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The one that got away?
- Thread starter PowerMac5500
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For me it was the 20th Anniversary Macintosh from 1997. With its flat panel display and thin design, as well as small keyboard and trackpad, it was really the predecessor of the modern iMac 25 years ahead of time! You could even place the trackpad to the right or left of the keyboard as most modern desktop users do.
Unfortunately it was priced around $10,000 (over $16K in todays dollars); well out of my price range even today.
It’s wonderful that an iMac today can be had for around $1300! Many people forget how expensive early computers were. My first Mac, a 1987 Mac II, was around $8,000 in todays dollars. I could only keep it for about 2 years before I had to sell it while it still retained most of its value.
Unfortunately it was priced around $10,000 (over $16K in todays dollars); well out of my price range even today.
It’s wonderful that an iMac today can be had for around $1300! Many people forget how expensive early computers were. My first Mac, a 1987 Mac II, was around $8,000 in todays dollars. I could only keep it for about 2 years before I had to sell it while it still retained most of its value.
For me it was the iPod touch. I really, really wanted one around the 3rd gen. I could never afford one at college and then I was working I bought an iPhone, so never needed one. Alas.
My all time biggest want to have has got to be the Quadra 840AV. When I first got into Macs. That was the premiere model.
Once it was old enough to be cheap. It was too old and I wasn’t interested in collecting yet. Now they just sell for way too much to be with it for collecting. Especially finding one where the case, particularly the CD bezel. Is not messed up.
Really I want that. With the 14” AV display, adjustable keyboard and multi GB external SCSI raid tower and card. Like you’d of had way back then. Those external drives are basically impossible to find.
Once it was old enough to be cheap. It was too old and I wasn’t interested in collecting yet. Now they just sell for way too much to be with it for collecting. Especially finding one where the case, particularly the CD bezel. Is not messed up.
Really I want that. With the 14” AV display, adjustable keyboard and multi GB external SCSI raid tower and card. Like you’d of had way back then. Those external drives are basically impossible to find.
Not a single product. I bought whatI needed/wanted. Not one regret.
I think it went SE > Classic > Powerbook Duo > TAM. Not sure if there were any other Macs used for the Seinfeld apartment set.
George also had a couple Macs.
Yes - an iPod shuffle!
I wanted to get into the iOS world though, games, apps, multitouch… It’s a shame I take all that for granted now!
Huh?
That is a non-question.
NOTHING I ever wanted got away.
I own a 2003 17" PowerBook G4. I own a 2001 PowerMac G4 Quicksilver. I own a 20" acrylic Apple Cinema Display, I own two 30" aluminum Apple Cinema Displays.
Now, no. I did not go out an get all of them on the first day they were sold. The PowerBook came to me in late 2009, the Quicksilver in 2013, the ACD in 2015 and the aluminum CDs in 2021.
I am perfectly willing to wait 10+ or more years to get something I want. My two 30" displays? $100 and $150. Because I waited.
Stuff is out there, either on eBay, through members here or on Reddit. You can go get that 'slipped through your fingers' device right now. How can it not be brought to fruition if it's still there waiting to be purchased?
Is there some sort of time limit here? It counts only if you got it when Apple actually sold it?
Sorry, really just do not understand how this is a question.
Nothing that I've wanted and missed out on, but man, I do miss very much the first Mac that I bought, a 2008 black MacBook.
I would have loved to own the Macintosh SE. I used one when working at a magazine and was smitten. Too expensive for me though at the time. Much later I coveted the Titanium PowerBook. I thought it was an absolutely gorgeous-looking machine but again it was too pricey. I also liked the look of the black MacBook (CoreDuo) and got as far as ordering one but returned it due to dead pixels and ended up, eventually, with a white MacBook. Lovely machine too. Still works. I confess to having a certain regard for the Flower Power iMac at the time but ended up with a white one. And the Cube – that was neat but not a realistic option for me!
The G4 Cube. I could never justify the expense (price/performance) nor the lack of expansion. I brought a PowerMac G4 instead. It was only years later that I regret not getting a Cube, because Apple never recycled that look like they've done with a lot of old macs. The IIcx, IIci, Quadra 700 all the same. 128K, Fat Mac, Plus, SE, SE-30, Classic...same basic design. Blue PM G3, Grey PM G4, Mirror Door G4, PM G5...same basic design
Then look at the other answers!
You might have wanted MacBook Air in 2019, thought "I'll wait until after Christmas" then Apple released iPad and you realised that was a better fit for your needs so never got the MacBook.
For me, I wanted an iPod touch before I had a job. Then I got a job, and by then smartphones had begun to take off, so I bought an iPhone. Never got the iPod touch.
Well, two things.
I do not and have never bought based on need. I buy based on what I want. That usually meets the need (not always) but it always meets the 'want'.
Second, my budget at full price tops out at around $300 and that's if I've received my tax refund. Normally, I can manage around $150, tops. Unless we are talking devices, which I make payments on with my carrier. So, that never puts me anywhere near buying something that is current, or even five to six years old.
Right now, I'm typing this on a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (upgraded to a 5,1). It is the youngest Mac I own and I got if for $250 in 2021.
I don't usually shift what I want. If I wanted it bad enough, I remember it. And when funds are available I go back and get it. I had an HTC Touch Pro from 2009 to 2014. I sent it off to someone, but have always liked that phone and how I laid it out. I bought another one for less than $20 last year and reinstalled my 2012 backup (yes, I kept the backup). It's been being used as a desktop clock and I can access the screen via VNC over WiFi.
The iBook G3 Clamshell, I loved the looks of that computer when I was in high school, and there was no way I could have afforded it. I actually still want it, I regularly check eBay looking for one working and in very good condition, indigo or lime preferably.
You used terms such as 'never came to fruition', 'the one that got away', 'that slipped through your fingers'. I take the meaning on such phrases literally, so I answered the question in that manner, because there has never been a Mac I wanted that I did not get at some point.
White whales and unicorns were not the words used in your original post. Maybe I'm supposed to infer that's what you meant, IDK. But even if I had, I still wouldn't have any of either.