$35 Apple iMac G4 Restoration - Flea Market Find

In this video I take a look at a $35 iMac G4 that came from a flea market. Let's see how it works and dive into the history of the first flat panel iMac computer.
Special thanks to ‪@ActionRetro‬, ‪@CanadianComputerCollector‬ , ‪@MacYak‬ , and ‪@MacintoshLibrarian‬ for their cameos.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:02 Digital Hub
04:35 Clean Up
06:49 Will It Turn On?
12:19 Now What?
14:15 Mac OS 9
16:11 Unreal Tournament
18:26 DVD Playback
21:29 Closing
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[@ericjenks9596]

I used one of these in college to work with scanning negatives from an electron microscope. I used to blast a phish cd that another student had left there (thanks Sami!) while I waited for the scanner to finish and then edited the scans. 2004-2008. Funny enough, in 2011 I got a call from a desperate teaching assistant that needed help digitizing leftover negatives (the school had long ago ditched the film microscope, but there was a large archive). Turned out this computer was still there, along with the instructions that I had made before graduating on digitizing. I even opened the desk drawer to find the phish cd, lol. Lots of good memories here.

[@insanelydigitalvids]

Got an iMac G4 sitting on my shelf ready for a recap. The previous owner was going to throw it out. You gotta rescue these beauties if you can!

[@jorisw_]

As the only Mac nerd in the tech support dept of an ISP, I was given one of these to work on in 2003, while everyone else suckered on with their Dell network PCs. Pure bliss.

[@chancesareshewears]

Bought one just to use for a stand for my IPad..looks and works great!

[@RetroFox]

Loved the video! Thanks for the shout-out, too! I'd love to see a video of either this or another of the era using/creating videos in iMovie.

[@95Comics]

When my G4 iMac motherboard died, I took it out and installed a Wii motherboard from the Nintendo game and made it and all in one Nintendo wii! And then lost it in a house fire along with all the other amazing Macs I collected. I am now down to just an a1283 Mac mini LOL but I’m gonna get some vintage Macs soon as I can afford it. But the g4 can even turn a raspberry pi into an all in one!

[@EricTheComputerGuy]

I've always loved this era of apple computers. When I was a kid, I had a toy computer that kind of looked like the g4. Someday I'll buy a real iMac G4. I just need to get my G3 diagnosed first.

[@marchettejw]

I just brought home an 800mhz model today. I felt a little nostalgic lately and wanted to play some marathon in os9, I'm happy to report that infinity runs great and so does forge. I had a rev c iMac back in 1999, and a performa 630.

[@Mac84]

Great!

[@mojoblues66]

I got an 17" Series 2 (i.e. 1 GHz) for 80€ a while ago, sans the Pro speakers though. It is sitting in my office and I enjoy the look of it ever since. Sometimes I even do useful stuff on it, because it is the only machine I own with a DVD drive. Here in EU prices are already rising, 200€ for the 17" and up to 1000€ for the 20" which is very rare here.

[@easvalid3828]

I also found a iMac G5 on Berlin flea market for 30 euro in fully working condition

[@escapemac]

I had one of these. They were it was a pretty cool computer at the time. I should've kept it, but I I traded it in for the Cube. I should've kept the Cube too.

[@LaerHaider-79]

The iMac G4 is my favorite computer design of all time. I have three of these: 2 x 17” and 1 x 15”. I just need the 20” version complete the set. A very close second fav is the 20th Anniversary Mac. I don’t believe I’ll find one of those in my budget range any time soon. 🙄

[@coreyc6798]

I’ve always wanted one of these, I have a 1.0 GHz 17 inch PowerBook G4, and a 700MHz eMac(although selling the eMac without Ram as I need the Ram for another computer)

[@atmatm5916]

I really want one

[@GAMECLOSET]

I’m picking up 2 of these tomorrow. I refurbed a G3 iMac on my channel a few months ago, and I’ve owned a G3 before. I’ve had or have about every gen iMac but I’ve always wanted a G4 and finally- it’s going to happen. I can’t wait to upgrade one of those bad boys ASAP! Thanks for the fun video!

[@BilisNegra]

Wow, if I could get hold of one of those for that cheap, even for twice as much, I'd be happy just to have it display some cool visuals (which could be in the form of simply a good screensaver) in the best corner of my room.

[@CanadianComputerCollector]

You should have made the stew.

[@TheBasementChannel]

Great video Steve! Definitely one of my all time favourite designs. Such an out of the box idea.

