I got a Macintosh Performa 5215CD :D

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Hey everyone,

I found an awesome Craigslist deal right in my area---in fact, walking-distance from my house! It's not common to see classic Macs on CL in my city, so this was definitely a nice coincidence. These Macs are also not so common, and I got tons of accessories with it. I haven't turned it on yet, but I will go check it out soon and report back. With the Performa is a nice-looking Apple Laserwriter w/cables, Apple Design keyboard, random cables, etc., three external drives, complete Claris Works suites, the original Performa manual and some disks, and other manuals/pieces of software. The icing on the cake is that it was all only $20 . Here are the pictures of the computer and accessories. For those of you who watch my YouTube channel, I will have a video up of this thing, soon.

EDIT: I turned it on and it runs VERY nicely! I am surprised how quiet it is; the HD doesn't make tons of noise and the fans are pretty muffled. I definitely would have enjoyed using this machine as a computer use, in the 1990s. I still gotta test out the printer, which I have found contains a toner cart. I pushed one of the volume buttons on the Mac, but it popped inwards and is wobbly... I am trying to get the plastic bezel off, but I have a feeling some plastic may crack, as this thing feels pretty brittle.

 

[128keaton]

Hey everyone,

I found an awesome Craigslist deal right in my area---in fact, walking-distance from my house! It's not common to see classic Macs on CL in my city, so this was definitely a nice coincidence. These Macs are also not so common, and I got tons of accessories with it. I haven't turned it on yet, but I will go check it out soon and report back. With the Performa is a nice-looking Apple Laserwriter w/cables, Apple Design keyboard, random cables, etc., three external drives, complete Claris Works suites, the original Performa manual and some disks, and other manuals/pieces of software. The icing on the cake is that it was all only $20 . Here are the pictures of the computer and accessories. For those of you who watch my YouTube channel, I will have a video up of this thing, soon.

EDIT: I turned it on and it runs VERY nicely! I am surprised how quiet it is; the HD doesn't make tons of noise and the fans are pretty muffled. I definitely would have enjoyed using this machine as a computer use, in the 1990s. I still gotta test out the printer, which I have found contains a toner cart. I pushed one of the volume buttons on the Mac, but it popped inwards and is wobbly... I am trying to get the plastic bezel off, but I have a feeling some plastic may crack, as this thing feels pretty brittle.

NICE! Lucky dog. California action right there! Be VERY careful, the plastic is very brittle. When you are done, coating it in Hydrogen Pryoxide will help remove the yellowing.

 

[Intell]

I don't think I've ever read anyone stating a Performa 52xx/62xx runs very nicely. They're one of the worst Macs ever made, but a good starting point as they don't die very easily.

 

[Hrududu]

Thats a nice little LaserWriter you got there. I have one, and I love it. The thing is completely silent at idle and has a good print quality. Its really REALLY slow, but aside from that, a great printer.

 

[bse5150]

I used to have a 5200/75 about ten years ago. I used it as a TV until it died. Tragic. Tragic.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I don't think I've ever read anyone stating a Performa 52xx/62xx runs very nicely. They're one of the worst Macs ever made, but a good starting point as they don't die very easily.

That's exactly why I was surprised at how it ran; the silent idle also drew me in.

 

[Intell]

Most of them have a nice quiet Quantum hard drive and all have a single speed fan. The 62xx's tend to be a bit louder, but still quiet.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

NICE! Lucky dog. California action right there! Be VERY careful, the plastic is very brittle. When you are done, coating it in Hydrogen Pryoxide will help remove the yellowing.

My city is not 'happening' when it comes to classic Macs . This was something out of the ordinary. Whenever I find a deal, it's in one of the other 88 cities within this county.

Yeah, I noticed that the plastic made crackling sounds when I picked up the computer, but luckily no actual cracking. It would be hard to cure this whole casing... I need to figure out how to remove the front-lower bezel, let alone do so without it cracking.

