Any iMac Classic users?

[buz]

A friend is wanting me to help her pick up a used Mac and I know her interests lie in graphics (she is a novice with computer graphics) .........

I'm wondering if there are any users here using a classic (original style) iMac and if so how it's working for you with PE. Chip speed and ram installed would be helpful guide lines for me. Curious too if the 15" monitor is any particular hinderance.

She's on a tight budget so her options are limited.

thanks for any info.

[Beth Haney]

In terms of hardware guidelines, Buz, I'd been using Elements on a 350mhz G3, with 396MB of RAM. I wouldn't go any lower than that if she wants to do work on digital images. If she's interested in graphics and gets into using Elements, some of her file sizes could get pretty big, and the computer would really bog down. A 233 might be OK if - as Jane says - you fill it up with RAM. They max at 512MB, don't they?

[Barbara Brundage]

Hi, Buz. As I told Ray, if you want an imac, I wouldn't go any earlier than a snow or graphite summer 2001 model. Why buy a computer that is going to cost as much to make it kind of work as to buy a new one? The software bundle alone on the emac that Jane was talking about would cost... well, let's see: $129 for the OS, $70 for Appleworks, $50 for Sound Studio...you get the idea. And with the emac you get a G4 processor and altivec.

It is often nearly as much as that or more to update a really old computer and I wouldn't want to run X on anything older than Susan's machine, and don't forget that software development for 9 has pretty much stopped now.

Generally speaking, the more seriously a person wants to be involved with graphics, the less they want any imac--you need major power if you want to be working with monster files all day. There are some intermediate imacs where X will run but it would be agonizing. You might want to see Ray Robillard's posts about the grape imac towards the end of the "joke' thread.

BTW, if you are operating at a level where the 15" monitor is a big problem, you almost certainly are needing more power than an imac, too. Remember that X won't run on a non-apple hard drive, and you need a fairly good sized drive to run X at all, plus at least 256 ram.

[Ray]

Barbara,

You said (quote) : "BTW, if you are operating at a level where the 15"
monitor is a big problem, you almost certainly are needing more power than
an imac, too"

I'm not sure that I understand... Why is power of a computer and size of a
scree related ?

Ray

[buz]

Well ..... I knew I would get 'exactly' what i was looking for from you folks here (been reading the 'wonderful' forum threads :-)).

The info is perfectly suited to having her make a choice. I have been considering the eMac as a couple of you mention as a consideration.

Thank you

P.S. wish I had more time to frequent this forum more often - as it is I just kinda pass through once in a while.

[Kyle White]

Hi Buz,

My Mom is running PE2 on one of the first eMacs that came available. It's a G4/700MHz, 384MB RAM running Jaguar. Some of the filters take a while to complete, but she's having no problem at all scanning/cleaning-up the family photo archive (from the 1920's to now).

The eMac has a 17" flat CRT which she runs at 1280x1024 resolution.

Kyle

[Barbara Brundage]

BTW, if you are operating at a level where the 15" monitor is a big problem,
you almost certainly are needing more power than
an imac, too





Hi, Ray. I meant that if you are that serious about graphics work, you would probably be doing stuff where you would need the extra power of a tower. The 15" monitor isn't ideal, but the folks here with the older imacs seem to be managing just fine, monitorily speaking.

[buz]

Hello Kyle

Thank you for your in-put on this, think I know what to do now and that is to talk to my friend about increasing her budget a bit :-)

[Barbara Brundage]

I will need an Apple monitor, right?




No. You just need to be sure it has the right connections--the restrictions vary, depending on the model. Many tower users can't afford the apple displays.

EDIT You may need an adapter, and those can run the cost up to close to a Studio display. But read around over at the power mac forum for some insight on what is compatible and what some of the common issues with 3rd party monitors can be.

[Ray]

Beth & Barbara,

My question came from the fact that my Powerbook (a very, very old model)
had a different connector. And the adaptor to use it with a VGA had an
ending that did not match my current monitor. So I got affraid that a tower
would require one of those expensive Apple monitor. They're very nice, but
rather on the expensive side.

But, this could be nice if I could use my current monitor (a Viewsonic
VG-500 LCD). I'll surf on Viewsonic website... perhaps will I be lucky :)

Ray

[Ray]

Good news! It would work :)

Ray

[Beth Haney]

See? I told you! You just can't jump to conclusions, Ray! :)

[Barbara Brundage]

Ray, actually what monitor you want will also depend on the video card in the tower. There are a lot of things it could be, so you'd need to find out for the particular machine you are interested in.

[Barbara Brundage]

Yes, and at least in the US it's 6 months interest free.

Incidentally, Ray, I don't know if you are aware that one difference between the consumer models like the imac and emac and the pro models like the powermac and powerbook is that the consumer machines only support mirroring if you add an additional monitor, while the pro machines have Extended Desktop, which is really nice to have. (There is a firmware hack that some people have used to run extended desktop on the machines that don't allow it, but it voids your warranty and can wreck your machine.)

[Ray]

My very limited work space doesn't provide for much more room than my two
speakers (mini towers), my Palm craddle, my Graphire2 tablet and my actual
monitor. It's nice to know I could, but I don't see this double monitor
thing happening in a forseable future.

I've finally convinced my friend yesterday evening. We have two computers
at home. He tried to burn a disk, on his PC, and (guess what...) the burning
software crashed again! Fortunately, it was a CD-RW. So format the disk,
and start over again.

So, he'll keep his PC with the stuff I won't be able to migrate, or run
under Virtual PC, and I'll get the new Mac. But he did ask that we wait
untill next year. Pity :(

Ray

[owl_luvr]

iMac DV Special Edition, 400 MHz, circa 1999/2000 here. I have noticed pokiness, in general, with this machine, but I figure it's just my impatience, so I live with it. Originally, I believe, it had 256 MB of RAM, but it wasn't long before I bumped it up (with the purchase of more RAM) to its current 640 MB.

As for the 15-inch screen/monitor, yeah, I'd love at least a 17-inch, but money's tight, so that'll have to wait. I'd love a large-screen iBook (I've heard the Powerbooks can get mighty hot if left on for long periods of time.).

Nobody asked me; just my $.02.

[Barbara Brundage]

But he did ask that we wait untill next year.





Congratulations, Ray! But that's actually a very good time to buy. Remember that macworld is usually the first week in January and there are always new products and updates then. Right after macworld can be a great time to get an excellent price on the older models.

[Barbara Brundage]

Owl, Carl is right--it's only the 12" PB that has 'firebook' as its official nickname. No problem with the others and not a problem with all the 12"s either.

Ray and buz, I just read this post from one of the other helpers at apple and thought you might be interested re people who buy low-end macs thinking they will upgrade them:

I think the biggest concern is with the switchers, they come from a world
in which upgrading a box is very common place. There are literally thousands
of vendors making components for PCs. The Mac community is very different,
you have very limited expandability for the most part due to a limited
number of vendors. PC people buy real cheap and then supercharge the system
themselves. With a Mac, you're likely to find that you'll spend more trying
to SuperCharge a low end machine than you would have spent for a high
end one.

[Raymond Robillard]

My birthday happens to be on January the 13th... :)

(I was made to get a Mac, I know it!) :)

[buz]

owl

I believe you responded to my original question, so ..... yes someone DID ask for your .02¢ ..... :-) - thank you

Barb

Thank you for the further info re low end macs for higher end work (paraphrased). I had a talk with my friend and her budget is magically increased to maybe as high as $1500 which I know we can set her up nicely with.

Now it's a new iMac or a new eMac? Almost a new DT but would still need a monitor! :-)