[@HB-Productions]

Always a soft spot in my heart for the iMac G4! If one needs a home or happens to pass by my desk it's always welcome to stay a while!

[@HeadsetGuy]

Yes, I'd love to see a video of you making a movie in iMovie!

[@minty_Joe]

Ah, the Lump Stick Rectangle (LSR). A neat Mac to work on.

[@cashox4]

nice vid mac84 ! neat editing, studio background wall setup etc ! looking pro !

[@EricsEdgeVideos]

I really like these reviews Steve. Well done.

[@hinderikusbos1370]

I bought the 1 gig version in 2003 i think , whith osx 10.2 jaguar on it . I love Steve Jobs for this perfect design . Now i have 8 G4s as a retro hobby , i have all the versions . From one , i made an arcade player for retro games and play my music whith the pro speakers . Now there is a nvidia shield pro inside the dome . I still love the old iTunes whitout all the extra software nowadays , just music software . I have succesfully cleaned verry dirty smoked imacs whith ammoniak and clean water afterwards . You can open up the pro speakers verry easely , clean in and outside . The rubber on the speakers i do this whith vaseline to crease it . Greetings from the netherlands .

[@MacintoshUser]

Awesome!

[@TonyLasagna]

What a blast from the past. And yes. DV vidya!!!

[@YearsOfLeadPoisoning]

The greatest iMac IMO. So iconic

[@GarthBeagle]

What a nice looking system, so glad it was saved! 😀 .. and wow 18:40 I forgot how bad even software DVD playback was on Mac OS 9, though SW image quality vs HW decode was better. But ultimately OS X is way better and best when played from a DVD image

[@drpc97]

ooh ooh, i had to pull mine off the shelf for some Saturday fun! Great Video! I have upgraded mine to a DVD-RW and 1 GB ram and WiFi and I Love it.. Try it with sorbet leopard, its hilarious. funny thing is, its the oldest machine i currently got but id rather run OS9lives on it. but i'll run both, cos its the best of both worlds. thanks so much for the video, awesome stuff here!

[@comitells]

great video with lot's of information. if someday if i can buy one where i live i might turn it into a budget planner machine

[@pheflin526]

I still have mine old one. I updated it to 2gb of ram, and have basically made it my home jukebox. All my music is stored on it

[@QUANTUMJOKER]

I can tell you had a lot of fun with this iMac.

[@yosukerechain2000]

Long time... I want do that. But... My country to hard find them.. iMac G4 second.

[@MrAlan1828]

Greetings from Toronto. I also have a upgraded 700mhz G4 Imac 1.25GB Ram 128GB SSD, replaced the Combo to > Super Drive Pioneer DVR-104, lotsa fun with OS9forever. I got mine for free in box because back when these were not collectables they were considered garbage when the swivel arm get so loose that the LCD just drops, Lucky for me I have the Arm tightener tool from Apple to (Torq) it ;) Great video content!

[@user-te1le7ck6b]

Loved these machines , at this rate apple are beyond stupid not to re-release this and the Mac Pro as it was one of their best designs , i had 1.25ghz airport card version 1gb of ram , awesome find

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

What a score!

[@Alexthetechie150]

I also got one for $20 at a flea market lol

[@thecodeprofessor]

TechMoan has been successful using brasso on plastics. Though I have never tried it.

[@thecanadiangrill1715]

Good score! Apple Pro Speakers were worth it alone! Great video Steve!

[@Otakunopodcast]

NICE find!! I actually was able to score a G4 iMac myself several years ago... Unfortunately it is no longer booting (it did work at one point) and I am not sure what's wrong with it. All I get from it is a couple flashes of the light on the monitor bezel. Already tried changing the PRAM battery (it didn't leak, in fact the motherboard looks to be in good condition with no evidence of leakage of any kind) and also tried resetting the PMU. I also tried the "hot air trick" of blowing hot air in the top vents (apparently if your power supply is marginal and you warm it up thusly, it will cause it to work again) but unfortunately that didn't help either.

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Very good Steve I have one of this iMacs long time ago Loved the design Mine was the higher end model that had the optional bluetooth card. Now if you had asked me I would told you to put A SSD in it And install sorbet Leopard Great find Steve

[@cjsebes]

Very enjoyable video, Steve. I ended up with two 17" iMac G4s. I brought one to work with me and used it on our reception area desk. I'd play music from it as well as scan voice-over scripts to send to producers. It was the only machine we had the would scan using the ancient scanner we had. After being laid off, I bought it home. I really don't need two of them, but can't quite find a better reason to get rid of one. Maybe I'll put Linux on one. Nah. Terrible idea.

