Please consider poor, starving teachers when selling

[MysticCow]

I've seen several posts about selling their old PowerPC Macs, and it's all right that you want to sell it. It's just that I always try to make a post about selling it to a poor, starving teacher, mainly because I am a poor, starving teacher!

Then, I make a point to state how art and music teachers get nothing from their respective board offices, because they don't! I speak from experience here-arts (music, art, etc) teachers tend to get nothing. I've had to use my old iMac G3 and my PowerMac G4 for my chosen profession of teaching.

Now I know you're asking, "Why would anyone in education even want my old Mac?" Again, since I am a music teacher and receive nothing from my board office, I can give specific examples of how my cheaply purchased PowerPC's work in school.

1. 1 I have a 600 MHz G3 iMac that functions as my CD library. This is a convenience that just can't be overstated. I never have to look for a CD, or worry about breaking one on accident (it happens) or wondering where I left my CD packet. Go over there, open iTunes, and get the song playing. I'm done and have saved time in my classroom. I don't need something from the last six months to only be a jukebox and the students still think it looks cool.
   
2. 2 I have a 733 MHz Digital Audio G4 that serves as my main in the classroom. It's used for writing documents and lesson plans in Office 2004 (my favorite Office of all time). It's used for creating newsletters in Pages. It's used for making programs for special occasions that stand out. I use it for online research of methods with TenFourFox. It's even networked, so I can print from anywhere in the building. I don't need a computer made in the last six months to do that, I need something that can work and that is my G4.
   
3. 3 I also have a G5 dual 2 GHz. It can do any of the above, but it has one gigantic advantage that a marching band director with a horrible budget will love. Any G5 system will run Pyware version 6, and those G5 towers will run that software like a dream (not sure about an iMac G5, but it will run it). It can run Sibelius 5 or 6 without any problems (Sound Essentials are another thing altogether, but it will do the basics that a director needs).
   

If they say it's an old version/computer and complain about it, they're not starving! As someone who receives nothing technology-wise, I am beyond grateful when I get a brand old Mac in my room. To top it off, you don't have to pay for shipping either, and that is a bear of a cost.

So again, please think of poor, starving teachers.

 

[Stephen Dowling]

When I was growing up; my mother was a poor, starving teacher! Luckily, my dad was/is an attorney; so we didn't have to be a poor, starving family

I enjoyed the bit of nostalgia this post brought me when I read it. It seems like in my elementary and middle school years, PowerPC Macs dominated our music rooms. Although the Macs we had back then were the same beige color as the PCs all of the other teachers had to use; they really stood out in the way that they seemed to be able to do things that all of the other teacher's computers could never do As a matter of fact, the only thing I remember the other teacher's computers being able to do was catch on fire! (Seriously, I saw it happen like twice.)

I was too young to realize it at the time, but looking back on it now makes me think to myself "Man, those were Macs!" Although its been a while since I've been in either of those music rooms, I wouldn't be surprised if the same Mac's that awed me as a kid are still running the place!

I recondition and sell Macs of all ages now, so I'll be sure to remember the poor, starving teachers when I post these two 2.0GHz DC G5s I just finished

Thanks for the post! It definitely brought back memories.

 

[RedCroissant]

I've seen several posts about selling their old PowerPC Macs, and it's all right that you want to sell it. It's just that I always try to make a post about selling it to a poor, starving teacher, mainly because I am a poor, starving teacher!

Then, I make a point to state how art and music teachers get nothing from their respective board offices, because they don't! I speak from experience here-arts (music, art, etc) teachers tend to get nothing. I've had to use my old iMac G3 and my PowerMac G4 for my chosen profession of teaching.

Now I know you're asking, "Why would anyone in education even want my old Mac?" Again, since I am a music teacher and receive nothing from my board office, I can give specific examples of how my cheaply purchased PowerPC's work in school.

