Mystery Five Dollar iMac Find - G5 or Intel?

[@davidhepworth3956]

One easy way to tell if it’s a G5 or an Intel is to look at the ports. The G5 has a Mini VGA port and the Intel ones have a Mini DVI Port. Great video as always, Steve!

[@DistrosProjects]

I think the G5's ports are vertical as well, right?

[@PIPERdotEXE]

@@DistrosProjects Correct

[@sadmac356]

That was what gave it away for me

[@Mac84]

Almost! Except for the last revision with the iSight camera built in… I should have said that in the video. 😅

[@doq]

An even easier way to tell is just by turning it on- not even booted into anything. G5 machines take a bit from the bong to show a white screen on the display, whereas Intel machines will show a white screen almost at the same time as the bong. I knew it was an Intel the moment it was powered on just from how quickly the initial white screen appeared.

[@GarthBeagle]

I like the size of these 17" iMacs, they just felt right. Not too large or small.

[@Mac84]

I bought a 20” Intel Core Duo model in 2006 when they were brand new. Although I will admit the 17” is very nice and compact!

[@anumeon]

Bong live the long... Ohh i got that wrong... Long live the bong.. (I love old mac boot sounds)

[@shermanikk]

Just a note: Don't ever use glass cleaner on an LCD, anything with ammonia in it will strip off the anti-reflective coating and you'll end up with a ton of screen glare! Just use plain water and a microfiber cloth in the future.

[@digital4282]

That stuff is made with vinegar, it’s fine. (Ecos brand)

[@valley_robot]

Good tip

[@reverendhellfire]

The aluminum keyboards aren't recognized by macs at startup on older models. You have to use the white keyboard or earlier USB keyboards for startup key commands. Also, the iMac G5 iSight models had either a 1.9 or 2.1ghz processor.

[@RichsRandomRetroReviews]

The speed of the CPU was a give away ;) I don’t remember the G5s coming in at 1.83GHz. That sounded like a core duo or core 2 duo to me. Great video. I loved the hands section. Very ActionRetro 😂 In my latest Mac mini video, I did a Tiger install and I couldn’t believe how snappy it was. The OS took about 4 minutes to install and from a cold boot to the desktop (after I installed an SSD) took 13 seconds. It’s mental!!

[@mysfiring]

As soon as you revealed the foot, I knew it was an Intel - at least one close to the transition. The colour of the sticker was the tell - it's grey on the PPCs, and white on the X86es.

[@zdxrkxeno]

Awesome, my uncle still has one of these, its an awesome piece of tech history!

[@julien3557]

just recovered the first generation iMac G5 base 17 inches for $20, it is in perfect condition and did not want to start like this one, I reinstall tiger and it works nickel.

[@gallowsgryph]

I kinda knew what it would be as soon as I saw the ports on the back. Still a lovely machine, and I need to find one of my own for my collection.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

If you have to replace the hard drive you might as well upgrade the CPU too, that Mac can still run modern operating systems if you give it a 64 bit C2D. MacOS involves patching but BSD, Linux and Windows should install without headache. PopOS and Mint on my e8400 build ran pretty decently before I changed to a Q6600.

[@InfiniteLoop]

I had one of those same iMacs, unfortunately the HDD was shot, and when I opened it up half the caps were bulged and a couple were about to pop so I parted it out, Im using its stand for a project the other parts not sure, but its optical drive is going inyo a Commodore 1541 II with a SSD to make a media drive for my VICberry20

[@TermDayZ]

So it appears to be the same 17" Intel iMac I purchased from PC world in 2006/2007 for 849 GBP. 1.83ghz dual core. They shipped with panther but also a free upgrade to tiger which was nice. I loved the media remote (which seems to be missing) as it allowed it to be used in my kitchen at the time. Really nice machine, with the AMD GPU 128mb I believe, it ran WOW and other games at the time. I would buy this for 5$ andway of the week just due to nostalgia. Lastly, this is still my favourite apple keyboard. I still have it today :)

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

I’ve got 2012 Imac ( intel) and it does everything you could ask of it. Very underrated machines. There’s a way of upgrading to Sonoma too.

