If your MacBook was literally overheating, and that can happen to laptops, then it will likely happen again regardless of what it is running. I've repaired several laptops, but never a mac laptop, and in recent years one sort of repair I seem to be doing a lot of is back flushing dust out of laptop cooling systems with compressed air. I suppose you could use canned air but since I have an air compressor I tend to use that.
So, I understand you have a monitor you can use. Actually Mac monitors are, to my understanding PC monitors these days so all you need is a switch to go between your mac or your PC.
If you'd like to give me a price range for a PC, I'd try to recommend something in that price range. As you know, I can't tell what that HP Athlon cost or what it included.
Without such information this example is simply sort of a best guess that you might like. At least I consider it a good value, but if you have certain criteria of price, or speed, or warranty. Personally my desire to be able to open a computer and swap out the vga card without voiding an annoying warranty motivates me to pay LESS for a computer with a shorter warranty period.
Being it is IBM, it almost certainly has an available AGP slot, although the VGA it comes with is almost certainly integrated into the motherboard. You are getting a better value because it does not include an operating system and because it is refurbished as opposed to new.
This other informative link at dealtime reveals that the design allows the CPU itself to be upgraded to a faster one if you choose to later.
The worst thing I can think of to say about it is that it does not include a DVD reader for easier software installation, although if you want one, this same company sells one separately for $14 here, although I think it would be a better value to pay $30 and buy this LG brand (my favorite) Dual Layer DVD burner with LightScribe
I don't know many games that work well on a pentium 3 of any mhz, but 330 is slow even for a p3. If you feel like seeing what you can do with that old P3 on the cheap, I could recommend a particular version with LINUX which includes WINE (a windows emulator that is rumored to run some older games better than windows) Most linux versions these days boot from cd or dvd, depending on whether that Pentium 3 even has a DVD reader, (not impossible).
I love winamp (or I used to until very recently) but I"m constantly annoyed every time they come out with a new version and seem to twist my arm into upgrading instead of just letting me enjoy what already works. Windows media player is such junk I feel physical pain ever time even see the name.
That said, I will guarantee that even if the pentium 3 does not play your games under linux at least linux will breathe new life into that machine, even for simple things like playing music or videos. The basic players linux includes upon installation work better than anything winamp ever made. It just totally blows my mind, AND it is free!
I have an old pentium 2 that's even slower than your P3, but with linux on it and only 128 megs of ram, it feels like a new system. And for the record, I'm actually a linux novice. It's just that this stuff has become so EASY to learn lately. Seven years ago, Linux was intimidating. These days it is easier to install Linux than to install XP.
Oops, I forgot to mention. This company gets these things in small quantities, so if you like that pc, you might not want to delay purchase. I personally feel confident assembling computers from a motherboard here, a vga card there and any one of a dozen old cases I have laying about, and EVEN THEN I have difficulty resisting the temptation to order that PC I just linked you to. I swear I can't build a comparable system for less than the $147 price on it.
Honestly, try pricing a 40 gig HD (guessing $30), 512mb ram (guessing $20), P4 motherboard (guessing $40), 3ghz cpu (guessing $40), AGP video (guessing $20)... that's $150 before you get to the Case, Power supply, floppy drive, cdrom drive, all of which I have in my old cases.
You know... if your Pentium 3 is housed in a standard ATX chassis, you could simply buy a new motherboard, CPU and modern memory module for it and save on shipping, but as I don't know anything about your pentium 3, I'd be afraid to suggest it. If you list it's brand and model number (hopefully listed on the back) I'll try to look it up for you to determine if it is a good candidate for a new motherboard. There is a liklihood however that depending on the style of new motherboard, you'd still have to put an extra $20 in to buy a P4 style power supply, although not all P4 motherboards actually require that.
So, I understand you have a monitor you can use. Actually Mac monitors are, to my understanding PC monitors these days so all you need is a switch to go between your mac or your PC.
If you'd like to give me a price range for a PC, I'd try to recommend something in that price range. As you know, I can't tell what that HP Athlon cost or what it included.
Without such information this example is simply sort of a best guess that you might like. At least I consider it a good value, but if you have certain criteria of price, or speed, or warranty. Personally my desire to be able to open a computer and swap out the vga card without voiding an annoying warranty motivates me to pay LESS for a computer with a shorter warranty period.
IBM P4 3ghz, 512mb ram, 40g HD, AGP video $147 plus shipping
Being it is IBM, it almost certainly has an available AGP slot, although the VGA it comes with is almost certainly integrated into the motherboard. You are getting a better value because it does not include an operating system and because it is refurbished as opposed to new.
This other informative link at dealtime reveals that the design allows the CPU itself to be upgraded to a faster one if you choose to later.
The worst thing I can think of to say about it is that it does not include a DVD reader for easier software installation, although if you want one, this same company sells one separately for $14 here, although I think it would be a better value to pay $30 and buy this LG brand (my favorite) Dual Layer DVD burner with LightScribe
I don't know many games that work well on a pentium 3 of any mhz, but 330 is slow even for a p3. If you feel like seeing what you can do with that old P3 on the cheap, I could recommend a particular version with LINUX which includes WINE (a windows emulator that is rumored to run some older games better than windows) Most linux versions these days boot from cd or dvd, depending on whether that Pentium 3 even has a DVD reader, (not impossible).
I love winamp (or I used to until very recently) but I"m constantly annoyed every time they come out with a new version and seem to twist my arm into upgrading instead of just letting me enjoy what already works. Windows media player is such junk I feel physical pain ever time even see the name.
That said, I will guarantee that even if the pentium 3 does not play your games under linux at least linux will breathe new life into that machine, even for simple things like playing music or videos. The basic players linux includes upon installation work better than anything winamp ever made. It just totally blows my mind, AND it is free!
I have an old pentium 2 that's even slower than your P3, but with linux on it and only 128 megs of ram, it feels like a new system. And for the record, I'm actually a linux novice. It's just that this stuff has become so EASY to learn lately. Seven years ago, Linux was intimidating. These days it is easier to install Linux than to install XP.
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Honestly, try pricing a 40 gig HD (guessing $30), 512mb ram (guessing $20), P4 motherboard (guessing $40), 3ghz cpu (guessing $40), AGP video (guessing $20)... that's $150 before you get to the Case, Power supply, floppy drive, cdrom drive, all of which I have in my old cases.
You know... if your Pentium 3 is housed in a standard ATX chassis, you could simply buy a new motherboard, CPU and modern memory module for it and save on shipping, but as I don't know anything about your pentium 3, I'd be afraid to suggest it. If you list it's brand and model number (hopefully listed on the back) I'll try to look it up for you to determine if it is a good candidate for a new motherboard. There is a liklihood however that depending on the style of new motherboard, you'd still have to put an extra $20 in to buy a P4 style power supply, although not all P4 motherboards actually require that.
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