1. 1 I have a 600 MHz G3 iMac that functions as my CD library. This is a convenience that just can't be overstated. I never have to look for a CD, or worry about breaking one on accident (it happens) or wondering where I left my CD packet. Go over there, open iTunes, and get the song playing. I'm done and have saved time in my classroom. I don't need something from the last six months to only be a jukebox and the students still think it looks cool.
   
2. 2 I have a 733 MHz Digital Audio G4 that serves as my main in the classroom. It's used for writing documents and lesson plans in Office 2004 (my favorite Office of all time). It's used for creating newsletters in Pages. It's used for making programs for special occasions that stand out. I use it for online research of methods with TenFourFox. It's even networked, so I can print from anywhere in the building. I don't need a computer made in the last six months to do that, I need something that can work and that is my G4.
   
3. 3 I also have a G5 dual 2 GHz. It can do any of the above, but it has one gigantic advantage that a marching band director with a horrible budget will love. Any G5 system will run Pyware version 6, and those G5 towers will run that software like a dream (not sure about an iMac G5, but it will run it). It can run Sibelius 5 or 6 without any problems (Sound Essentials are another thing altogether, but it will do the basics that a director needs).
   

If they say it's an old version/computer and complain about it, they're not starving! As someone who receives nothing technology-wise, I am beyond grateful when I get a brand old Mac in my room. To top it off, you don't have to pay for shipping either, and that is a bear of a cost.

So again, please think of poor, starving teachers.

Ha!!!! (that is not laughter out of humor at your post). I am making that sound because my area is basically Mac-ville. My alma mater (ASU) has nothing but Macs in the classrooms(even though they're all running Windows). And because the school districts around here are supported by ASU and generous education bills, the schools also give the teachers Macs and even pre-schoolers get to use fairly new aluminum iMacs for computer lab time.

There is also a place here called "Treasures for Teachers" where people should donate stuff that can be used in a classroom environment that teachers and other educators can take advantage of the items given. However, that place had much older, non-Apple, and non-working computers dropped off one night which resulted in a policy change for that specific center. They no longer accept computer donations.

I would love to give my PPC Machines to poor and starving teachers, but most people around here (Phoenix) seem to ignore PPC Machines for the most part or think that they're worthless.

 

[tom vilsack]

If your asking for free computers,and would pay the shipping fee...wouldn't it just be cheaper to go to your local craigslist and lowball a bunch of old mac posting? (someone will bite,and be cheaper then paying our shipping costs!)

ps: have you tried sitting outside your local recycle place? When I take stuff in to mine,there's always a few older computers that are waiting to be recycled...

 

[AmestrisXServe]

I'm confused by this thread: Is it that you are complaining about the prices on PPC systems, that are a tiny fraction of what the systems cost new; or is it that you are complaining, about other people complaining, about people selling PPC hardware?

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Eventually one at a time I sell PPC macs and move on to another PPC mac. My school is pretty much dells and Windows 7, and the music teacher at my school owns a 15" MBP for music stuff. Last year we got a 50k grant for some new computers and I was able to convince the school to go with iMacs, and I spent a good portion of my summer setting them up. I would have loved to use PPC macs in a lab, but with what we do in that class (a lot of online stuff with flash) and Photoshop/Illustrator would just be horrendous to use a lab of iMac G5s.

I just don't see where a teacher gets value out of a PowerPC mac these days. They are much better off with the Optiplexs they have now that are hooked up to a projector to play YouTube videos or whatever and teachers would hate having to use some program like MacTubes for video. If you're in a modern music class, a old version of Logic would be stressful, as some of the kids at home may have a 13" MBP and run Logic Pro X. Just a matter of learning modern software in modern day.

 

[MysticCow]

If your asking for free computers,and would pay the shipping fee...wouldn't it just be cheaper to go to your local craigslist and lowball a bunch of old mac posting? (someone will bite,and be cheaper then paying our shipping costs!)

ps: have you tried sitting outside your local recycle place? When I take stuff in to mine,there's always a few older computers that are waiting to be recycled...

