The best in the day, but what about now?

I was thinking about "Obsolete" Macintoshes late last night (I think of weird things before I go to bed... ) and I decided to post this for anyone who cares to read.
Golden introductions, spotlights, cameras flashing, ranting,raving, hyping, reviewing. Yes it is the unveiling of a new computer, the fastest, sleekest and best of its kind. Commercials hit the airwaves enticing potential customers to buy it for its state of the art technology. Large price tags boasting these computers can withstand the test of time But how DO these intricate machines withstand the cruel technological test of time?
I recently became infatuated with Apple computers in January and I have owned a plethura of all different kinds of laptops and desktops. Yes they were state of the art years ago, but how well do they work now? Here is my list and modern-day reviews for older, used macs. I also put a "Time left before cumbersome" timeframe which is my approximation before these computers become historical mantle-pieces because they are so obsolete. Yes I know some people still use Apple IIs, but this is for the practical person.

Powerbook G3: I was given one of these as a "Throw in" deal on ebay. Since it was only a 233MHz model, maxing out the RAM on this did little for intricate web surfing. This would best be used for simple programs such as word processing. Perhaps the 400MHz models are faster? I've never had one. All I can say is if you're looking for a Powerbook G3, go with the 400MHz model for faster performance.
Time left before cumbersome: 5 months for 400MHz model, slower models: I hope you have the patience of a saint to surf the web.

Apple Ibook "Clamshell" 300MHz: I adored the unique design of these laptops, they are truly one of a kind in their design. The 6 Gigabite hard drive leaves much to be desired in regards to storage, but this is still a decent basic computer, especially for children as they are quite durable to falls. Surfing the internet is slow as expected, and downloading various things from the internet is quite time consuming. I would strongly urge a potential Clamshell buyer to purchase the 466MHz model as they are quite faster than the 300MHz as you will see later on in my review.
Time left before cumbersome: 1 year.

Apple Ibook "Clamshell" 366MHz: Almost exactly like the 300MHz model, however these came with firewire which helps surfing the web. Once again, I strongly urge the 466MHz model.
Time left before cumbersome:1 1/2 years.

Apple Ibook "Clamshell" 466MHz: The final "Clamshell" model. This laptop has no problems surfing your basic websites, however watching videos on youtube.com and visiting sites like myspace.com completely lag out even a RAM-maxed Clamshell. This is still a great beginner laptop especially for children or for someone who only needs the basic programs and does not want to spend over $200 for a computer.
Time left before cumbersome: 1 3/4- 2 1/2 years.

Apple Ibook 600MHz: A great basic laptop that is cheap and somewhat reliable if it has been properly maintained. Videos online are almost watchable if all other programs are closed and the video is left to load completely.
Time left before cumbersome: 3 years.

Apple Ibook 900MHz: I loved this laptop. I only got rid of it because I couldn't stand the small 12" screen which hurts my eyes. Max out the RAM in this laptop and you can do ALMOST anything online.
Time left before cumbersome: Approx. 3 3/4 years.

Apple iMac 400MHz: Eh I think this desktop is past it's time. I vividly remember the commercials for this uniquely coloured desktop but it would better serve as a "Macquarium". You're better off getting an eMac.
Time left before cumbersome: Depends on model : 6 months - 1 year.

Apple eMac 700MHz: I can't say enough good things about this desktop. I purchased one on ebay for $60. With 1GB of RAM, I can do anything on this desktop with no problems. This is a great all around desktop with great built in speakers for optimal sound performance. The 80GB hard drive is plenty of space for downloading days worth of music, programs and yes even playing World of Warcraft. I strongly recommend purchasing one of these! For the money, you CAN'T go wrong!
Time left before cumbersome: 4 years.

Apple Powerbook G4 400MHz: The computer I'm typing this review up on right now . Yes watching videos online is slow, but I'm quite fond of its easy to type keyboard contrary to my 1.67MHz model which feels like I'm typing on butter. The 15" VGA screen is great for watching movies and for the price I paid for it ($200), I decided to refund the money to the buyer on ebay that wanted this.
Time left before cumbersome: 3 1/2 - 4 years.

Apple Powerbook G4 500MHz: See above for 400MHz model for review. 100MHz faster, it's still the same thing.
Time left before cumbersome: 3 1/2 - 4 years.

Apple Powerbook G4 667MHz: It's 267MHz faster than my 400MHz model and 33MHz slower than my eMac. Get one for under $250 and you've got a great laptop for the next few years.
Time left before cumbersome : 4 years.