[@NM.357]

Cool reminds me of the poowerbook g4 I have .

[@Dagocart]

cool i ll check mine soon

[@MSmith-Photography]

I supported AT&T WorldNet Service and our escalation team used the iLamp to get information on anything MacOS 9 and X related.

[@40percentyt]

You joke about KZbin playback on a G4, but I think you'd be interested in the PPCMC project on the Macintosh Garden... It utilizes its own isolated python install to stream youtube through ffplay, mplayer, or vlc.

[@Mac84]

Yep, I’ve played with that on other systems before.

[@xnonsuchx]

I had one when I did HP printer tech support. I thought it was pretty cool. I still have a G4 Mac mini (1.42GHz w/ 1GB RAM) at home, as well as an iMac G5 20”/2.1GHz I got on eBay for only $19.

[@MattMcCullough]

@mac84 I'd try Brasso for the scratches

[@tradito]

i bought a 800mhz 17" one for 20$. All i had to do was swap the pram battery and recap the psu.

[@tommyclarke3426]

I dont think cleaning it with windex is considered restoration 😂😂

[@winstonsmith478]

With my luck, not a single thing associated with a $35 G4 bought at a flea market would work.

[@mr.sowhat3796]

thats hilarious I am installing unreal tournament the same exact way you are right as im watching the video on an early edition imac g3 and it is soooo slow but well worth it :)

[@georgesenda1952]

Try ejecting the dvd & test the arm, they get loose.

[@be236]

I have this iMac G4 as well, just noticed the two lights at the bottom of the monitor... what are those lights for? hard drive read/write access as it's flickering on the right bottom light, the left bottom left seems turned off.

[@CygnusTM]

Your right and left is different from mine. :) I have a slightly newer one than that with scratches on the LCD. I haven’t figured out a good way to remove those yet.

[@erichkohl9317]

I need those translucent speakers. I only have the subwoofer. 😐

[@michaelscottcutler3627]

I found a 15" in the trash a few years ago. Made the mistake of an aggressive case cleaning. I thought the matte finish was etched into the plastic. It isn't. Apparently its a sprayed, factory applied lacquer finish that becomes fugitive with age and/or aggressive cleaning. I accidentally removed some of the matte finish. We live and we learn.

[@dennisud]

Will the Old System 7 & 8 games run well on this? Just asking as I need an older Mac to mount all my old games and maps! I had one as my personal computer for 3 years. It stopped working and in hindsight, I wish I had just stored it. Love the design and worked well until it died.

[@SortofGoodwithTech]

I thought you had over 100 thousand subscribers you seem like you should as well

[@Mac84]

That’s very kind of you to say 👍

[@lastcarbon]

A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser may get the marks off. Whatever you do don't use isopropyl alcohol in the base or the back of the screen, it will remove the texture.

[@organiccold]

I Steve. Cool iMac

[@jonvincentmusic]

Plastic polish or metal polish will help thin-down the unsightly scratch. It will howeer leave the surface shiny: not sure if it's meant to be shiny or matt.

[@IdahoBookworm]

I'm still sad the G5's thermal issues meant this design had to go :(

[@thecodeprofessor]

The problem I have with mine is that the white portion of the frame around the screen has yellowed. But the yellowing is below the clear plastic layer so I can't retobrite it. I might try sitting the frame out in the sun and see if that helps.

[@g-starthefirst]

I once saw one of these at a thrift store in San Luis Obispo

[@marcounchained]

I found one in a yard sale around my neighborhood for $20. Dead power supply 😒

[@ekennedy6645]

Great video! So glad I found your channel! I just bought a G4 iMac 17" on eBay (but for somewhat more than $35) but the LCD bezel came off during shipping (it's also somewhat yellowed, so maybe you or someone on your channel could give some advice to remove the yellowing?) and I was wondering if you could suggest a way to reattach the bezel to the LCD? I had a suggestion of silicon adhesive, or maybe double-sided tape, but would appreciate knowing what a Mac expert suggests. Thanks for any help you or anyone can provide and good luck with the channel! Can't wait to see what you find next! 😀 Oh, one other thing: this iMac can't connect to my eero wifi network (my Airport Extreme died) - keeps giving "invalid password" error message...any ideas about correcting that? Too many questions? Hope not! Thanks!!!

[@Mac84]

TinkerDifferent.com would be a great place for help! Try some super glue for the bezel, and the older AirPort cards can’t understand new security protocols so it won’t connect.

