2 x Dark blue iMac DV 500s

[Byrd]

Hi,

I've never had/or been given a slot-loading iMac before, so i was rather pleased to receive two today - and my favourite colour, the dark blue models! One has a perfect CRT but lousy case plastics (UV damaged), whilst the other looks good but appears to have a dim CRT.

They're both specced as ...

- 500Mhz G3

- 128MB - 384MB in the other

- Really quiet 40GB HDs

- CD drives - can't tell if any better (no OS installed)

One didn't turn on and emitted my favourite "three beeps", which indicates a RAM problem. Opened up the hood underneath, found a loose 256MB stick of RAM - ten seconds later, 100% working!

With two, I'm probably going to build up a "super" iMac - overclock to 600Mhz, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, DVD drive (pretty sure I've got these parts spare), and merge the best plastics. Cool!

JB

 

[macgreg]

Nice work - iMacs of that vintage are really well built and surprisingly usable machines.

My wife used a 400MHz one for ages - the only reason she upgraded to an eMac was for the USB2.0 port for a her camera memory card reader.

(btw I am gregh from MacTalk...)

 

[Byrd]

Hey greg - thought you might be kicking around here too!

Both seem to have sucky optical drives - neither iMac likes booting from these. So it's time to drag my old FW DVD burner, and see how it fares. I suspect I'll be able to get a really nice machine out of these two for my parents to use.

My other half has been kicking along with an iBook 500@600 for years now, which is of a similar ilk in terms of performance, and she is more than happy with it. Since her iBook is now near dead (display issues at startup - ugly path to logic board failure), she might also take a liking to this!

JB

 

[NeverGoBack88]

Both seem to have sucky optical drives - neither iMac likes booting from these. So it's time to drag my old FW DVD burner, and see how it fares. I suspect I'll be able to get a really nice machine out of these two for my parents to use.

JB

Hi JB, congrats on your score and great about the loose RAM solution. Those are handsome machines. I concur about the optical drives in the slot-loading era, - I suspect it's about heat in those fanless convection-cooled models. Another chapter in the Jobs-ian sacrifice-for-aesthetics mantra. We had a beautiful Ruby 450Mhz DV+ I picked up for our daughter many years ago when she was 9, as her first Mac. Although it came from the desk of a very reputable acquaintance in the MUG who runs his own maintenance/repair/consulting biz out of his garage (loaded with working systems + piles of not), after a couple years the drive slowly went south and wouldn't read discs, especially DVDs. It's made me glad the G4 iMacs went back to the tray loaders, all 3 of ours are still working fine.

cheers

 

[iMac600]

(btw I am gregh from MacTalk...)

Oh hey, I had no idea you were on MacTalk. I'm over there with you and Byrd as well, same name as here.

Really nice little machines, i've got one of each in the series here, 400, 500 and a 600.

 

[macgreg]

Unfortunately macgreg was taken on MacTalk

The iMacs are very tough too - my 4 year old son inserted three CD-ROMS into a slot load drive at once - I extracted them all and the drive was still functional.

The CD-ROMs were a little scratched though...

 

[LCGuy]

Nice score Byrd. As for the "really quiet 40GB HDDs"...I'm assuming they're Seagate U series drives? (the ones with the rubber covering around them) I've got a couple of those, they're really quite a great drive...fast, quiet and reliable...they are, in my opinion, the "New Quantum ProDrive LPS".

 

[iMac600]

Nice score Byrd. As for the "really quiet 40GB HDDs"...I'm assuming they're Seagate U series drives? (the ones with the rubber covering around them) I've got a couple of those, they're really quite a great drive...fast, quiet and reliable...they are, in my opinion, the "New Quantum ProDrive LPS".

Seagate U Series drives are fantastic. In the rare occasion they do begin to wear out though, they make a HORRIBLE racket (combination of bearing whine + head clicking). Otherwise, beautiful.