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Daily Driver PPC Desktop Timeline

Dronecatcher

Dronecatcher

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 17, 2014
5,278
7,940
Lincolnshire, UK
As there is a poll on here to establish who uses a G5 as a daily driver desktop, I thought I'd list my DDD machines as far back as they go:

2015 to 2014 G5 Dual 2.3
2014 to 2014 G5 1.8 20" iMac
2014 to 2012 G5 Quad
2012 to 2011 G5 Dual 2.0
2011 to 2011 C2D 1.83 17" iMac
2011 to 2011 G5 Dual 2.0
2011 to 2009 G4 MDD Dual 1.25
2009 to 2006 various C2D PC laptops
2006 to 2005 G5 1.9 17" iMac
2005 to 2004 1.0 12" G4 Powerbook
2004 to 2002 G4 700 15" iMac
2002 to 1999 various PCs

To re-iterate, these are the main desktop machines...in addition there are all the other Macs floating around too :)
I think I'm in the extreme minority still using PPC as my main machine with no 'cheating' ie doing certain tasks on Intels as well.
 
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1980 to summer 1984: TRS-80 Color Computer
Summer 1984 to early 1989: Commodore 64
Early 1989 to early 1990: Commodore 128
Early 1990 to mid 1994: Generic PC 286AT
Mid 1994 to Nov. 1997: Generic AMD 486
Nov. 1997 to mid 2002: Generic Pentium
Mid 2002 to Nov. 2009: PowerBook G4/400 Titanium
Nov. 2009 to present: 17" PowerBook G4 1.0Ghz
Early 2010 to early 2014: 17" PowerBook G4 1.67Ghz DLSD
Mid 2014 to present: PowerMac G4 Quicksilver 1.2Ghz
May 2015 to present: 17" MacBook Pro 2.16Ghz Intel Core Duo

You'll notice overlap from 2010 on. That's when I gained more than one Mac as a primary daily driver and split duties between them all.

I also had an Amiga 1000 for awhile from mid 1993 to some where in the early '00s when I gave it to Goodwill.

This list also excludes other Macs that are in the house that are not daily drivers as well as a variety of computers that came and went through the house when I was a kid because my mom was teaching computer science.
 
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eyoungren said:
I also had an Amiga 1000 for awhile from mid 1993 to some where in the early '00s when I gave it to Goodwill.
Click to expand...

I'd forgotten my Amigas! Guess I'd limited my DDD definition as being internet connected.
I had a few Amigas, mostly 1200s, even as recent as last year - still think there were incredible machines, way ahead of their time.

Looks like you got good use out of that 400 TiBook :)
 
I've been using a late '05 dual core G5 at work since last October or November, although I've been "homeless"(without at an office) since May. For my "nomadic" status, a Macbook Pro makes the most sense. Since my displacement, I've acquired both a Quad and a Mac Pro 1,1. Once the current occupant of what is to be my(permanent) office moves out, one of those two computers-or possibly both-will come into work with me and the dual core will go home. I go back and forth on them, although I do(grudgingly) have to admit that the MP is probably a better choice.
 
Dronecatcher said:
Looks like you got good use out of that 400 TiBook :)
Click to expand...
Yes, yes I did. And because it died on me it also got me on eBay, which I had otherwise never intended to use. eBay, as we all know is a great source of parts for our addiction.

That PB was resurrected however with a new logicboard and served as my wife's Mac for a couple of years before my daughter knocked it off the couch. After that it worked and stayed working if you applied pressure to a certain part of the Mac.

When my son got his DVI though, I needed a screen for it, so I transplanted the one from the Ti400. The case on the Ti400 literally broke apart during dissasembly and I've now just parted it out as people need parts.

At least in it's final death it's still giving. And in a way it's still very much alive as the screen I transplanted is still functional and in use on my son's DVI every day.

PS. I had always wanted an Amiga so I got that 1000 from a guy going off to submariner school in Annapolis. Amiga's are still awesome. The only computer I know of that had a full range stereo sound system built in in the late 80s (other than the Mac I think). You couldn't get audio like that from a PC without a sound card.

