Looking at where one is on the PPC Mac collecting journey

[MacFoxG4]

So, awhile ago I saw some comments from a member talking about where he was at in terms of using his PPC Macs and it got me thinking about where I am at with my own collection. For context, none of the PPC Macs I own were ones I had from back in the day. I only ever got to use a PPC Mac during their reign for a brief period of time during elementary school (an eMac running some verison of OS X), but otherwise only ever saw them on TV. I was strictly a PC user at home because that was what we had. Getting into buying PPC Macs in 2016 was done out of a desire to finally have one of my own. While the tangerine iMac may have been the one I desired most, it wouldn't be until this year until I finally got one. By that time I had acquired so many other PPC Macs, that the iMac seemed superfluous. I always ask myself when buying a PPC Mac, "What can I do with this Mac that I can't do with the ones I already have?" The answer to that in the case of the iMac G3 was...nothing. There is nothing I can do on that Mac that I can't do on, say, my dual USB iBook or my Sawtooth. The iMac represents the point I'm at now where I no longer have any practical justifications for a particular Mac and the only reason to buy one is because "it looks cool." With previous Macs, I had justifications like, "this one can run Leopard" or "this one can write 800K floppy disks", but now I had a Mac where the only purpose it had was to experience running the same stuff I already run on other Macs, but this time on an all in one with a color CRT and an orange plastic back.

For reference, the PPC Macs I have are:

1) PDQ
2) iMac G3
3) iBook G3 Dual USB
4) Sawtooth with 1.5ghz CPU upgrade
5) PM G5 1.8ghz DP 7,2

The PDQ has a purpose as a bridge Mac due to its ability to transfer files from CF or USB via the PCMCIA slot to my 68K Macs via the built-in serial port. It is also the most recent Mac I own that can write 800K floppy images to real floppy disks. With my waning interest in 68K though, this Mac doesn't see much use, but at least it has a clear purpose and justification for existing in my collection. The G5 is the best Leopard capable Mac I have and as a result it's purpose has become to be my main Leopard rig. The iBook G3 is the only laptop I have that runs OS 9 natively (the PDQ can run OS 9 of course, but I find it runs slower than it does on newer Macs, so I run 8.6 on it instead. Also, with the built-in display now gone, it's not exactly portable anymore), so it's purpose is being the portable OS 9 machine. The iMac G3 I already mentioned, so lastly we come to the Sawtooth. Once the most powerful Mac in my collection, it has been outclassed by the G5. Even with Sorbet, a CI capable GPU (when I used to use one) and an SSD upgrade, Leopard on the Sawtooth just isn't as good to me as Leopard on the G5. Leopard runs more smoothly on the G5 and I can use the eject key on my 2000 Apple Pro Keyboard to both open AND close the optical drive on my G5, whereas on the Sawtooth I can't use the eject key to close the optical drive on 10.5.8 (I can on 10.5.6 and below though). The Sawtooth does has the special ability of being able to run OS 9 faster than any Mac in my collection, but rarely do I NEED the power of the Sawtooth to run an OS 9 app. I would never get rid of the Sawtooth though because there's too many good memories attached (the various upgrades I did, discovering TFF for the first time, etc.).

The early Intel side of my collection has a similar situation where another former bearer of the title of "my most powerful Mac", my early 2009 Mini, got dethroned by my 2012 MBP and now just sits around rarely being used. But like the Sawtooth, the sentimental value I have for it means I don't want to get rid of it.

I have a more emotional view of the old computers I own. I tend to get attached, unless they're really bad. I enjoy using PPC because I find the architecture unique and fascinating and yes there is nostalgia for an era gone by. In other words, these old computers aren't just tools to me.

With that said, I still have a practical side and that side is telling me that while I don't feel the need to sell, I also don't feel the need to buy more. I'm at a point where I just want to enjoy what I have instead of acquiring more. If I did buy say a Titanium PB, what would I do with it? Where the heck would I even put it? It would look nice, but it would feel superfluous. I had a similar problem with vintage game consoles once and that resulted in me wanting to "declutter" and sell off consoles. I don't want to get to that point where I feel like I have too many Macs and I need to start selling some off.

I will end this long post by asking those who have made it this far, where are you on your PPC Mac collecting journey? Are you just starting out? Have you been doing this awhile? Or maybe you feel like you are at the end and your interest in PPC Macs is waning?

 

[Jack Neill]

I love posts like this.. I have 3 PowerMacs and 2 PowerBooks currently, I am kicking myself for letting the G3 and G4 iBooks get away from me and I miss the lampshade 800mhz I had but it passed away.

