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

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.

The Mac Webb

The Simplified Mac Life

- 2001.11.08

This week saw a dramatic shift in my personal relationship with computers. For the majority of my adult life, I have counted computers and PDAs as a hobby of mine. Much like my ancestors painted on cave walls or worked on Chevy cars, I tinkered with computers. I enjoy breaking a system apart and putting it back together again, learning a new OS, and basically playing with machines.

eBay has become one of my greatest vices, replacing many of the much more popular vices like Krispy Kreme bingeing and beer. Opening a new computer system is an event at the Webb house. I make my four year old wait for the "BPS" man and call me the minute a new machine arrives. I then rush home to rip open the boxes and get the machine setup. The process continues several months later as the machine is sold on eBay and the next machine is purchased. As of last week, I had the following computers in my home:

Power Mac G4 400	Dell Latitude PIII
iBook 500	Home built PII
PowerBook Pismo	Compaq iPaq
PowerBook Wallstreet	Palm VX
Umax C180	Psion Revo Plus
Power Mac 6100	Apple Newton 120
Classic II

My friends get fired up about BMWs, fancy televisions, stereo equipment, and other more common interests. I would rather have a great computer to play with than a great car (witness the 1996 Honda Accord covered in dust in my driveway).

As is only natural, the arrival of a few kids has changed a lot of my hobby time from things like installing a new OS to things like going to the park or coloring. While these changes are ultimately more fulfilling, they mean that computers can no longer be a major recipient of time and resources. I still need computers for work and play, but I no longer have time to tinker. With my new lifestyle, I need computers to work as the tools they were intended and to meet my computing requirements, while providing a small percentage of my entertainment.

Last Monday night, my wife needed to find last year's tax records for some purpose only women can come up with in the middle of the World Series. I ran up to my computer room and began booting machines. One hour later I tracked the files down and experienced an epiphany (and created four new curse words when I ran out of old ones). I determined that I wanted to simplify this mass of systems and cables to find the bare necessities in my computer life. While I can still have fun with computers, I do not need so many that they detract from actual usefulness.

I spent the next few hours making a chart with the requirements for one computer and one PDA. I then went machine by machine to pick the lucky winners in each category. At the end of the exercise, I had the biggest batch of eBay auctions I have ever managed at once. The good news for Mac owners is that our beloved machines still maintain a great secondary value as my two year old (albeit tricked out) G4 /400 maintained half of its original value. The 'Books also did very well in the market, with my Pismo selling for 4x the amount of the Dell Latitude from the same time period.

At the end of the week, we had the following setup in my house. One iBook 500, which my wife decided she wanted to save from the auction block (so its not on my count), and one PowerBook G4 400, which I grabbed at the close out prices at CompUSA. I needed a G4, and mobility is one of my requirements. The PDA I selected was my iPaq, one of my favorite machines since the Newton 2100.

I brought the G4 memory up to 512 MB, ordered a 48 GB drive this week, and still had a tidy profit - and a much more manageable system chart. My wife was the biggest beneficiary, as she received cash, an iBook, and a new room in the house all in one week. She is so happy, she started talking about an iMac DVD for our four year old son

Hmm, maybe we need to buy a few more computers for the kids. I will check eBay today.

Someone pass me a Krispy Kreme.

Kevin Webb spent the last seven years selling technology consulting services. Of that time, at least two years have been devoted to trying to convince the world that the Macintosh is the pinnacle of the computing experience. He is the proud owner of eight Macs, ranging from a new iBook to a Classic. You can read about his newest computer in Kevin Webb's PowerBook G4.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Mac mini Core Solo, Feb. 2006 - The only Mac to use a Core Solo CPU, this model ran at 1.5 GHz, has integrated graphics, and includes a Combo drive
Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook

Recent Deals

Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
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.