[@austin2622]

Another easy way to tell is the boot sequence, on PowerPC machines, there is a delay after the boot chime until the screen turns on. On Intel Macs, the display comes on almost immediately.

[@RudysRetroIntel]

Super excellent find for $5!! Enjoy it in good health:)

[@arthurwilton8969]

Well it's good to know that my old iMac G5 is worth much more in nostalgia than cash! Can't bring myself to get rid of it, such a cool looking machine.

[@Rabbit_AF]

Core Duo was 32 bit only, correct?

[@maighstir3003]

Yes. Core Solo/Duo were 32-bit, Core 2 Duo/Quad were 64-bit.

[@it9997]

Fun and entertaining ! Thank you!

[@lewisfilby2394]

I got a boxed complete G5 iSight from eBay a few years ago. I was so happy, I use it everyday as a music player, iTunes library full of albums. sadly I blew the speakers and cannot connect the G4 iMac speakers directly to it. how hard to replace the speakers?

[@MacCrafter707]

That's cool - in parts, it's worth more than $5.

[@michaelsworkshop9031]

Any SMART information about the drive's condition? If the drive is flaky or failing, you may still need to replace it.

[@St0rmcrash]

Whoo my guess it was Intel was right based on the more curved back panel and the horizontal port arrangement. I have a real soft spot for the white polycarb iMacs

[@oldskoolpaul77]

I really enjoyed this video!

[@xnonsuchx]

I got a 20” G5 iSight iMac off eBay a few years ago for only $19 (and no shipping since it was local) and it works fine. One of the best deals I’ve found. I think memory was maxed on it, so I just want to put an SSD in it.

[@renndino]

Thanks for the new video.

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

I fairly recently got one of these and upgraded it to be basically a 5,1 imac. I put in a Core 2 Duo 2.13ghz, upgraded the firmware to the 5,1 firmware, and put in 3gb of ram. Unfortunately the iSight doesn't work, the right Speaker is damaged, the wifi doesn't get good signal(although that one was me) and the hard drive just died.

[@paulmuaddib451]

Excellent video. Knew instantly though; vertical ports, G5, horizontal ports, Intel.

[@Mac84]

Unless it’s a later G5 model with an iSight camera… it’s ports are horizontal too! 😉

[@yannisgk]

what a bargain!!!

[@term-827]

I have one of these intel imacs and believe it or not, it can run os x lion albeit a bit compromised.

[@Di3mondDud3]

Id love to find literally any cheap mac that has firewire and itunes. Just for easy use with my 3rd gen ipod classic. Im only 22 but oh man... Im drooling at the disc binder...

[@sbrazenor2]

I think the aspect ratio of the screens is different between the G5 and Intel. One is closer to a more modern 16:9 and the other is closer to the old 4:3 ratio.

[@ericjenks9596]

The first gen intels were basically indistinguishable from the g5s for screens. It wasn’t until the aluminum models came out that the screen went to the more 16:9 ratio

[@davie655]

any idea where i can get a Mac OS 9 Boot have a few older macs and want to get OS9 back on to them

[@michaeljones3687]

You can download an ISO off of WinWorldPC and burn the image to a disk. 🙂

[@emlyndewar]

Core2Duo, 3gb memory and SSD upgrade, and you’d still have a slow older Mac. It’s always fun though. 👍

[@saltedhash6467]

I might be mistaken but it seems you do not first vacuum a computer you’re going to restore. If that’s correct then I suggest that is done first because if you don’t then there is a good chance rubbing the surfaces with a towel will scratch or seriously damage the surfaces when a liquid cleaner and towel is used. I first gently vacuum all surfaces with soft brush attachments followed by liquid cleaners applied with a towel. Important to be aware not to create static electricity when vacuuming sensitive electronic parts because that can damage components. Use anti static bristles for vacuum attachments and any brush tools. For instance, horse hair is okay but all plastic bristles are not. Additionally, never use window cleaner with ammonia because ammonia can damage or remove coatings on a screen. Also be careful with cleaners that have eucalyptus because that oil will remove paint. Lavender oil is also something to be avoided.

