Old Mac\'s - worth it?

[iGuy]

At work today I noticed an old Mac, which they no longer use, sitting in the back room.  It was a PowerMac 7100/80.  I know, very old but I thought I would ask my boss what was up with it and if I could have it.  Not sure what I would do with it other than let my 4 year old play games on it.  After asking my boss about the computer, he tells me there is another computer back there.  He took me back and showed me a UMax S900 with a 200mhz 604e processor.  I told him I would take them both off his hands if he was wanting to get rid of them.  He didn't give me a direct answer.  I am sure he will want a few buck for them.  The only one of the two that would be worth giving any money for would be the UMax.

What would you do with two outdated Macs such as these?  I thought if anything my son could use one for games.  At www.everymac.com it showed the UMax S900 to worth at least $350.  Says this computer can be upgraded to a dual processor.  I wouldn't want to pay that for it.  It was a well used computer.  Give me your opinion of the value on these two Macs.

Thanks,
Ryan

[jepinto]

Ryan Bernie has just obtained a UMax S900.  He'll be along in a bit, and I'm sure he'll be happy to help.

[chuckwagen]

Pass on the 7100. Too slow.

[Epaminondas]

<< Give me your opinion of the value on these two Macs. >>

PowerMac 7100/80 - Approximately $1

UMax S900 - Approximately $76-$108

Of course, the greater value of these computers may lie in data mining.  For example, if one or the other of these computers was used by administration and the disk has been poorly wiped, such a machine may provide you with insights into the inner workings of your company.

Of course, I would never do a thing like that.

Still, though, there is the technical challenge . . .
 
 [ 01-29-2003, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: Epaminondas ]

[Gregg]

Ryan, I've got one even older than those two! I sunk $500 into a new logic board on it about a year and a half ago, mostly for sentimental reasons, then used it part time for 9 months. Now I probably need to find a good home for it. I doubt I'll ever use it again. If you'll put it to use, go for it! If it's just going to collect dust, leave it where it is.

[Bernie]

The S900 is an Nice computer for upgrading. Plenty of expansion slots for PCI cards. Keep in mind though. It's never going to be a "True " G3 or 4. I'm upgrading mine just for the experience. If I were you. I'd Install a fresh set of Os into it. Extra Ram. Nice VCard and that's it. Putting $400.00 and up into a 604e in my opinion isn't worth it. You can  get a good used  G3 for that amount of cash or maybe less       But What the H**K do I know

[kelly]

Yeah. At this pont it's hard to justify anything below a Beige G3.  

I upgraded my 6400 over a long time and made some great improvemnets.

But it would be silly to start out with something like that now.

There are Beige G3s for $200 now. And that's on line.

Really they should be even less.

And B&Ws are finally showing up for $300.

http://new.lowendmac.com/ppc/g3deals.html

[spupp]

The 7100 can make a great bridge between a serial-portless Mac and a Localtalk printer, using Apple Localtalk Bridge freeware.

You can add a VideoSpigot NuBus card and experiment with recording VHS quality video.

You can network it to other Macs and run  LAN games.

It can surf the 'net.

It can do word processing.

You can add a G3/500 card to it (eBay) for a small fortune to make it more usable.

Overall, though, it's not too much use anymore.

[gunug]

S. Pupp has it right; I fire up an old MAC IIsi (formerly a server) as a floppy drive/print buffer whenever I need one for my iMAC.  Antique computers are fun sometimes and I guess I'll start my own museum sometime.

[()]

If I were you i would pass and save the buks for a newer computer with a G4 processor.  Hangong on to the old ones as a lady told me what they were really worth, "doorstop" excuse me, "doorstop"  that's all they are good for these days, upgrading them is a waste of money, and there is no warranty for tham available.

They become doorstops...lol

   

You make the final decision, good luck.

[iGuy]

Tonye, I own an 800Mhz PowerMac G4.  The old Macs at work would be used mainly for playing around with.  The 7100, I agree, wouldn't be worth messing with.  I will probably pass on both.  Doesn't sound as if I would get much use out of them.  Like kelly says, probably better off buying an old G3.

Thanks,
Ryan

[Xairbusdriver]

quote:PowerMac 7100/80 - Approximately $1

So, what'll ya give me for my 'stock' 7100/66! Oh, I'll even throw in a 1.2Gig drive w/case!    
Do I hear .50?    
 .75?    
  $1    
   Going once,
   twice,
    GONE!
Now who will pay for the shipping?!    

Jim C.

[Al]

I started out on an LC575 (the ORIGINAL iMac) and since then have collected numerous old Macs.  A IIfx, a 128k Mac and I still have one of my 7100/80's plus many more.

They are all currently doorstops.    

but, I like that 68k LC575.        

If your kids need a school work computer and your boss can let it off for cheap (free would be best), grab it.  there's not many games around that would even play on it. but word processing and some lite internet research, I think it would be great. $40 would be the highest I'd go for that S900.

[iGuy]

Thanks for the advice Al.  

My son does have some preschool type games that have system requirements that call for a minimum of a 40mhz processor.  Lots of these preschool type games have low system requirements.

Ryan

[Al]

Ryan,

Preschool?  Cool!  I have one that is in preschool.  She grows like a weed.    

Actually that S900 would be great!  Your right, there are a bunch of games and estorybooks that would run on that clone.  My daughter used a Performa 6360 (603e@160 MHz) for the longest time before I upgraded the livingroom computer to a beige G3 (others were finally complaining about the speed of the Performa).  Now my daughter runs all her games in Classic and I even bought one game recently that is her first OS X native preschool through kindergarten game.    

Funny, even kind of sad, how a computer that once was the latest and greatest can depreciate.  If your boss has everything for the S900, includes keyboard, mouse and monitor, considering shipping to be roughly $30 from someone off of eBay, maybe you can offer him $50.  Free still would be nice thou.  I just ran a search on eBay for Umax S900 and came up with a couple, one was buyitnow for $25, no one bidded yet.