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Most of them have a nice quiet Quantum hard drive and all have a single speed fan. The 62xx's tend to be a bit louder, but still quiet.

Yep, it's exactly that and it sounds good. It's not the fastest, but it runs perfectly and has a nice, all-in-one package. It's a shame that these were among the worst Macs out there.

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Thats a nice little LaserWriter you got there. I have one, and I love it. The thing is completely silent at idle and has a good print quality. Its really REALLY slow, but aside from that, a great printer.

I can't wait to get it up and running, assuming its cart is still good!

 

[MagicBoy]

A Syquest EZ135 drive! Cripes, not seen one of them in over 15 years...

I used to work for a retailer that sold them and the 5200/5300 was a terrible design. The data bus was half the width of the CPU design so memory access was horribly slow and the serial ports were gimped. That's just the headlines - it's was generally a very strange design.

The later 5400 were OK though, just far too late to repair confidence in selling the product, which didn't get fixed until the iMac. Always had a soft spot for it's bigger brother the 6400 though.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

A Syquest EZ135 drive! Cripes, not seen one of them in over 15 years...

I used to work for a retailer that sold them and the 5200/5300 was a terrible design. The data bus was half the width of the CPU design so memory access was horribly slow and the serial ports were gimped. That's just the headlines - it's was generally a very strange design.

The later 5400 were OK though, just far too late to repair confidence in selling the product, which didn't get fixed until the iMac. Always had a soft spot for it's bigger brother the 6400 though.

Yeah, these things do have a funky design. However, for the person who doesn't open their computer, it seems alright.

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I used to have a 5200/75 about ten years ago. I used it as a TV until it died. Tragic. Tragic.

That sucks---what died on it?

 

[bse5150]

That sucks---what died on it?

Power supply.

 

[comda]

I just recently disposed of my 5200 Performa. I received it free last year and it was in horrible condition. I did post here thinking i could use it as an external SCreen for my beige G3. But the thing was loud dirty as hell as i received it from the computer shop i work at and it came from a customer who smokes and treats everything he owns. So as a student i could take it to University and my parents are downsizing so it had to go. it was just the computer i got no accessories with it and the CD rom and floppy where shot. I took the Ram which to my surprise i found a 32mb stick of 30 pin simm plus the original 8mb and took the small 500mb hard drive. And gave it back to my store where it will be stripped. I do feel a little bad but the thing was beaten to hell. Cracked all over parts loud not working dirty and plastic falling apart inside. At least yours looks great! nice find! For now my only beige Macintosh is the last of the G3's. The beige Desktop G3 from American pie!

 

[128keaton]

Side-note: the StyleWriter is amazing. I have one with my 550, best printer ever man. Crisp/retro, I've even typed/printed school assignments on it. Best of luck.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I just recently disposed of my 5200 Performa. I received it free last year and it was in horrible condition. I did post here thinking i could use it as an external SCreen for my beige G3. But the thing was loud dirty as hell as i received it from the computer shop i work at and it came from a customer who smokes and treats everything he owns. So as a student i could take it to University and my parents are downsizing so it had to go. it was just the computer i got no accessories with it and the CD rom and floppy where shot. I took the Ram which to my surprise i found a 32mb stick of 30 pin simm plus the original 8mb and took the small 500mb hard drive. And gave it back to my store where it will be stripped. I do feel a little bad but the thing was beaten to hell. Cracked all over parts loud not working dirty and plastic falling apart inside. At least yours looks great! nice find! For now my only beige Macintosh is the last of the G3's. The beige Desktop G3 from American pie!

That's sad to hear, especially because these things aren't the most common .

Thanks, I'm very happy with mine! BTW, do you mean that you have the PMG3 AIO?

Side-note: the StyleWriter is amazing. I have one with my 550, best printer ever man. Crisp/retro, I've even typed/printed school assignments on it. Best of luck.

