my old emac

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Hello,

i inherrited a friend's emac. I'm afraid it's an old machine.
These are it's spec's:

emac version 3.3
1Ghz powerpc G4
with 128MB RAM

it's running OSX 10.2.8

As you can probably imagine, this beautiful machine runs very slowly. Also,
most new software doesn't run on it of course.
I would like to update it to a higher OS and turn it into a machine that is more or less usable in the year 2010...

Is this at all possible? Can I update my eMac into a more or less
workable computer?

any insights or advice would be enormously appreciated!

Thank a lot, KenM
 

pigoo3

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2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
You can upgrade the OS to 10.4.11 or 10.5.8...but in either case it's going to cost you some money.

- Nick
 

pigoo3

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Ok....

Maxing out the memory means opening up the machine?

There's an access panel for ram upgrades.

And OSX4 for this type of emac is still available in stores?

No longer available in stores. You can either call Apple via their "800" number (cheaper route)...or e-Bay (more expensive).

- Nick
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
Bump that eMac up to 1 Gb RAM. It's well worth it, you'll see a significant lift in performance. I agree with Harry - OS 10.4 is as far as you should go. The RAM sticks are not difficult to replace through the hatch. I'd recommend buying RAM from OWC Performance Upgrades; FireWire USB SATA Storage; Memory, more at OWC.

Good advice from Nick about phoning Apple. It was still selling Tiger directly a few months ago, and the figure I noted was US$56 (or 65, can't quite remember).
 
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Your Mac's Specs
20" iMac 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo - eMac 1.42 GHz (RIP) - iMac G3 400 MHz - iPad 2 16GB
My parents have a 1GHz eMac and are running Leopard on it with no problems. The RAM will be well worth the $$. Great old machines. :)
 
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First of all, thanks to everybody for helping. I'm very happy that I will be able to get my eMac back on track.

One more question though: will this operation (upping the ram to 1GB and installing 10.4) be possible without the original cd's? They didn't come with
the inherritance!:Shouting:

Anyhow, thanks a lot,

Ken
 
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MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
will this operation (upping the ram to 1GB and installing 10.4) be possible without the original cd's?

Short answer - no. You will need a retail version of 10.4. Check the Buy/Sell/Trade section of Mac-Forums for possibilities, or phone Apple, as advised.

The RAM is not OS-related. Upgrading will enhance performance of whatever OS (up to Leopard) you put on the eMac.
 
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Oh that's great. I was intending to buy the retail cd's anyway. I just meant I
didn't own the previous disks that came with the original purchase...

so thanks a lot I really appreciate the help.
 

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