Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, MacBook Pros and more. Optical Drives for Apple iBooks, Powerbooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pros in Stock. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

OWC: Premium Memory for Mac without the Premium Price. DDR2 4GB from $47.99, DDR3 4GB for Unibody $79.99, Mac Pro 4GB $97.99. Expert Support, Free Installation Videos & Guides. www.MacSales.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Low End Mac's Best Deals

Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals

2009.06.29

Whether you're looking for a powerful, upgradable computer to use with the classic Mac OS or an inexpensive machine that supports Mac OS X (prior to version 10.5), a Power Mac G3 can be just the ticket, especially with a 7200 rpm hard drive and lots of RAM (up to 768 MB on the beige G3, 1 GB on the Blue & White). Power Mac G3s can be upgraded with G4 processors.

Beige Power Mac G3s, introduced in November 1997, are the oldest Macs supported under OS X. We consider the used beige G3 market to be on its last legs, as there's not much money to be made selling $25-50 computers. There are also some drawbacks to using OS X on beige G3s compared to the Blue & White G3. These are the most powerful Macs ever with an internal floppy drive (not supported by OS X), and they have built-in SCSI support, so they can be a great platform for working with floppies and SCSI drives.

You can buy a Blue & White Power Mac G3/350 for as little as $80, making it a decent, low cost way to own a Mac with FireWire (although it can't boot from FireWire). Boost RAM to at least 256 MB (512 MB or more is better), add a 7200 rpm hard drive, and replace the CD-ROM with a DVD-ROM or Combo drive, and you're ready to run Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" (a better PCI video card can further improve things).

An even better bet can be a Power Mac G4 with AGP graphics, and those are currently available for as little as $100.

blue and white G3We recommend at least 256 MB of RAM and 4 GB of free hard drive space if you want to use OS X. You'll be happier with more RAM and a fast, modern hard drive. Note that hard drives over 120 GB are not fully supported by the hard drive controller in G3 Macs - and you must have a hard drive or first partition of less than 8 GB if you wish to run OS X on a beige G3 (and you can run into problems with the Classic Mac OS as well if your boot partition is over 8 GB in size).

Apple does not support the beige G3 with Mac OS X 10.3 or later, but it is supported with 10.2.x and earlier. 10.3 can be installed on the beige G3 using XPostFacto 3.1, and 10.4 can be installed using XPostFacto 4. Note that 10.4 normally ships on DVD-ROM, so you will need a DVD-capable drive. (For another B&W G3 option, see Installing OS X 10.4 'Tiger' on DVD-challenged Macs using FireWire Target Disk Mode.)

Apple doesn't support the G3 Macs in OS X 10.5 "Leopard", not even with G4 CPU upgrades. See The Future of G3 Power Macs in the Age of Leopard for more on that subject.

Used Macs typically have a 90 day warranty. Prices limited to quantity on hand. Shipping can easily add $30 to $50 to your final purchase price. Not responsible for typos. Please email any corrections or additional sources with competitive prices to Dan Knight .

Best deals are in bold type in listings below.

Best Used Beige Power Macintosh G3 Prices

Best Used Blue & White G3 Prices

Best PCI Video Card Prices

Recent Memory Prices

Mac OS Prices

At these prices, there's no reason not to have at least one 256 MB module installed, 512-768 MB will help unleash OS X, and the B&W supports up to 1 GB of RAM.

Profiles

Adopt a Mac

Ground shipping can add $27 or more.

BetaMacs

Ground shipping can add $35 or more.

Mac-Pro

Ground shipping may add $40 or more.

MacResource

Ground shipping may add $45 or more.

Operator Headgap

Prices include shipping. Operator Headgap thoroughly refurbishes and tests every Mac they sell. When buying, please let them know you heard about them on Low End Mac when entering your shipping information. Thanks!

Beige G3 Desktop

Beige G3 Tower

Blue & White G3

Wegener Media

Ground shipping may add $30 or more. 60 day warranty.

CPU Upgrades

Operator Headgap

Prices include shipping. Operator Headgap thoroughly refurbishes and tests every Mac they sell. When buying, please let them know you heard about them on Low End Mac when entering your shipping information. Thanks!

PCI Video Cards

Adopt a Mac

Mac-Pro

Operator Headgap

Operator Headgap thoroughly refurbishes and tests every Mac they sell. When buying, please let them know you heard about them on Low End Mac when entering your shipping information. Thanks!

Wegener Media

60 day warranty

We Love Macs

ADB Mice and Keyboards

Operator Headgap

Operator Headgap thoroughly refurbishes and tests every Mac they sell. When buying, please let them know you heard about them on Low End Mac when entering your shipping information. Thanks!

Shreve Systems

Prices reflect 3% cash discount.

We Love Macs

Need more horsepower? See our Best Power Mac G4 Deals. LEM

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