There is one PB that I always wanted and never found a good deal on and that's a 17" 1.67 hi res. I found a few on eBay for around 399$ in very good condition and I really want to click buy but I am not sure if it's worth it or not. I already have some PBs to play around with to experience the nostalgia although my 12" is literally falling apart and I have super glued the crap out of it to keep it together. The 12" 1.5 and 15" 1.25 are maxed ram with 256 SSD's and run Tiger and Leopard quite well but when I look at it honestly my Intel collection is already at 11 Macs spanning from 2006 to 2020 and I really don't need another Mac stacked up that does nothing.. And my MB 2,1 runs tiger so much faster than either PB and is in still pretty good condition.

Still I always wanted one and for me that would probably complete my PPC collection, although maybe a 14" iBook 1.42 would be nice to have too..

 

[eyoungren]

I am not a collector and never have been one concerning these Macs. I fell in to them because the first one was a gift in 2001 and in 2009 when I needed a replacement they were in my price range. I am about 8-15 years behind the current models and in 2019-2020 that meant that 2009 Macs entered my price range. I exited use of PowerPC Macs entirely in 2020 when my 2009 Mac Pro replaced my Quad G5. Everything I did in using PowerPC Macs between 2001 and 2020 was an attempt to do modern things with the only Macs I could afford.

All of that sounds pretty detached, but here's another truth. From 1999-2013 my entire graphic design career employment was conducted on PowerPC Macs. So, I did develop a like for these systems and there are about three (or four) models I have always liked. I got those Macs and those are the ones that I likely end up keeping. But at this point they are either working or doing nothing.

Long ago, I tried to put them to a purpose, even if it was small or irrelevant. Now though, all the patience I had in using them for a purpose is gone. My Intel Macs are much faster, things on the internet have grown more complicated, etc. And yet there are times where even my Intel Macs show their age.

It was a good time period. I will always remember it fondly because my son grew up with these Macs in the house and they all pretty much dominated my tech/online life.

 

[micahgartman]

I used to collect PowerBooks and related ephemera. Most of my collection has now been spread by the wind. However, I got by paws on a TAM and I kept it. It's entirely over-the-top and I used as our home sound system for many years. It is—how do you say...

SO choice 😘

 

[velocityg4]

I've got a G3 iMac. I think it is a 600Mhz DV model. Haven't booted it in a long time. I also have a PowerMac G4 DA 466Mhz. I'm not into collecting them. I just never got rid of them. But had them since they were new.

I just don't have the emotional attachment to them that I have for older lines. There's a few i would like. Because they were ones I used to own and have some connection to. The 7100/66AV, Performa 6400/180 and iBook G3 Dual USB. I'd like the 17" iMac G4. Just because it looks nice. But these also end up being more expensive then they are worth to me.

I'd be more interested in the 7100 and Performa 6400 if I could get a 16"/17" beige Apple CRT at a reasonable price. To pair with them. But those things are absurdly expensive. Even the 13-15" models are generally too high and I never liked the looks of them. Except for the 14" AV display. That thing is gorgeous.

Ultimately, the lines that interest me are the 68K Macs and various Apple II. Those were the computers I dreamed about as a kid and learned the basics on. I've got a few 68K models. Unfortunately by the time I was really ready to collect them. Prices started to get ridiculous. I hunted down and got a few good deals several years ago. But it just takes too much time to find deals now and the eBay prices are absolutely insane.

 

[B S Magnet]

Like @eyoungren, I’m not on a “journey”. Unlike him, I still have PowerPC Macs running at home, each doing their particular thing well.

That said, I’m disinterested to create a personal museum or trophy room for Apple stuff. I know there are a few folks on here who do, and I applaud them for doing their thing!

With exception to stuff I picked up for free, to repair, and to give forward — most of it stuff like iBook G4s or white MacBook A1181s — all the PowerPC Macs I have and use are on and networked 24/7. I may swap out one of those for a later model — my A1047 Power Mac G5, swapped for an eventual Power Mac A1177 — but that’s probably about it.

It’s interesting to read this thread just as I’ve been slowly collecting together all the Model Number designations for pretty much everything Apple produced since 1978. In so doing, I’m being reminded of past Apple stuff, both PowerPC- and 68000-era, for which I still feel an especial reverence (the Quadra 840AV, Color Classic II, LaserWriter IINTX, and a couple of others); Apple stuff which I thought was fascinating and/or obscure even in their day (like the Color StyleWriter 2200 and Network Server 500/700); and Apple stuff which still makes me shriek in visceral, twisting horror for having ever existed (At Ease, Power Macintosh 6100/66, iBook G3/500, or Color LaserWriter 12/600, anyone? Double mention for At Ease: launch that hot nonsense into the sun and watch in joy as it burns up in the corona).

