read someone describe using your current workhorse machine as "painfully tedious"? If only it weren't true...
  • Reply 10 of 10
    kenaustuskenaustus Posts: 924member
    See if you know anyone with a spare copy around. I bought Panther when it came out and then Tiger. The Panther box went to my sister who is running a B&W G3. She's still waiting for someone to help her install it, but at least it's free.
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