Your free [acquisitions/electronics recycling/dumpster dive] finds: PowerPC Macs edition

[B S Magnet]

This thread is for PowerPC Macs you’ve either been given for free; found for free; rescued (again, for free) from an electronics recycler; or best yet, a dumpster-dive find. (I’ve also started a parallel thread on the Early Intel Macs forum for found Macs of the Intel variety).

Over the years, several PowerPC Macs have shown up in my life for the price of free. Some came from barter, but many more were either abandoned or just handed to me to do what I could from them. If you live in a bigger city, have a lot of relatives, or old friends, you’ve probably had one or three land at your doorstep.

So that’s what this thread will be all about. Like the one over on the Early Intel Macs forum, this thread can be a sort of a companion for the ongoing “eBay bargains — what’s your latest conquest?” thread.

I’m looking forward to reading some fun stories and learning how you might have repurposed them!

 

[eyoungren]

• 500mhz PowerMac G4 - from a Vintage Apple Reddit member, local to my area

• 450mhz PowerMac G3 - from @macgeek18

• 2.5Ghz PowerMac G5 Quad - from @bunnspecial

• 2.3Ghz PowerMac G5 DC - from @lawrence_talbott

• 2.7Ghz PowerMac G5 DP - from @ITguy2016

 

[itanium_hunter]

I was given a Quad G5 with 8GB ram by a workshop about 2 weeks ago. It had the usual problems - overtemp and checkstop. I pulled the LCS and put in 1x DC 2.0Ghz until i get the time to refurb the Quad cooling. It's happily sitting under my desk with 10.5 installed.

 

[Doq]

When I picked up the A1139, the seller included a minorly beat up Titanium (A1001, Littorio). Said he didn't wanna see it end up as e-waste so he threw it in as bonus. And now I have a physical proof that the Garamond PBG4 wordmark appeared on 1280x854 Ti displays.

The Companion (A1046, Enterprise) was purchased for me by a friend when we went to a university surplus shop in college, and I saw it and went "*gasp* powerbook!! "
To this day I never paid her back for it, so technically it's free?

And of course I was sent the Twelve (A1104, Surcouf) from @z970 all that time ago. Still a neat little server terminal to this day.

 

[B S Magnet]

When I picked up the A1139, the seller included a minorly beat up Titanium (A1001, Littorio). Said he didn't wanna see it end up as e-waste so he threw it in as bonus. And now I have a physical proof that the Garamond PBG4 wordmark appeared on 1280x854 Ti displays.

Oh heck, I could have let you know about that. Even the first iPod, released eight months later, used Apple Garamond. The switchover began to happen, more or less, after the time of Macworld 2002.

 

[headlessmike]

I have been pretty lucky with a very specific dumpster for e-waste at my workplace over the years. My two best finds are probably my 400 MHz Blue & White Power Mac G3 (specifically a Mac Server G3 400) and a bit later I also found a 23" Apple Cinema Display HD (the aluminum model) that was left for dead. Both still work great more than a decade later. Here's a photo of the G3.

 

[Doq]

Oh heck, I could have let you know about that. Even the first iPod, released eight months later, used Apple Garamond. The switchover began to happen, more or less, after the time of Macworld 2002.

Well I was always under the impression and the assumption that all Ti's with the 1152x768 display (pre-DVI) had the Apple Garamond wordmark and that all Ti's with the 1280x854 display (DVI and later) had the Myriad wordmark. Probably only the first part of this is true, now I've realised.

 

[B S Magnet]

Well I was always under the impression and the assumption that all Ti's with the 1152x768 display (pre-DVI) had the Apple Garamond wordmark and that all Ti's with the 1280x854 display (DVI and later) had the Myriad wordmark. Probably only the first part of this is true, now I've realised.

What would be interesting to find out is whether the switch happened mid-release within a Ti PB revision — namely, as the manufacturer used Garamond-printed bezels and switched to Myriad once the former ran out.

 

[Nermal]

I have been pretty lucky with a very specific dumpster for e-waste at my workplace over the years. My two best finds are probably my 400 MHz Blue & White Power Mac G3 (specifically a Mac Server G3 400) and a bit later I also found a 23" Apple Cinema Display HD (the aluminum model) that was left for dead. Both still work great more than a decade later. Here's a photo of the G3.

View attachment 2147729

What is THAT?! It looks like a Blue and White G3, but it's actually blue?!

(All the ones I've seen have gone greenish over the years...)

 

[B S Magnet]

What is THAT?! It looks like a Blue and White G3, but it's actually blue?!

(All the ones I've seen have gone greenish over the years...)

On my display, I’m seeing it as typical “blueberry” (with a tinge of teal).

 

[bunnspecial]

@eyoungren gave me a PM 6500

I may forget some in this, but one dear(and since passed) professor in graduate school passed most of her and her husbands old Macs down to me over several years. From memory:

Mac Plus w/HD20
A 128K-converted to a Plus w/HD20
PM 8500
B&W G3, still with a lot of the stickers present
PowerBook 180
PowerBook 5400C

 

[headlessmike]

What is THAT?! It looks like a Blue and White G3, but it's actually blue?!

(All the ones I've seen have gone greenish over the years...)

It does look pretty good, though up close there are signs of the plastic aging with fine cracks around the screws where the handles and feet mount to the case. The rubber surfaces on the feet are also deteriorating. But other than that it looks great and works well. I'm unfortunately planning to get rid of it due to a lack of space. My retro-mac needs will have to be fulfilled by my PowerBook G4 instead.