Yeah, these things were top-of-the-line back then---I tested mine yesterday and it works like a charm! Prints as clear as any inkjet printer today. The same goes for this HP Laserjet 5 printer I have, which is from around the same time period. There is a good toner cart already in it. It would be so fun to type a paper on this, as well as connect this printer to some of my other Macs. Hopefully there are working drivers for this printer, which I can put on some older systems. I'd love to print from my Macintosh SE or Classic II, or something of that sort.

It's too bad that this Performa doesn't have an ethernet card. I actually have this odd ethernet adapter which I found plugs into the port on the back of my Centris 650; however, there is no such port on the Performa. Hopefully I can come across an ethernet card for the Performa... unless there is some easy way to retrofit its phone jack.

 

[128keaton]

That's sad to hear, especially because these things aren't the most common .

Thanks, I'm very happy with mine! BTW, do you mean that you have the PMG3 AIO?




Yeah, these things were top-of-the-line back then---I tested mine yesterday and it works like a charm! Prints as clear as any inkjet printer today. The same goes for this HP Laserjet 5 printer I have, which is from around the same time period. There is a good toner cart already in it. It would be so fun to type a paper on this, as well as connect this printer to some of my other Macs. Hopefully there are working drivers for this printer, which I can put on some older systems. I'd love to print from my Macintosh SE or Classic II, or something of that sort.

It's too bad that this Performa doesn't have an ethernet card. I actually have this odd ethernet adapter which I found plugs into the port on the back of my Centris 650; however, there is no such port on the Performa. Hopefully I can come across an ethernet card for the Performa... unless there is some easy way to retrofit its phone jack.

I'm trying to convince a friend to give me his Centris 650 for that reason, teh internetz. Also, he isn't versed in classic, so he couldn't get it to get an IP.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Side-note: the StyleWriter is amazing. I have one with my 550, best printer ever man. Crisp/retro, I've even typed/printed school assignments on it. Best of luck.

Oh, BTW, speaking of typing school assignments on retro equipment... I have done, over the years, several quick school assignments on my typewriter/s
Teachers really get a kick out of that. I didn't have the time to do it that much last year, but during the start of this school year, I would type quick assignments on it for AP English; my teacher liked one of my assignments so much that he asked if he could keep it. I started doing this for fun---on occasion---with my electric Smith Corona, and more-recently my manual Royal. You really have to prepare yourself before you put anything down, so I strongly believe that it jogs your brain well and allows you to think deeper. My delete key is white-out, so making a mistake is a pain.

 

[128keaton]

Oh, BTW, speaking of typing school assignments on retro equipment... I have done, over the years, several quick school assignments on my typewriter/s
Teachers really get a kick out of that. I didn't have the time to do it that much last year, but during the start of this school year, I would type quick assignments on it for AP English; my teacher liked one of my assignments so much that he asked if he could keep it. I started doing this for fun---on occasion---with my electric Smith Corona, and more-recently my manual Royal. You really have to prepare yourself before you put anything down, so I strongly believe that it jogs your brain well and allows you to think deeper. My delete key is white-out, so making a mistake is a pain.

Good point, I have a Royal at my aunt's house, but I haven't had a chance to even see a Smith Corona, but I've heard they are nice.

 

[keysersoze]

Here's the service guide, if you want to take that thing apart. Be realllly careful though. As you've noted, that plastic is craptastic/

http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/legacy/powermac.perf_5200.5300.pdf

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I'm trying to convince a friend to give me his Centris 650 for that reason, teh internetz. Also, he isn't versed in classic, so he couldn't get it to get an IP.

Haha---it would be cool to get it on the internet. Mine doesn't have a hard drive, which sucks... I COULD steal the HD from my Performa or something, but I'd rather get an HD by itself. I am happy I have the adapter though; I have NO idea why we even own it in the first place.

