From: Paul Miller (pauljosephmiller_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jan 29 2004 - 10:17:40 PST
Hi All,
I can't find who started the TAM threads but I thought
I'd add my 2 cents. It's a great machine, hands down,
but one has to be willing to make some compromises. I
have two without buzz...guess I'm lucky...wish I had a
third but I thought I'd stop while I was ahead. The
Apple Industrial design team made one of the nicest
fusion of technology and aesthetics in this machine.
It turns many heads of both Apple and non-Apple users.
It was ahead of it's time and, while dated, people
still TAM in any room. It was cutting edge media
equipped for the time and in truly compliments any
room with audio/video/TV. And barring the BUZZ issue
(that really is a bose base unit problem with
shielding if I understood the explanation of a
designer from a couple of years ago) the sound is as
rich as a Bose cube audio system (same speakers,
actually).
Okay, now the reality of it all:
Old OS- I'm fully into OS X.3 so going back to 9,
while nostalgic, hurts a bit and I can't see
x-post-facto allowing OS X to function on L2 upgraded
G3 for a long while if ever.
Upgrade:
Processor: never will hit G4 or more. Sonnet markets
the G3 500mhz L2 upgrade. Sub $300 at this posting.
Still, it's ZIPPY and not too many for basic use will
complain- Internet/Office/Audio seems pretty fast.
Forget games and large crunching but photoshop still
runs well.
Screen:
12" built in. 2mb vram? Basically a laptop in this
different presentation. Unable to modify BUT you can
run a cinema display with an ATI PCI video card.
CD:
4x CD-ROM. Unable to modify. But you can run an
external drive. By the way, this unit has the old
SCSI too.
Memory:
This one hurts. Only 128mb. Seem pretty ridiculous
now that you can have 8gb in the new computers.
Recommend maxing out and the using RAM DOUBLER.
PCI Expansion:
This one is sad too. Only one slot. And so much to
add to bring this computer up to modern times.
Recommend Sonnet Tango card. Adds USB and FW400
functionality. Most add ons come in this form factor.
IE: Find a USB wireless card from Macsense or Proxim
and you can connect to your home network/internet from
any room. (the alternative is a Skyline/Proxim
wireless card but you lose functionality). Add a
network printer via the airport basestation or a USB
printer directly to the TAM. Add an iPod via FW and
iTunes works flawlessly. EXTREME: Some have modified
the TAM to accept a 2 slot PCI riser card from a
6400/6500 to run a video card/Sonnet combo card with
success (or any other variation). The question is
whether this shortens the life of the TAM's
powersupply. But it is an alternative.
HARDDRIVE:
The TAM uses a 2.5" HD. Expand with current size
unit.
MORE INFO:
The best source is: http://tam.axon.net
It's an involved process to find specific posts but
it in an invaluable resource for maintenance, upgrade,
history, and problem solving. Specific threads deal
wiht fixing the BUZZ issue as it arises.
Okay, sorry for the typos but I'm too lazy to proof.
Paul
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries List FAQ/Etiquette/Terms: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Jan 29 2004 - 10:30:02 PST