Good Evening, i've just acquired an old imac (very old) free, it's got all the original manuals and software and box, almost a collectors item.

It's running OS 8.6 and is green that's as much as i know. Now i'm not very savy with the old macs but is there any way that this computer will be any use to my son who is 6 and loves watching daft stuff on utube etc? Can i upgrade it enough to make this a possibility? I'm thinking that i can stick a lead from it to my modem (we are all wireless here now) will it be fast enough? how can i tell what model it is? I think it may be the G3 333Mhz one but i'm not 100% sure (this is why i thought this http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_333.html)

Can anyone help? should i bin it? or if it's a keeper can i stick on a USB webcam so my laddy cam webcam his granny? Can i get it fast enough to run today's web stuff?

Cheers nerds

Try here: http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=133

Ooooooo that looked a little confusing, can anyone narrow it down a bit i'm half cut on cheap wine right now and that looks like there are too many options by half.

Your laddy will be able to browse the internet fine with it. Upgrading it to run the latest applications is a bit of a no-goer I'd say though, it'll be cheaper building a new PC from scratch. However, it should be able to run older versions of Photoshop, and already have Appleworks installed, which is the Mac version of Office.

You won't be able to get many games to run on it, because most games aren't released for Macs, fullstop.

It won't be quick…

BUT… If all you need it for is a bit of internet for your son, it'll be fine.

Just do a complete fresh install (no problem as you have the original discs) and plug it into your router via an ethernet cable and you're away…

not fast enough to watch youtube videos, and don't even know if its version of flash would be compatible with current sites anyway, if you can get hold of OSX Tiger and some more memory for it you stand a much better chance (think it might run Tiger or Panther). Classic Mac OS is ancient now.

You won't be able to get many games to run on it, because most games aren't released for Macs, fullstop.

This hoary old myth still going around then? There's loads of games around for the Mac, however, they're unlikely to run on an original iMac because it won't have enough memory to run them properly, and it won't have a good enough graphics card. iMac's weren't intended to be games machines, Apple had no interest back then in developing a machine for gaming, but in any case a six year old would only be able to play fairly basic games anyway. There are people out there still using Apple IIc's, and a friend of mine was still using an original Bondi Blue iMac as a business machine for her hotel and restaurant business. She's now got a 27" iMac…

Hmm…

Bearing in mind this is an eleven year old computer. Sorry to say that it probably won't be up to running a lot of current streaming video media. Just not powerful enough. Plus unless you open it up (not advised unless you know what you're doing), you can't easily upgrade the hard drive (it will have max 6GB unless it's been upgraded). TRAM can be taken to 512MB, but would probably cost a fair bit.

It will struggle. Not really worth spending money on these days. Still capable of a few things though, like simple word processing, basic image editing, playing music. Won't have a DVD drive sadly.

I have a slightly younger 2000 iMac, which has a chunk more power and capability. Still being used now, works fine. There was a significant jump from the previous model.

Oh Bugger. I will try and get some more RAM for it, and a fresh install – might be able to get the techies at work to do it for nothing, they have loads of old bits and bobs lying around as i work in a school that has macs for the kids.

Many thanks for your help!

Oh, and if you do decide to update the OS (10.3 is possible on that iMac), it may need it's 'firmware' updating*. I've updated an iMac G3 to OSX, then had the graphics mysteriously stop working, meaning all I got was a very dim green image in screen. Firmware update fixed it. Run the Firmware update before you do anything else!

*Should be downloadable from Apple's support website.

You will not get current youtube content to run. I was donated 5 G4 emacs recently with os 10 and they are not recent enough for current flash/youtube stuff. It took till mid 2009 for My 10 year old G4 733 on osx to no longer keep up with flash upgrades or youtube.(Best VFM ever!!)

Upgrade isn't that hard, just remember it has a CRT tube and high voltage is present even when off.

macupgrades.co.uk are handy for old stuff.

just remember it has a CRT tube and high voltage is present even when off

Yeah, praps best not to fiddle about inside one unless you know what yer doing. You could potentially kill yourself. 😯 There are guides online if you hunt about though.

I'd quite like to gut a dead one and bung new bits inside, like a Mac Mini, but it's problematic getting a 15" flatscreen without spending silly money. 🙁