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Vectronic's Blueberry iMac G3/266 (Rev. C)

Archives Section:  Macintosh Collection Archive

Originally Published:  Aug. 15, 2007

The iMac G3/266 was the second computer to carry the iMac moniker. Apple introduced the iMac G3/266 on January 5, 1999 and soon all potential iMac buyers could be heard asking, "What flavor iMac should I choose?" The beautiful but singular bondi blue color of the original iMac gave way to 5 flavors: blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime, and strawberry. My iMac G3/266 is a blueberry, the most popular flavor. I purchased it as new-old stock in 2006 for $70. It originally sold for about $1200. The computer had never been used and still had the protective plastic stuck to the top of the case when I first removed it from its box.

Five flavors: blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime, and strawberry

iMac just taken out of the box

My blueberry iMac has a manufacture date of "03/05/1999" printed on the sticker inside the port orifice on the side of the computer. It has a 266 MHz G3 processor, a 6 GB hard drive, and 160 MB of RAM. The iMac G3/266 has a built-in, tray loading 24x CD-ROM drive.

My iMac G3/266 originally shipped with 32 MB of RAM. I wanted to install Mac OS 9, but 32 MB is not enough to run it (without constantly hitting Virtual Memory). You should have at least 64 MB of RAM before installing Mac OS 9. I added a 128 MB RAM chip making total system RAM equal to 160 MB. Beginning with the iMac G3/400 and iMac G3/350, RAM can be added by removing a door on the bottom of the computer. Adding RAM to the original iMac, iMac G3/266, and iMac G3/333 requires removing the motherboard and if necessary, removing the processor board. One RAM slot is on top of the processor board and the other is on the bottom. I removed the processor board just to look at it. You would only need to remove the processor board if you have to access the bottom of the board to replace the factory installed RAM. Below are images depicting the process. This is not a step-by-step depiction; it is merely a depiction of the difficulty involved in the process. Do not attempt to change the RAM in your iMac unless you know what you are doing. Furthermore, you should probably wear a grounding strap or risk damaging the iMac's sensitive components.

(Click) Accessing the motherboard to install RAM:

iMac ports

iMac tray loading CD-ROM drive

The iMac G3/266 has the following ports: two USB 1.1 ports, a 56.6K modem RJ-11 port, a 10/100Base-T Ethernet RJ-45 port, a speaker jack, a microphone jack, and two headphone jacks located in the right front speaker grill. It has a built-in microphone residing on the front of the computer located in the center of the top of the monitor. There are two built-in stereo speakers on the front with SRS 3D stereo sound. The iMac G3/266 does not have FireWire. My iMac G3/266 has Mac OS 9.1 installed, but it originally shipped with Mac OS 8.5.1. It can officially support up to Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther).

"About This Computer" showing Mac OS and RAM

Click to view screen capture 1 - Desktop 1
Click to view screen capture 2 - Desktop 2
Click to view screen capture 3 - Desktop 3
Click to view screen capture 4 - Calculator
Click to view screen capture 5 - Chooser
Click to view screen capture 6 - Memory Control Panel
Click to view screen capture 7 - Appearance Control Panel
Click to view screen capture 8 - Apple System Profiler 1
Click to view screen capture 9 - Apple System Profiler 2

The iMac G3/266 (Rev. C) had a very short production run. It was replaced on April 15, 1999 by the iMac G3/333 (Rev. D). The G3/333 was virtually identical to the G3/266, but had a faster 333 MHz G3 processor. Like the former, the G3/333 was also available in the same popular five flavors. 

(Click) Thumbnails: