Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: We Make DIY Upgrading Easy! Maximize your Apple MacBook / MacBook Pro. Up to 8.0GB Memory, up to 1.0TB HD & More. Easy Guide + Free, Detailed Installation Videos. Click here

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Why We Acquire Macs

- 2007.12.04

Bookmark in del.icio.us

My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your submission to Dan Knight .

Once upon a more innocent time, I had a Macintosh. Please note that I say "a Macintosh". As in one and only one.

It was a Macintosh SE, which I got new and used for years. I was determined that I'd avoid buying a different computer until I had to. I was able to keep that SE going for nearly nine years, at which time the video circuitry started to fail. I replaced the SE with a Classic.

Logically, there was no reason to keep the old SE. But I could not bear to just toss it out. It was an old friend. It had seen me through a lot. I had used it for every task imaginable - writing college papers, writing some bad short stories, and more. This SE held a lot of history. It had been the computer that allowed me to explore the Digital Wilderness. So I kept the SE without even thinking. I knew I'd probably never use it again, although I figured - what is one unused and unusable computer when it holds personal history?

Two months later, I bought an SE/30 to replace the Classic. I decided to keep the Classic as a backup. It's understandable that one using old hardware would have an extra Mac for backup.

What's harder to understand is what happened over the next four years. I went through four Macs. Each step was a definite step up. Yet I kept every computer I'd had before! I'd become a Man with Macs!

Yes, it's good to have backups - but even the unluckiest man alive surely didn't need this many!

But wait! It gets worse! One day I bought an old LC as part of a package deal. It was, practically, pointless to keep it. It was among the least powerful computers I had. Despite this, I kept it.

It wasn't the last Mac I'd buy that had no apparent use.

Mac IIci I now have a small mountain of such Macs. Including, but not limited to, a Centris 650, a IIci, a 7200, a PowerBook 190, and who knows what else.

I have a problem, as people around me tell me. I can take comfort in only one thing - I'm not alone - not if what I read on Low End Mac is any indication.

Then I have a friend who loudly preaches the "one computer is enough" lecture. Yet if you go digging in her house, you'll stumble across a SE. In storage, she has, she admits sheepishly, at least three or four more old all-in-one Macs. She's not quite sure how many. At least she got rid of the old IIsi. (I'll give you one guess who the new owner might be!)

Why do so many of us have a stack of obsolete computers? I can't really give a good reason, except to use that clichéd line: a Macintosh is more than just a computer.

A collection of old computers also gives those of us who have been using Macs for years a chance to own old dream machines. This was the reason I bought my IIci.

One thing that I've started realizing is that part of my fetish is a respect for the history of the machine. Just about every Macintosh I have has some "breakthrough". The IIci was one of the best ever made - the most powerful when introduced. And it was the first to support onboard video. It gracefully aged into being a "middle of the road" Mac. Even when discontinued, many people continued to use it in the real world for years.

Even Macs considered "compromised" Macs had some breakthroughs. The LC was limited, and it definitely could have been better, but it brought an external monitor and color to a previously unimagined price.

It can be easy to forget the past. The industry releases anything new and suddenly . . . that's all there is. The latest iMac overshadows the original iMac. Some would say that the original looks like a plastic toy when placed by the new iMac, yet that new iMac wouldn't be here if it wasn't for its ancestors - including the "blue toy".

With a collection of old Macs, you don't forget where we've been.

The history also can help show what today's world is going to be. Of course, computers change, and I've heard many predictions of "the next trend" that never came, but some things never seem to change.

The best current example of history repeating itself is the Windows Vista fiasco. Vista keeps reminding me about past versions of Windows. Each is hyped as a great breakthrough, yet it's really not that innovative . . . except by Windows standards. Indeed, in many ways, it's a copy of OS X. Sort of like Windows 95 was Apple 1986. It can be hard - even impossible - to install Vista on an existing computer. Just like Windows 95.

Looking into the Vista future, I'd say that those predicting failure of Microsoft due to Vista may not be right. I know Microsoft has survived bad Windows problems before with its monopoly intact. (Remember Windows Me - the Windows version even Windows lovers hate?)

I think the people who have the real problem aren't those with a big pile of computers but the people who forget the past - although one can appreciate history without having a barn full of old computers. But those computers make conversation pieces. And, who knows, maybe they'll be useful again someday.

For example, I usually use my Quadra 650 for writing. But for part of this column, I used my old PowerBook 190 because I needed something portable.

Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.

Recent My Turn articles

Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
'That's Not a Computer', 07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
Upgrading a Digital Audio G4 to work better in Leopard, 06.02. In its original configuration, the dual 533 MHz Power Mac G4 was slow with Mac OS X 10.5, but add the right upgrades, and it runs Leopard quite nicely.
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28. The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
More in the My Turn index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
Best G4 iBook Deals, 10.30. Used 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $225; 1.33 GHz, $298; 14" 1 GHz, $349; 1.33 GHz, $398; 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $498.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.