For those Apple products I’d love to tinker with once more, I’d prefer to borrow, rather than own them. For instance, a friend locally owns a Color Classic II, and I’d love to bring it home for a few weeks and see what it can do, but I really don’t need one. Unused gear just becomes dead weight and bulk, and my life is time-limited.

Were one to pan back and also factor in Early Intel Macs, I can see maybe three or four more models for which I’d have uses lined up. But once the cryptography and the T2 chip sneak into the products, I have zero interest to ever own or use those, just as I have zero interest to use glorified appliances (or the OSes which facilitate that over all else). (No, I have never owned an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch). In their stead, Frame.work laptops will fill in the gap for my work needs, as will Linux and maybe a one-time try of having a Hackintosh build on it.

 

[Doq]

This isn't strictly limited to Power Macs, but for reasons I haven't yet connected with, I've always wanted to get the last of things. Most of the time, though not always, the last of something is also the most definitive. The Titanium PowerBook was the last Mac to officially run OS 9. The eMac was the last Mac all-in-one with a CRT display. The Power Macintosh G3 was the last beige Mac. It's why I've sought after an A1139... the last PowerBook. And why I will pay dozens more than its actually worth to have a WileyFox Pro imported from the UK-- it's a pile of e-waste even when it came out, but it's also the last Windows Phone.

It wasn't always like that, though. My fascination with Power Macs originated by way of "IT'S NOT INTEL", because there was a point where I was just bored of the same-old x86 architecture and its sad state of micro-improvements. I wanted a change, and ARM wasn't quite there yet.

Picking up the Companion was a product of that original fascination. I picked it up literally because of its CPU. I didn't expect to do much, and yet having it around saved me in college when my main laptop kicked the can, and it came with me in my travels because the form factor was just a bit smaller than my other laptops, despite all of them being 15"s.

The shift from the PowerPC fascination to the last of things came when the next Mac came to the lab: the Six Dollar eMac. I then inexplicably built the Golden Macs list. Looking it over, with the exception of the G3 Kanga, they all represented the last of something. And when I took a look around, it clicked.

I'm the final destination of the last of everything.

The world doesn't end with you. The world ends with me.

..... Oop, got a little too philosophical there.

 

[eyoungren]

Like @eyoungren, I’m not on a “journey”. Unlike him, I still have PowerPC Macs running at home, each doing their particular thing well.

Just to clarify, I still have and am using/running PowerPC Macs. It's just that I am no longer using any of them as a daily driver.

My PowerMac G4 is still sharing it's 6TB hard drive to the network, my 17" PowerBook G4 is still doing…whatever I think up. The rest (and there are quite a few) are indeed off. It's just my time with them as the central focus of my attention is over.

 

[scarlett7447]

I've actually been thinking exactly about this recently. I've been fascinated with Macs since around 2014 (I still am) and started collecting in 2020. I now have around 25 machines, mostly PowerPC and have most of the models I want. Most of them I got for really cheap because here they were at a point where people were basically giving them away for free. At first I just wanted to collect them because I found old stuff interesting and unique but then I actually tried using them and fell in love with Mac OS (this was my first experience with it). Since then I tried to use them as much as I can, replacing my main PC and my laptop (a ThinkPad X220T at the time) with a 17" PowerBook and a Power Mac G5. The PowerBook felt superior in every way compared to the ThinkPad (except speed, of course) and I was having more fun using it. At first most of them had a purpose, say for a few that were basically brand new and almost never used that I decided to preverse in the best condition possible, but as I started getting more and more machines, more of them didn't have a purpose and just stayed unused. For example I got an M1 MBP and I still used to use the PowerBook a lot after that (probably more than the MacBook) but after a while I started using it less and less and now it just sits doing nothing. It's the same story with two of my Power Mac G5s and another 17". I'm trying to find what I can use them for but for now they just sit unused. Although I still have several machines that I use a lot - A1107 PowerBook that has all of my music library and monitors my servers which are a Power Macintosh G3 and G4, all of these machines are on 24/7. There's also another problem that appeared recently - my chargers started failing. I now have only two chargers to share between ~7 machines (I'm on the lookout for more). I also don't really want to buy more computers, as others have also said I'd rather use what I currently have and maintain it.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I started acquiring PPC in 2016. I have many at this point. I'm totally honest with myself in that the main reason I own these macs are exactly because of their visual design/look. I dont even pretend to have to have a functional need for them. They embody innovation and just look cool. My DDs at this point are all now early coreduo and core2duo Intel macs. I will be firing quite a few up for the 2023 PPC challenge.

