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Advice on Potential Purchases Thread

RogerWilco6502 said:
Well, somewhere in my research when I was looking into putting an SSD in my Power Mac G4, I read that the red PCB adapters work better/are more reliable. I forget where this was, but I bought a Startech-brand PATA/SATA bridge that had the red PCB off of NewEgg and it worked like a charm.

I can give you pictures of the box for mine if you'd like.
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Here's a post from 2014 on this topic with good information in a thread within our very own forum. :D

Laterne said:
Based on negative experiences with some SATA to PATA (IDE) adapters in the past, I entirely switched to the red coloured adapter featuring the Marvell 88SA8052 chip.

This obviously is the best "multi-purpose" chip in terms of detecting hardware correctly. It allows both fast regular HDs (e.g. WD black series) and SSD to work up to SATA II speeds (3Gb/s), depending on the maximum speed the installed PCI host adapter provides.

This red bridge delivers accurate SMART data and supports master/slave mode and booting. I managed to connect optical devices (DVD Superdrives) and HD drives successfully, which previously were not detected by the OS while using other brands of adapters.

So this red adapter helps to use even newest hardware in combination with older Macs.

It is sold by different suppliers, but always comes with the well-made Marvell chip:




In most cases the Y-power-cable is included.
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Using this information led me to an eBay UK listing that offers the Manhattan 158282 cards for £5 GBP each! I've just ordered 4. :D
 
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TheShortTimer said:
The adapters arrived this morning and have allowed me to use some spare SATA spinners with the QS whilst I wait for the PCI SSD bracket to be delivered and they working like a dream. Great recommendation on those "red cards"! :)
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I'm glad they worked for you! I was really happy when I found they worked for me and I'm happy you found the same success :)
 
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Hughmac said:
Strange thing is, in the Apple laptop market you can now buy an Intel MacBook cheaper than a PPC PowerBook :rolleyes:

PPC prices seem to be on the up ;)

Cheers :)

Hugh
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Little seem to see the value in early Intel yet, as the machines are quite similar, if not better, than the late PPC machines they replaced.

iMac G5 vs white Intel iMac prices are a great example of this.
 
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I'm finally getting round to making use of my Mac Pro 1,1 and the first issue to address is the memory: or rather, the lack of it. These are quite cheap - they're listed as Mac Pro compatible but there are of course different generations and models within the line. Would they work with a 1,1? :)
 
This is more of a reflection rather than a request for advice. A few days ago, I was offered an iPhone 5s 32GB for £11 GBP that was described as "not working" because it "will not turn on." I suspected that it could be something easily remedied like replacing the battery, so I asked the seller to describe what happens when the phone is connected to a charger. The seller responded that they don't have a charger on hand in order to check this. 😂

They're unable to borrow one from anybody or to purchase a USB cable for £1 from the omnipresent discount stores that can be found in virtually every UK town or city? I'm now well and truly attuned to these warning signs and this is a red flag that I'm going to heed. ;)
 
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For those who are looking for G5 Quad and A1139 PowerBook G4 - prepare to pay BIG money... as we move to 2021 the pricing is going to go up. I am in the process of selling my G5 Quad since its not being used anymore. I am retiring a few macs. I don't need all these macs anymore I have had since 2008.

The ones I currently use are: PowerPC G4 1GHZ Titanium, 5,1 Mac Pro, MacBook Pro 2015 and MacBook Pro 2012

The following I am considering to sell: An extra 1GHZ PowerBook Titanium with a low res screen, G5 Quad, 2011 MacBook Pro(needs battery) in great, new like shape ! Pismo I am debating as this is very old.
 
z970mp said:
@Macbookprodude I wouldn't mind taking over your extra Ti if you do decide to let it go. ;)
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How much ? I have seen the 1ghz Titanium go for over 100 dollars sometimes 2-300, but since this one has the lower res screen(Only reason why i got this is because the left speaker in my titanium with high res screen is not working), however I don't have the time to get a new one.. so i got small USB speakers for it.
 
It'll probably hit the BIN figure or even higher if it goes to auction from what I've seen in Germany. Having said that, the QSes don't have the best cooling system so there is a trade off on reliability when you start shoving in hotter and more power-hungry components. I think a forum member here might have something to say about that.

Pity it's not the Duet, though. I got a very clean maxed DA, keyboard and mouse with a 1.6 Sonnet ST for £30 the other year. I was the only (flabbergasted) bidder. I picked it up and had a chat with the seller and felt so bad that I wouldn't have minded if he wanted to back out. Turns out he was a coder and contributed a lot to MG and was happy enough it wasn't going into a skip but was also taken aback at the lack of interest. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Amethyst1 said:
www.ebay.de

Liebhaberstück: Apple Powermac Quicksilver G4 (mit 1,8 Ghz Sonnet Encore/ST) | eBay

Finden Sie Top-Angebote für Liebhaberstück: Apple Powermac Quicksilver G4 (mit 1,8 Ghz Sonnet Encore/ST) bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!
www.ebay.de

What does the community reckon to this pimped QS? Would 100 bucks be reasonable (although I somehow doubt it'll stay that low)?
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I'd pay $100 just to get the Sonnet. It's an Encore and not a Duet, but still worth that price alone.
[automerge]1600175190[/automerge]
weckart said:
Having said that, the QSes don't have the best cooling system so there is a trade off on reliability when you start shoving hotter and more power-hungry components. I think a forum member here might have something to say about that.
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Yeah, he's probably around here somewhere… ;)
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Yep - I had two 1.8 Encores for the Cube and boy did they soar when I sold them. In any case, I've put in a bid - let's see what happens. :)
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Best of luck! :)

These are almost certainly head-slapping questions but humour me please. :D

Would you swoop on the following:

x2 iBook G4 12" spares/repairs (LCD's and keyboards are complete) at £5 GBP each?

iMac 2008 C2D 4GB RAM, fully working and in good condition for £20 GBP?
 
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Amethyst1 said:
If it's a 24" - go get it :)
If it's a 20" - stay clear (horrible TN display)
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The 24" displays aren't even better. I got two of them for 100€ each as replacement for my white intel-iMacs at the office (that are suffering from black-screen-dead and I don't have the time for a repair). Both displays are very dark and cannot compare with the white intel iMacs.
Can't believe that the 20" displays are even worse ... so 20£ don't seem to me not to bad.
 
bobesch said:
Can't believe that the 20" displays are even worse ...
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TN displays are crap compared to IPS ones (the white 20" and alu 24" iMac are IPS). There might be something wrong with your 24" LCDs. Worn-out backlight maybe?
 
Amethyst1 said:
TN displays are crap compared to IPS ones (the white 20" and alu 24" iMac are IPS). It looks like there is something wrong with your 24"s. Worn-out backlight maybe?
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Worn-out backlight ...? Maybe like that. Picture is chrystal-clear but dimm. I can cope. It's just for work to serve as a fat client mainly to display a database. A soft light to calm distressed eyes - not a bug, it's a feature ... 😄
 
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I'm tempted to grab either of these: what do you think?

iMac G3 - July 2000 (as a hardware backup) £20 GBP.

eMac 1Ghz £20 GBP.
 
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