Please point to the specific sentence where I asked for something for nothing. Please point to the specific sentence where I specifically asked that you try to send it to me first. I will wait for your response.

 

[RedCroissant]

Eventually one at a time I sell PPC macs and move on to another PPC mac. My school is pretty much dells and Windows 7, and the music teacher at my school owns a 15" MBP for music stuff. Last year we got a 50k grant for some new computers and I was able to convince the school to go with iMacs, and I spent a good portion of my summer setting them up. I would have loved to use PPC macs in a lab, but with what we do in that class (a lot of online stuff with flash) and Photoshop/Illustrator would just be horrendous to use a lab of iMac G5s.

I just don't see where a teacher gets value out of a PowerPC mac these days. They are much better off with the Optiplexs they have now that are hooked up to a projector to play YouTube videos or whatever and teachers would hate having to use some program like MacTubes for video. If you're in a modern music class, a old version of Logic would be stressful, as some of the kids at home may have a 13" MBP and run Logic Pro X. Just a matter of learning modern software in modern day.

I think where the value comes into play is the cost of the machine vs its degree of productivity. Sure the example of using it for students to see videos online that requires flash would make PPC Macs not very practical, but it's the application of the PPC Macs which I think makes them great machines for the right type of environment. As an example, a computer science class that is working on basic-intermediate programming, would save quite a bit of money on PPC Macs that can still do that job very well. Creative writing classes as well that could use PPC Macs would be smart and less expensive than a lab full of 2012-2014 Macs that will barely be utilized.

 

[tom vilsack]

Please point to the specific sentence where I asked for something for nothing. Please point to the specific sentence where I specifically asked that you try to send it to me first. I will wait for your response.

guess I misinterpreted your post...no need to be nasty,was just trying to help!

 

[jrsx]

Please point to the specific sentence where I asked for something for nothing. Please point to the specific sentence where I specifically asked that you try to send it to me first. I will wait for your response.

Well that's one way to deal with it....

 

[AmestrisXServe]

I think where the value comes into play is the cost of the machine vs its degree of productivity. Sure the example of using it for students to see videos online that requires flash would make PPC Macs not very practical, but it's the application of the PPC Macs which I think makes them great machines for the right type of environment. As an example, a computer science class that is working on basic-intermediate programming, would save quite a bit of money on PPC Macs that can still do that job very well. Creative writing classes as well that could use PPC Macs would be smart and less expensive than a lab full of 2012-2014 Macs that will barely be utilized.

Re-enforcing your point, PPC Macs can still run rather powerful Adobe tools, MS Office, Scientific Applications, CAD Tools, Web tools, Programming, 3D Design (e.g. Lightwave), etc.. The fact is, nobody needs a new system, unless they are using it for professional purposes, for which they are required to use the latest sofware.

In fact, there are a number of very useful academic tools that cannot run on Intel Macs without Rosetta (e.g. Latin Words), and may not correctly function under Rosetta (e.g. rendering plugins), and professional tools, such as Framemaker, that can't even run on OSX, and thus require either 10.4 and Classic, or Sheepshaver, which can be horribly buggy at times.

If you have a cluster of PPC systems, and are writing a scientific, or academic tool, that requires a lot of processing time, XGrid can assist you. making an XGrid network of G5 systems is far less expensive than a comparable XGrid system of Intel-based machines, with the same performance.

This is exactly why I run such a mixed environment.

 

[RedCroissant]

Re-enforcing your point, PPC Macs can still run rather powerful Adobe tools, MS Office, Scientific Applications, CAD Tools, Web tools, Programming, 3D Design (e.g. Lightwave), etc.. The fact is, nobody needs a new system, unless they are using it for professional purposes, for which they are required to use the latest sofware.

In fact, there are a number of very useful academic tools that cannot run on Intel Macs without Rosetta (e.g. Latin Words), and may not correctly function under Rosetta (e.g. rendering plugins), and professional tools, such as Framemaker, that can't even run on OSX, and thus require either 10.4 and Classic, or Sheepshaver, which can be horribly buggy at times.