[@Krozmar]

not sure about your bandwith.. but usually some of the OS on Apple say that its installing but are just downloading gigs of data that could take a while, so that make seem that the installer is frozen, that also includes that spinning circle.. Could take hours or just a few minuts depending on the hardware and internett connectiont

[@aa-au]

Great find Steve. A easy way of finding if it's a G5 or an Intel iMac - a G5 has a grey label with the specs underneath and an Intel has a white label with the specs underneath. If it's a grey label and it has iSight, then the 17" is a G5/1.9Ghz and the 20" is a G5/2.1Ghz. No iSight and a fat iMac means it is an early original or an ALS. Otherwise, an iSight iMac with a white label are all Intel. I don't have to tell you this you already know this info...

[@ernstoud]

Should have waited one more day!

[@mintybudgie]

its obviously an intel because the g5 macs have their back io facing vertically while the intel ones have horizontal io

[@pineappleroad]

There are some g5 iMacs that have horizontal ports However, there is still a way to tell between intel and g5 from the ports, g5 has mini VGA, intel has mini DVI

[@robertchamberlin2362]

if the sticker on the both is gray then if powermac if its white its intel i remeber this from your other video

[@ericjenks9596]

This was my mom’s first mac! It was her tax return that year, lol. Would love to see a tear down, the lcd on hers has died

[@mortenthorpe]

The foot has the data about the model… but I’m fairly sure that the thickness of it, reveals it to be a G5… I had one for years

[@alphaLONE]

knew it was intel as soon as you announced the clock speed! Don't remember any G5 chip having an advertised clock speed with tens of megahertz precision, it was always hundreds of megahertz. by the way, what happened to your clear frames?

[@andrew_dpw]

It's Intel because of the horizontal ports!!! :D

[@tylerfrankel5374]

I thought that too but apparently the final revision of g5 had the same case as first gen intel

[@WarrenPostma]

I might be tempted to use an old rig like this to run a Nintendo 64 emulator.

[@dominicskywalker]

As soon as I saw the orientation of the rear ports (vertical versus horizontal) I knew it was an Intel Mac

[@tylerfrankel5374]

That’s what I was thinking but apparently the last gen g5 “rev c” shared the same case as the first gen intel iMacs.

[@PIPERdotEXE]

Intel. The moment I saw the horizontal alignment of the ports, I knew. G5s were vertical

[@austin2622]

Later revisions of the G5s had horizontally aligned ports as well

[@BilisNegra]

It's a bit "sad", but for some reason, I heard 1.83 Ghz, and almost by instinct I thought "that sounds Intel", so that kind of spoiled the surprise to me, even if not a connaisseur of Mac models at all.

[@willapanews9761]

It's a Jay Leno IMac.

[@RustyX2010]

I had one of these but it was missing the power supply and didn't have time to search for one so I just donated it to an independent thrift store.

[@NukePC_]

You can tell if it’s a g5 or intel by the boot picker intels have a white boot picker while powerpc has a blue classic looking boot picker

[@abdelkaderelbachir3817]

So do you have any vintage toys brand new in the box just asking you know perhaps a cowboy with a snake in its boots

[@Mac84]

I’ll save you big buck-buck bucks!

[@courierstudio]

iSight G5 has a vertical line of ports on the back, early Intel has a horizontal line of IO.

[@minty_Joe]

Install an SSD and max out the RAM. Then maybe consider going to Leopard...or maybe even a Linux distro of your choice (I'd prefer the Linux route).

[@Mac84]

The RAM is maxed out already at 2 GB. I did put an SSD in my similar 20” 2006 iMac ages ago. Night and day difference!

