Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Get the Right Memory / Ram for your Mac. Top Quality, Competitive Prices, Lifetime Warranty. Expert Support and Video Installation Guidies too! 4.0GB Matched Sets from $87.99, Options up to 32GB. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Welcome to Macintosh

'Obsolete' Computers Belong in Homes and Classrooms, not Sitting in Storage

- 2007.09.21

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Bong! . . . :-) . . . Welcome to Macintosh!

One of my fellow Low End Mac writers recently wrote an article that encouraged me to come back from an almost three week hiatus. Ted Hodges wrote a very interesting Vintage Mac Living column in which he told how some schools would rather keep old computers in storage rather than use them in the classroom. If you want to take a look, check it out here: What A Waste! Some Schools Would Rather Store Old Computers Than Put Them To Use.

Sadly, this is an epidemic that's all to apparent with school districts across the country. Once a school district deems a computer "obsolete", into storage it goes.

This has me asking the question: Just what is considered obsolete? You'd figure that in this age of multi-gigahertz processing with massive amounts of RAM and storage any computer would be more than capable and not considered obsolete.

Any computer is better than none.

Even computers ten years old or more have their place in schools. Set up writing stations in classrooms. Give children access to computers who may not otherwise have that access. Any computer is better than none. Give or loan out older computers to as many children as possible!

Back when I went to Lone Oak Elementary from 1987-1993, we used Apple IIs of all flavors (mostly Apple IIes), and we were darn happy when we went on our weekly visit to the library just to get to use them! We eventually got a computer in each classroom, although our time was limited on them.

In this age, you can set up any vintage of computer for certain uses. There's absolutely no excuse to put perfectly good computers in storage, whether they be Mac or PC.

Have we become so accustomed to the latest and greatest that we can no longer see the value of any older computer?

I think it's sheer stupidity and laziness on the part of administrators for not seeing the value of older technology and for spending unnecessary money on the latest and greatest when many times it's simply not needed. I also think it's crazy that some teachers and faculty can't or refuse to think outside the box in not wanting to set up older machines and putting them to good use. Have we become so accustomed to the latest and greatest that we can no longer see the value of any older computer? Are we too spoiled?

Take me: I'm typing this article on a vintage 1997 Newton eMate 300, which most would consider stone age, but it gets the job done - and in cute style, I might add!

It's a waste of space and money to keep purchasing computers that will only be used for a year, if that. With ingenuity and resourcefulness, a fleet of today's machines could be used for five years or more as main machines - even without upgrades.

Going back to grade school and even middle school....

In an era where Windows PC were becoming the dominant platform in the early-to-mid 90s, guess what our computer labs were using? Ataris. We used them for math and reading drills, and we were really happy just to have time on a computer. Were they old? Sure. Did that make it yucky to even consider using something considered so obsolete? No, not in the least!

Teachers, staff, and administrators, if any of you read this article and Ted's - for those of you who are used to the latest and greatest, there's nothing wrong with that, but think for once! Broaden your mind and be creative. Especially teachers: You are teaching our hope for the future. What kind of example are you setting if you don't teach kids the value of using what you have available to its fullest potential?

Older computers still have a place today. It takes a little brain power to adjust, but isn't that what school is all about, to learn? LEM

Further Reading

Recent Welcome to Macintosh articles

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

This article copyright ©2007 by Tommy Thomas. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.