Will iMac G3(700 MHz) play DVD's?

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Level 3

580 points

Will iMac G3(700 MHz) play DVD's?

I'm considering buying a used iMac G3(700 MHz) that seems to have !0.3.0 pre-installed. What's confusing me is that there is no DVD Player app in Applications. Why not? Is this iMac capable of playing DVD's? If so, where might the DVD Player app be? Did it come on the second Panther install disc?

20" G5 iMAC , 250GB HD, 1.5GB RAM, G3 iMac SE DVD, 13GB HD, 384MB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.4), 80GB OWC Mercury Elite USB/FW drive AEBS

Posted on Feb 18, 2006 3:37 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

741,881 points

Feb 18, 2006 7:23 PM in response to WildBill

A 700MHz iMac G3 doesn't include a DVD drive unless one was added after the machine was purchased; therefore, there won't be a DVD Player application on the hard disk unless this has been done.

(10623)

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Answer 2

WildBill Author

Level 3

580 points

Feb 18, 2006 7:41 PM in response to Niel

Niel,

Thanks for clarifying. My iMac G3 DVD SE(400 MHz) obviously came with a DVD drive and I erroneously assumed that this later iMac would have one as well.

Thanks,

Bill

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Answer 3

Mar 4, 2006 9:15 AM in response to WildBill

It was slightly odd move for Apple; the first slot-loading iMacs had DVD-ROMs but later iMacs ditched the DVD-ROM in favour of a CD-RW drive.

(I guess the DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive was too pricy back then.

Here's a link to the full run-down of CRT iMacs.

regards

mrtotes

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Answer 4

WildBill Author

Level 3

580 points

Mar 4, 2006 11:02 AM in response to Adam Coates

mrtotes,

Thanks for your helpful post. That link you provided me with was excellent. Yes, I concur; sort of odd they ditched the DVD-ROMs for the CD-RW? Maybe it WAS a cost consideration?

Bill

PS Is the DVD drive separate from the the hd? Can I simply put in a bigger hd, leaving the DVD drive intact?

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Answer 5

Mar 4, 2006 2:10 PM in response to WildBill

PS Is the DVD drive separate from the the hd? Can I simply put in a bigger hd, leaving the DVD drive intact?

Bill,

Absolutely, you can replace the HD - I put a 60Gb 7,200rpm one in my iMac before it went to my mother. It's a standard IDE/ATA 3.5" desktop hard drive - any computer shop can sell you one (not SATA (Serial ATA) though). The iMac CRT can use up to 128Gb internal drive without additional software.

Here are the instructions on how to do itshould you wish...

HTH

mrtotes

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Answer 6

WildBill Author

Level 3

580 points

Mar 4, 2006 2:38 PM in response to Adam Coates

Thanks, Adam! Much appreciated!

Bill

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Answer 7

Mar 28, 2006 11:44 AM in response to WildBill

Hi WildBill

I was told that it was nothing to do with cost but a marketing decision. Apple had decided that the "next big thing" was watching DVDs on the computer and so when the new range came out they all had dvd players.

On the other side - PC manufacturers were putting in CDRW drives as their marketeers had decided that people were more likely to burn their own CDs than watch DVDs.

In this instance the other side was correct and when the next version of the iMac came out, so did the DVDdrive.

Now, as we all know, every computer can play DVDs (most can also record them) so Apple was in effect correct. They just did it too early.

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Answer 8

shaval

Level 1

25 points

May 28, 2006 12:10 AM in response to Donna Thomas

Yep. I'm replacing my cdrw for dvd rom so I can install Tiger and watch movies. I think a dvd rom is more useful now than a disc burner since you can "burn" data to a flash drive or external hard drive.

iMac G3 600 Mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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