 

[eyoungren]

I started acquiring PPC in 2016. I have many at this point. I'm totally honest with myself in that the main reason I own these macs are exactly because of their visual design/look. I dont even pretend to have to have a functional need for them. They embody innovation and just look cool. My DDs at this point are all now early coreduo and core2duo Intel macs. I will be firing quite a few up for the 2023 PPC challenge.

Back about five years ago I didn't need to have a reason to have my Macs either. But since then things have snowballed and while the working stuff does look cool I essentially have a handful of Macs doing nothing but idling 24/7.

You can only have so many shared drives on a network, so many workstations, or this or that. When almost every Mac becomes the classic Mac that you can run old versions of X software on then none of them are that important or special anymore And they are now just there sucking energy, all of it going to spin hard drives that see less than minimal access.

You get ideas (you meaning me) about what you'll do then realize in order to do it you have to make the space for it, or clean up the space. And all of a sudden it becomes less important. My garage has been a mess since I moved in. I have plans to have my Quad, my 2.3 DC G5, my 17" PowerBook, my G3 and possibly my 2.7DP G5 all out in the garage running old versions of software. Yeah great. Now get the garage cleaned up. Done? Set it all up. OK, I've already got 4 Intel Mac Minis out here and I'm out of wall plugs because it's a garage! And how is any of this usable when it's 118º outside in August in Phoenix? Just how much work do I do in InDesign CS4 when all my documents are in CC21?!

It just became too much. So it became necessary for me to think of SOMETHING to justify a Mac being on, on the network and operating. Well, I've run out of ideas. I mean, one of my Intel Minis serves as a download repository for godssake!

Some of this stuff is just going to have to go at some point. Whether I have a purpose/use for it or not, it's now just taking up space and energy.

 

[B S Magnet]

I have plans to have my Quad, my 2.3 DC G5, my 17" PowerBook, my G3 and possibly my 2.7DP G5 all out in the garage running old versions of software. Yeah great. Now get the garage cleaned up. Done? Set it all up. OK, I've already got 4 Intel Mac Minis out here and I'm out of wall plugs because it's a garage! And how is any of this usable when it's 118º outside in August in Phoenix? Just how much work do I do in InDesign CS4 when all my documents are in CC21?!

Two thoughts: the first is how often do you have to deal with scorpions in your garage (or, for that matter, find their remains inside old gear left in the garage)? I mean, we both grew up in the land of fire ants and water moccasins, but I never lived where scorpions were much of a thing.

The second is more a futile expression of the way Adobe have so impressively failed creatives by embracing a SaaS model following CS6 and by making file format standards dependent on the currency of the service, not on the software (when held as discrete from the service imposition). Microsoft, of course, are no angels here, either. It leaves one to reflect on how the very largest of the software companies — Apple included here — have not only quashed all meaningful competition and innovation from their respective arenas, but to maintain their unassailable stations, SaaS became the only revenue vehicle by which they could rationalize squatting on said station.

It has me thinking back to Apple’s brief foray into developing a “thin client” version of Mac OS called Mac NC (Network Client), circa 1996–97 (just before Jobs returned to the company and put the kibosh on it and much more). Mac NC was to be run atop enterprise platforms and on what we might think of today as Chromebooks, and being an early sign of the industry showing its hand (the “as a service” component already existed by then, though mostly in the form of time-sharing). Larry Tesler, the person from Apple (with Xerox PARC origins) who helped to develop the Newton and the software development kits for both Lisa and Macintosh, observed the following in ’97, right as he left Apple:

Spoiler: an old maid shouts at the morning fog

“Apple teamed up with Oracle, Netscape, IBM, and Sun to announce an agreement on a set of standards called the ‘Network Computer Platform.’ The idea of this platform is that we’re all going to be making these appliance-like devices, and we want to make sure that there is some degree of compatibility between them, to make the target platform for software developers as large as possible. […] Now we see a new kind of computer being defined: a network computer is being built as hardware that will run this Internet platform. And this will be very important for the development of very, very low cost devices” (n.b., empahsis mine) [source]

Tesler was correct in the near-term: hardware costs went way down as performance and relative ease of innovation moved apace with Moore’s Law, but then as those reached the inexpensive threshold of being a commodity, companies — Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and Google — turned to a thin-client model by pressing for lightweight “apps” designed to be operable on, well, two principal platforms (macOS and Windows on the traditional gear, and iOS and Android on the handheld gear).

