Unless you require greater portability, I would recommend a LCIII. The LCIII has a a very nice setup internally. Everything is in a single layer making working on it very easy. Everything is accessible. Replacing the hard drive or adding additional memory are very easy tasks. They can also be hooked up to a variety of monitors, everything from a 14" color to an black and white Appple Portrait Display. The APD allows you to have an entire page of text visible at once, very much like turning a 17" LCD flat panel on its side.
I do not recommend a novice working on the internals of a compact mac.
Compact macs were not designed to be user maintained.
1. The case needs to be "cracked." Cracking the case of a compact mac requires a long torx wrench or a homemade tool. It can be done with care, but it is easy to damage the case.
2. The internal CRT can carry a very high electric charge. You don't want
to be shocked by it. To be safe, the CRT needs to be discharged.
The LCIII can run system 7.x very well. For productivity apps I would recommend MS Word 5.1a and MS Excel 4.0. I would not recommend browsing the internet on either a SE/30 or a LCIII (though it can be done). If you wish to browse the internet, please consider a PowerPC based computer at least G3 or higher.
Performance wise, the LCIII runs faster than a SE/30 and can be had for much less money. An LCIII can be pruchased without minitor for $15 to $25. Sometimes you can find one WITH a monitor for that.
For a backup device I recommend an external SCSI Iomega Zip 100 MB drive. They can be had for $10 or so. You can then use the disk to transfer data to a newer Mac. I find them to be easier to work with than floppy disks.
Good luck!
David
I do not recommend a novice working on the internals of a compact mac.
Compact macs were not designed to be user maintained.
1. The case needs to be "cracked." Cracking the case of a compact mac requires a long torx wrench or a homemade tool. It can be done with care, but it is easy to damage the case.
2. The internal CRT can carry a very high electric charge. You don't want
to be shocked by it. To be safe, the CRT needs to be discharged.
The LCIII can run system 7.x very well. For productivity apps I would recommend MS Word 5.1a and MS Excel 4.0. I would not recommend browsing the internet on either a SE/30 or a LCIII (though it can be done). If you wish to browse the internet, please consider a PowerPC based computer at least G3 or higher.
Performance wise, the LCIII runs faster than a SE/30 and can be had for much less money. An LCIII can be pruchased without minitor for $15 to $25. Sometimes you can find one WITH a monitor for that.
For a backup device I recommend an external SCSI Iomega Zip 100 MB drive. They can be had for $10 or so. You can then use the disk to transfer data to a newer Mac. I find them to be easier to work with than floppy disks.
Good luck!
David