Would it be worth...?

[iWantAMac]

Hi, I am, for the most part, totally new to the Mac OS. I have access to this old PowerMac 7600 (< I think it's 7600) and was wondering if you think it would be at all beneficial for me to get ahold of it, bring it home and just have a play around. I realise OS X will be extremely different to whatever OS this Mac has on it, but would it not share the same basic principles and characteristics common among all Mac OSs?

Thanks,
Will

 

[Bear]

Re: Would it be worth...?

Originally posted by iWantAMac
Hi, I am, for the most part, totally new to the Mac OS. I have access to this old PowerMac 7600 (< I think it's 7600) and was wondering if you think it would be at all beneficial for me to get ahold of it, bring it home and just have a play around. I realise OS X will be extremely different to whatever OS this Mac has on it, but would it not share the same basic principles and characteristics common among all Mac OSs?

Thanks,
Will

I feel that as a person new to the Mac, you should start with OS X.

There are enough differences between OS 9 and OS X taht some people have difficulty working with OS X for a while. And some haven't made the switch yet due to the differences.

Also, the utilities and shareware/freeware that are available is different. You might as well start clean with OS X rather then getting used to the way OS 9 (and before) does things or getting used to software that isn't available for OS X.

Just my 2 cents (US).

 

[iWantAMac]

Re: Re: Would it be worth...?

Oh, no, that's not exactly what I meant. I was talking about bringing it home to simply have a play with it. I wasn't actually planning to use it as my computer.
I guess your reply would be much the same, regardless.

Originally posted by Bear
Just my 2 cents (US).

 

[steeleclipse]

Re: Re: Would it be worth...?

Originally posted by Bear


Just my 2 cents (US).

Yeah, but thats about 30 bucks CDN

 

[patrick0brien]

-iWantAMac

I'd have to concure with Bear in that working in the Classic MacOS (anything up to 9.2.2) is not a good idea in that you'll become infused with the habits and impressions of the older OS.

As I'm sure you know, OS X is completely different code, and architecture, thus requiring newer machines to run. And the OS, while Apple has done a decent job in making the user experience of OS X similar to the classic experience, it's different enough that when you do go with an OS X box, you'll probably be turned off, no matter how good OS X is.

All this not to mention that with the 7600 you'll have to deal with the legacy ports, DIMM slots, and SCSI drives and all the quirks involved with them. Read: more expensive that it's worth.

I know it's tempting to play with it, but please, try to avoid it in favor of a newer machine. Classic is no longer the Mac Experience.

 

[Chrisnorth]

7100?

I agree with most of the other comments.

OS9 was a great OS in its time, but the future is OSX. If you just want to fiddle, go ahead, but if you ultimately want to embrace the Mac platform, wait for a newer machine and start with OSX. Personally, after a couple of months with OSX, I wouldn't go back to OS9 for anything.