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Sister Just Threw Away 4 Mint iMacs & 2 Powerbooks

Did my sister make the right decision?

  • Yes! Those computers were too old to be useful

    Votes: 8 18.6%

  • No, that was a bad decision

    Votes: 35 81.4%
  • Total voters
    43
E

Epsilon88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 26, 2009
327
0
My dad runs a medical practice that has been using the same iMacs and Powerbooks (and one PowerMac) since they were purchased in ~2002. Anyway, they were in mint condition, since they were kept safely in the clinic. I went there this morning and noticed that all the computers had been replaced with new Macs (yay!). My dad had given the other computers to my sister to distribute to any of her friends that needed computers.

Upon checking up with my sister, apparently she took them to the dump because they wouldn't run modern software. So she assumed that they were useless. Urg! Such a waste. :( I'm quite sure that I could have sold those.
 
FireStar said:
Probably should've sold them. Any chance of getting them back?
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No way. She just took them to the dump (actually, a community recycling centre) and threw them in. I would have been happy using one of those computers and selling the rest. Ah well. :(
 
Epsilon88 said:
No way. She just took them to the dump (actually, a community recycling centre) and threw them in. I would have been happy using one of those computers and selling the rest. Ah well. :(
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Hm. That sucks. Probably could have make some monay off those. But I will stop making you feel worse. ;):(
 
she should have donated them to Computers for Schools

there are many programs like that ... they would have put them to good use.

those poor Macs :cool:
 
Your sister is an idiot. You know, no offense or anything.

At the very least, recycling them should have been the option, if you couldn't have found a good homes for them elsewhere. I hate to see things tossed when they have lots of life left.
 
Melrose said:
Your sister is an idiot. You know, no offense or anything.

At the very least, recycling them should have been the option, if you couldn't have found a good homes for them elsewhere. I hate to see things tossed when they have lots of life left.
Click to expand...

well she did take them to a recycling center.
And lets be fair an 8 year old computers would tend to just take up space. I have a laptop that is 8 years old and I am pretty sure I have not turned it on in over 2 years. It has sat under my bed for the past 6 months.
Old computers tend to no go used.

Ask your self this question would would of really done with them.
 
Melrose said:
Your sister is an idiot. You know, no offense or anything.

At the very least, recycling them should have been the option, if you couldn't have found a good homes for them elsewhere. I hate to see things tossed when they have lots of life left.
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in my last post, it was actually a CRC (community recycling centre). So that's good at least. Grr.
 
Epsilon88 said:
As I mentioned in my last post, it was actually a CRC (community recycling centre). So that's good at least. Grr.
Click to expand...

throwing them into a community recycling center is the same as the Dump

They will never be used again ... only trashed in an eco way:cool:

do not let your sister near the Powerbook you just won on ebay ... the one you mentioned in the other thread you just started.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
well she did take them to a recycling center.
And lets be fair an 8 year old computers would tend to just take up space. I have a laptop that is 8 years old and I am pretty sure I have not turned it on in over 2 years. It has sat under my bed for the past 6 months.
Old computers tend to no go used.

Ask your self this question would would of really done with them.
Click to expand...
Not really. Selling them would have been fine.
Apple OC said:
throwing them into a community recycling center is the same as the Dump

They will never be used again ... only trashed in an eco way:cool:

do not let your sister near the Powerbook you just won on ebay ... the one you mentioned in the other thread you just started.
Click to expand...
Sorta.

Wouldn't that run modern software?
 
Wow, you'd think she would have asked around the family to see if anyone wanted one. Never mind, things like this must happen all the time!
 
FireStar said:
Not really. Selling them would have been fine.

Sorta.

Wouldn't that run modern software?
Click to expand...

And how much do you think you would of gotten for 8 year old computers and would it be worth the time, money and effort for it.
My guess is you would of gotten maybe 50 bucks for each one at best.
 
None of you complaining know what you are talking about. When I was trying to decide what to do with a G4 graphite tower I had, I did a lot of research to know what was best. I really did not want to take it to recycle. Looked online and the value of it was only about $50-$75 and I certainly wouldn't feel right selling it to someone who probably wouldn't know how limited it would be. Schools don't want people to donate computers more than 3 years old because they can't be upgraded anymore with the memory apps need so they end up with a bunch of crap they have to dispose of. You couldn't upgrade the OS on it and it could barely run modern apps. I certainly couldn't give it away with the old apps still on it because that would violate the licenses. I ended up taking the 80 gig hard drive out of it to convert into the external drive I feed my movies to my Apple TV. The rest I took to the recycling place.

Your sister did exactly the right thing.
 
2002 Macs would certainly have had collectors value, especially if in mint condition but your not looking at a lot of cash there and certainly some hassle in finding the right buyer. If you had a local Mac collectors group, that would have been my first port of call. As to giving them to friends and family, I'm not sure that I would want to rely on an 8 year old computer for anything important. Even surfing on such a beast may be painful these days. Let's just say they had good innings, 8 years is a long time for tech.
 
FireStar said:
That's still a few hundred dollars. Or so.
Click to expand...

but then you figure in the time at 3-4 hour per computer if you are lucky. Plus you have to lug around that weight. Shipping cost would be more than the computer is worth.

If comes down to cost. Is it worth 7-8 dollars an hour to get it done. I know my time is more valuable than that.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
but then you figure in the time at 3-4 hour per computer if you are lucky. Plus you have to lug around that weight. Shipping cost would be more than the computer is worth.

If comes down to cost. Is it worth 7-8 dollars an hour to get it done. I know my time is more valuable than that.
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It didn't have to be selling them. But they could have had other uses than trash.
 
Arrgh. There were so many other options to take....
Especially the PowerBooks. I sold an 8-year old PowerBook for ~$200 a few months ago! It was more useful than you'd think, too.

BTW, I thought you meant "Mint iMacs" as a color, presumably Lime. :p
 
FireStar said:
It didn't have to be selling them. But they could have had other uses than trash.
Click to expand...

The mantra of a true hoarder. "I'll find a use for this eventually." I used to have a whole drawer full of useless power cords and scsi connectors for long dead printers and scanners. Let them go.
 
Obligatory

EpicFail02.jpg
 
FireStar said:
It didn't have to be selling them. But they could have had other uses than trash.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they would make great doorstops or paperweights.

I have a 5 year old Powerbook that is marginally useful. It has basically been turned into a 17" netbook. I use it for light duty tasks such as surfing while watching TV in the living room. And it even chokes on that sometimes. I get the beach ball of doom constantly trying to watch online videos, especially at full screen. And my machine is only 5 years old, not 8.
 
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