this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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Vintage Apple

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A place to discuss and share anything related to vintage Apple computers and products (Pre-Intel).

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For me the Power Macs G4 have an absolutely timeless and pristine design. Especially the Quicksilver stands out as the perfect workstation design. Even though i have/had several G5 and Mac Pros, which are landmarks in computer design too, i don't hold them in veneration as much as the G4.

Could also be because i grew up with them. My father has a printing company and has been working with Mac all along. My first own computer was a G4 DA 466MHz which i "inherited" from him. After a brief interlude with an iMac G3 (much more compact, but slow af and no hardware to play with), i bought a G4 QS 733 second hand for about 200 bucks in 2005, but it died the PSU death soon after. Unfortunately my dad sold his QS 1GHz DP some days before for a G5 2.7 DP. So i ended up with a G4 MDD 867 DP, which served as a print server for several years after my switch to intel Macs. Two years ago i did want to sell it, but the PSU was dead. So i tinkered with it and built in an atx PSU. But instead of selling it, i got infected with the Power Mac fever again. Fast forward, my GF isn't as happy with my considerable collection of G3-5 as i am.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey! Nice collection you have there!

I own a 733 MHz QuickSilver, but I was wondering with which plate they shipped if they were equipped with a ZipDrive. Mine has a blank one, not really useful.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

These are the regularly used ones for LANs etc. Some more are stored in their original boxes, others are ready for restoration. I now own at least one ex of each series of desktop and mobile G3, G4 and G5 since the iMac G3, except the Clamshell iBook. They are either in bad shape or ridicilously expensive.

My first QS had a ZipDrive. At least mine had a special plate like this one

Unfortunately my only Zip-Mac now is a B&W G3.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That makes sense! Thank you 😊!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As someone who works in electronics recycling these give me a bit of PTSD. So much plastic to remove.

But nothing is worse than the white eMac G4. That’s the stuff of nightmares.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That's the reason i don't recycle but restore them. The eMac G4 is an absolute pain, that's true. I had to open it to swap the HDD to a SSD. Can't recommend...