By inserting a SaaS model to the mix as a licensing model, it became the industry’s version of “confer with a stoner to discover the easiest, lowest-effort way to do anything.”

Adopting SaaS licensing atop a thin (think: Electron) client suite (or “thinnish”, as is the case for Abobe’s Creative Cloud and Microsoft’s 365) became the way to find that lowest-effort path to grow the very teeth to bite back, if challenged (by lithe and nimble competition, force majeure, whatever), by assuring their longevity rests on “too big to fail” bedding. Put another way: entire segments of workplace productivity and even the internet itself, would collapse if one or more of these companies imploded overnight for whatever reason.

Anyway, enough with this lament, which doesn’t need to be aired here or anywhere. But I has a sad now for all the sprightly innovation we’ll never see in this plodding environment.

 

[eyoungren]

Two thoughts: the first is how often do you have to deal with scorpions in your garage (or, for that matter, find their remains inside old gear left in the garage)? I mean, we both grew up in the land of fire ants and water moccasins, but I never lived where scorpions were much of a thing.

The second is more a futile expression of the way Adobe have so impressively failed creatives by embracing a SaaS model following CS6 and by making file format standards dependent on the currency of the service, not on the software (when held as discrete from the service imposition). Microsoft, of course, are no angels here, either. It leaves one to reflect on how the very largest of the software companies — Apple included here — have not only quashed all meaningful competition and innovation from their respective arenas, but to maintain their unassailable stations, SaaS became the only revenue vehicle by which they could rationalize squatting on said station.

It has me thinking back to Apple’s brief foray into developing a “thin client” version of Mac OS called Mac NC (Network Client), circa 1996–97 (just before Jobs returned to the company and put the kibosh on it and much more). Mac NC was to be run atop enterprise platforms and on what we might think of today as Chromebooks, and being an early sign of the industry showing its hand (the “as a service” component already existed by then, though mostly in the form of time-sharing). Larry Tesler, the person from Apple (with Xerox PARC origins) who helped to develop the Newton and the software development kits for both Lisa and Macintosh, observed the following in ’97, right as he left Apple:

Spoiler: an old maid shouts at the morning fog

Tesler was correct in the near-term: hardware costs went way down as performance and relative ease of innovation moved apace with Moore’s Law, but then as those reached the inexpensive threshold of being a commodity, companies — Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and Google — turned to a thin-client model by pressing for lightweight “apps” designed to be operable on, well, two principal platforms (macOS and Windows on the traditional gear, and iOS and Android on the handheld gear).

By inserting a SaaS model to the mix as a licensing model, it became the industry’s version of “confer with a stoner to discover the easiest, lowest-effort way to do anything.”

Adopting SaaS licensing atop a thin (think: Electron) client suite (or “thinnish”, as is the case for Abobe’s Creative Cloud and Microsoft’s 365) became the way to find that lowest-effort path to grow the very teeth to bite back, if challenged (by lithe and nimble competition, force majeure, whatever), by assuring their longevity rests on “too big to fail” bedding. Put another way: entire segments of workplace productivity and even the internet itself, would collapse if one or more of these companies imploded overnight for whatever reason.

Anyway, enough with this lament, which doesn’t need to be aired here or anywhere. But I has a sad now for all the sprightly innovation we’ll never see in this plodding environment.

In 22 years of being in Arizona we've encountered maybe 3 or 4 scorpions. All in the new house and nowhere else. So, 18 years in the rental, no scorpions. We buy a home and in the first four years of being there, there are scorpions! None in the garage though.

I attribute that to the fact that to the east of us was an undeveloped field for the first two years or so. Once the land there got sold and developed (one of those multi-unit 3-4 bedroom rental communities with a gated entrance), all the insects in that field had nowhere to go except west towards us. With the previous home there were no fields, the housing development had been built in 1992-1993 (eight years before we showed up) and was surrounded by existing communities already. Our only issue there was ants.

The real problem for me here is lack of power plugs, heat in the summer and very little need for the thing I have planned. It's mainly a justification. When I could justify having my Quad on 24/7 because I was using it, that was fine. And I can see 4 Minis just idling. They don't draw much power (or as much as I'm used to). A Quad, two other G5s and a G3 idling? In the heat?

No, even in my excess of systems and trying to use them and make it all work this is just too much.