[@ekennedy6645]

@@Mac84 Thanks for the reply and the info! I'll give that a shot for the bezel. Too bad about the Airport card. though :(

[@wayneleduc4777]

No way, i just got a g4 imac from the flea market for $30

[@Nymunariya]

G4s should only be able to accept AirPortExtreme cards, which were primarily 802.11g. The G3s AFAIK only took the original Airport cards, were where b only.

[@benhur767]

Early G4s took the original Airport card, and later versions took the Airport Extreme. I have an iMac G4 800 MHz with an Airport card that doesn't connect to my router. I have it hardwired to ethernet.

[@francoisrevol7926]

And the adjustable stand was not optional back then 😀

[@jonvincentmusic]

Unbelievable how cheaply you can buy used / classic Apple devices in the USA. Maybe it's because there's so many of them in their native country. Here in the UK you wouldn't get hold of a working one of those for under a couple of hundred.

[@UTJK.]

Which screen resolution had this computer?

[@Mac84]

1024x768 is the native resolution of the 15" model's display.

[@flyingtoaster1427]

@12:50 what did he say?

[@stephanemignot100]

I could buy one for 90€, a bit expensive and the machine is "password locked" so i don't know. I would only install OS9, I wan't to play Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament again!

[@Mac84]

That is a bit pricey. Thankfully password locks on these older PowerPC systems are fairly simply to remove.

[@KR1275]

The stand alone has a 400 USD value...

[@eileenlucynakurosawa7421]

Got one but no Apple logo no image on LCD just grey screen. Ant way to get everything back. Screen is not broken and OSX loads well, even boots from super drive. Just no video on display

[@Mac84]

Post a thread at TinkerDifferent.com as KZbin comments aren't the best for troubleshooting. It sounds like the LCD backlight could be bad. You can maybe try an external video adapter. What happens when you shine a flashlight on the LCD? If you see an image, it's the backlight that has died.

[@eileenlucynakurosawa7421]

@@Mac84 I did disassemble the LCD and it's good. I need an external monitor to make a test. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll take a look there someone must have that problem and solved it.

[@tigertailz4444]

i own 2 apple imac g4 computers Internet isn’t the greatest I really wish the Internet was really good on these things

[@The_Phone_Bin_Diver]

I recently got one for $25, it doesn’t show any signs of life does anyone know how to fix it or what’s wrong with it

[@Mac84]

Make a post on TinkerDifferent.com, they should be able to help

[@The_Phone_Bin_Diver]

@@Mac84 thanks

[@JeffCD77]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand why so many people love this design. I think it is the UGLIEST thing that Apple ever produced!

[@95Comics]

Why did you not install Linux like Shawn said to? That’s the only way to do anything with it at least you could go on websites with it. I don’t think KZbin works because of the memory and 700 MHz but websites work.

[@DanaDoesStuff]

“That’s the only way to do anything with it” 😂😂😂 Ohh, that’s a good one… 😂

[@95Comics]

@@DanaDoesStuff glad I made you laugh! Care to explain? Are you suggesting old mac os is better than linux? Or just saying its better to play old games on it? If you one of the kewl guys who gets to make fun of people you could at least explain it if you are going to reply to a comment not intended for you.

[@DanaDoesStuff]

@@95Comics Here’s a little list of things one could do with this machine: 1- retro gaming; 2- music server; 3- play around with period-specific software; 4- bridge machine. That’s just off the top of my head. Just because a computer wouldn’t work well on the modern Internet doesn’t make it useless. Not to mention, KZbin is a horrible benchmark of a computer‘s performance. It’s full of scripts, trackers, etc… of course you can install alternate operating systems as an option. It’s not a matter of whether macOS is “better“ than Linux. And as far as people responding to comments that weren’t directed at them, welcome to the Internet, bud. Enjoy your stay!

[@95Comics]

@@DanaDoesStuff like i said old games. I forgot midi stuff. Linux does all that and more I’m still gonna go with linux and have fun trying to make an old mac work like an everyday pc again. I dont enjoy going through the motions of using aol and all the other out dated stuff. even if i want to run an old piece of software id do it through emulation on linux like i do for my old mac midi stuff i dont see how os8 improves the experience im any way

[@BranchusCreations]

@@95Comics Your original comment asks why Steve didn’t install Linux on this Mac, but all I see is why *you* would install Linux. Here’s a newsflash: this video isn’t about you. By all means, share with us what you would do if this Mac was yours, but don’t question others with different objectives to your own.