Is the G3 Still a Practical Choice?
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With the Intel Core processors available today, does buying a used G3 still make economic sense?
Sure, it's now even farther back on the processor food chain, but it's still a very popular processor - just look at all the posts about G3 iMacs on the LEM iMac forum.
But how much longer can the G3 stay in the arena before it gets knocked out by newer faster processors?
Technologically speaking, the G3 is still a pretty good performer. It has lots of power, and there are many applications that will run on most G3s, so it's not totally obsolete. (Then again, there's no such thing as obsolete at Low End Mac.)
For the average person who needs to run a few new and not-too-demanding applications, the G3 is a wonderful and economical choice. Whereas the G4 and G5 are becoming "obsolete" nearly as fast as the G3 (now that most of all Macs have moved to Intel).
The Legend Lives
In Apple's line, the oldest processor supported by OS X is the G3. That also means that it's now t the heart of the cheapest Macs that can run OS X. With a G3, you're able to run most of the average user's software.
The G3 isn't the workhorse that it used to be, but it can hold its own in today's computing arena.
Although the G3 is off the screen in today's new computer
market, it holds its own on the used market and will always live at
Low End Mac. 
Recent articles by Matthew Jay
- Save those old Macs, 12.19. When friends, neighbors, schools, and businesses are ready to dump their old Macs, save them from destruction and give them new life.
- Forming the next Macintosh generation, 12.12. We've been hooked by the Mac. Now we have a responsibility to bring the experience to others and create a new generation of Mac users.
- Nintendo and Apple, industry leaders, 09.13. Both Apple and Nintendo remain committed to providing the best platform in their market, and neither company is afraid of innovation.
- More in the Macs to the Max index.
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Mac Pro overclocking, Windependence with Darwine, Blu-ray for Macs, and more, Mac News Review, 07.04. Also more on running Leopard on non-Apple hardware, Ubuntu on a Mac mini, the first autofocus webcam with Zeiss optics for Macs, and more.
- Wouldn't life be great with an iSlate?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 07.04. PDAs and smartphones are too small for some tasks, full-fledged Tablet PCs are overkill, and ebook readers are too limited. Apple has the tech to own this niche.
- 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.
- List of the Day: PowerList for those using Power Computing Mac clones.
- The Macintosh Portable started a notebook revolution, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.03. Before Apple introduced the Mac Portable, notebook computers were text-based and ran MS-DOS. Ever since, graphical interfaces have been the norm for laptops.
- More links in our archive.
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