Guidance on a New Mac?

[EmmyOcelot]

Hello everyone!

If anyone has seen the trading post, I'm looking at purchasing a G3 accelerator for the 604/G3 series. I'm not well versed with these machines and I was wondering if anyone could help steer me in the right direction.

I'd like a Mac that could actually utilize this card, but not be quite bulky. I'd prefer a horizontal style one like my Quadra 650, so if needed I can store them together. I understand these machines can be heavy, but I'm more worried about the physical footprint. After all, I'd like to take my Macs to college!

Thanks again!

Emmy

 

[AwkwardPotato]

Since you're planning on upgrading the processor anyways, any of the 7300/7500/7600 desktop machines would probably suit your needs (the main difference between each is the stock processor speed). The 7200 would be out since it only takes an exceedingly rare processor upgrade, different than the ones used by the rest of the PCI Macs.

The chassis on these is mostly derived from that of the IIvx/Q650 but with many more plastic latches and catches. Unfortunately these are also among the worst systems with regards to brittle plastic; in my experience, even basic tasks such as "putting the case top back on" become very frustrating once the tabs on the inside of the top start disintegrating. Any time you open one of these up and work on it, there is a high likelihood that some part of the case will break. Much of the same goes for the 8500 and 9500, which in some ways are even more difficult to service than the 7xxx.

If at all possible, look for a reasonably-priced 8600 or 9600. While they're towers rather than desktops, and often cost more than the 7xxx, their build quality is generally far better.

 

[Phipli]

8600 is an excellet machine and a rugged case, although quite big and heavy (at least 20kg). The 8600 has nice fast built in video and a full set of AV ports (svideo, composite and stereo RCA sound), but when buying one make sure someone hasn't removed the video RAM, they should have at least two VRAM SIMMs installed.

The 7600 and and 7300 are very similar to the 8600 but in desktop form (a slightly less rugged case like AwkwardPotato said), I'd go for the 7600 out of the two because it has AV ports (not all the stuff the 8600 has) that can be fun to play with

What sort of thing do you want to do with it?

 

[Phipli]

Oh, and just to warn you, the card you're looking at in the other thread won't work in a beige G3 - they take "ZIF" processors, a different kind to the edge connector daughter cards the majority of PCI beige macs take.

 

[LaPorta]

If you can find one, one of the horizontal Power Computing clones would also work. I have a similar G3 in my PowerTower Pro…it’s fantastic.

 

[EmmyOcelot]

Thanks for all the information everyone. Hopefully this ends out well. Really excited to try out this era of Macs!

 

[mgmac]

I'd go for the 7600 out of the two because it has AV ports (not all the stuff the 8600 has) that can be fun to play with

I think from my past experience, the exact same thing

Then as a personal taste I have always preferred a Mac desktop case like the 7600 to a more metallic and aesthetically less harmonious 9600. The 7600s are less bulky and aesthetically I liked them much more with resting on top or under another Mac desktop and with a nice not too big monitor, both CRT and more recently an LCD

On the contrary, the 9600 for its expandability and heavy shapes I had always liked to use it more as an AFP-type server machine or for printing RIPs or other more server-side services. But it's all a matter of taste

 

[Phipli]

I think from my past experience, the exact same thing

Then as a personal taste I have always preferred a Mac desktop case like the 7600 to a more metallic and aesthetically less harmonious 9600. The 7600s are less bulky and aesthetically I liked them much more with resting on top or under another Mac desktop and with a nice not too big monitor, both CRT and more recently an LCD

On the contrary, the 9600 for its expandability and heavy shapes I had always liked to use it more as an AFP-type server machine or for printing RIPs or other more server-side services. But it's all a matter of taste

I have to admit I'm a fan of towers myself

 

[EmmyOcelot]

I love the expansion capability of a Tower style mac (I dream of owning a Q900/950). It's quite frustrating when space becomes the issue. Those are some nice towers you got there @Phipli!

 

[Phipli]

I love the expansion capability of a Tower style mac (I dream of owning a Q900/950). It's quite frustrating when space becomes the issue. Those are some nice towers you got there @Phipli!

They're great machines. Keep in mind that 9*** machines aside, most beige towers had the same or very similar boards to desktops - 800/650, 8500/7500, 6400/6360, 7300/8600, G3... erm... G3. Others weren't a world apart like the 7100/8100.

I like the 9600s because I can fill them up with interesting PCI cards, but if I was getting my first, I'd probably get an 8600 and put a Radeon 7000 and a SATA card in it. Then I'd put a 120GB SSD in it, bump it to ~128MB RAM, partition and install 7.6.1, 8.6 and 9.1...

Then install a load of music software.

 

[EmmyOcelot]

I like the 9600s because I can fill them up with interesting PCI cards, but if I was getting my first, I'd probably get an 8600 and put a Radeon 7000 and a SATA card in it. Then I'd put a 120GB SSD in it, bump it to ~128MB RAM, partition and install 7.6.1, 8.6 and 9.1...

Then install a load of music software.

Speaking from personal experience? Sounds like a blast! If I can't get my hands on a mac soon, I'll just hold onto it until I can find some room because this sounds like it could be one rabbit hole.

 

[Phipli]

Speaking from personal experience? Sounds like a blast! If I can't get my hands on a mac soon, I'll just hold onto it until I can find some room because this sounds like it could be one rabbit hole.

I borrowed the 8600 my dad still had from the 90s a few years back. It ended up with a Radeon 7000 because they're sort of over powered but common enough to find, and sata means you can just use a brand new £16 SSD, they run super fast and you don't need to worry about old disks or SD card adapters.

Music software used be something we used our macs for a lot growing up. Cubase VST, Propellerhead's RB-338, SoundEdit, Bias Peak... various other stuff. Sadly I don't find the time as much now but it always makes me happy when I do!

 

[AwkwardPotato]

Personally, if I could only keep one Mac I'd go for my 8500 (bought it from a fellow forum member a few years back, in fact). Have it running with Rage 128 (I think? been a while...), IDE, and USB card, and the case has held up okay except for one drive bezel + the PCI card retainers. Love the 9600 too, it absolutely flies under 7.6.1 even without a processor upgrade, but I haven't figured out what to do with all the slots past R7000/SATA/USB cards! Might be cool to build a Digidesign rig with it some day. These are all great machines save for case plastic issues, and it helps that they're not quite as desirable among collectors as 68k or colorful PPC stuff