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My First Mac

With a 600 MHz iBook Running Circles Around a 2.8 GHz Celeron, It Was Time to Switch

- 2008.06.05

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Being a long suffering Windows user, I finally gave into the peer pressure of my upwardly mobile friends who constantly urged me to go Mac.

Ever since 2001, when I was helping a friend with a short film (which he edited using Final Cut on a Sawtooth Power Mac running OS 9), I've thought they were beautiful machines, but I always succumbed to the thinking that Microsoft was king for a reason.

In March of 2007, I picked up a very used 600 MHz Dual USB iBook. Running Panther (Mac OS X 10.3) with only 128 MB RAM, it ran circles around my 2.8 GHz Celeron Toshiba Satellite on tasks like Photoshop and iTunes. I was hooked. Within several months, it developed the well known logic board problem.

MacBook

I sold the Toshiba and most of my collection of classic vinyl and purchased a 1.83 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook. It has since been upgraded to Leopard.

Within weeks, the low-end Macs came pouring in. I snagged an Indigo iMac G3 350 MHz at a SC State Surplus Sale for the princely sum of $50. It's now loaded with 512 MB of RAM, runs Tiger like a champ, and serves as a print server, iCal station for my wife and I to organize our schedules, as well as for Quicken, and is a nifty recipe organizer/iTunes station for the kitchen.

Power Mac G4 I also ended up with the previously mentioned Sawtooth for $100. My friend had upgraded to a G5 for editing and thought the G4 was useless. Upgraded to dual 450 MHz G4s and running Tiger, it now serves as my DVD ripping/burning station, video editing workstation, as well as functioning as a DVD player for the bedroom.

Three Macs, three distinct uses. Two of 'em saved from the landfill no less!

Thanks for doing a great job with this site! I don't think I'd be so addicted to repurposing the old stuff without the wealth of info found here. Now, if I can just find a Power Mac G3 All-in-One, I think my collection will be complete!

Share the story of your first Mac experience by emailing with "My First Mac" as your subject.

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Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: iMac Core2, Sep. 2006 - Apple introduced the biggest screen ever in an iMac with a 24" Core2 Duo model at 2.16 GHz.
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March 21 in LEM history: 00: The compelling Mac - 01: All that for $129? - PowerBook 100 - 02: Improving AppleWorks - 03: The G3 ain't dead yet - Pismo a good value - Western Digital drive issues - 05: iPod halo effect - 06: Rip DVDs so you can watch them on your iPod - 07: Maximum drive size in older Macs - 08: Safari 3.1 fastest browser?
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Best Intel iMac Deals, 03.17. Used 17" from $600; 20" from $750; 24" from $825; refurb 21.5" nVidia, $999; new, $1,099; refurb Radeon, $1,299; new, $1,399; refurb 27" 3.06, $1,499; more.
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Best G3 iBook and AirPort Card Deals, 03.12. 366 MHz 12" clamshell, $89; 466, $125; 500 white CD, $100; 600, $199; 800 Combo, $239; 14" 900, $225.
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