. | Mac Daniel #17Should I Buy a Used 6100?- 19 November 1998
MJ sent this letter:Long term(ish) I want to aim at a G3 something. But at
the moment I'm just a hard-up student in New Zealand
dreaming of the the day I win the lottery. But . . . I
figured why buy a new G3 machine when they are way out of my
price range when I can upgrade to one. At the moment I have
a IIvx (don't laugh) but considering getting a 6100 then a
Crescendo G3 card. Am I that much better off upgrading to G3
from a 7xxx or 8xxx series machine? Mac Daniel writes:I don't know what the used market is in New Zealand, but
there are a few reasons I wouldn't recommend buying a
6100 if you really want to
end up with a G3. - The 6100 uses system memory, not VRAM, for video.
This is inefficient both for video and for overall system
performance. (The relatively uncommon AV card uses VRAM,
but can't be used with the accelerator.)
- The 6100 only support 640x480, 832x642, and 640x870
(portrait) video modes. I lean toward a 17" screen at
1024x768. The 6100 can't do that. And the 6100 only give
256 colors at the higher settings, but does provide
16-bit video on a 640x480 screen.
- The 6100/60 has a 30 MHz system bus, meaning the
fastest possible G3 upgrade would be 240 MHz (30 MHz x
8). The 6100/66 could hit 266 MHz. With a newer
architecture, the 233 MHz iMac will easily outperform a
6100 with a 240 MHz G3.
- The 6100 with the Sonnet accelerator has no expansion
slot for a video card, faster ethernet, etc. (Newer
Technology does make a card that will work with the AV
card or a NuBus card.)
You're already halfway to a Power Mac 7100:
you could just do a motherboard swap. Of course, it may not
make financial sense. Shreve is currently selling a 7100
motherboard (less swap) for US$350. Urban Computer
Distribution will sell you an entire used 7100 for US$375 --
and then you've got a whole IIvx
to sell. My advice: if G3 is your goal and you don't mind a system
that may not run Mac OS X, pick up a nice used Power
Mac 7500. (I must be sounding like a broken record, I
recommend it so often.) I've seen prices as low as US$550 on the 7500, which
comes with an adequate 100 MHz 601 CPU. But you can pop in a
G3 card as fast as 400 MHz, which goes far beyond what's
possible with a 6100. (The 6100 is selling for US$300 and
up. For almost twice the price, the 7500 is more than twice
the computer.) Also be sure to read Setting
Up a 6100 on Mac Musings, (Oct. 18, 1999. Recent Mac Daniel & Friends columns- Backing up your Mac, Charlie
Ruggiero, 2/4/2000
- Connecting Macs, Chris Lawson,
2/1/2000
- Raising the dead, Manuel Mejia Jr.,
Mac Daniel, 1/18/2000
- Storage Devices for Older Macs,
Manuel Mejia Jr., 12/31/1999
- SCSI or IDE hard drive?, Charlie
Ruggiero, 12/28/1999
- Why System 6 for Mac IIs?, Manuel
Mejia, 12/13/1999
- Should I Wait for OS X?, Dan
Knight, 11/29/1999
- Why System 6 for Compact Macs?,
Manuel Mejia, 11/26/1999
- Should I buy a USB card?, Charlie
Ruggiero, 11/23/1999
- Online with a PowerBook Duo, Julie
Fugett, Mac Daniel, 11/17/1999
- more on the Mac Daniel index
Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check
the index to see if we've already addressed
your problem recently -- and look in the
archive if it's not in the recent columns. If not, visit our
staff page for the names of several people
who may be able to help you. Dan Knight, webmaster, Low
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