2x iMac Grape off side of road, which one to keep? — #16

Post #16 by fairchild

Source Forum	2x iMac Grape off side of road, which one to keep? — #16
Category	Hardware
Post Date	Tue, 4 Dec 2012 - 19:57
Original URL	https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/2x-imac-grape-off-side-of-road-which-one-to-keep.26705/

Post

I'd be inclined to go with the 333mhz tray loader. Better build quality

Click to expand...

Seriously, I can't help but wince whenever I see the quality of the tray loading iMacs compared in positive terms to *anything*. I've never owned a slot-loader, but wow, they must be awful.

(Maybe my problem stems from a tendency to conflate "quality build" with "quality design". I suppose other than the stupidly fragile hinged door over the ports the tray-loaders are at least mostly made out of sturdy materials and reasonably "well built". But the internal design is such a hack. Completely, irredeemably, south-end-of-a-north-facing-mule bu** ugly through and through. And it's not just physical; technically the machines are essentially Beige G3s in drag, with most of the weird glitches and gotchyas of that machine plus a few of their own. They work okay under "classic" Mac OS but once OS X enters the equation they just flat-out suck.

For whatever quality problems the slot-loaders have at least they're a clean design.

Of course, both were ultimately designed to be disposable. It's pretty impressive to find two abandoned ones that both have working monitors. Both models were infamous for blowing out their flyback transformers/analog boards in droves after they hit three or four years old.)

I can think of much poorer apple designs like the performa all in ones and the ugly tacked on look of the beige g3 towers to name a couple. I'm not a huge fan of the iMac g3's but considering most of them come from schools where they may have been run incessantly and abused, i'd say they've stood the test of time all right. In terms of the internal design, i would say they did a pretty clever job with the odd shaped boards etc to max out the available space. I agree, the slot load models have a slightly better look, smoother lines.

These machines weren't designed to be apple's top performers and as such their performance reflects that compared to the g3 towers. For the purpose that they were designed for, i'd say they fit the bill perfectly. If the flyback transformer goes out, it's a $ 20 part that you can re-sodder as opposed to say an ibook g3 with graphics failure that requires either a new logic board or a reflow $$$. To be honest, the only reason i'm going to keep the 333 tray loader is because a) i got it for free, B) i'm a fan of all in ones, c) will make a decent os9 retro game machine that doesn't take up piles of space.