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My First Mac
Overclocking a Mac mini Got Me Hooked on Souping Up Macs
- 2008.09.04
My first Mac helped to change my life for the better.
It was a 1.42 GHz G4 Mac mini, which later became 1.5 GHz thanks to overclocking. I was hooked from that moment on.
But I had to go further. I tracked down the rare 1.5 GHz G4 board with the expanded 64 MB of RAM and then overclocked the mini to a perfectly stable 1.67 GHz. I was playing games like Prey and Quake 4 perfectly in 800 x 600 - not that I ever would use a Mac solely as a gaming machine.
Hooked on Overclocking
Even though it was replaced by my MacBook Pro, I found it extremely fun to hot rod old Macs to give as gifts to my friends. PowerPC computers have this multitasking capability that is still unrivaled today.
I overclocked a clamshell 300 to 433 MHz and put in a 512 MB chip, AirPort, a new battery, and a 60 GB hard drive. I found the package to be way faster than my graphite 466 MHz clamshell, due in part to the old tangerine having a 512 KB cache instead of a 256 KB one. Both still run Mac OS X 10.4.10 "Tiger" with Safari 3 and Firefox 3 without problems.
I have
also dabbled in tray-loading
iMacs, overclocking the 233s to 300 MHz and upgrading
the RAM to 512 MB. Gotta try one of them G4 boards!
Tiger on G3 Macs
The main issue people have with Tiger on G3s is with YouTube. I have a simple fix. Use TubeTV for OS X, but only have it create the .flv file, not the full .mov. Then drag that .flv into QuickTime, because for some reason QuickTime utilizes that old video hardware and plays them full screen and with better sound quality than any browser could do.
These old machines are good for more than that, though. Run Photoshop CS, or perhaps Dreamweaver CS2 and do some web design. In fact, learning Mac programs and hardware has landed me some pretty swell jobs, and all I really wanted it for in the first place was to have something more reliable.
The G3 isn't dead - just disable Spotlight and Dashboard when using Tiger. Also use that software to clean out all the x86 code and Monolingual to remove localizations you'll never need.
We still get 10.4 security updates that correspond to the Leopard releases, and we can run the latest browsers, which is an issue running Mac OS 9 these days. I have XPostFacto to thank for lots of it.
Cheap Power
Here's a good value equation: Get a Power Mac 9600 for practically
free, and right now you can get the Sonnet
Crescendo/PCI G4 1 GHz board for $100. If you need a cheap
OS X machine and don't care about USB, there you go - 1996
reliability with modern software. It's good as long as you don't mind
the 66 MHz bus speed.
Share the story of your first Mac experience by emailing with "My First Mac" as your subject.
Recent My First Mac articles
- Thanks for the IBM PC, Dad, 01.09. Dad, thanks for bringing home that first IBM PC way back in 1981.
- Mac LC III Still a Most Useful Machine, 07.30. A love affair that will last as long as they make Macs began with a used LC III in 1997, and it's still being used today.
- Hooked on Macs, new and old, 07.15. Starting with an old Quadra in 2000, Royal left behind Windows and began acquiring his own stable of Macs.
- With a 600 MHz iBook running circles around a 2.8 GHz Celeron, it was time to switch, 06.05. The author now has a MacBook, along with a couple of older, cheaper Macs for use around the house.
- More in the My First Mac index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Power Mac G5 Quad, Oct. 2005 - With two 2.5 GHz dual-core G5 CPUs, the G5 Quad was the most powerful PowerPC Mac ever and introduced PCI Express.
- Group of the Day: Mac Network deals with all aspects of Mac networking.
- November 21 in LEM history: 00: OS upgrades, downgrades - AltiVec vs. Pentium III - 01: Saved by the clones - Computer of the future - 02: Apple Education: Let's get to it - 03: Panther lets Macs and PCs work together, - Lombard SCSI bug - 05: 3 survivors from the 1970s - Real world battery life inadequate - Windows to Mac file transfer with Zip disks - $99 alternative to Microsoft Office - 06: Parallels 1.0 far more polished than beta
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Apple's Tablet an End Run Beyond Netbooks, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. Whatever Apple has planned will leverage existing technologies while going beyond what its competitors can offer.
- i5 iMac Benchmarked, Mac mini 'Shouldn't Be Overlooked', Twitter Client for Classic Mac OS, and More, Mac News Review, 11.20. Also why Apple leaves the low end to others, 10.6.2 fixes video playback problem in 27" iMac, 3D Leopard and Snow Leopard performance, and more.
- NASA Chemical Sensor for iPhone, Smartphone Death Match, iPhone Earrings, and More, Ian R Campbell, 11.20. Also mobile phone dangers, new apps, GPS solution for iPod touch, new iPod and iPhone cases, and more.
- Apple #4 in Reliability, Apple Tablet a Gadget for All?, HP's i7 Notebook Outdoes Mac Rivals, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.20. Also Flash 10.1 improves video on Hackintosh netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks impress, Windows XP finally on the way out, and more.
- Replacing the Hard Drive in a Clamshell iBook, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 11.19. Yes, it is one of the most difficult Apple notebooks to disassemble and reassemble, but a 10 GB hard drive just will not do.
- IBM Model F: A Great Old Keyboard with an Outdated Layout, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 11.19. Although it used a different technology than the revered IBM Model M keyboard, the Model F was a great keyboard in its own right.
- Soft Touch Keyboards, Wireless Mouse Options, Loving SeaMonkey 2, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.18. Also the future of browsing with PowerPC Macs and the multiple mouse input bug introduced with OS X 10.5.8.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
- Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
- Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.17. Used 1.83 GHz, $750; 2.16, $800; 2.33, $900; refurb 2.4, $1,299; 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,899; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.17. Used 400 MHz, $50; 933 MHz, $80; 500 dual, $60; 867 dual, $90; 1 GHz dual, $150; 1.25 GHz dual, $225; 1.42 GHz, $499.
- Best Mac OS X 10.5 Deals, 11.17. "Leopard" upgrade, $80; single user license, $135; 5 users, $173; Mac Box Set, 5 users, $230; Server, 10 users, $340; unlimited, $850. Shipping included.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 11.16. Used 1.42 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.66 GHz Core Solo, $419; 2.0 Core 2, $450; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $769; Server, $990.
- Best iBook G4 Deals, 11.16. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $210; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz, $479; SuperDrive, $498.
- Best iPod shuffle Deals, 11.16. Used 1 GB, $35; 4 GB, $65; refurb 1 GB, $39; 2 GB, $59; new 2 GB, $55, 4 GB, $75. New and refurb prices include shipping.
- More deals in our archive.
Go to the My First Mac index.
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ramseeker
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