Should I Bother Trying to Sell a 14 Year Old Computer?

I still have a Power Macintosh 8600/200 that was wonderful computer in its time. The issue is its time was 1996. I've since moved on, but just never bothered to sell the computer. I still use it once in a while for website browsing or simple word processing. Back in the day (its day) I used it to do graphic design, photography and other creative projects.

Now that I'm planning to buy yet another computer in the not too distant future (an iMac, pending reviews), I'm wondering if it would be worth the trouble to sell the old 8600/200 along with its monitor (a 17-inch CRT from Samsung that's newer than the computer, but still a few years old -- it all seems so old school). It's hardware configuration is basically the same as when it was purchased: same processor, more memory (but still way modest compared to today's standards), same hard disk drive. I'd have to look at it to see what its exact specs are.

It's not up for sale yet, I'm just wondering if I should bother trying to sell it at this point and how much I could get for it.

Any thoughts? Who else has sold a really old, grandfatherly computer?

In the worst case scenario I can donate it to The Museum of Antiquated Computers.

The 8600/200 is probably worth about $10-$20 max...of course you never know if you put it on e-Bay...maybe you would get $30.

Old used computers are like old cars that are still running. Eventually their value drops to a certain point...and then stays there no matter how old. So your 8600/200 is MAYBE worth $10-$20 now...and 5 years from now...it may still be worth $10-$20.

One problem with e-Bay is...because of the computers weight...it's going to cost more to ship it than it's worth. As far as the 17" monitor...that is basically totally worthless...sorry to say! The only way it could be worse is if it was a 15" or a 13"...YIKES!

The reason why I say this is...a real nice 21" CRT monitor with screen resolutions close to what you can get on a decent LCD 20-22" monitor is barely worth $5-$10 bucks. I have SEVEN 21" CRT monitors...and when I post them on Craig's List...I barely get any interest.

So basically what I'm saying is...you might get a couple bucks for the computer...but you can almost forget about selling the monitor. You could also keep the computer & monitor for "old times sake".

Maybe it brings back old memories of when you used to use it a lot more...and you are able to run OS 9 on it & it has a floppy drive...which might come in handy some day if you have old files or programs you want to run. Any Macintosh you buy that is relatively new...won't be able to do that.

Just my humble opinion,

- Nick

Where are you located? depending on where you are, first place i would start is make a flyer with all the pictures of the system and stuff your selling with it. Then goto your closest apple store and ask the reps/genius' if anyone there is a vintage mac collector. Sometimes they will grab it off your hand quick, especially if you have the flyer with all the info and pictures of it. 2nd id try Ebay/craiglist/local paper. If no good responses, keep it or throw it away. Hate to see a good comp goto waste, but happens all the time.

A few years ago now someone gave me an 8600/300 for some lame Pentium 75 PC because they "HATED MAC" and felt Windows 95 was superior. I traded without even a second thought!

My 8600/300 is the fastest non G3. G4 ETC Mac I have ever used. The thing screams with OS 8.6.

Still though unless you find a real collector who does not care what he spends to get a old Mac, it's not worth very much like Pigoo said.

Take it to Best Buy for recycling

Try this site: Buy and Sell Electronics, Sell Cell Phone, Recycle Electronics - gazelle.com

Use promo code macmost2 to get a 5% bonus

I still use my 8600(G3) to check email and post on forums it runs OS9.1....just not using it tonight.

Mac SK said:

I still use my 8600(G3) to check email and post on forums it runs OS9.1....just not using it tonight.

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Interesting. I still occasionally use my 7600 with a Sonnet G3/400 to check email and do some light browsing. Still works great. For sure would not want to try a site with Flash!

solution, i had the same one haha!

Hi!! i had this computer also, stored on my house and i founded it some years ago and the solution was not to sell it, you wont get anything from it, at least maybe if you sell it to someone thats not a collector or something. The solution was dumping it, but i took it to apple and they took it, they didnt gave me nothing but at least i know that its in good hands and who knows maybe some components are in modern computers!!
;D:Blushing:

dtravis7 said:

Interesting. I still occasionally use my 7600 with a Sonnet G3/400 to check email and do some light browsing. Still works great. For sure would not want to try a site with Flash!

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I found things work better if you just turn flash off ....then you get a default page.

Sad though it may be to part with an old friend, I agree with markbyrn - recycle it. Apple museums and collectors *may* be interested, but they've probably got one already.

ramses2005 is right, some components inside that Mac are salvageable, especially the gold in the circuit boards.

dtravis7 said:

Interesting. I still occasionally use my 7600 with a Sonnet G3/400 to check email and do some light browsing. Still works great. For sure would not want to try a site with Flash!

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No, I've noticed that sites that use Flash (and, these days, most have at least a little) tend to not work properly on that computer. (In fact, I've noticed that Flash sometimes doesn't properly work even on my PS3 -- but then the PS3 doesn't exactly have the best browser either.)