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The Irony of Low End Macs

John S Comeaux - 2001.11.16

My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your submission to Dan Knight .

Last night, my sister brought over her Performa 476 and monitor. She said it wouldn't start. This has happened before, and she said a new battery always fixes it.

Sure enough, I replaced the battery, and it started right up. I used the Norton Disk Doctor on it to fix any problems, then reset the time and memory options, and it is running just fine. She can resume writing workshops for her spiritual retreats.

I love working on these old Macs, and now I realize why - they are so limited, I can probably fix anything that's wrong with them. They will never have Mac OS 8 installed and can never use anything later than AOL version 4. You can forget Flash, Real Player, or Microsoft Word past version 5.1 (or is that Word Perfect?).

But I can reinstall the system, tweak the extensions, and make it work like it was supposed to work - reliably. I can increase the RAM, replace the hard drive, clean out the Preferences folder. This little Mac can sing!

But when it comes to modern Macs, I can't fix them as assuredly. Take my Cube, for instance. I can't seem to make it stop turning itself off or on at random times. Too complicated. Too nebulous. Is it the DC converter card? Is it stray static electricity in the air? Is it a part that needs replacing? I checked the Apple Knowledge Base, brought to an authorized service center (it never once misbehaved, of course), and fiddled with it myself.

I think I'll keep the old Macs around for a while longer. They really are my favorites.

Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.

Recent My Turn articles

Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
'That's Not a Computer', 07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
Upgrading a Digital Audio G4 to work better in Leopard, 06.02. In its original configuration, the dual 533 MHz Power Mac G4 was slow with Mac OS X 10.5, but add the right upgrades, and it runs Leopard quite nicely.
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28. The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
More in the My Turn index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
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