So I pulled the iMac to bits today and did some rummaging around inside, and put in the 80GB drive from my tray loader, as well as a fresh PRAM battery.
I haven't actually gone into a slot loader before, so I have to say...getting into these machines is hard! Once you manage to get the bottom case off without breaking any clips, you then have to fight with the EMI shield, and hope to hell that you don't drop any screws inside the case! (I did, had to shake the machine a bit to get it out, thank GOD I was able to get it out without disassembling the machine further)
Once I got into the machine, I pulled out the entire drive shelf, so that I could investigate the DVD drive a bit more...I've always wanted to know if the optical drives in the slot load iMacs were a proprietary design (like the PB3400 and Wallstreet optical drives) or if they were a standard notebook ATAPI drive. For the record, they are a standard notebook ATAPI drive, but the ATAPI connector is on the complete other side of the drive, meaning that even though the drive is electrically compatible with other systems, it still won't be able to physically fit into another system with the connector being in the different position. Anyway, back to the drive shelf - maybe its because my machine has never been opened before, or maybe its because I've never done surgery on a slot load before, but getting the drive shelf out is hard, you have to pull it out on the right angle. I'd say a lot of it is just that i'm not used to working on the machine - I can swap out both optical and hard drives on my tray load iMac in my sleep.
Either way, I'm really happy with the machine, with the G3/450 and the 512MB of RAM, as well as the 100 Mhz system bus and Rage 128, it is a lot faster than my iMac 333. Boot time is measured in seconds rather than minutes. And with 512MB of RAM, I should even be able to run Tiger fairly decently on here. And even despite all that...as much as I love my tray loader (i've had it for 10 years, and have quite a lot of fond memories of this machine, really it means a lot to me), I have to admit, the iMac DV+ is just a much nicer machine to use. I don't know what it is...but it just feels a lot smoother, and a lot more refined, and in comparison, I hate to say this, but the tray loader feels like a bucket of bolts. Pardon the car analogy, but its basically like comparing driving a V6 Holden Commodore VT Series I to a V6 Commodore VY Series II - even though its basically the same thing, the newer one just feels a lot smoother and more refined. Anyway, thats the update on the iMac right now, as I've said, I really couldn't be happier.
I haven't actually gone into a slot loader before, so I have to say...getting into these machines is hard! Once you manage to get the bottom case off without breaking any clips, you then have to fight with the EMI shield, and hope to hell that you don't drop any screws inside the case! (I did, had to shake the machine a bit to get it out, thank GOD I was able to get it out without disassembling the machine further)
Once I got into the machine, I pulled out the entire drive shelf, so that I could investigate the DVD drive a bit more...I've always wanted to know if the optical drives in the slot load iMacs were a proprietary design (like the PB3400 and Wallstreet optical drives) or if they were a standard notebook ATAPI drive. For the record, they are a standard notebook ATAPI drive, but the ATAPI connector is on the complete other side of the drive, meaning that even though the drive is electrically compatible with other systems, it still won't be able to physically fit into another system with the connector being in the different position. Anyway, back to the drive shelf - maybe its because my machine has never been opened before, or maybe its because I've never done surgery on a slot load before, but getting the drive shelf out is hard, you have to pull it out on the right angle. I'd say a lot of it is just that i'm not used to working on the machine - I can swap out both optical and hard drives on my tray load iMac in my sleep.
Either way, I'm really happy with the machine, with the G3/450 and the 512MB of RAM, as well as the 100 Mhz system bus and Rage 128, it is a lot faster than my iMac 333. Boot time is measured in seconds rather than minutes. And with 512MB of RAM, I should even be able to run Tiger fairly decently on here. And even despite all that...as much as I love my tray loader (i've had it for 10 years, and have quite a lot of fond memories of this machine, really it means a lot to me), I have to admit, the iMac DV+ is just a much nicer machine to use. I don't know what it is...but it just feels a lot smoother, and a lot more refined, and in comparison, I hate to say this, but the tray loader feels like a bucket of bolts. Pardon the car analogy, but its basically like comparing driving a V6 Holden Commodore VT Series I to a V6 Commodore VY Series II - even though its basically the same thing, the newer one just feels a lot smoother and more refined. Anyway, thats the update on the iMac right now, as I've said, I really couldn't be happier.