newbie needs help w/HD & processor upgrade

Hi everyone. I'm new to the boards but from what I've read, everyone seems to have a great spirit and a tight community vibe.

Can you more experienced gurus offer some suggestions on possibly upgrading my aging 400mhz G3 (Blueberry tower) to something with more zing. Where do I go, how much can I expect to pay, etc. How about any pros and cons about upgrading versus just dishing out the cash for a "low end" mac, since even the more affordable towers still blow my mine out of the water.

I also want to upgrade to a larger hard-drive but I have concerns over which brands to buy, what is compatible, what sort of risks are involved with these super capacity drives (ie: 250 gig).

I currently use my computer for Painter, Photoshop, Quark and Illustrator and am looking to do some video and audio work quite soon.

Any input would be greatly appreciated and any links to websites for info would be sweet, as well.

Thanks in advance.

You can go to OWC and check out your processor upgrade possibilities. For HD's, I'd recommend Western Digital. Check what kind of ATA bus you have (i.e. ATA 33 or 66 or 100 or 133); I know that ATA 66 maxes out @ 137GB, no matter what size HD you install.

For the money, you may be better off getting a newer Mac as your main machine, and either using your old one to get a little money, or keeping it and running it as a file server or internet browser/word processor-type machine. A newer machine will get you faster RAM, faster system bus and compatibility w/ larger HD's.

yup

Chamorro said:

For the money, you may be better off getting a newer Mac as your main machine, and either using your old one to get a little money, or keeping it and running it as a file server or internet browser/word processor-type machine. A newer machine will get you faster RAM, faster system bus and compatibility w/ larger HD's.

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I agree here. I was looking at possibly upgrading my iMac 333, but I think I have decided against it. A 600mhz G3 upgrade card is $330, a hard drive is $70, so I'd have $400 (plus tax and shipping) in upgrading to a machine that is still sub-standard. The refurb section on Apple's site had, until yesterday, 1ghz G4 eMac's for $599. I'm sure they'll come back around with that again soon. Or you can buy them on eBay for about the same price.

jjh