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TribeLeader · Apr 29, 2009, 10:49 AM

I will replacing a 6-year-old PowerBook (my first Mac) in a few months and I'm curious what others do with their old Macs -- keep 'em, sell 'em, give 'em away/donate 'em, etc.

I ask partly because I'm not sure how much I'd be able to sell a 6-year-old PowerBook for.

Thanks!

Simon · Apr 29, 2009, 11:08 AM

You'll probably get next to nothing for a 6 year old PB. Not old enough to be a collector's item, not new enough to still be of any use.

If it's in good condition I'd keep it. If not you can throw it out. Maybe you can donate it to charity, but I'm not sure how much they'll be able to use it for.

Zeeb · Apr 29, 2009, 11:40 AM

If it still connects to the internet than a disadvantaged person could use it for email, update their resume and look for a job. If you decide to donate it I'm sure someone will be very happy to have it.

ibook_steve · Apr 29, 2009, 11:50 AM

6 years old? Is it at least an aluminum G4? You could still get something for that. Not much, but any amount would help towards your new machine. Otherwise, donation or recycle is the way to go.

Steve

olePigeon · Apr 29, 2009, 01:38 PM

If it's a G4 PowerBook, there's plenty of oomph to use it as a car computer.

polendo · Apr 29, 2009, 03:19 PM

I have got a G3 iBook and a G4 Mac mini.. both collecting dust. I have been offered to sell the G3 iBook but I feel bad if I do since it is starting to present the video problem. This one I think I´m going to give it away to a friend of mine who likes it.
The Mac mini is in perfect condition but right now I don´t have use for it. Nowadays I use my MBP practically for everything and my game desktop is a PC.

amazing · Apr 29, 2009, 05:23 PM

There are plenty of high school students who would love to have a laptop, for papers, research, games, tons of stuff. If you give it away, just be sure to include some lessons and some tech support.

polendo · Apr 29, 2009, 11:20 PM

The person I´m thinking on giving it to is pretty tech savvy and I prefer it that way, because it is a matter of time for the iBook to break and I need for him to understand what is going to happen. I would just feel awful If i give to a kid and then the iBook breaks down on him.

Andy8 · Apr 30, 2009, 09:59 AM

I give my old Macs away when possible.

ghporter · Apr 30, 2009, 12:51 PM

Repurposing a still-running (if outdated) Mac is my choice. We just sort of "handed down" my wife's old 800MHz G4 iBook to our son-he's been sort of jealous that his parents have Macs and due to school work requirements, he needs a Windows machine. So now he's playing with Tiger and enjoying Mac goodness.

maxx9photo · May 25, 2009, 09:42 AM

I keep mine, PB G4 1 GHz and still running good. last time I only replaced the HD was 2 years ago and that's about it. It's good for emergency purpose as a back up.

Eriamjh · May 25, 2009, 07:41 PM

Turning it into a Networked Backup Drive isn't a bad idea. Wireless or otherwise, it's useful, but not for computing power.

macfix · May 25, 2009, 09:10 PM

It's amazing what people without can find to do with technology that many of us regard as old and useless.
Think back to what you used it for, and you'll find it's still useful.

romeosc · May 30, 2009, 08:25 PM

I keep several older Pbs and iBooks around for picture frames! Keep a video slide show on a pogoplug connected hard drive and have screensaver use that folder of slides. I have a eye-fi card in a camera so anyone who comes by we take a picture and it is automatically updated to folder and shows on various PBs around house... Makes me feel like a poor bill Gates!

I keep 2 TiPBs 500 around for guests to access internet..... Keeps them off my machines!

amazing · May 31, 2009, 01:41 AM

Plus, put a large HD in an old laptop, and use it anywhere as a jukebox!

Felix · May 31, 2009, 05:05 AM

I got another used on on eBay, replaced a defective logic board, lager HD, etc and now we have a beautiful spare desktop in the house. Next project is to overhaul the display...

Rolando_jose · Jun 11, 2009, 09:39 AM

I sold my December 2003 PB last year for 500 bucks and the person that bought still use its and still thanks me =)

Pierre B. · Jun 11, 2009, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

You'll probably get next to nothing for a 6 year old PB. Not old enough to be a collector's item, not new enough to still be of any use.

If it's in good condition I'd keep it. If not you can throw it out. Maybe you can donate it to charity, but I'm not sure how much they'll be able to use it for.

There are still uses for such old computers. I have a first generation Aluminum Powerbook 12" at 867 Mhz in very good condition and perfectly working (about 6.5 years old now). I use it occasionally for some old applications (it can also run Classic) but it mostly serves my daughter now. If I am not mistaken, this computer can even run Leopard, but this would require a memory upgrade since it has only 640 MB RAM, the maximum when it was released.

But I also have an older one (a black Powerbook) running several Mac OS versions up to 10.1.5. This is for nostalgia only.

Jasoco · Jun 14, 2009, 06:50 PM

The last time I sold a Mac I used as a normal machine was in 2002 when I needed to use the money ($600) towards my new machine. It was an iMac DV+ 600MHz G3.

But I haven't sold any of my Macs since.

The iMac G4 I bought to replace the iMac G3 above is sitting on a shelf on display. I lent it to my brother to use for a few years to replace the crappy Compaq PC he got for Christmas that didn't last 8 months. When he got a newer Dell to replace it (Ugh.) he gave it back to me. I promptly opened it up and cleaned it out the best I could... Yikes! Unfortunately while cleaning it, I broke a blade off the fan and didn't have thermal paste. So I don't even turn it on since I prefer not to have lopsided fans and overheating processors.

And the iBook G3 I bought a while back late 2005 to use when lounging was lent to my sister for a couple years. She gave it back when she got a Dell as well. Unfortunately, the Airport card died in the meanwhile. But it works perfectly fine otherwise. Even though its max OS is 10.4 Tiger. It works on the internet with ethernet. I use it once in a while for little things, but it's not really that useful since I have a working MacBook as my main machine.

The Mac mini G4 I got in 2005 before the iBook was retired when I bought my MacBook. It currently acts as my Mac mini Media/Backup Server. It will continue this task until it is replaced by an Intel mini sometime far down the road. It serves my ripped movie and TV show collection to my Xbox 360 and MacBook, acts as a Torrent downloading machine and hosts my remote networked backups. It sometimes does more work than any of my machines have ever done. Though it's a G4 so I don't dare use it for the actual DVD ripping. That work is done on my Intel MacBook.

Other than that I have a G3 iMac (Rev B) I bought to use as a makeshift web server for a while back. It currently sits unused with the G4 iMac.

I'd donate them somewhere but I don't know if I want to part with them yet. They all look nice on display.