 

[B S Magnet]

The real problem for me here is lack of power plugs, heat in the summer and very little need for the thing I have planned. It's mainly a justification. When I could justify having my Quad on 24/7 because I was using it, that was fine. And I can see 4 Minis just idling. They don't draw much power (or as much as I'm used to). A Quad, two other G5s and a G3 idling? In the heat?

In this economy?

The desire for outlets in the garage, for whatever reason, might necessitate hiring an electrician to add another circuit for a second set of outlets for the garage (and anywhere else extra outlets on a different circuit are in need). But, of course, that’s one of those big projects which require a bit of planning and resources to finance.

No, even in my excess of systems and trying to use them and make it all work this is just too much.

This is legit. That said, I’m still astonished to learn you run four Mac minis atop all the other desktop and laptop models you have. At most, I might reach a point where I need to run two of them, but could still get by with just one.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Back about five years ago I didn't need to have a reason to have my Macs either. But since then things have snowballed and while the working stuff does look cool I essentially have a handful of Macs doing nothing but idling 24/7.

You can only have so many shared drives on a network, so many workstations, or this or that. When almost every Mac becomes the classic Mac that you can run old versions of X software on then none of them are that important or special anymore And they are now just there sucking energy, all of it going to spin hard drives that see less than minimal access.

You get ideas (you meaning me) about what you'll do then realize in order to do it you have to make the space for it, or clean up the space. And all of a sudden it becomes less important. My garage has been a mess since I moved in. I have plans to have my Quad, my 2.3 DC G5, my 17" PowerBook, my G3 and possibly my 2.7DP G5 all out in the garage running old versions of software. Yeah great. Now get the garage cleaned up. Done? Set it all up. OK, I've already got 4 Intel Mac Minis out here and I'm out of wall plugs because it's a garage! And how is any of this usable when it's 118º outside in August in Phoenix? Just how much work do I do in InDesign CS4 when all my documents are in CC21?!

It just became too much. So it became necessary for me to think of SOMETHING to justify a Mac being on, on the network and operating. Well, I've run out of ideas. I mean, one of my Intel Minis serves as a download repository for godssake!

Some of this stuff is just going to have to go at some point. Whether I have a purpose/use for it or not, it's now just taking up space and energy.

There is that point I’m certain. None of my PPCs are on at the moment aside from a sawtooth. Mine are displayed and serve as a progressive visual of the design/innovation during the PowerPC era. Through that lense, I suppose my macs do serve a functional purpose as a historical footnote in evolution of design and innovation of product. That is where it ends however. They just need to sit there. Perhaps that is why I feel little pressure to move them on. Their function is simply to illustrate history - to look good.

 

[chaosbunny]

Nice thread, good read. I had quite the collection until about 1-2 years ago. Back in the mid to late 2000s I was freelancing for a lot of different agencies. After they moved to Intel Macs they often had some abandoned PPC Macs collecting dust in the corner I could have for free. I got 5 PowerMac G4s, a PowerMac G3, two iMac G3s, two Apple CRT Displays, an iMac G5, a beige G3 Tower and an iBook G3 over the years. Plus I had a Cube, a 12" and a 15" PowerBook G4 I bought new. Some of these were working, some didn't. The biggest loss was when the powersupply of the Cube failed and I couldn't justify buying an expensive replacement. I always had the intention of doing something with them in the future bud never had time due to work, family and other hobbies.

Last year I had to leave the big appartment I lived in for almost 20 years. Since I knew I wouldn't have as much space in the new flat I sold most of my collection rather cheap locally. It was not about the money, I just didn't want to throw them away. Most were picked up by interesting people who hopefully treat them nicely.

I just kept the laptops, a working iMac G3 rev. A and my Cube.

Here are some pictures of the former collection.

 

[eyoungren]

In this economy?

The desire for outlets in the garage, for whatever reason, might necessitate hiring an electrician to add another circuit for a second set of outlets for the garage (and anywhere else extra outlets on a different circuit are in need). But, of course, that’s one of those big projects which require a bit of planning and resources to finance.



This is legit. That said, I’m still astonished to learn you run four Mac minis atop all the other desktop and laptop models you have. At most, I might reach a point where I need to run two of them, but could still get by with just one.

I try to be careful with the garage. Our HOA CC&Rs explicitly state that a garage cannot be used as a habitable space (i.e., a bedroom). I do use it for storage (acceptable) but with the Macs out there, the chairs, the books, etc…well I'd argue that two houses down a neighbor basically has a lounge set up in their garage.

Fortunately there has never been a problem. And the HOA has since replaced the original rules lawyer property manager so there is that.

Yes, an electrician would be a good call. If I could afford that, I could afford some other things that would actually remove using the garage as a problem so there's that too.

