Mac advice

I am looking into building a computer only for music, and I don't have alot of money to do so, but I am looking into building an older G3 mac and upgrade the hard drive and memory. I was just wondering who else out there has the outdated G3 mac and how it's running, what problems have you run into and did you have any troubles with freezing/crashing/locking up etc. It's going to be my first mac and I want to know what to expect. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

I´m running a G3 Powerbook for basic recording/ sample-editing with Spark and logic audio. works fine for me. If you don`t want to use much softsynths it`s no problem.
I got 630 MB Memory and a 40 GB internal HD an 120 GB Firewire External HD for recording and sample storage....
But get one of the faster G3`s with 400/500 MHZ Speed....

PEACE

If you can find one i would get one of those Cube g4's. Now that the g5 is out, i'm sure people are selling these cheap.
The Cube is one of the few macs that's completly silent. A mac is a nice thing to have in the studio, but if it sounds like a helicopter during take-off you won't be able to hear what you're doing.

Doesn't that cube crash a lot because of poor ventilation?

A guy at the mac store told me that.

I don't know man, i don't have one. Any computer running silent will have poor ventilation though. My g4 laptop runs so hot, you can't put it on top of your lap anymore

I dont`t think that the Cube G4 is cheap, `cause it was a limited edition Mac, so it`s more like a collectors item... but normal desktop G4 getting a little cheaper... but be carefull because of the noise. The noiselevel is really a problem. I´m working in a designer company and we have a lot of g4 here in the office. One of our G4`s (one with the silver front) was sounding like a helicopter!!! we had to change the whole ventilation unit...But my problem is not that kind of noise. When I´m here in my office or in my studioroom @ home, the noise of all those devices surrounding sometimes me drives me crazy. It`s not the volume, it`s the constant presence of the same noise like ventilation of the external HD`s ,computers and noise from Zipdrives...

@ieism: even my G3 powerbook get`s mad hot...

Nice to have some other Mac-Users around here...

Peace

Running OS X on a G3 can seem a little slow, but if you use OS 9 it should be plenty fast with a little extra memory.

You should be able to pick up a G3 minitower for under $500, cheaper if you get it second-hand. A second-hand G4 tower shouldn't cost much more, but the best bang for the buck you could get is to pick up an eMac, which look like the original all-in-one iMac, but come with G4s (the built in screen saves you having to buy a monitor, which is also a plus).

Small Dog Electronics has eMacs for $800. They are a good company to deal with and won't charge sales tax (they're in Vermont).

Also, look into Apple's educational discount. If you (or someone you know) is a student or teacher they can pick up some nice deals on hardware and software.

Do eMacs have PCI slots?

Toecutter wrote:I am looking into building a computer only for music, and I don't have alot of money to do so, but I am looking into building an older G3 mac and upgrade the hard drive and memory. I was just wondering who else out there has the outdated G3 mac and how it's running, what problems have you run into and did you have any troubles with freezing/crashing/locking up etc. It's going to be my first mac and I want to know what to expect. Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

I would be a little neverous. You may have compatibility issues when useing older equipment with newer technology. I bought my MAC and Pro Tools at the same time, and have had absolutly no problems at all, and my boy did the same thing, but with a G3 a few years before me. If you look at some forums you see a lot of people have major headaches when useing computers rig, OS, and hardware of different generations. I would say if you are going to go with a G3, get a hold of something that was rock solid with the OS that was orignally came with it and the audio hardware, software the whole nine. If you plan on going with a PT rig, drop your question on the forum at Protools.com under support there is a user forum. A lot of people over there know their isht. I am not too saavy with computers, but I hope I helped you out.

Thanks for the replies guys. I looked at the G4 Cube, it's kinda steep for a used computer... I was looking at an emac but I can't swing 800 for a mac right now, a used G3 is under 500, sometimes way under... and G4's used run a bit above that... I definitley want something with PCI slots so I am going to be looking at the G3 all in one's that came before the imacs, they have 3 PCI slots and hold up to 768 megs of memory and can be upgraded to 900 mhz... and they can run osx if I will choose to, since this is my first mac I am not sure I will be going with OSX... I was also looking at the G3 towers that were Blue and White, those have lots of room for expansion also and are not too pricey. I'll keep you guys posted on what direction I will be headed. I am looking to do some hard disc recording on the mac with pro tools, probably with a Digi 001 or a digi 002 if my budget allows for a digi 002... and I don't think I will be playing much on soft synths, I make my beats entirely on an old mpc2000 but I was thinking about trying out reason and that's about it... I'll let you know what direction I'll be swinging towards, thanks alot. Any other suggestions just get at me.

Toe;
I strongly urge you to consider an older G4, such as the Sawtooth 400hz units. I have one that I bought new. Now they are like $500. Damn!! I use a Giadesigns 1,4GHZ processor in mine and its all good. You get power without all of the expense. I use it with a Digi001 and of course PTLE n OSX and OS9.22.

Now, if you must go G3, I got a Blue & White here that I copped from a cat that gets computer donations from universities and hospitals. Thing is he doesn't use Macs. So, I can cop them. I've gotten about 10 Macs from dude. It's completely naked. No nothing, but it should do you fine. Holler at me if you think you're down.

Peace.

Save your cheese and get you a used 733 G4. They ain't that much anymore. I got one loaded out running Panther like a dream. It is a little more bogged down when running alot of plugins, but you will be able to get buy with it. Also it will be dual boot so you can use OS9 or X. Save, Save, Save. You'll have enogh before you know it.

Thanks for all the extra advice guys. G3's can run up to 900 mhz I read somewhere, and G4's are probably one of the best bargains... but, money IS an issue so we'll see how it pans out when I do my taxes, uncle sam is tapping me for some money he didn't get out of me last year... Homershines, drop me a PM with more details and we can talk about the Blue and Whites...

i know its an old thread but it was the most suitable...
i have a question: does anyone have experience with the factory soundcards of the apple imacs? i might be able to get one thats about four years old for free
(and man.. looks like im collecting more gear than music lately :p )

I'm selling a G5 PowerMac today. Dual processor 2.0. I've never had a problem with it. I had an older G4 (quicksilver) and it was great for its time, unfortunately (1) it had IDE connectors (no 1tb hard-drives) and (2) USB1 which is SSSSLLLLLOOOOWWWWW! Thankfully, it had firewire, but you can pretty much avoid USB on the G3/G4.
I strongly suggest an Intel based mac (you can get older white macbooks for $350-500 on ebay) but if you need a desktop, look at the G5's. Most are selling for $400-700, but you can always talk the price down. The only problem with non Intel Macs is that most new software is not available for it. You can run CS4, but not CS5. You can run the first few versions of Maschine, but not the latest. You can run Final Cut Pro 5, but not Pro 7. If $300 is out your range, then I wouldn't go below a dual processor G4 and max out the ram, and even with a dual processor, the older "newer" software (like Pro Tools 7.4) will be kicking the computers azz.
My G5 mac runs just like my Intel macs. No lag. If the newer software was still being made for G5's, I wouldn't own an intel mac. They run THAT good!