Macs: Billions and Billions sold - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

14 Jun 2004

Chris wrote on 6/14:
...

  This is a
 perfectly useful machine - has 192 mb RAM - I figure I'll install OS 10.3.4
 on it and use it to write and to cruise the web.  
 OS X will perform like poop with only 192 MB of ram. Doable, but you will
 be MUCH MUCH happier going beyond 256 MB.

 The catch with the Rev A boards is, they don't "officially" support 256
 MB SO-DIMS. 128's are the largest they are supposed to handle. However,
 as long as you get 8x64 chips (as opposed to the newer 8x32), they seem
 to work fine. Also, watch out when you buy RAM, anything that goes in the
 lower RAM slot must be Low Profile SO-DIMMs. Larger ones won't fit. And
 also, some of the ram slots have metal retaining clips, those have been
 known to touch the pins on the ram chips keeping them from being seen. If
 you have one with metal clips, just tape off the edge of the ram chip to
 keep the clips from shorting them. 
I'm sure you're right; I have another iMac (a 333 mhz one) with 256 running
10.3.4 and it's acceptably fast - not hot stuff but more than good enough
for what I need - running iTunes at work as well as running whatever other
odd apps I feel like that our corporate MIS won't allow to be installed on
company hardware. I'll see how this one feels before I shell out for a RAM
module. Whoever owned this machine before put the 128 mb module in the lower
slot with the upper one still containing 64 mb. It's a Rev B board in this
one - it's got a Rage Pro chip - not the board that belongs in this case
(tangerine) but it will do.  I have a complete set of Bondi plastics from
another (dead) Rev B and even have the IR module. Theoretically I could
recreate the machine this board belongs in, but what the heck - I like this
color...and don't need the IR. 