Here's the deal…

In 2019 I had (computers fully functional):

- 17" PowerBook G4
- 12" PowerBook G4
- 17" MacBook Pro
- 15" MacBook Pro
- PowerMac G3 B&W
- Quad G5
- 2.3DC G5
- 2.7 DP G5
- iMac G3 (tray loader)
- Thinkpad

By late 2019 I've added a Snow Leopard only Mini.

By January 2020 I've added an Early 2009 Mac Mini and in May 2020 I add the 2009 Mac Pro. Somewhere in there a guy from Reddit gives me a PowerMac G4.

Mid-2021 I take some Macs off the hands of a member here for $60 (to get the late 2009 Mini). The purchase included…

- Late 2009 Mac Mini
- 2006 Mac Mini
- 2006 Mac Mini
- 2 Airport Extremes (this makes a total of 3 AEs now that I own!)

So as of now I've got this running on the network:

- 2009 Mac Pro
- Late 2009 Mac Mini
- Early 2009 Mac Mini
- 3x 2006 Mac Minis
- PowerMac G4
- 17" PowerBook G4
- 15" MBP
- Thinkpad

This list does NOT include my wife's Thinkpad, her MacBook Air and her school issued laptop, my son's two laptops and my daughter's school laptop. Then we add in multiple phones and an iPad.

I still haven't turned the 17" MBP and the 12" Powerbook back on since shutting them down when it got hot and all the G5s have been off since May 2020.

I haven't even mentioned the broken/half working stuff, of which an iMac G5 is the largest unit. And this is just the computers themselves. I'm not talking displays, hubs, switches, enclosures, NAS devices, etc.

Since 2017 this stuff has just either been gifted to me or had such a low cost that I just bought it. Right now I could outfit a small office with all the stuff I have.

Finally…there's all the Apple towers, Minis, displays and various other bits that are sitting in my employer's warehouse in Mesa. If I really pushed I could probably buy a few of those. There's a 20" ACD with an A1006 I've had my eye on since I was hired. All just sitting on shelves and file cabinets.

It's just crazy.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Ewaste/planned obsolescence is a packrats paradise. Last I counted, my ppc collection wasn’t offensively large - around 21 or 22 functioning ppcs and a few dead portables. Many were sleeping on my legacy network but opted to turn everything off in an effort to lower energy usage in 2021 (or maybe that was 2020) & flip the switch just when desired.

To keep my modern network clean & not crowded for the family and work during the day, I ran all these old macs on a separate legacy airport.

I am planning on installing solar in 2023 which will open up the option to leave more ppc running if I chose, but again, I’ve grown accustomed to leaving them off & looking at & pondering the intent of their design, not feeling the strong need to figure out some use case for them.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Nice thread, good read. I had quite the collection until about 1-2 years ago. Back in the mid to late 2000s I was freelancing for a lot of different agencies. After they moved to Intel Macs they often had some abandoned PPC Macs collecting dust in the corner I could have for free. I got 5 PowerMac G4s, a PowerMac G3, two iMac G3s, two Apple CRT Displays, an iMac G5, a beige G3 Tower and an iBook G3 over the years. Plus I had a Cube, a 12" and a 15" PowerBook G4 I bought new. Some of these were working, some didn't. The biggest loss was when the powersupply of the Cube failed and I couldn't justify buying an expensive replacement. I always had the intention of doing something with them in the future bud never had time due to work, family and other hobbies.

Last year I had to leave the big appartment I lived in for almost 20 years. Since I knew I wouldn't have as much space in the new flat I sold most of my collection rather cheap locally. It was not about the money, I just didn't want to throw them away. Most were picked up by interesting people who hopefully treat them nicely.

I just kept the laptops, a working iMac G3 rev. A and my Cube.

Here are some pictures of the former collection.

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Beautiful machines. I’ve always wanted the CRT companion to a graphite. I absolutely love the design language of that unit - looking in to see all the guts, the base & flat front panel. I’d have to figure out space but such a nice PPC era piece. Jony’s team was on fire with that one.

 

[MysticCow]

I am not "collecting," but I have two iMac G3's (600 Snow and 700 Graphite), and a Digital Audio G4 (733). The iMacs are workers. The 600 is a Word station at my job (it even connects to printers here). The 700 will be repurposed very soon to be an iTunes and recipe Mac for the kitchen.

The G4 tower is used as a Retro Game Station to play stuff like The Sims 1.

Again, not a collector by any means. My opinion is that as long as there's a job it can do, it will be put to work.

