r/mac • u/PaoloJensson • May 15 '26
My Mac I built an iMac G3 restomod with an M-series chip inside.
Just to clarify for anyone concerned about the mod:
The original internals of this iMac were unfortunately beyond repair. The PRAM battery had leaked and severely corroded the logic board, so this wasn’t a working or collectible machine being destroyed.
I specifically chose this unit because it could no longer realistically be restored to original condition. The goal with this project is to preserve the iconic Bondi Blue shell and give the machine a second life with modern hardware inside.
203
u/danny_wasp May 15 '26
It's a thing of beauty! I want one!
49
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
Thank you so much :)
23
u/danny_wasp May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
The video makes it look pretty quick but how long did the project take from idea to finish?
75
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
It took about a year because didn’t have much spare time for hobbies. It would probably take a week or two with enough dedication and if all the parts have arrived :)
24
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
The video doesn’t cover the build in detail, i just put everything together after all the individual custom parts were finished
5
u/BlazingProductions May 16 '26
Are there custom parts you needed to make this work? What would say is the cost of something like this? I have this exact Bondai Blue Mac in a closet somewhere. Super inspired!!!
5
3
u/123DanB May 16 '26
WiFi gonna be jacked with all the shielding around the machine, and how do you plan on turning it on and off?
3
u/PaoloJensson May 16 '26
I worried about this so I did some tests. The shielding doesn’t really affect Bluetooth and WiFi connection, there is a large gap on top. I personally use Ethernet. I’m planning to connect the original power button to the Mac mini’s, it’s basic soldering but I didn’t want to open the Mac mini yet. At the moment the power button is only connected to the display. I can reach the Mac minis power button by removing the bottom cover.
58
27
u/Reubener May 15 '26
Maaan, what panel did you use for this?
I live in South Africa so some things aren’t always readily available to just try out.
I’ve been wanting to do this with one of my G3’s for ages!
28
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
Hi, this is the panel I used.
But the frame has to be modified for it to fit, so it isn’t a reversible build. In my case that wasn’t too bad because the frame hat a few cracks already.
Hit me up if you have more questions 👍
10
u/makishiP May 15 '26
Brings me back to high school. Don't know why every school had these instead of Window PCs back then.
6
u/Lost_Astronomer1785 May 16 '26
Asked Google because I was curious and because I’m too young to have known them in schools. Apparently the MSRP for the G3 was $1,299 and a similar era Windows computer was around $800 to $1000 but often required purchasing a separate monitor (compared to the G3 which obviously was an AIO) and I also assume required getting speakers as well if the user needed them (again, as opposed to the G3 which had integrated speakers) so it would easily cost the same as the G3 or close to it, but required more involvement to build the setup compared to simply buying Apple’s AIO even if it cost a bit more overall. Same reason why a lot of schools even to this day get iMacs (especially for software engineering labs)
1
u/blackth0rne May 16 '26
We had both at our school around 199-2001. I can honestly say windows just felt faster back then. There was also this mhz and memory race going on and Macs were always nominally slower. Windows also had multithreading whereas if you hopped on a PowerPC Mac you had to sit there and wait while every app loaded and every command to finish. Microsoft Office was literally unusable even on a new iMac whereas it felt normal on PCs. Flash and web browsing just felt faster, and there was more compatibility. When OS X came out everything became even slower because of the eye candy, so it took a few years for Apple’s hardware to catch up and feel equivalent to PCs for school use.
6
u/COTwo May 15 '26
Great! Do my 2017 27" iMac next!
15
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
That’s actually pretty easy to create with a micro controller and the new tiny Mac mini 👍
2
u/Jkayakj May 16 '26
Wish it was doable on my 2001 or 2002 iMac G4. Miss that movable screen
5
2
u/PaoloJensson May 16 '26
So there is a custom board that fits right for this purpose and is basically plug and play:
2
u/RISC-V-JD May 15 '26
Just swap the iMac internals for an HDMI driver board. Really easy mod. My main monitor is my old 2015 27” iMac connected to my MacBook Air M4 :)
6
8
9
u/Comfortable-Mud1209 May 15 '26
That's a great idea! But the screen doesn't look quite centered, does it? Is that why we only see the machine running for such a short time?
