Comments on: What Do You Do With “Retired” Macs?

By: Fukuoka-ken

Fukuoka-ken — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:39:36 +0000

Generally I subscribe to the eBay option as it involved a lot less hassle as my schedule never works out for the Craigslist crowds. One thing I have realized is that as my “needs” have become more and more down to earth I am keeping my tech a lot longer than before.

One thing I hate to see is when people give away their old Mac to a friend or family member that doesn’t know what to do with it and is really outdated. I see it all the time, someone gave me this machine and what do I need to get it up to date. More often than not the answer is “just buy a new one”. After buying RAM, a HD, wireless card etc etc the costs just add up to too much for old technology. For someone that is try to convert someone to the Mac that is the wrong way to do it.

Freecycle is my favorite place to get rid of old tech that I no longer need. Just let the tinkerers have at it for free and hope it finds a good home.

By: Andrew Hime

Andrew Hime — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:33:21 +0000

Retired or not, you can run distributed.net.

By: J-TOKYO

J-TOKYO — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:02:34 +0000

Still happily running a G4 ibook with Tiger. Not interested in upgrading anytime soon either. If you have an old G3 running classic, put Tiger on that thing and donate it to someone. Slow but solid as a rock.

By: biz

biz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:00:05 +0000

hi there-
Any quick tips on how to most quickly clean up the computer of your personal info before you sell it? I’ve fully migrated from my iBook to my new MacBook Pro but would of course want to ensure my old stuff is off the old one.

By: Charles W. Moore

Charles W. Moore — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:31:32 +0000

Hi;

Re; the WallStreet and Pismo. I purchased the WallStreet in January, 1999 and used it as my production workhorse until August 2, 2002 when the processor overheated and died with no prior warning.

I traded a G4 Cube even for a year-old (but pristine) Pismo in October, 2001, and used it for experimenting with OS X until the WallStreet croaked at which point it took the baton as number one until it was superseded by a G3 iBook in January, 2003.

One of my daughters is still using the WallStreet which I revived with a scrounged processor, and it hasn’t missed a beat since – currently running OS 10.4 Tiger. The Pismo, which got a G4 upgrade in 2003, is still going strong as well, in use by my wife.

By: Louis

Louis — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:52:31 +0000

As indicated on the Apple recycling page linked to at the end of the above article, if you live in Texas (USA), like I do, Apple is obligated to recycle their hardware products for free (including paying for shipping of their old equipment).

Wouldn’t it be great if this would apply to all jurisdictions? And not just computer equipment?

Louis

By: Marcos El Malo

Marcos El Malo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:14:31 +0000

In the old days we’d make aquariums from old Macs. Given the dimensions of your old iBook, maybe you could make an ant farm?

By: TheMacAdvocate

TheMacAdvocate — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:29:29 +0000

I’ve got my headless Powerbook G4 serving up media and backup via a USB-connected 1TB HD and AEBS. iTunes on all the other Macs points to the shared HD and the ATV is paired to stream all content. Being able to run the G4 24/7 allows me not to have to duplicate content on the ATV or any of the satellite Macs. Also‚ the G4 can be connected to off-site using Back to My Mac.

I also have an iBook G3 that’s looking for some duty. Would welcome ideas!

By: dave

dave — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:19:54 +0000

Mine move to Florida and lay on the beach all day.

After years of hard service, they deserve a break.

By: What to read on the GigaOM network

What to read on the GigaOM network — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:10:27 +0000

[...] in action (NewTeeVee) Cheat sheet: Google’s PowerMeter vs. Microsoft’s Hohm (Eath2Tech) Question: What do you do with “retired” Macs? (TheAppleBlog) Report: Open-source smartphone shipments to double by 2014 [...]