While the 650 has a rather bland design, I like how the logo 'Macintosh Centris 650' logo is printed on a bulged-out little square on the top left of the bezel. The floppy drive slot is also designed pretty well; It's hard to describe it, but it's not designed in the common, ugly way that others are.

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Here's the service guide, if you want to take that thing apart. Be realllly careful though. As you've noted, that plastic is craptastic/

http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/legacy/powermac.perf_5200.5300.pdf

Perfect--thanks for the article!

 

[128keaton]

Haha---it would be cool to get it on the internet. Mine doesn't have a hard drive, which sucks... I COULD steal the HD from my Performa or something, but I'd rather get an HD by itself. I am happy I have the adapter though; I have NO idea why we even own it in the first place.

While the 650 has a rather bland design, I like how the logo 'Macintosh Centris 650' logo is printed on a bulged-out little square on the top left of the bezel. The floppy drive slot is also designed pretty well; It's hard to describe it, but it's not designed in the common, ugly way that others are.

I do love me a 650. What makes it nice is that it doesn't have a built in monitor. My friend has a flat screen on his, with the right adaptor of course.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Good point, I have a Royal at my aunt's house, but I haven't had a chance to even see a Smith Corona, but I've heard they are nice.

I could post a picture of mine, although it would have nothing to do with the thread. I don't know about manual Smith Coronas, but my electric one is very nice (but oh-so noisy). I don't know its exact year, but the earthy brown color suggests that it's from the late 70s to the early 80s. It's a very beautiful typewriter, and they are plentiful at thrift stores; mine was only $20, which is great, considering that California's thrift stores sell tube TVs for an average of $40.

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I do love me a 650. What makes it nice is that it doesn't have a built in monitor. My friend has a flat screen on his, with the right adaptor of course.

Ah, yes, mine came with an adapter. It looks very weird to have an LCD on one of these things xD. The only period monitor I have for it would be one of my old RGB displays, which are from 1987 and 1989.

 

[128keaton]

I could post a picture of mine, although it would have nothing to do with the thread. I don't know about manual Smith Coronas, but my electric one is very nice (but oh-so noisy). I don't know its exact year, but the earthy brown color suggests that it's from the late 70s to the early 80s. It's a very beautiful typewriter, and they are plentiful at thrift stores; mine was only $20, which is great, considering that California's thrift stores sell tube TVs for an average of $40.

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Ah, yes, mine came with an adapter. It looks very weird to have an LCD on one of these things xD. The only period monitor I have for it would be one of my old RGB displays, which are from 1987 and 1989.

Thrift stores and pawnshops in Memphis are scary. Full of thuggins and their wives with a gaggle of sticky fingered children. Ugh.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Thrift stores and pawnshops in Memphis are scary. Full of thuggins and their wives with a gaggle of sticky fingered children. Ugh.

Gee... and how are the prices there? Thrift stores here are way overpriced most of the time. The manager of the electronics dept. at my local Salvation Army knows little about pricing these things. Leave it to some old guy to price an original iMac G4 at $160. I went to a Good Will store in Arizona, and ANY and EVERY CRT TV there was only $1, which is about $39 less than the average price for one here. Other electronics were cheap too; and got a cool computer desk for $18, whereas it would have been around $50-60 where I live.

 

[128keaton]

Gee... and how are the prices there? Thrift stores here are way overpriced most of the time. The manager of the electronics dept. at my local Salvation Army knows little about pricing these things. Leave it to some old guy to price an original iMac G4 at $160. I went to a Good Will store in Arizona, and ANY and EVERY CRT TV there was only $1, which is about $39 less than the average price for one here. Other electronics were cheap too; and got a cool computer desk for $18, whereas it would have been around $50-60 where I live.

VERY over priced. I saw an AluBook for $600. Nope. An ANCIENT HTC phone for $300.

 

[redheeler]

It must be nice having a built-in display on your Performa. I've still got to find a display or adapter for the DB-15 connector on my Performa 6200CD