If you have a cluster of PPC systems, and are writing a scientific, or academic tool, that requires a lot of processing time, XGrid can assist you. making an XGrid network of G5 systems is far less expensive than a comparable XGrid system of Intel-based machines, with the same performance.

This is exactly why I run such a mixed environment.

Oh, I completely agree. I love my PPC Macs because opt the fact that I was still able to do everything I needed to do and sometimes more. In fact, the only reason I moved to Intel was the need for updated versions of Flash that would work properly with my online schoolwork. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was to have a "semi-compatible" system that displayed the assignments but would not let me actually complete them properly. In fact, my professor wondered why I was doing assignments out of order and why I did an assignment that wasn't due for another 2 weeks when I missed the assignment that was due the night before. So Tax refund time came around and I got my new iMac.

Back to the point of the conversation though.....

Even if there is just one more modern machine out there running a server version of Leopard or Tiger, that would still be more efficient and money-saving. A computer lab of ~20 iMacs at current PPC prices for later G5 machines would come out to....maybe $4k? That is of course estimating $200 per machine which is most likely too high. And there is no need for models with bluetooth or airport and FW 400 is still a very reliable and reasonably fast I/O depending on the environment. So even at the high end estimate for the PPC Macs compared to the ultra low estimate for new iMacs ($1400 per iMac for basic configuration), the savings comes out to ~$25k. I know the estimates aren't perfect, but why not try and save that kind of money when PPC Macs still do everything needed for most students and even some professionals?

 

[tevion5]

My high school music department got a grant of 8 new sandy bridge windows 7 workstations.

But my teacher still uses his Power Mac G5 running 10.5.8 for recording and large scale recordings only mac in the department and the only machine he trusts to go steady.

There are only two mac in the school, that, and the art teacher. He uses a white MacBook that originally shipped with tiger. I helped him out by helping him update to Lion. He claims it's way faster!

 

[jrsx]

If I ever get an Intel Mac (which won't be happening anytime soon! ) it will only be upgraded as far Lion. Why? ML and Mavericks are pretty cool, but really, I would hate to lose Leopard's customization abilities.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

If I ever get an Intel Mac (which won't be happening anytime soon! ) it will only be upgraded as far Lion. Why? ML and Mavericks are pretty cool, but really, I would hate to lose Leopard's customization abilities.

Yet we all like make Leopard look like Mavericks when we could run that on a true intel mac!

 

[jrsx]

Yet we all like make Leopard look like Mavericks when we could run that on a true intel mac!

LOL! You're right, it's so true! Of course there are moments when I just have to change my Leopard dock, which cannot be done in ML or MV.

 

[Mr Rabbit]

ps: have you tried sitting outside your local recycle place? When I take stuff in to mine,there's always a few older computers that are waiting to be recycled...

This. The AASP I worked for advertised free electronics recycling, where people could drop off old electronics (Macs, PCs, TVs, etc) and we would haul it down to the e-waste center every month or so. I was always amazed at the cool stuff people would drop off. Power Mac G4 Cubes, G4 iMacs, PowerMac G5s, etc. Most of my hoard came from my time there where I would snatch up unwanted Macs that were still in decent shape.

So my advice is similar to vilsacks. Check with the independent Apple shops in your area from time to time, chances are they have similar piles of old Macs in their back room. Also, find the contact info for the IT departments of your local universities. Shoot their IT admins a message explaining your limited budget and position in an educational environment. A lot of universities refresh their Macs every 3-5 years (often depending on their service contracts w/ Apple) and will more often than not simply dispose of the old Macs either in their dumpsters or (hopefully) through recycling.

Before I worked for Apple or the AASP I dumpster dove a couple times at our city's major university and found several PowerMac G4s, iBook G4s and Titanium PowerBooks. Later, after forming connections with the IT people through my roles at Apple and the AASP, I found that they were more than happy to "donate" old Macs to folks who could use them rather than throwing them away.