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My First Mac

Low-end Macs Work Better, Longer, and Cheaper

Sheldon Jaffe - February 2002

Computers and I go way back. My first machine was an RCA 1802 COSMAC ELF built from a kit. With 256 bytes of RAM and a 64 x 64 pixel video card, later upgraded to 1.2K RAM, it was a state of the art machine in 1976.

I followed this screamer with a Sinclair ZX80 when Clive Sinclair was still selling them as kits.

Bought a Radio Shack TRS-80 when I worked there in 1977. A boatload of cash got me 4K of RAM and a cassette deck.

As PCs came out, I got on the bandwagon of store-bought computers and slowly crawled up from a Sanyo XT with 256K RAM, a single 360K floppy, a 320x200 green CGA display for only $2,600. in 1985 - all the way to a maxed out 486DX66 by 1993.

I hated and still loathe and despise Windows, but it seemed a good idea at the time.

My older brother followed a similar muse, but in 1985 he chose to go the Mac route. I couldn't afford his level of machine, so I plodded along with PCs until he gave me a Mac IIx in 1994.

Within six months it had two monitors, a couple of external 40 MB drives, a CD-ROM drive, and a full complement of software. Cool!

I retired it to go to a IIcx with a 21" two-page display for preparing blueprints using KeyCAD Mac. I later swapped the IIcx motherboard out for a IIci, now with two CD-ROM drives, a SCSI scanner, a GCC laser printer, and 32 MB of RAM. This was an amazing machine - much faster than the 486 machine I used at work, and a whole lot easier to tinker with.

In 1996 I broke down and bought my first Power Mac - a secondhand 6100 DOS Compatible. Fully maxed out with 72 MB on the Mac side and 32 MB on the DOS card, it was so cool I had to paint it. I customized in 1969 AMX Javelin trim: purple paint with white racing stripes and Hotrod66 in chrome script across the CD bezel. Never one to leave well enough alone, the monitor, mouse, and keyboard had to be finished to match.

Firmly convinced on the worth of low-end Macs, my menagerie now consists of a Duo 230, a Duo 2300 and DuoDock, a 6200 with the Apple TV/Tuner setup, a 630CD, a 580CD, an SE-FDHD, and a 660AV. All get at least a little use, and some get a lot of use.

My 12 year old son does his schoolwork on another 6100/66 tricked out with a 300 MHz Sonnet G3 upgrade and a 9 GB drive. Combined with an Apple QuickTake 150 camera and an HP 550C colour printer, he has a faster, more versatile, and better system than anything at his school. (I got this machine for $120 from a PC dealer who didn't know what the funny-looking purple processor card was.)

A couple of nephews have yet another 6100/66 and a Quadra 650 with a PowerPC upgrade card.

To be blunt, low-end Macs work better, longer, and cheaper than anything in the Wintel world. I've completely forgotten my old DOS commands, and I haven't had to set up batch files and configure IRQ settings for almost a decade.

The most I've paid for any machine was $700 for my first 6100, and I don't regret any of the purchases. Every Mac I've ever used worked well, even some of the Road Apples I still own.

Remember - new doesn't always mean better.

Share the story of your first Mac experience by emailing with "My First Mac" as your subject.

Recent My First Mac articles

Thanks for the IBM PC, Dad, 01.09. Dad, thanks for bringing home that first IBM PC way back in 1981.
Overclocking a Mac mini Got Me Hooked on Souping Up Macs, 09.04. Stories of hot rodding iBooks, G3 iMacs, and PCI Power Macs on the cheap.
Mac LC III Still a Most Useful Machine, 07.30. A love affair that will last as long as they make Macs began with a used LC III in 1997, and it's still being used today.
Hooked on Macs, new and old, 07.15. Starting with an old Quadra in 2000, Royal left behind Windows and began acquiring his own stable of Macs.
More in the My First Mac index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Mac mini Core Solo, Feb. 2006 - The only Mac to use a Core Solo CPU, this model ran at 1.5 GHz, has integrated graphics, and includes a Combo drive
Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook
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