10 Dollar G3s

G3 Blue&White Towers

I kind of want to get one just to see what it is like.

Anyone ever own one of these or used one?

I want to buy one of those desk lamp iMacs or a G4 Cube. They were so pretty...

Still using mine although mostly using my HP 'cause it's faster.
Of course I did install a Sonnett 1 ghz upgrade cpu and maxed out the ram to 1 gig.
No problems running Tiger. Also using a pci controller card to use larger drives.
I also bought 2 of those $89. G4's from Wegener for playing around with.

alexsd123 said:

G3 Blue&White Towers

I kind of want to get one just to see what it is like.

Anyone ever own one of these or used one?

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Well a $10 dollar computer purchased via the internet...is really NEVER a $10 dollar computer!

These computers don't come with a hard drive, keyboard, or mouse. They also come with probably very little ram, and they certainly would need an up to date OS installed.

So if someone was a brand new Macintosh user...add it all up (with some estimating):

- computer $9.99
- shipping $32.50
- used ram upgrade $20-$30
- used keyboard $10-$20
- used mouse $5-$10
- hard drive $10-$20
- OS 10 disks (depending on version $50+)

Add it up..this computer would cost a new Mac user somewhere around $132 to $170 bucks!

Of course if someone was a current Mac user...and had a bunch of old parts laying around the cost would be much less.

But minimally for anyone...this computer is going to cost $9.99 + 32.50 shipping = $42.49

Not as good a deal as it sounds!;D

- Nick

p.s. Thanks for the link!

I have an old B&W G3. Was going to turn it into a media center, but then I bought a Mac Mini. Currently have no need for it. But I did get it for free from a college.

Stretch said:

But I did get it for free from a college.

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Now that's a great price!;D

- Nick

alexsd123 said:

G3 Blue&White Towers Anyone ever own one of these or used one?

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I still have mine, for which I paid about US$150 four years ago, but it's seldom used now. I spent money on upgrading (see my specs), mainly for learning and the fun of it, utilising 2-hand components. They're terrific machines to work on/in, and they're very steady in their performance.

Bear in mind at all times the processor speed. At best it'll be 450 MHz, carthorse speed in today's terms, unless you, like Cradom, add a ZIF board to wind the speed up. The graphics card stutters on video.

Nick makes good sense in what he says about the real cost of the G3, but if you just want to tinker and have fun, and you're not bothered about cost, go ahead!

Hughvane and pigoo3 are quite right, it can get expensive. I paid $300 several years ago for the G4 upgrade, $99 for the drive controller and I don't remember how much for an ATI Radeon 128 gfx card.

I originally paid about $300 for the B&W. And that was used. It's been fun working on it but it's almost retired now because even at 1ghz it's slow. (although it still can do some things my HP cant )

pigoo3 said:

Of course if someone was a current Mac user...and had a bunch of old parts laying around the cost would be much less.

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Got one this spring at the thrift store for $12. Had the stuff to fix it. Have 9.2 on it and it works good. Its not on the net. Have it loaded with graphics programs.

hughvane said:

Bear in mind at all times the processor speed. At best it'll be 450 MHz, carthorse speed in today's terms, unless you, like Cradom, add a ZIF board to wind the speed up. The graphics card stutters on video.

Nick makes good sense in what he says about the real cost of the G3, but if you just want to tinker and have fun, and you're not bothered about cost, go ahead!

Click to expand...

Yes I definitely agree...keeping in mind the processor speed & graphics if you think that you want to use this computer for "real" day to day purposes.

FYI...this B&W Mac tower is the 300mhz model...so a little "pokey". I actually have a 300mhz "Clamshell" iBook with airport that I use as my kitchen computer to look up recipes on the internet. It's a bit slow...but actually doesn't do too bad for most webpages.

But don't even go to You-Tube...I mean don't even go to the page...it takes forever to load! And with that being said...don't even think about watching a video from You-Tube!!!;D

I think that a better option to the B&W desktop in this thread (considering that it's a stripped down system)...is keep your eye out on Craig's List. You could probably get this system with ram, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, and a working OS on the hard drive for probably $50-$70 bucks. And of course no shipping fees!

It's fun playing with older equipment...cause you can get them very cheaply!

- Nick

Mac SK said:

Got one this spring at the thrift store for $12. Had the stuff to fix it. Have 9.2 on it and it works good. Its not on the net. Have it loaded with graphics programs.

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Oh man...that's a good price! I keep hearing about these good deals at the thrift shop's...but every time I go to my local thrift shops they don't have anything!

I think with thrift shops there's a lot of luck involved (going there when they actually have something)...or you live real close to one that you can "pop" into & out of conveniently!

- Nick

I have one of these B&W's. I use it for internet surfing only...and it seems to do pretty well for a 10 year old computer!

pigoo3 said:

Oh man...that's a good price! I keep hearing about these good deals at the thrift shop's...but every time I go to my local thrift shops they don't have anything!

I think with thrift shops there's a lot of luck involved (going there when they actually have something)...or you live real close to one that you can "pop" into & out of conveniently!

- Nick

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I may go to like 7 thrift stores in one day. Sometimes you find nothing and then something premo! I know where there is 2 slot load imacs right now. They work and want to much for them ..$65. See lots of PC's for $4-$6..great for a used Hard Drives. Lots of printers tons of them.