Which machine to keep?

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. Simpson:

You asked for an opinion, and that's what you'll get
from me (unencumbered by actual facts)! :-) I love
this kind of stuff.

Ken Simpson <ksimpson AT ydl DOT net> wrote:
> I currently have a Powerbook G3 (233 Wallstreet)
> with 288MB RAM and a Rev B iMac with 288MB RAM.
> I'm going to sell one and can't really decide on
> which one should go.

That's a tough choice. Both machines have similar G3
chips (how fast is the iMac -- about 266 MHz?) and
similar screen sizes (800 x 600 dpi). The iMac
probably has a larger hard drive (maybe as much as 6
GB), while the Wallstreet probably has a smaller 2-GB
drive.

To reveal my own prejudices, I bought a Wallstreet on
eBay to run Yellow Dog Linux, and I had to purchase a
larger hard drive to support it.

The main question you have to ask yourself is, which
machine do I use most often? The Wallstreet PowerBook
runs Mac OS 9 like a dream, but will require a larger
hard drive transplant to run either Mac OS X 10.2 or
Yellow Dog Linux (it probably also needs a new battery
-- look at Other World Computing
<http://http://eshop.macsales.com/>). The iMac does
not have those limitations, but is not portable.
Further, you have to ask yourself, in which machine do
I have the largest investment? One of the great
features of the Wallstreet is its removable drive bay.
Have you purchased Zip drives, extra batteries, and
the like? Those will increase the value of the
Wallstreet. You mentioned a Firewire card; if you
already own that, it increases the Wallstreet's value
to you, but not necessarily to another buyer.

As a rule of thumb, iMac prices run at about US$1 per
MHz, so your iMac might fetch in the neighborhood of
$250-300. A PowerBook with the same MHz rating will
fetch about US$100 more -- say, $350 on eBay.

> Any opinions on which computer would be the
> better choice for running both OSX and YDL? The
> iMac supports OSX Panther (now whether or not it
> runs well is a different matter). I just looking
> for which machine would have a longer useful life
> as an everyday machine.

Realistically, the Wallstreet will not support YDL or
Mac OS X without a larger hard drive. I have run both
on my hard drive-upgraded Wallstreet, and they both
run reasonably well. OS X lags a little in the GUI,
but runs individual applications quite well. YDL also
runs nicely on the Wallstreet, though there are a few
"gotchas" to overcome before getting it to run
smoothly.

I had an iMac a few years ago, and ran Mac OS X 10.0
on it for a while. It was not a satisfactory
experience, but that was mostly due to that early
(some say "beta") version of OS X. The 800 x 600
screen resolution is a *major* limitation to running
OS X on either the iMac or the Wallstreet. It can also
seem limiting with YDL, but that is a subjective call.

I might recommend keeping the Wallstreet, but
continuing to run Mac OS 9 on it. This will be your
portable machine. Sell the iMac, and put the money
toward a new or slightly used G4 eMac for desktop use.
If you *never* use a portable machine, sell the
Wallstreet, too (for a total of about $600-650 toward
the eMac). A search of eBay showed me that a 700 MHz
eMac with 384 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard drive, and a CD-RW
drive sold for $775. The eMac should have everything
you need to run Panther, and still have plenty of
drive space to dual boot with YDL.

But, that's only my opinion.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald
AT sbcglobal DOT net>