Two Power Macs at Under $150
- 2001.04.27
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I am the type of person who likes to get good deals. I read DealMac, DealNN, and PriceWatch. If I am lucky, I can occasionally pick up something good on eBay.
Performa 6200
I bought a Performa 6205CD off of
eBay in pretty much unknown condition. All I was told
was that it would boot to a blinking floppy disk icon.
When I first turned it on, I knew it was going to be a project. The CD-ROM drive was bad. I realized that the hard drive was also bad. I had a spare CD-ROM drive which had only cost me a few dollars, so I installed that. After a long time searching, I found that a friend had a 2 GB IDE hard drive from a dead Power Mac 5500. I bought that from him and installed it in the 6205.
Back on eBay, I bought a Mac LC III, which had been advertised as having 12 MB of RAM. When I received it, I had a pleasant surprise - 32 MB of RAM and a 160 MB hard disk, all for under $15. I installed that RAM in the 6205.
I got an ethernet card for the LC PDS slots for free so I could hook it up to our cable modem. Lastly I installed Mac OS 9.
That one cost me $75 total. Not bad, since that is usually about what a base 6200 sells for. From this, you will see that sometimes making your own system from a pretty low-end model can be cost effective.
Of course you don't have to use a 6200, especially since they are considered "slow" Power Macs (although when hooked up to a cable modem, they suddenly get a lot faster) due to some issues that they have (I really don't see them being limited that much if you install the right upgrades).
Power Mac 7100
You may want to look into a Power Mac 7100 instead. These Macs have three NuBus slots, a special PDS HPV video card which displays thousands of colours at 800 x 600 and can be upgraded to display millions of colours at 1024 x 768. Some have an AV card instead of the HPV card, allowing you to import and export video.
The 7100 series also features a SCSI hard drive and CD-ROM, a much nicer looking case than the 6200, and 4 RAM slots.
7100s also feature similar price tags to 6200s. You can often get a base configuration model for under $50!
Upgrading the RAM will cost you more than the 6200, because the 7100 needs RAM to be installed in pairs of SIMMs. If you can get four 16 MB SIMMs, you will have 72 MB total RAM. Not bad for a six-year-old computer.
Next is the hard drive. Most came with either 250 MB or 500 MB hard drives. Obviously that isn't enough today with system software that takes up over 200 MB itself. eBay often has 1 GB hard drives for as little as $10 or $15. You can buy 2 GB for about $25-35 depending where you go.
The Mac OS
What system software should you install on your "new" Power Mac?
I find Mac OS 8.1 the fastest of all the 8.x operating systems (System 7.1.2 is no doubt the fastest OS on the Power Macs, but you should have 8.x to take full advantage of the PowerPC processor). Mac OS 8.6 is also fast and offers some additional features which I like.
OS 9 is a little slow, but it does offer the best compatibility with other programs. OS 9.1 can be installed only from the upgrade CD; the download version does not install (even on G3 upgraded NuBus Macs).
G3 Upgrades
Since I mentioned G3 upgrades, I will go over the $150 mark to briefly talk about them. G3 upgrades were some of the most popular upgrades for the NuBus Macs, and, in my opinion, Newer Technology made some of the best upgrades. If you really must have a G3 upgrade, try to find a clearance or used Newer card.
Sonnet is supposed to make some pretty good upgrades; you may also consider some of their models. These will cost you about as much as the computer - $200+ just for the upgrade card (which makes it more economical to buy a used G3, see Is it worth putting a G3 in an older Mac).
If you want a Mac for under $150, either a 6200 or a 7100 may be
a good choice. Keep in mind these won't match G3s or G4s, though
they do a good job for word processing, Internet needs, and many
kids games. A 7100 can even play an MP3 file pretty well!
Recent Apple Archive articles
- iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
- Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
- Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
- Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
- More in the Apple Archive index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 'Sawtooth' Power Mac G4, Aug. 1999 - Available in speeds from 350-500 MHz, 'Sawtooth' introduced AGP video to the Mac.
- Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
- November 22 in LEM history: 99: Gradebooks - 00: Leveraging Apple design - Quadra 630 to Power Mac 5200 - 02: Laptop or desktop? - 04: SuperDuper: Quick, easy, efficient backup - Cross-platform programming for the rest of us - 05: Mac video surveillance on the cheap - Which OS is best for my vintage Mac? - No 'best browser' for the Mac - Sorry state of browsers for classic Macs - 06: Core 2 means cooler running 'Books - 2.0 GHz G4 upgrade
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- The Long Term Value of a High End Mac, Andrew J Fishkin, Best Tools for the Job, 11.21. Low-end Macs are more affordable up front, but the flexibility and upgrade options of a top-end Mac can make it the better value in the long run.
- iPhone #1 Worldwide, Google Voice Search for iPhone, iPhone 3G Battery Pack, and More, iNews Review, 11.21. Also British accents throw off Google voice search, lots of new iPhone apps, universal USB car charger, new protective cases, and more.
- 15 Reasons Macs Are Better, Quad-core iMac in January?, USB 3.0 Spec Finalized, and More, Mac News Review, 11.21. Also 25 years of Macs, 'Snow Leopard' in Q1?, SimpleTech's faster and greener hard drive, Hyperspaces, StarOffice for OS X, and more.
- DisplayPort Copy Protection, Trackpad Update, Netbooks Not to Be Taken Lightly, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.21. Also Apple set for record sales, 4-finger gestures on original MacBook Air, MacBook Apple's best consumer notebook to date, Cricket laptop stand, bargain 'Books from $490 to $2,299, and more.
- Virtualization Shootout: VMWare Fusion 2 vs. Parallels Desktop 4, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 11.20. Both programs do the same thing, but one runs Windows XP smoothly alongside Mac apps, while the other bogs down everything but Windows.
- Just Right: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear MacBooks, Charles W. Moore, 'Book Value, 11.20. Some people like small and light notebooks, others prefer huge desktop replacements, but the best value tends to be in the middle.
- Apple Caves to Hollywood with DRM on iTunes Videos, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. HDCP on the new MacBooks means that you may never really own those videos you buy from the iTunes Store.
- Leopard Runs Very Nicely on PowerPC Macs, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 11.19. Some claim that Mac OS X 10.5 is so optimized for Intel Macs that it runs poorly on PowerPC hardware. That's simply not the case.
- No High Definition iTunes Video for You, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.19. The October 2008 MacBooks are preventing users from viewing some high-def iTunes content from being viewed on their external displays. Poor form!
- Every Working Computer Is Useful to Someone, Allison Payne, The Budget Mac, 11.19. Whether it's a PowerBook 1400, G3 iMac, or Power Mac G4, it could be all the computer someone needs.
- 3 WeatherBug Options for Apple Users, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.19. Have instant access to current local weather conditions with a Dashboard widget, iPhone app, or Firefox plugin.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.20. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733, $100; 800, $199; 1.25 GHz, $300; 800 MHz dual, $200, 867, $300; 1 GHz, $350; 1.42, $400.
- Best iBook G3 Deals, 11.20. Used 300 MHz clamshell, $150; 366, $199; 800 CD, $180; 600 CD-RW, $240; 700 Combo, $290; 900, $369; 14" 600, $360; 900, $449.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.20. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best iMac G4 Deals, 11.18. Used 15" 700 MHz Combo, $243; 800 MHz, $280; 1 GHz, $380; 17" 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $400; 20", $549.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.18. New 1.6 80, $1,150 after rebate; 120, $1,744 a/r; 1.8 80, $1,794 a/r; 1.6 128 SSD, $2,150; used 1.8 64 SSD, $1,500; new, $2,200 a/r; 1.86, $2,398 a/r.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 11.18. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $60; 10.3 CD, DVD, $100; CD, $119; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $58; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $150.
- Best iPod nano Deals, 11.17. Refurb 3G/4 GB, $79; new, $114; refurb 8 GB, $99; new, $125; 3G/8 GB, from $134; 16 GB, from $189. Prices include ground shipping.
- Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.17. Used 1 GHz with SuperDrive, $478 plus shipping.
- Best Xserve deals, 11.17. Used G4/1 GHz, $999; G5/2 GHz, $1,288; new 2.0 4-core Xeon, $1,900; refurb 3.0 4-core, $2,599; 2.8 GHz, $2,499; 3.0 8-core, $3,499.
- More deals in our archive.
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