[@minty_Joe]

@@Mac84 Awesome! Well done! Now the question is: Are you going to keep it and what OS do you want on it for daily use? Linux would provide a pathway to apps that are up-to-date, but I don't know what the performance will be like and the choices of 32-bit only distros are slowly becoming less and less. Tiger is faster and has great compatibility with Classic OS systems over AppleTalk/LocalTalk connections. So, it's a toss-up.

[@mariodasilva8729]

I wouldn't bother cleaning it till I discovered it was working first...

[@kevingamingplaz3512]

To tell if the iMac is intel or a G5 try booting into open firmware. Open firmware only works on Power PCS

[@georgesenda1952]

I want an older Mac so I can play Diablo 2 & Civilization 3 complete. I think it would have to run Lion.

[@sadmac356]

If those are PowerPC you would need Snow Leopard or earlier

[@jasongooden917]

This inspired my to dust off my old mini pc.... literally dust it off

[@RetroTechy]

I guessed it was a later model eMac, boy was I wrong

[@Mac84]

😧!! No cube for you!

[@MrVitalic85]

I’l say first gen imac with core duo (not core 2 duo)

[@rubengarciajr]

could you install chrome OS on this computer?

[@Moledmc]

That's what I was thinking, and an SSD.

[@Xe4ro]

Checking the Model number (in this case A1173) on Mactracker app is my go to method :)

[@ahscott2001]

You can always tell the Intel from the G5 based on the ports. The G5 has vertical ports and the Intel has horizontal ports.

[@carsonwalker567]

I have a G5 (iSight model) with horizontal ports

[@Mac84]

It is tricky because later G5 models have the ports horizontal - just like the Intel models!

[@ahscott2001]

@@Mac84 well then wasn’t the power button inverted on the g5?

[@richardbrobeck2384]

I also have one that i got for free I forgot what processor i have thou .

[@andrewdupuis1151]

unreal tournament its good game i have pc version

[@mortenthorpe]

A core duo… hmmm… that’s an Intel Celeron if I recall, Intel i3, right?

[@tylerfrankel5374]

You listed 3 completely separate cpus lmao i3 wasn’t even a thing when they made these Macs

[@Mortenthorpe-DK]

@@tylerfrankel5374 OK… I mis-recalled, on now bygone ancient IT tech… But, you didn’t provide insight as to what an Apple Core Duo is in intel cpu terns … Did Intel really name this? Or was it a rebranded Celeron, i3, or something else?

[@jimseibyl5140]

Look at the specs on the foot! The G5 will denote itself, 1.83 is a core duo Intel

[@Saphykitten]

I very much enjoy your content. Your content would benefit from a separate director and/or editor.

[@w1ntelre395]

Easiest giveaway if G5 or Intel is: G5 has ports positioned vertically, Intel has ports positioned horizontally!

[@valley_robot]

5 dollars ? These still sell for over 150.00 uk where I’m from

[@newagederpderp]

You can quickly tell an iMac G5 from an Intel iMac by simply looking at the ports - G5s have a Mini-VGA port and Intel Macs have a Mini-DVI port instead

[@Mac84]

This is true! Sadly the photos from the seller were too blurry to tell.

[@trinaconrad4583]

Time to install Linux :)

[@valt-e]

i got my late 2006 intel imac for 25$

[@der0keks]

no SD slot; G5 edit: aww, 1.83 = intel.

[@jasongooden917]

huge chin on this mac

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

intel

[@gamingraidersandfails2626]

intel core duo

[@creepyhobo5211]

He got the first intel iMac, I got the last intel iMac!

[@jjohnson71958]

g5

[@sajtcraft3473]

cheapest one on ebay is 40$

[@atarixle]

this is an Intel .. G5 had "G5" on the back.

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

No it didn't. it said iMac

[@sebasvegab3720]

G5 or intel??

[@s8wc3]

Both

[@MrEd-qg8td]

It's an Intel. There was no 1.83 G5 CPU only Intel made it.

[@robertchamberlin2362]

intel boot picker

[@mr.bigboss8632]

G5+NeXT if any@oo(costs)=future of ours♡