Ebay listing that made me chuckle

[swamprock]

I understand that it's a highly sought after card but for that amount of money you could purchase several PC TI4600 cards. flash them and install them into multiple G4 desktops.

Hahah! I'm about to list an actual ultra-rare video card on eBay for much less than that!

 

[B S Magnet]

Saw this a while back. $10k was the asking price as I seem to remember. Not many takers it appears. Can't think why..

Could be there are very few people in the world with that kind of loose change weighing down their humble pockets.

Luckily, you can get a frisson of that same groundbreaking Cupertino design aesthetic with a set of these lovelies

With that colour scheme, those could be called Pac-Man shoes. Or Pokemon shoes. You can’t deny the resemblance, and with those kicks, you gotta catch ’em all (and by “’em”, I do mean dots and power dots, as well as ghosts and fruits).

The colour scheme of the JLPGA (sorry, not JWLPGA) PowerBook 170 is best referred to as the harlequin, even though this would be more of a retronym: the JLPGA PowerBook, a total of 500 made for Japan only, happened in 1992, whereas the harlequin VW Golf premiered in 1995 (as a 1996 model).

Case in point:

I admit I have a soft spot for the aesthetic. And if ever I was in need of buying a car (I would only be buying used, if so), I’d probably keep my eye out for one of the harlequin series VWs in good shape. Although they were a thing wholly separate from — and occurring after — the Memphis Group of design (another of my favourites!), they sort of belong together.

The “creation” I had in mind wasn’t the eMate — as I’m sure you know

Daaaaang Amethyst, I didn’t know you were a h9ter of the brilliant clamshell iBook aesthetic — which were both a marvel of function and form!

You can’t knock that incredibly convenient handle and that rugged, rubberized shell! They took on incredible abuse and still delievered.

And, and, also, the function of using the keyboard for typing on a clamshell remains to this day the most comfortable typing experience for my wrists and arms: I don’t get the fatigue I get even on otherwise comfortable palm-resting alternatives like the 17-inch PowerBook/MacBook Pro.

And, and, and… lastly, back when using 802.11b/g was the standard, the best reception I ever got with wifi, hands down, was on the clamshell iBook. Nothing came close to, say, sitting in a car, parked way out on the street, and using the free wifi from the library or the café, with at least three of four bars in the menubar. Times were tough in the mid-aughts!

I’m also aware none of this will sway you, though.

 

[B S Magnet]

Hahah! I'm about to list an actual ultra-rare video card on eBay for much less than that!

Part of me, as a PPC forum community experiment, is flirting with the idea of posting just one Apple item at some absurdly inflated price to see how long, if ever, anyone with too much cash on their poor hands snaps it up. ?

 

[weckart]

Are those for sale at Lidl UK? I might grab a pair.

They were in the summer and I must confess I grabbed a pair because they went right round the tacky clock back to desirable. Then a very fashion-conscious friend of mine asked me to get him a pair as well, which floored me as he is more Waitrose than Lidl. They flew off the shelves and soon pitched up on eBay at very inflated prices. Same happened in every country Lidl sold these in EXCEPT Spain, where they languished undesired in their crates. You'll have to wait next till next summer as Lidl will definitely do another version. They have had these for the past two years. All you can get now, is a Lidl Xmas jumper, which is not the same.

 

[weckart]

Daaaaang Amethyst, I didn’t know you were a h9ter of the brilliant clamshell iBook aesthetic — which were both a marvel of function and form!

It's not my place to speak for Amethyst but I am sure the "creation" he was talking about was more polka-dotted than the eMate.

 

[TheShortTimer]

It's not my place to speak for Amethyst but I am sure the "creation" he was talking about was more polka-dotted than the eMate.

That was also my interpretation too.

You'll have to wait next till next summer as Lidl will definitely do another version. They have had these for the past two years. All you can get now, is a Lidl Xmas jumper, which is not the same.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm a patient man, I can wait till the summer but I'll pass on the jumper.

 

[B S Magnet]

It's not my place to speak for Amethyst but I am sure the "creation" he was talking about was more polka-dotted than the eMate.

If he was talking about Polka-Dot man, then he was talking about the iBook on the right, not the one on the left:

 

[Amethyst1]

Hahah! I'm about to list an actual ultra-rare video card on eBay for much less than that!

A working Voodoo5 6000?

the harlequin VW Golf premiered in 1995 (as a 1996 model).

Thanks for bringing that up. The harlequin VW Polo also premiered in 1995.

Daaaaang Amethyst, I didn’t know you were a h9ter of the brilliant clamshell iBook aesthetic — which were both a marvel of function and form!

Hold on: I like the clamshell iBook. I wouldn't mind a Key Lime with a 1024×768 screen at all. The prices these command aren't compatible with my poor wallet though...

(No hurt feelings, right? )

It's not my place to speak for Amethyst but I am sure the "creation" he was talking about was more polka-dotted than the eMate.