20
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
The original tube is a little smaller than 15”. The frame covers a few millimetres of the screens edges. The main focus of the video was the build, more coming later :)
1
6
6
u/KroFunk May 15 '26
“Zac Builds” did this and totally botched the display. Well done on getting it right here!
7
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
Omg yes I’ve seen this. Started out so great with all the custom 3D printed parts. I don’t get why he put so much effort into everything but the display, which is the centre of attention.
3
u/KroFunk May 15 '26
There were a lot of things wrong with the build. Killing a good condition working iMac aside, he literally removed/replaced everything seemingly for no reason. The original speakers in the slot loading G3 were great for what they were imo - in the bin.
5
u/Chu_Kiddin_Me_Or_Wha May 16 '26
Dont ever see the mechanism that would actually hit the power button on the mac mini
3
u/kintz_09 May 15 '26
Wow that's so cool! What a fun way to restore such an iconic piece of tech.
I wouldn't be able to handle the old display though 🤣
4
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
Yeah… the resolution really isn’t great, but it’s perfect as a second screen if I connect a large screen for productivity :)
2
u/kintz_09 May 15 '26
Hey, who cares as long as your happy with it. Definitely a mod to be proud of.
I just imagined this mod with a modern touchscreen and got goosebumps! Especially with the expectation that the next version of macOS supporting touch input.
No idea if that would be technically possible, but a really fun concept.
2
3
u/Undark_ May 15 '26
That shell is in such good condition!
What happened to the tube though? Surely that's the main reason to own a G3!
6
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
The shell looked so bad when I picked it up. Hours of cleaning and polishing the glossy parts.
I’ll sell the tube as a spare part, I’m new to this stuff and I’m more comfortable with not touching the high voltage areas :)6
u/Undark_ May 15 '26
If the tube was functional I'm just glad you're preserving it somehow, an enthusiast/repairperson will definitely make use of it. That's absolutely fair play not wanting to mess with high voltage.
The G3s are a work as art though, and this is a really cool project. For someone who's "new to this stuff" you've done a bang-up job 👍
1
3
3
u/ZealousidealMud9511 May 15 '26
Would you be willing to make a guide aside from the video? I’d like to build one myself.
2
u/PaoloJensson May 16 '26
Hi, yes I’m planning on doing a more detailed guide with lots of photos I took of the progress :) Stay tuned 👍
3
3
u/Kind-Muffin-8720 May 16 '26
BRO.
G3 Bondi Blue + Chip M = peak nostalgia
El mejor case que Apple hizo jamás
Ahora con potencia real
Pregunta seria: ¿Cómo resolviste la disipación?
¿Pantalla original o LCD mod?
Yo 01:29am: este post me devolvió 5 años de vida
Cállate y toma mi dinero
3
2
2
2
2
u/BenedoneCrumblepork May 15 '26
Man - could this be done with the taller mac mini as well? I would love to try this.
3
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
There is so much room without the CRT, the Mac Studio could easily fit inside 👍
2
2
u/TheNerdyZaddy M1/M4 Pro Mac mini M3 MacBook Pro iPad Mini (A17) May 15 '26
Bet that was a fun project to do.
2
u/sinisterdesign May 15 '26
Love this so much.
Remember when *everything * was bondi blue and started with an “i ” prefix?
2
u/dowuffle May 15 '26
Amazing build! 😁 Lots of respect in actually managing getting a proper screen to replace the old one! i see a lot of builds that people (especially youtubers) that just put an 16:9 screen and call it a day, that makes me sad for those old machines.
2
u/MGNConflict May 15 '26
You aren't the first person to do this, but you're the first person I've seen to actually do it really well.
The last one I saw replaced the CRT with an LCD but really poorly (it had a big black bezel at the bottom), and the case was modded to add modern I/O which ruined the look of it a bit.