But the computer had no hard drive, was solely disk driven and was taking up space in my garage without being used. So, as much as I didn't like it, off it went. Hopefully somebody found a great deal on a used Amiga 1000 with lots of games.
 
Dronecatcher said:
I omitted my workplace machines as I had little say in the choice of those.
Click to expand...
If those are counted then I'll mention (the oft mentioned) G4s at work. They've been on and functional 24/7 since I got the job in May 2004. From my calculations they are circa 1999 Macs and the fact that nothing on them has failed means they's been running and working at my job for close to 16 years.
 
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September 2014-Present: Mac Pro 1,1 2.66 Quad
April 2013-September 2014: G5 DP 2.0
October 2012-April 2013: G4 466 Digital Audio
November 2009-October 2012: PowerBook G4 1.67
April 2008- November 2009 eMac G4 1.25
2007: PowerBook G4 400
1999-200x: iMac DV-SE 400

Other Macs I've owned:
iMac G3 Rev. B
MDD Dual 1.0 (2x)
MDD Dual 1.25 (active)
G5 Dual Core 2.0 (active)

iPhone 3G: 2009-2011
iPhone 4: 2011-2015
iPhone 6: 2015-Present

iPad Mini: September 2014-Present
 
eyoungren said:
I had always wanted an Amiga so I got that 1000 from a guy going off to submariner school in Annapolis
Click to expand...

If only you'd kept it...on ebay now you can buy a Mac Pro for less than an Amiga 1000!
I think Amigas are a good indication of how the PPC market will drift - once they were everywhere and cost next to nothing, now good working examples are so expensive.
It's amazing what even a 7Mhz Amiga with 1Mb RAM can do - I was always particularly impressed how they could run multiple desktops at different resolutions simultaneously - one behind another!
 
Altemose said:
@Dronecatcher Why did you go from a Quad to a 2.3?
Click to expand...

I'd lost my job and my freelance work had dried up too, so the Quad (and many other 'toys') had to go.
Typically, a week after I'd sold it, a project came up (60 page, A4, colour brochure) that I had no other option than to do on my G5 iMac and although the iMac proved capable and completed the job the speed drop was noticeable.
When I got paid I immediately looked for another G5 Powermac and luckily got the Dual 2.3 for £30 - in most everyday tasks there wasn't a massive speed drop from the Quad but I still regret losing it..and it sold for less than half I paid for it :(
 
2003-2005: random AMD Athlon PC
2005-2007: old Fujitsu-Siemens Pentium 3 laptop
2007-2009: newer Fujitsu-Siemens AMD Turion laptop
2009-2013: iMac 20" Early 2009
2011-2013: MacBook Air 11" Late 2010
2013-2014: G5 Dual 2.0GHz June 2004 (dead)
2015-present: G4 MDD Dual 1.25GHz (current daily driver)
2013-present: MacBook Pro Retina 13" Late 2013
2013-present: PowerBook G4 1.5GHz 15"
 
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2000-2002: ProGen P2 MMX
2002-2005: HP Pavillion 9905 AMD Athlon
2005-2011: HP Pavillion P4
2011-Present: MacBook Pro 13"(Primary Laptop)
2012-Present: PowerBook G3 Lombard
2012: TiBook(sort of works)
2013-Present: PowerBook G4 Alu 15" (Secondary Laptop)
2014-Present: PowerMac G5 (Daily Driver Desktop)
 
PowerPC finally replaced the Quadra 800 in 2001:

2001-02: PowerMac 7600
2002-05: PowerMac G3 Blue and White
2005-06: Mac Mini G4
2006-08: No primary desktop machine. MacBook Pro 15"
2008-09: PowerMac G5 dual 2.0
2009-Present: Quad G5

That is basically my home desk setup since the PPC systems took over. I still own all these systems with the exception of the G4 Mini which I sold to help cover the cost of upgrading my original MBP to a C2D in 2007.
 
I only use G5's as my drivers, I'm currently about to get a dual processor 2.0 with a better condition case than the 2.3 I was using before which I sold to a friend for $80, minus the ram and hard drive.
 
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