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I am looking into buying myself an original iMac, as I want to mess with the older system a little bit.
Is it even remotely possible to change the RAM in the system to being over 256 MB? I am willing to do it even if it means changing out other parts to allow it to be possible.
(I asked this question at the Ask Different Stack Exchange, but I was referred to here for better help).
It would appear so. This page indicates that it may be possible to go up to 768MB.
You might have some work ahead trying to find those obsolete RAM modules, though...
Yes, it is certainly possible. Bondi iMac (233 MHz) takes two SO-DIMM memories, of the PC100 type, one of which must be low-profile (circa one inch high) while the other may be high-profile (two inches).
Apple only tested this machine with the available modules at time of manufacture, which included 256M high-profile and 128M low-profile, so the official recommendation for maximum memory was 384 MB. After a few years, though, low-profile SODIMMs were available so that (with non-Apple modules) the early iMac machines could take two 256MB modules, for a total of 512MB.
There were variants in later years, and some similar-looking iMacs could take more memory, of PC133, but the original Bondi 233MHz iMac models required the organization variants that matched PC100.
Typical memory offerings distinguished (and charged extra) for the low-profile 256M variant modules archived memory advertisement