 

[MacFoxG4]

There is one PB that I always wanted and never found a good deal on and that's a 17" 1.67 hi res. I found a few on eBay for around 399$ in very good condition and I really want to click buy but I am not sure if it's worth it or not.

If that's the DLSD model you are talking about, then I will say that I have always wanted that model too. They are not easy to find and as you have seen, can be rather expensive when they do show up. I wanted a DLSD so I can use a G4 during the summer months without my room gettng uncomfortably warm (no AC in my room). I ended up getting a 2006 MBP to save money and while it has very smilar aesthetics to the DLSD and made me appreciate early Intel, it is not an ideal replacement for a G4 due to Rosetta's performance.

 

[Doq]

Man.... I knew the A1139 was highly sought after but with three of us in this thread alone after one maybe I should cut my losses and settle for an A1107 and mod in a HR display instead.

 

[velocityg4]

Man.... I knew the A1139 was highly sought after but with three of us in this thread alone after one maybe I should cut my losses and settle for an A1107 and mod in a HR display instead.

I'd say for most lines. Whatever the premium model was. Will be the most collectible and expensive for collectors. Because it was the best. Also it was the most expensive. So, it is the rarest.

Just look at the price difference between something like a IIcx and IIfx on eBay, a Quadra 610 and a Quadra 840AV, Power Macintosh 6100/60 and 8100/80AV, and so forth.

There's some oddball cheaper units. But that's probably because they were a flop or had limited availabilty. Like the molar Mac does really well now. Since it was pretty much just sold to schools and the schools tossed most of them when they replaced them. Then there's the likes of the Performa 550/575. They weren't very popular, except maybe with schools. Plus they are super brittle now. So, many of the ones which were saved simply fell apart.

 

[amishallin]

Well... didn't know this at the time but my collection started in 1995 with our first family computer when I was a wee lad. It's a Performa 6300CD with audio/video/tv card, 28.8k modem, ethernet PDS card, external display connector, 64mb RAM, 128mb virtual memory, 128GB SSD partitioned into 3 drives booting MacOS 7.6.1/9.1. This sat in the barn for about 20 years but booted up 1st time (after cleaning). Still have all the games with original packaging. Used CCC to move data to SSD.

The second computer was my B/W G3 450mhz with Sonnet 500mhz G4 upgrade, RADEON 9200, 1gb RAM, Sonnet Tempo SATA with 128gb SSD booting Tiger/9, Sonnet wifi. Plastics aren't ageing well and seem to be cracking on their own.

The third computer was my dad's Quicksilver '02 dual 1ghz with Sonnet 1.8ghz duet, 1.5gb RAM, RADEON 9800 pro, Sonnet Tempo SATA with 128gb SSD booting Leopard/9, Airport, Sonnet FW800, Sonnet Tango 2.0, EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GM with appropriate power adapters for logic board. Was lucky the original power supply didn't take anything else with it when it blew. Did a lot of modding to get this thing to stay cool including adding a server fan and moving the power supply above the optical drive. Also was used with a Nikon Super Coolscan 9000ED but is now used with my MacPro. This machine has taken the most effort so far mostly because of the heat.

The last computer is one that wasn't purchased new. It's a PowerMac G5 quad with 16gb RAM, version 2 cooler and what appears to be the original spinning disk that still boots Leopard. There are no signs of leakage and I plan on doing a complete tear-down and overhaul of everything. This includes doing the "new blood" mod to the LCU. Since there are no videos of this mod being done on youtube (surprisingly) I may document it along with anything else that may be of interest.

All these computers share a small 24" HP monitor I found for cheap at BestBuy that sits on the Performa. It displays 640x480 quite well. They also share the same desk.

Does a MacPro 5,1 count? probably in about 10 more years or so...

 

[Jack Neill]

If that's the DLSD model you are talking about, then I will say that I have always wanted that model too. They are not easy to find and as you have seen, can be rather expensive when they do show up. I wanted a DLSD so I can use a G4 during the summer months without my room gettng uncomfortably warm (no AC in my room). I ended up getting a 2006 MBP to save money and while it has very smilar aesthetics to the DLSD and made me appreciate early Intel, it is not an ideal replacement for a G4 due to Rosetta's performance.

I am pretty sure the one I was looking at on Ebay was the DLSD but at 399 that's just too much money for a novelty machine for me right now. I have a 15" 1.25 that I tediously took apart and put a 256 mSata ssd in and a couple G5s that should suffice my PPC interests. For 399 you can buy a 2015-2017 13" lol. I do really want one tho just to say I have one.