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It's raining Macs!

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magilla

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 3, 2013
223
0
Neighbor tossed a perfectly good (albeit older) Intel iMac Core Duo (2GHz, 2GB/1TB) out in the trash for pick up the other night and naturally, I picked it up. Runs like a champ - no drive, display or fan problems.Checked with Apple and no s/n record of repairs/discrepancies appear.

It's only got 10.4.11 loaded and, although I searched, no original system disk was found. Got a Leopard 10.6.8 upgrade disk coming from Apple ($19) but I'm thinking - should I go trolling eBay/Amazon for an ORIGINAL 10.6.3 Leopard retail disk to use as a system reboot/restart disk in case something happens in the future?
 
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0007776

0007776

Suspended
Jul 11, 2006
6,473
8,170
Somewhere
magilla said:
It's only got 10.4.11 loaded and, although I searched, no original system disk was found. Got a Leopard 10.6.8 upgrade disk coming from Apple ($19) but I'm thinking - should I go trolling eBay/Amazon for an ORIGINAL 10.6.3 Leopard retail disk to use as a system reboot/restart disk in case something happens in the future?
Click to expand...

The snow leopard update disk will include the full install. Also I'm pretty sure Leopard was 10.5 and the 10.6 that you are getting is snow leopard.
 
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magilla

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 3, 2013
223
0
Mopar66 said:
If you know the neighbor well enough why not ask them for the disks and any other little things they might be getting rid of?
Click to expand...

No, don't know the neighbor. Guess he/they just thought a landfill was an acceptable recycling center.

Ever think how often this happens on a daily basis? Boggles the mind.

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mrkramer said:
The snow leopard update disk will include the full install. Also I'm pretty sure Leopard was 10.5 and the 10.6 that you are getting is snow leopard.
Click to expand...

Odd that apple didn't tell me this. Sorry 'bout the mis-typing - obviously it IS Snow Leopard that's going to be running in this Intel machine. It'll do what I want it to do here at home. Too bad there's no Firewire->Serial or USB->Serial connector out there on the market. I have an ANTIQUE PM 8600 w/ an aftermarket G4 upgrade card in it that's still running a color photographic processor in my home darkroom. Built like a Rolex - can't stop the durned thing.
 
tgi

tgi

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2012
1,331
330
Did you pick it up in the middle of night? Sounds like an awesome find. You going to keep or sell it?
 
thekev

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
magilla said:
No, don't know the neighbor. Guess he/they just thought a landfill was an acceptable recycling center.
Click to expand...

He would be breaking the law in many states. Electronics typically aren't "landfill safe".
 
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magilla

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 3, 2013
223
0
tgi said:
Did you pick it up in the middle of night? Sounds like an awesome find. You going to keep or sell it?
Click to expand...

Found it driving to work late one night. Nothing wrong with it (display/fans/memory/hard drive/SuperDrive).

I'll keep it. Since the SNow Leopard upgrade will only run $20 it's pretty much of a no brainer. Probably will find a used copy of PS Elements 6 on eBray to run on it. Either that or when it finally decides to die I'll gut it, put an acrylic back on the case and turn it into a nice slim aquarium that i can hang on the wall as interior decor. As a matter of fact, i may just look for another old iMac that's already junk to do just that.

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mrkramer said:
I believe technically it's an update and if you actually read through the EULA you are supposed to have Leopard already installed, but it is a full install on the disk.
Click to expand...

That's great. Saves $$$ for other things. Speaking of which, it's only got 1.5GB installed. With memory so cheap would I be better to pull just the 512 MB chip and replace it with another 1GB chip or pull BOTH the 1GB and 512 MB chipsets and replace them with a matched pair of 1 GB chipsets?:confused:
 
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Gregintosh

macrumors 68000
Jan 29, 2008
1,914
533
Chicago
Thats the benefit of living in a nice neighborhood I guess. There are some suburbs in Chicago where people throw out even working LCD TVs and other things. I know a few people who go dumpster diving for those things.
 
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Michaelgtrusa

macrumors 604
Oct 13, 2008
7,900
1,821
magilla said:
Neighbor tossed a perfectly good (albeit older) Intel iMac Core Duo (2GHz, 2GB/1TB) out in the trash for pick up the other night and naturally, I picked it up. Runs like a champ - no drive, display or fan problems.Checked with Apple and no s/n record of repairs/discrepancies appear.

It's only got 10.4.11 loaded and, although I searched, no original system disk was found. Got a Leopard 10.6.8 upgrade disk coming from Apple ($19) but I'm thinking - should I go trolling eBay/Amazon for an ORIGINAL 10.6.3 Leopard retail disk to use as a system reboot/restart disk in case something happens in the future?
Click to expand...

Cool deal. look out for more.
 
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ElectronGuru

macrumors 68000
Sep 5, 2013
1,656
489
Oregon, USA
thekev said:
He would be breaking the law in many states. Electronics typically aren't "landfill safe".
Click to expand...

Agreed. But it could be worse. India and elsewhere, they burn old electronics to extract the metals. But yeah, how hard is it to call a place to pick it up - give it years more use and someplace gets newer equipment.


magilla said:
That's great. Saves $$$ for other things. Speaking of which, it's only got 1.5GB installed. With memory so cheap would I be better to pull just the 512 MB chip and replace it with another 1GB chip or pull BOTH the 1GB and 512 MB chipsets and replace them with a matched pair of 1 GB chipsets?:confused:
Click to expand...

