Apple iMac Desktop, Graphite, M8492LL/A (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive)

I've long been a Mac fan but I have not used them as much as I'd have liked. And Windows on Intel or AMD certainly has its place: As an IT administrator I've personally brought lots of money to Redmond when Apple's generally superior products still couldn't be justified to my university's bean counters...

But this late 2007 review is about bang for the buck on now aging hardware.

I've recently had the opportunity to set up some "charity" computers - obtained from thrift stores and other recyclers - and have been stuffing these old iMacs with max memory (now cheap PC100) and Apple's most stable OS X, "Tiger"... now one generation old. And to be brief, these G3 Tiger Macs still blow away low priced NEW PCs running the latest M$ Vista!

The key here is "usability". OS X, being basically Unix, is incredibly stable. Given enough memory - and I'd recommend using as much as a given iMac can take, like the 1 Gb the last model G3 iMacs hold - OS X "Tiger" is quite responsive, even today. And most impressively, Macs and their software are still 10X easier to learn, understand and use. People get right down to web surfing, emailing and productive apps without the degree of frustration and annoyance I see with Vista. Documentation is generally unnecessary and the stability of these machines means they don't constantly require additional techie attention after the initial setup. Viruses, trojans and other 'net pests are not the constant concern they are in the Windows world...

Give one of these old Macs a try! The only thing that comes close to OS X in efficiency and stability on such old, marginal or just cheap hardware is Linux - and that excellent OS still does require a much higher level of tech savvy to get right and keep going...

These Imacs are great, but they tend to overheat - and then crash or die on you. as for the way they function with 512 or 1 gig of memory and a minimum of 400Mhz - 500 or 600 is better the G3 will do everything you need. just run it a while and make sure it is not overheating - Apple did not put a fan in the units, you can put one under it, but does not seem to help - both of mine died in the same week, so I am thinking of buying a used one to use the hard drive and memory....the best thing about this machine is upgrading to OSX and using all the neat programs - very nice, but then that means you are paying top dollar for UNIX which is low cost or freeware, and Unix - Xenix - etc...just a thought..

The Apple Macintosh G3 has revolutionized the way people interact with computers. The design that saved Apple, this machine features so much packed into a tiny microsystem. It is completely plug and play - Any device plugged in will automatically be detected without the use of drivers. Connecting to the internet and to networks is a snap, and professional applications are simulated only on the macintosh. Apple is rock solid UNIX, which delivers a powerful performance for any UNIX guru. Great software is included which is easy to operate. 'The new iLife is like Microsoft Office for the rest of your life'. Whether your just beginning with computers or are a professional, the Macintosh line of products is right for you.

This is my third iMac (moved up from a G3 400mhz) and it is simply wonderful.

It does everything I ask it to and didn't even brake the bank. Mine cam equiped with a 500MHz G3, 40GB HDD, 256mb pc100 sdram, 16mb ATI Rage 128 Ultra AGP 2x, and a Combo Drive (normally this model comes with a CDRW).

I burn all my cd's, watch tons of DVDs, run Mac OS 9.2.2 and Mac OS 10.3.x perfectly fine and play some older games (I'm not a fan of most new games, but love the older ones like Quake 1,2,3, Unreal and AvP!).

Mac OS X runs great, which I was very surprised about. I also run Adobe Photoshop 7 and Office X on this machine and it does it all very well.

Perfectly happy with this machine and I'm sure that when I go to upgrade again I will keep this one around for odd jobs.

My friend showed me this computer, and I never really saw why heliked it so much. It crashed if you ran 2 or more programs and it has hardly any software. It may have virtual PC, but that crashes every time you do something useful. You may think I shouldn't be reviewing this, but I spent enough time on it to know it's a terrible computer. It has some upsides (like you don't need to type .com and the starting time is somewhat reasonable), but not enough to distract you from how terrible it is. If the monitor breaks, your whole computer is dead. Trust me, if you want a good operating system, you should get Windows 2000 Professional. It's the best operating system I've used, and Mac OS 9 is the worst.