Exactly.

 

[B S Magnet]

A working Voodoo5 6000?


Thanks for bringing that up. The harlequin VW Polo also premiered in 1995.


Hold on: I like the clamshell iBook. I wouldn't mind a Key Lime with a 1024×768 screen at all. The prices these command aren't compatible with my poor wallet though...

(No hurt feelings, right? )


Exactly.

No hard feelings!

 

[TheShortTimer]

Off topic indulgence: on the subject of Lidl UK, when I visited their website in search of the shoes, I came across this seemingly tempting offer for an ASUS Chromebook at the price of £149 GBP. However after some further investigation I concluded that even at that knockdown price it was an awful purchase: a non upgradeable 32GB SSD in 2021? My 2010 C2D MBA is superior to this machine.

 

[Amethyst1]

a non upgradeable 32GB SSD in 2021? My 2010 C2D MBA is superior to this machine.

Chromebooks aren't designed to store lots of local data by definition. The bigger, replaceable SSD is about the only aspect in which the MBA’s hardware is superior though.

 

[B S Magnet]

a non upgradeable 32GB SSD in 2021? My 2010 C2D MBA is superior to this machine.

Hardware designed expressly for software-as-a-service is inherently wasteful and short-sighted. SaaS is a cancer.

 

[Amethyst1]

Hardware designed expressly for software-as-a-service is inherently wasteful and short-sighted.

Indeed. But it’s not just Chromebooks that suffer from this fate.

 

[B S Magnet]

Indeed. But it’s not just Chromebooks that suffer from this fate.

You’re right. It isn’t just Chromebooks.

But SaaS does facilitate the continued production and sale of increasingly “disposable” hardware — hardware which, ipso facto, isn’t intended to be upgraded often, if ever, and whose parts aren’t permitted (typically, by vendor contract with the supplier) to be purchased as replacements for components which fail on that hardware. Apple, for instance.

In other words, the relationship between SaaS increasingly saturating everything people do, coincident with conscious obstructions against right-to-repair for existing hardware (frequently running those SaaS platforms), isn’t terribly accidental: in both, the companies are disinterested in end-user considerations and are preoccupied by dictating the license for use for those end-users — i.e., the people buying hardware which is not only less upgradeable and serviceable, but also more dependent on SaaS cloud computing even the most basic of uses (email, word processing, social media, graphic design, and so on).

On a sidebar, I sometimes think about hardware-as-a-service, such as Panavision motion picture film cameras, and realize they’ve managed to stay in business for almost a century because their customers expect a level of quality and reliability for their product when they purchase access (i.e., rent), and Panavision delivers that level of quality. The SaaS companies could stand to learn from HaaS, but that’s probably a conversation for a different time and place.

 

[lepidotós]

[Image removed for the sanity of the MacRumors forumgoers]

This the guy?

What an abomination... This is what happens when you let modern "art" infect rare strokes of genius.

If he continues to purchase innocent iBooks and resell them as defiled dumpster fires complete with preinstalled bloatware and cruft, there must be a continuous incentive. There must be at least one or two buyers for every five he pumps out, resulting in a profit. And even if there is a small margin, as long as it is sustainable, my guess is there will be no natural end to this madness.

Someone needs to contact this guy and have a good, professional talk concerning his actions' effects on not only the PowerPC community, but the value, preservation, and historical integrity of the iBook G3 Clamshell. Maybe we can find out if he is indeed finding this endeavor financially successful, and then perhaps a compromise can be struck.

Who knows what might happen... But we will if at least an attempt is made.

Okay... If they had used a wallpaper from Mac OS 9... I think that would be kind of neat. I would totally be cool with having a toilet seat iBook bedecked in those teal pills, the Blueberry Union and Oxygen wallpapers arranged so that the lighter sides are touching, or that weird Tub wallpaper existing in the world. I still don't really like the clamshell's design, but that would be a neat little tribute, I think.
This is just kind of terrible, though.

 

[Amethyst1]

I would totally be cool with having a toilet seat iBook bedecked in those teal pills, the Blueberry Union and Oxygen wallpapers arranged so that the lighter sides are touching, or that weird Tub wallpaper existing in the world.

You can buy a clamshell and decorate it as you like. Presumably for a bit less than three grand.

 

[B S Magnet]

You can buy a clamshell and decorate it as you like. Presumably for a bit less than three grand.

For every person who’s bought one of his, uh, decorations, it provides us with a regular reminder how there’s a fool sucker born each and every minute.

 

[m1maverick]

For every person who’s bought one of his, uh, decorations, it provides us with a regular reminder how there’s a fool sucker born each and every minute.

Or maybe there are people who like something a different than you.

 

[B S Magnet]

Or maybe there are people who like something a different than you.