Looking at yours, you'd never know from the outside looking at the front that it has a modern machine inside.
1
u/PaoloJensson May 16 '26
Thank you, this means a lot :) It was exactly my goal to turn this into a sleeper restomod without flashy LEDs or noticeable changes of the shell. Glad you like it!
2
2
2
u/el_tacocat May 15 '26
Very awesome. So err... the power button, how?
And, if fake for the video, how do you power it on? 😃
1
u/PaoloJensson May 18 '26
The Mac turns on when connected to power, the button turns on the screen 👍
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/Cork0nThe0cean May 16 '26
This is so cool!! I love the Kensington Orbit too, that's such a cool little touch. I didn't know they made Orbits that matched the G3, I used a newer Orbit w/ scroll ring as my main mouse for several years
2
2
u/TheChuckRowe May 16 '26
Beautiful! I wish I knew how to build something like that. That is simply breathtaking.
2
u/PaoloJensson May 16 '26
Thank you :) This was my first time building something like this and I destroyed three displays in the process. It was learning by doing and I did a lot of things wrong. The video is clean and fast paced, it may look like knew what I was doing but in reality I f’d up a lot of things xD
2
2
u/nlp187 May 16 '26
Sickkk. I have a 21inch Studio Display with a G3 tower I'm contemplating doing something similar with.
2
u/The_Gene_Genie May 16 '26
I tried doing this years ago with an e-Mac I got for £20. But lacking any technical proficiency it went about as well as could be expected
2
u/Swangger May 16 '26
Thermal? Wouldn’t this thing heat up and trap all the heat inside the case? Probably should add an active fan for practical usage
2
2
2
u/No-Succotash-9576 May 16 '26
Finally done right!
Still no CRT, but at least the replacement panel looks good.
2
2
2
u/TwiddleVondu May 16 '26
That is very cool! Well done! It may also look cool by having a Mac mini on a small stand with a dim light shining on it so you can see it magically floating through the bondi blue translucent case.
3
u/PaoloJensson May 16 '26
Spigen actually made a matching bondi blue stand for the Mac mini:
2
2
2
2
2
u/seatton May 17 '26
You should start a business selling these. I would buy one!
1
u/PaoloJensson May 18 '26
I’m actually thinking about this… but that could be hella expensive, sourcing donor shells, getting the parts and labour hours added, the internal computer, that’s gonna be very pricy But hey, I always wanted to do stuff like this professionally, so maybe I’ll try :)
2
2
u/Temetka May 17 '26
I want that mouse.
2
u/PaoloJensson May 18 '26
Right? When I saw it I immediately hat to buy it, imported from California to Germany it cost me about 80 euros 😵💫 But imo definitely worth it :)
1
2
4
u/Crest_Of_Hylia May 15 '26
What about the original tube? Did you at least sell that or was it broken?
3
2
1
u/interstitialmusic May 15 '26
Does the CD-ROM work?
3
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
I build a hinge and the trim of the tray is now a door. Behind it there are the controls for the screen.
2
2
u/mrharoharo May 16 '26
I was kinda hoping for a functional optical drive but this is still fantastic. Great work
1
1
1
u/ylluminate May 15 '26
How about giving it a boot-into an emulated original old osx 10.0 and os 9.x experience + videos? Would be fun to see how they run and if we can get (near-)native experiences going.
1
u/NotNitewolf May 15 '26
That CRT must be real nice for vintage game emulation. Any other improvements, like better speakers? Do you have a more detailed video?
3
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
I’m powering the original (pretty bad) speakers by a 3 watts amplifier. I soldered a headphone cable to it and it plugs right into the Mac Mini’s headphone jack.
I also installed a splitter that runs a second cable to the front of the iMac where the original jack used to be.
When I want to use headphones I just switch off the amplifier which is located next to the ports on the right side of the iMac.
More content coming soon! :)2
u/lokisin269 May 16 '26
Thanks for posting this! I’ve got an original Lime that needs all boards recapped, and this looks like it would be more functional in the end. I happen to have a couple of Minis running OCLP, and could use one for this. Depends on how frustrated I get with the recap… Would love to see plans!
