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What to do with old-world macs

redsteven

redsteven

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 22, 2006
561
7
I've got a bunch of old macs in the basement. And when I say old macs, I don't mean g4 iMacs... I mean old performas and g3s.

So what do I do with them? Should I just try to sell 'em on Craig's list for $20 a piece? Take what I can get?

Or should I take them apart and try to sell the parts inside?



Wasn't sure if the "buying tips" forum was the best one to post this on, but none of the others really fit the bill.
 
It probably depends on what's inside them. If they're completely stock there's unlikely to be great benefit to going to the effort of stripping them down. If they're upgraded in any way you may get a few dollars for the RAM as old RAM can be expensive.

Personally I stuck 1GB (2x512) into a G3 iMac I was given for free, added Leopard for usability and my 11 year old loves it - it's surprisingly usable.

Craigslist may be your best bet if you're just looking to clear space fast.
 
those are vintage... maybe make ur personal Mac Museum or make some dough by selling them on EBAY or Craiglist
 
miles01110 said:
Just make sure you make the buyer pay for shipping :-\
Click to expand...

Yeah, some of those old beasties are heavy. If you've still got original manuals, etc, you'll get a little cash selling the whole package on ebay. My guess is ebay will net you more because your are targeting to a more specialized market than the market for current machines.

That said, you could always drop Linux on the ones too old to run a decent Mac OS and use it as a file server on your network (provided they've got a network connection).
 
mr1970 said:
It probably depends on what's inside them. If they're completely stock there's unlikely to be great benefit to going to the effort of stripping them down. If they're upgraded in any way you may get a few dollars for the RAM as old RAM can be expensive.

Personally I stuck 1GB (2x512) into a G3 iMac I was given for free, added Leopard for usability and my 11 year old loves it - it's surprisingly usable.

Craigslist may be your best bet if you're just looking to clear space fast.
Click to expand...

I am not computer savvy, so would like to buy an older system that can surf internet and play some real basic kid games. I see listings all the time on craigslist and ebay.

What's a super cheap setup for a 7 year old?
 
eMacs have been available in droves on Ebay, at least they were. I got a great deal one 1. $95 shipped w/ super drive and airport. Popped in another 512MB of ram and I have a pretty nice machine for my 8 year old and she loves it. She likes that it's differrent from the other computers in the house (well, soon there will be a Mini too). That being said, I also had a G3 iMac w/ 512 MB of ram and 40G hard drive that ran 10.4.11 pretty well for basic internet browsing. those can be had for $40-$50

But I would try and stick with a G4, you'll get a tad more functionality out of it.
 
txnoob said:
eMacs have been available in droves on Ebay, at least they were. I got a great deal one 1. $95 shipped w/ super drive and airport. Popped in another 512MB of ram and I have a pretty nice machine for my 8 year old and she loves it. She likes that it's differrent from the other computers in the house (well, soon there will be a Mini too). That being said, I also had a G3 iMac w/ 512 MB of ram and 40G hard drive that ran 10.4.11 pretty well for basic internet browsing. those can be had for $40-$50

But I would try and stick with a G4, you'll get a tad more functionality out of it.
Click to expand...

Which are G4's?

Recommend any games for kids? Not shoot em type, educational type.
 
Advance The Man said:
Which are G4's?

Recommend any games for kids? Not shoot em type, educational type.
Click to expand...

eMacs, iMacs, Power Macs all came in the G4 flavor. I would recommend 800Mhz or faster.

I can think of 2 games off the top of my head that she loves. Barbie Island Princess and a
couple "I spy" games. Maybe on Half.com or Ebay you could find them.
 
I was afraid the most people wouldn't want to buy the ginormous shipping costs, but perhaps I should give it a try.

Maybe a 9.99 start price and $35 buy it now for one of the old performas with a g3 upgrade in it (even though it's not gonna have a lot of RAM or much of a hard drive.)

I DO have adb keyboards/mice, and probably the software/manuals for a few of them too.

I guess it's worth a shot.
 
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