Painting an eMac?

I plan on getting an eMac soon and was wondering if anybody has ever painted the case, or if they know anybody that has, or if they know of any pictures of the process/finished result. I have come across one good tutorial for painting a metal case and was wondering if the same thing would work for an eMac. I figure I'd need to use a plastic-safe paint rather than a car paint. Is there anything else? How do you make it glossy if you're not using car paint?

And how would you suggest matching the mouse? I've read a lot of comments about what people would do if they were to paint a mac, but I haven't seen many actual results. There are a few pictures over on applefritter but the posters don't usually say how they did it... and the results aren't as glossy as I want.

Suggestions?

ETA: I want to paint an eMac but examples of any mac with a plastic case would be helpful.

Normally I'm not a big fan of custom painting Macintosh computers...due to the possible greatly reduced resale value. But I guess an older desktop like an e-Mac may be an ok candidate for this sort of thing.

Good luck with your project...please post pictures when you are done.

- Nick

NOTE: Thread moved to appropriate forum. Not just anything goes in Anything Goes

I don't think I would do this to a newer computer, either. I'm still not sure I want to do it at all because of the screw-up factor. Resale value is one thing, but messing up and having to deal with it/buy a new case? That doesn't sound fun.

If I go through with it I will definitely post pics. Probably won't be for a few months, though.

Robot_Sinatra said:

If I go through with it I will definitely post pics. Probably won't be for a few months, though.

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Jeez man...I thought that you were going to do it tonight, and post pics tomorrow!!!

Now I'm going to have to wait "MONTHS" to see it...IF you do it!!

Just kidding,

- Nick

Robot_Sinatra said:

I plan on getting an eMac soon and was wondering if anybody has ever painted the case,...I figure I'd need to use a plastic-safe paint rather than a car paint. Is there anything else?

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Taking eMacs apart is a major pain in the rear.
Not really worth the effort in my opinion.

pigoo3 said:

...Macintosh computers...due to the possible greatly reduced resale value.

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I have always found it both perplexing and equally amusing that so many people seem abnormally focused on and worried about the resale value of a computer, especially Macs.

It's a computer. The value will drop tremendously the moment you take it home, unbox it and plug it in.
The technology used to manufacture it will be surpassed within 2-3 months of its purchase taking the value down even more.
Bottom line... it's probably not worth what you think it is... it's less than that.

Being concerned about resale value of a home or a car I can see... but a computer?

I have to take it apart anyway to install more RAM, don't I?

Resale value does come into play if you are the type of user that upgrades often. Doesn't really apply to your average user, though. It does not concern me at all, especially with such an old machine. It will probably die while in my possession, and the color of the case has no impact if you're just selling whatever is salvageable.

Robot_Sinatra said:

I have to take it apart anyway to install more RAM, don't I?

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No, there is an access door for that.

D3v1L80Y said:

No, there is an access door for that.

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Oh, good. I wasn't sure because I don't actually have one yet.

You get this new plastic paint at the home center. Tape it up just like they do at the auto body shop. The more you can take off the better the paint job. I painted a PC at an Art Gallery I was a part of. It was Artsy and fit the decor better than a beige box. If your ok with doing this good luck.

D3v1L80Y said:

I have always found it both perplexing and equally amusing that so many people seem abnormally focused on and worried about the resale value of a computer, especially Macs.

It's a computer. The value will drop tremendously the moment you take it home, unbox it and plug it in.

Being concerned about resale value of a home or a car I can see... but a computer?

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Regarding custom painting/decorating & resale value of Mac computers.

Here's where I'm coming from.

Most of us do not have lots & lots of money to toss towards purchasing a computer...and many many times the financing of a "new or newer" computer is based on how much we can sell our old computer for + whatever additional cash we can scrape up.

So let's take an example of two people trying to sell their old computer...to get the cash to help finance the purchase of a new or newer used computer.

- they both have a 17" MBP 2.33 (about 3 years old), and according to Mac2Sell.com is worth about $1300 bucks
- they both have taken very very good care of their respective computers...so both computers are in mint condition.
- person A has left their MBP completely stock
- person B has custom painted/decorated their MBP by painting it [size=+2]HOT PINK[/size], has applied Hello-Kitty decal's all over it...plus stuck a bunch of "sparkly" [size=+1]colored[/size] rhinestones on it as well.
- They both live in the same city, and they post their 17" MBP's on both Craig's List & e-Bay for $1300.

[size=+1]Outcome:[/size]

Person A with the "stock" MBP after 7 days...sell's their computer (after some negotiation) for $1200 bucks.
Person B with the "Hot Pink Hello Kitty" computer "FINALLY" sell's their computer 6 weeks later (after some serious discounting of the price) for $700!!!

As you can see in this hypothetical example...Person A with the stock MBP sold their computer faster & for more money than Person B's Hot Pink computer.

I'm not saying this situation will turn out this way 100% of the time...but I would bet that a majority of the time the "customized" MBP will sell for less than the "stock" MBP.

Thus Person A has $1200 to put towards a new or newer computer...Person B only has $700.

This is where I'm coming from when I advise or mention to people that custom painting/decorating your computer (especially a newer and more valuable one) may hurt it's resale value when you're looking to upgrade to a newer, faster, and feature rich computer...and you NEED the cash to purchase the next computer!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

- person B has custom painted/decorated their MBP by painting it [size=+2]HOT PINK[/size], has applied Hello-Kitty decal's all over it...plus stuck a bunch of "sparkly" [size=+1]colored[/size] rhinestones on it as well.

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But what about case mods that aren't horribly tacky? Just solid black for instance, or a solid color that isn't ~*~sparkly pink~*~? You illustrated a worst-case-scenario in bad taste. Here's an example of a mod that would probably sell for a similar price as the original, or even a higher price because it's a quality job that isn't tacky.

Robot_Sinatra said:

But what about case mods that aren't horribly tacky? Just solid black for instance, or a solid color that isn't ~*~sparkly pink~*~? You illustrated a worst-case-scenario in bad taste. Here's an example of a mod that would probably sell for a similar price as the original, or even a higher price because it's a quality job that isn't tacky.

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Your example is an iPhone...I'm mostly talking about computers (mainly laptops)...which are worth much more money...and thus buyers may be more "conservative" when buying a customized laptop.

But hey it's always possible that a case modification won't devalue a Apple product.

Yes my customizing example might have been a worst case scenario...but that's the point of a worst case scenario...to illustrate that the theory has merit...therefore is worth consideration.

Less extreme modifications may not be seen as unattractive to a potential buyer.

Just consider the White MacBook vs. the Black MacBook. Some people hate white, some people hate black...and this is a VERY conservative example of "customization"!!!

- Nick

All the Pink fonts where really COOL!

Mac SK said:

All the Pink fonts where really COOL!

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Well since you liked it so much:

[size=+2]PINK[/size], [size=+2]PINK[/size], [size=+2]PINK[/size], [size=+2]PINK[/size], [size=+2]PINK[/size]



- Nick

Robot_Sinatra said:

I plan on getting an eMac soon and was wondering if anybody has ever painted the case. Suggestions? I want to paint an eMac but examples of any mac with a plastic case would be helpful.

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M-F had a member (gone missing) named xj6jaguar who painted his eMac, so how about this? http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-desktops/121983-my-green-emac.html