Oh nooo, you really got me there — like Mentos® got me! I’m licking my wounds as we speak, gosh darn it…

brb donating my key lime iBook to polka dot craft boy in miami so he can transmogrify it with cheap acrylic paints and then sell it — WITH GIFTS!!!!! — for only $5,994…

 

[m1maverick]

Oh nooo, you really got me there — like Mentos® got me! I’m licking my wounds as we speak, gosh darn it…

brb donating my key lime iBook to polka dot craft boy in miami so he can transmogrify it with cheap acrylic paints and then sell it — WITH GIFTS!!!!! — for $5,994…

Wasn't trying to "get" you. Just pointing out what seems to escape many here when it comes to this seller. Buyers of these systems aren't suckers just because you (or I, I don't like them either) don't like them.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Chromebooks aren't designed to store lots of local data by definition. The bigger, replaceable SSD is about the only aspect in which the MBA’s hardware is superior though.

Hmmmm is the Celeron N4020 really superior to a C2D CPU? Surely not!

The hardware doesn't seem like it's in an environment (OS wise) where it can actually perform. Installing Windows on those machines is hit and miss but Ubuntu is possible though and for £150 I was toying with the idea of buying it, removing Chrome OS and having a dirt cheap, brand new Linux dedicated rig to mess around with.

I bet many hackers and experimenters would've considered it too, had the SSD been replaceable. Ah well.

 

[Amethyst1]

Hmmmm is the Celeron N4020 really superior to a C2D CPU? Surely not!

The N4200 scores roughly twice as high as the U9400 in Geekbench. It's also clocked twice as high though, so maybe it is similar to a C2D clock-for-clock.

 

[lepidotós]

Hardware designed expressly for software-as-a-service is inherently wasteful and short-sighted. SaaS is a cancer.

Part of the reason I love PowerPC Macs so much and use them as my daily drivers (at least until I get a Blackbird and the PPC Notebook project is in group buy); they aren't really a product of that cancer, but are still more functional than Chromebooks are (due to being able to be used offline and with non-Web apps and being able to go online if need be), and often price competitive with the least expensive Chromebooks. I had a Chromebook in high school, and it was a complete waste of sand and oil that I hope gets recycled pronto.

 

[weckart]

Off topic indulgence: on the subject of Lidl UK, when I visited their website in search of the shoes, I came across this seemingly tempting offer for an ASUS Chromebook at the price of £149 GBP. However after some further investigation I concluded that even at that knockdown price it was an awful purchase: a non upgradeable 32GB SSD in 2021? My 2010 C2D MBA is superior to this machine.

Just for info, it's a Chromebook and 32GB is much more than plenty of the eMMC that all Chromebooks have. I acquired a Chromebook from my brother a few months back as it was due to stop receiving updates at 6 years of age. It is still a very competent performer of webapps with a very nice FHD IP panel to boot. I have switched it to Cloudready and while the speakers no longer work and the trackpad is glitchy, you wouldn't otherwise know any different and it still runs apps as well as it did. It only has a 16GB drive of which I am using about 10GB for the OS, browser cache and a few downloads i haven't yet deleted/transferred. I have quite a few webapps installed, including MS Office and their total footprint is about 160MB!

I installed Cloudready onto my 2010 C2D MBA and let me assure you, that your MBA is in no way a match for the 2015 Celeron based Toshiba I have, let alone the 2020 Asus. Not even close.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Just for info, it's a Chromebook…

I was aware of that in the post that you replied to.

…and 32GB is much more than plenty of the eMMC that all Chromebooks have.

Ok but 32GB wouldn't be enough for me because of the hacking idea that I'd contemplated in this post. Also, irreplaceable storage on any type of computer is a no go for me. I feel the same way about Apple's more recent products that have soldered SSDs so this isn't fanboy bias.

I acquired a Chromebook from my brother a few months back as it was due to stop receiving updates at 6 years of age. It is still a very competent performer of webapps with a very nice FHD IP panel to boot. I have switched it to Cloudready and while the speakers no longer work and the trackpad is glitchy, you wouldn't otherwise know any different and it still runs apps as well as it did. It only has a 16GB drive of which I am using about 10GB for the OS, browser cache and a few downloads i haven't yet deleted/transferred. I have quite a few webapps installed, including MS Office and their total footprint is about 160MB!

Cool! It's good to know that this model of computing works for you.

For the reasons that @B S Magnet outlined above, it's not one that works for me.

I installed Cloudready onto my 2010 C2D MBA and let me assure you, that your MBA is in no way a match for the 2015 Celeron based Toshiba I have, let alone the 2020 Asus. Not even close.

My cheapo mobile phone has more storage space than the 2020 ASUS. I'll take my 2010 C2D MBA with its 256GB SSD (and the option to upgrade that to an even larger unit) running Catalina over a heavily locked down machine with an equally heavily locked down cloud computing based OS any day but, horses for courses.