Mac Daniel's Advice

Beige G3 a Good Value?

Korin Hasegawa-John - 2001.08.27

Q: I've seen beige G3 desktops (the 233 MHz ones) going on eBayfor $400 or less. Are these a good value?

A: It all depends on what you want to do. For simple database, spreadsheet, and word processing, they're fine. You can also play some games, although we're talking Marathon II (remember that?) and Quake (the original). They will run OS X (however, it's painfully slow), have PCI slots for video cards and the like, support cheap IDE drives, some have AV in and out, and they support inexpensive ZIF processor upgrades.

However, they also have a slower system bus (66 MHz) and don't have very fast IDE controllers. They also don't include newer ports such as USB and FireWire, although these can be added with a third party card. The built-in video is lousy (Rage II+ or Pro) as well, so if you want to play games such as Unreal Tourney, you need a third party card.

If you're looking to do a bit more, a better value might be the Power Mac G3 "Yosemite." These are the blue and Yosemite designwhite minitowers. They have all the new ports, a much better video card - the ATI Rage 128 (similar to the iMac's video card) - and a faster bus (100 MHz). They include a faster IDE controller as well.

Some of them include a DVD drive with a hardware decoder, allowing you to use a DVD movie as a dynamic desktop background, something you can't do with any other Mac (exception: WallStreet PowerBooks with DVD). Very cool.

Speeds range from 300-450 MHz, and they also support ZIF upgrades. Prices are about $750 for a Yosemite with a DVD drive.

To get similar specs for a beige G3, you'd need about $100 for a video card, $70 for a USB/FireWire card, and $200 for a processor upgrade, putting you in roughly in the same neighborhood. And you don't get the nifty DVD drive with it, either.

The beige G3 is a good computer, but in terms of bang-for-the-buck you may do better a little higher up on the scale - especially if FireWire, video, and overall speed are important to you.

Related Links

Editor's note: In recent months, the beige G3 has become the most popular Mac profile on our site. For more on that, see The Low End in Low End Mac. Recent sales on eBay have closed between $250 to $500. The blue & white G3 typically closed at $700-900.

Join us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
  Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Share

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Quantcast

TypeStyler 11 is now in the Mac App Store!! -- Special Introductory Price of $59.95!! -- To Buy From The Mac App Store Click Here Now!! Or buy direct from Strider Software.

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker and Mac Casino applications in minutes.

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Quantcast

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
DealMac
Deal Brothers
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The Apple Store
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
GainSaver
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link