Some configs benefit from matched pairs but the real question is how much real data are you going to trust to this machine. Top of my list would be an SSD, even externally. And maybe it supports 4GB?
 
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thedeske

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2013
963
58
Fun Story-Happens All The Time
There are people who disconnect with things they replace and never consider taking the time to get these things into the hands of a very deserving second owner who would relish the gift.
 
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iPhonesandMacs

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2012
234
0
magilla said:
Neighbor tossed a perfectly good (albeit older) Intel iMac Core Duo (2GHz, 2GB/1TB) out in the trash for pick up the other night and naturally, I picked it up. Runs like a champ - no drive, display or fan problems.Checked with Apple and no s/n record of repairs/discrepancies appear.

It's only got 10.4.11 loaded and, although I searched, no original system disk was found. Got a Leopard 10.6.8 upgrade disk coming from Apple ($19) but I'm thinking - should I go trolling eBay/Amazon for an ORIGINAL 10.6.3 Leopard retail disk to use as a system reboot/restart disk in case something happens in the future?
Click to expand...

how do you check the serial number for repairs that have been done to the mac?
 
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magilla

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 3, 2013
223
0
iPhonesandMacs said:
how do you check the serial number for repairs that have been done to the mac?
Click to expand...

Contact Apple Tech Support with the serial number. Be up front with them if you picked it up "used" or "reconditioned" they should still be able to tell you if the original owner had it in for any recalls or authorized repairs. I was a little bit skittish about mine (hard drive/CPU/monitor/graphics card) but they said it was "clean as a whistle" according to their database.
 
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magilla

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 3, 2013
223
0
ElectronGuru said:
Agreed. But it could be worse. India and elsewhere, they burn old electronics to extract the metals. But yeah, how hard is it to call a place to pick it up - give it years more use and someplace gets newer equipment.




Some configs benefit from matched pairs but the real question is how much real data are you going to trust to this machine. Top of my list would be an SSD, even externally. And maybe it supports 4GB?
Click to expand...

Not really a matter of "trusting" data to it - just kind of an "entry level" machine to play with - have everything backed up onto an external hard drive and, with original system disks, I'm really not too worried.

I've always been a proponent of re-using slightly older technology and, while I'll admit, the computer field outpaces itself every 12 months now (down from about every 18 months a couple of years ago) sometimes you just don't NEED the latest technology to do what you want. Hell, my in-house wet darkroom (read CHEMICAL film & paper) processor is a dinosaur and only has an RS-232C port on it to connect with the outside world but I drive it with an ANTIQUE PM8600 w/ G4 aftermarket processor - which I STILL USE ON A DAILY BASIS - and I even still do PhotoShop work on it. It does what "I" want it to do so why chuck it? Sure there are "cooler" and faster machines but sometimes you get to a point in your life when "life in the fast lane" just ain't what it's cracked up to be.
 
joepunk

joepunk

macrumors 68030
Aug 5, 2004
2,553
13
a profane existence
I wish I had your luck. The only trashed computer I've so far found was a Dell purple tower left near the end of the block, close to the now closed meth making/dealing house. They had a fenced in yard that was full of all sorts of junk. I mean Hoarders style full of junk. They were taking scrap metal from anything to sell.
 
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ElectronGuru

macrumors 68000
Sep 5, 2013
1,656
489
Oregon, USA
magilla said:
I've always been a proponent of re-using slightly older technology...
Click to expand...

I completely appreciate what you're doing. My two favorite tech achievements:

The company had upgraded to all new machines and the retired set was worn and broken. I identified the best parts from 3 laptops (same model), took them all apart, and created a single new functioning machine with the result.

The server HD died, a replacement was two days out and everyone needed access to the files. I took a semi retired laptop, put it in target disk mode, connected it to the back of the server, restored the contents to it, and went live. It held until the data could be migrated to the new proper drive.
 
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iPhonesandMacs

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2012
234
0
magilla said:
Contact Apple Tech Support with the serial number. Be up front with them if you picked it up "used" or "reconditioned" they should still be able to tell you if the original owner had it in for any recalls or authorized repairs. I was a little bit skittish about mine (hard drive/CPU/monitor/graphics card) but they said it was "clean as a whistle" according to their database.
Click to expand...

Oh, Okay. I thought you were speaking of a way to check online without calling in lol. I always knew they would if you called, was hoping for a faster and online solution!
 
wrinkster22

wrinkster22

macrumors 68030
Jun 11, 2011
2,623
7
Toronto
magilla said:
Found it driving to work late one night. Nothing wrong with it (display/fans/memory/hard drive/SuperDrive).

I'll keep it. Since the SNow Leopard upgrade will only run $20 it's pretty much of a no brainer. Probably will find a used copy of PS Elements 6 on eBray to run on it. Either that or when it finally decides to die I'll gut it, put an acrylic back on the case and turn it into a nice slim aquarium that i can hang on the wall as interior decor. As a matter of fact, i may just look for another old iMac that's already junk to do just that.

--
Click to expand...


Please do not put any fish into an iMac death trap.
 
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