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How many OS are there at present and what are they?

How do I find out how old an inherited iMac is, how much RAM it can handle, and what OS it should run?

  • AncientImac filter: I searched and didn't find it, I swear. I inheritted an Imac today. 64 meg ram and blue, running OS 9 something. How do I find out how old it is, how much RAM I can stuff in it, and what's the best OS version to run? On further consideration: lable on back says: Imac 350.

  • Answer:

    http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_350.html

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To answer your questions (from the linked page): 1. About 5 years old 2. 512 MB 3. Mac OS 9 would probably be fastest, but http://www.apple.com/macosx/ is above and beyond OS 9.

bitpart

Definitely up the RAM by at least 256 MB and install OS X. My mom's got a similar vintage iMac 400 and OS X runs great on it. It has 2 DIMM slots that can each take http://dealram.com/prices/systems/8/256MB.html, so it can really go up to 1 GB total memory if you desire.

boaz

You should have an application in your Apple menu called "Apple System Profiler". It will tell you everything about what you currently have. From there you can figure out what you need to do to max it out.

jjg

This must not be as old as my 233mhz, which I was told, would not run, or not run OS X well?

ParisParamus

If you don't go to OS X, you still have a fine computer--much less annoying than the XP machine I have as the office...

ParisParamus

Don't forget http://www.lowendmac.com/ for info on the older apples.

b1tr0t

I ran a Powerbook 333 Mhz G3 for years with Mac OS X, with 320 MB of RAM. For the most part, it worked just fine. I suspect a similar speed iMac will, too.

weston

Nothing annoyed me more than when I realized my ex-'s similarly vintage iMac could kick my ~600mb pentium's ass at SETI@home. Great little machine, though. And yeah, everything above is pretty much accurate, OS X runs quite well on those machines.

Space Coyote

Once you get the info from the Apple System Profiler, http://www.mactracker.ca/ can tell you what you need to know about your machine's capabilities. </teaching_to_fish>

ursus_comiter

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