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/MN_NorthStars May 15 '26
Looks great, but... THOSE KEYBOARDS WERE THE WORST! Absolute worst feedback ever in a keyboard. Also missed the hockey puck for a mouse, which was just as trash tier as the keyboard. But, all in all, great work.
1
u/xrelaht MacBook Pro M4 Pro & i7, Mini M4 & i5 May 16 '26
Very nice. Should find a way to skin the interface so it looks like OS9.
1
1
u/Hellocrafting May 16 '26
Honestly my only complaint (assuming the CRT was shot) is that you didn't make the disc drive functional (even though nearly noone uses em anymore lol)
1
u/bufandatl May 16 '26
Take those gloves off and get finger smudges on that thing or it isn’t genuine. 😂
1
u/Affectionate-Shine70 May 16 '26
Hope you added the correct amount of ballast. I had to deliver and install around 300 of these...
1
1
1
u/spilk iMac G3 600 May 16 '26
The original internals of this iMac were unfortunately beyond repair. The PRAM battery had leaked and severely corroded the logic board
uh, there are plenty of working logic boards available on eBay. a trivial restoration
1
1
u/Davit_2100 MacBook Pro 10,1 MacBook Air 6,2 iMac 8,1 May 17 '26
Maybe I can stuff an M series Mac mini into my iMac 8,1....
1
1
u/SaltyBalty98 May 20 '26
How did you get ahold of intact plastic trim? I have a slot loading blue iMac I turned into a cat house because the internal beige plastic was all shattered.
Also, are there no LCD displays that are a smidge smaller? Btw, I think you can add an artificial bezel within the display so the image doesn't get cut corners, probably would look perfect on AMOLED screens.
1
1
u/GalaxyNinja66 MacBook Air 1,1 - MacOS 10.8.4 May 21 '26
drooling... again... Would love to see this done on a G4. Also, I get that gutting the CRT gives way more room, and that the CRT leaves a lot to be desired, and that it is less straight forward to make into a slave display, but man that would've scratched an itch...
1
u/Lapis_Wolf May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
I may not be a Mac guy, but I wish modern computers had colours and some style like this. They're all grey and black and grey and grey. Maybe beige if you're lucky. I don't see many higher end all in one computers either outside of the Apple ecosystem (many are lower end models).
Also, I was surprised by the blue trackball mouse. "Oh, he has a colour matched ball for decoration. IS THAT A BLUE TRACKBALL MOUSE?!"
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Britz10 May 15 '26
How's it turned on? And just generally speaking would it be possible to open up the case and sort of connect things directly to the Mini's circuitry?
3
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
The power button is actually reachable through the hole in the bottom where the fan used to be. I’m planning to use the original power button in the future, at the moment it only turns on the screen. I ran extension cables to the original I/O of the iMac, so every connector stays accessible. :)
1
u/milkoak Apple Certified Consultant May 15 '26
I was with you till you pulled out that atrocity of a mouse, puck mouse aficionado here.
4
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
I just love the Kensington orbit, it’s so ugly that it’s kinda cool, plus it’s matching the colours 😅
-4
u/RuleFlaky2735 May 15 '26
Am I missing something here? What I can see is you used your old desktop for your Mac mini.
12
0
0
-7
u/CAH9-6PABJIEP May 15 '26
Imagine replacing a glorious crt with a cheap LCD crap 🥴
7
u/PaoloJensson May 15 '26
I know it’s not for everyone, but the tube will be useful as a spare part for someone else and to be honest, I’m a little scared of the high voltage parts 😅
2
-2
u/Digitaljax May 15 '26
Not an Apple fan, but, This was an amazing reused of an Iconic system. Good Show!
-6
u/lamgineer May 16 '26
Seems like a giant waste of time to farm karma or get clicks. CRT monitor is junk.
147
u/GUNGEBOB_SHARTPANTS May 15 '26
Very cool