Apple Powerbook G4 1.67MHz: I got this laptop for a steal on ebay, only paying $420 for it in pristine condition. I play games, watch movies, go into the RAM heavy AIM chatrooms, you name it, I do it on this laptop. (I know what you're thinking, get your mind out of the gutter, will ya? ;P ) Maxed out at 2GB of RAM, it downloads and opens applications faster, surfs the internet faster and completely outperforms a new HP Pavillion DV9000 17". With an illuminated keyboard, typing in less than ideal lighting situations is a breeze. I know everyone is all about macbooks nowadays, but I think the only thing the macbook has on the powerbook is the fact it has an integrated webcam. Sorry, a 13.3 inch screen just doesn't cut it for me This is the laptop to get.
Time left before cumbersome: 9 Years.

This concludes my review, feel free to comment! I would love the insight of other people in regards to these "Obsolete" computers!

Imac 333Mhz:

My first imac and one of the fruity 5 flavoured ones. The CRT monitor it has with the tiny screen is a little restricting at times but there is worse out there. And currently, well 2 weeks ago when I used the thing, it ran most applications well. It can photoshop and web surf quite well. Just don't expect it to play or edit videos well at all. It can play most .mpg and .mov files just fine. But HD anything, just forget it. And this has the added bonus of natively running classic and OS X (10.3 only).

I think software will render this machine to a paperweight or aquarium sooner then the hardware will. As it can use most older apps just fine. And you can still do a lot of work on them, but anything relatively new wants 10.4+ at least.

Well as a 2nd computer or for something to get a friend or your mother into the world of OS X it's great. Until the day PPC is totally unsupported and the old apps archives online start to dry up.

Time before cumbersome: 5-7 years.

(But as my last word, it all depends on what you want to do with your computer. Well if all you want to do is type up a standard letter and print it, heck an SE or 512K could do it. And with their fast boot times, it's be a quick, though rather unfancy and old school way to do it. So it's time before becoming cumbersome is just until the computer can no longer do what you want it to do.)

Good read, sounds like you have gone on a bit of a spending spree

My best buy 3 years ago. price £30 (55 dollars)

Apple SE 30, 16 meg of ram 80 meg hard drive, System 7.5

Absolutely no use for any modern apps and cannot hook it up to the internet.

Cool retro computer tho, and is excellent for a bookend

Agree about the eMac, except the faster processor makes overall performance better. It has been my best buy in 15 years with Macs, and until recently it provided almost flawless performance (the CRT is a tad dodgy). Once hard disk replacement has been done it'll be serving my purposes admirably well into the next decade.
Next best is this trusty and reliable G3 350 b/w tower with dual drives. It is almost unstoppable unless urgency is required.
Next best buy - I hope - will be a G5 tower, and this is where I'm waiting for the lemmings to rush to get the latest and greatest, thus making available these powerful and quick beasts at an affordable price.

I know...I wouldn't mind having a G5 tower. Look at how much g4 1.67GHz powerbooks have dropped in price over the past few months..Soon they'll be as dirt cheap as this 400MHz powerbook was. It's crazy...I've spent more hours logged on this ****ed laptop than I have with my 1.67 and it does everything the 1.67 can except watch movies online.

I agree with you on the eMacs too...They're what a computer should be. I remember when I only had the eMac and I was on my dad's laptop and the laptop was throwing a **** fit for no reason and of course I was fighting with my girlfriend on AOL Instant Messenger. I booted the eMac up and within 30 seconds I was online and back to fighting! So glad I got rid of that girl...Anyways...It's utterly unbelievable how cheap eMacs are too. You can get a 1.25GHZ model with 1GB of RAM already in it for about $180 on ebay in great condition. I don't get it? Why are these things so ****ed cheap? Haha. I know my hard drive is on the way out on my eMac too...It hums when I 1st start it up, but crap...At least it's letting me know "HEY REPLACE ME SOON!"...2 months worth of continual 24/7 running, it's still working flawlessly except for the humming. I think this is Mac's best desktop hands down.

xj6jaguar1985 said:

I know...I wouldn't mind having a G5 tower.

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Yeeeeeah!

I agree with you on the eMacs too...

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When I first saw an eMac, a bank of them in a school computer suite, my first impression was "what an ugly frog". Never trust first impressions. The eMac is history lesson. It was both designed and built for the education market, and priced accordingly. What's more, it was built to withstand abuse, one the first premises of computers for schools.

They're what a computer should be.

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Exactly! They're not perfect - what is - but they're a combination of good engineering and technical reliability. The reason they're so cheap is because they're not trendy, Apple didn't push them hard (thank goodness), they're awkward cusses to carry and handle - and they're prize pr**ks to work on once you go beyond replacing the RAM sticks.

It's utterly unbelievable how cheap eMacs are too. You can get a 1.25GHZ model with 1GB of RAM already in it for about $180 on ebay

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Yes, that's about the equivalent of the price here in NZ. I'm trying to source one for an elderly client and friend who's struggling with a G3 iMac - and it with her .

I know my hard drive is on the way out on my eMac too...It hums when I 1st start it up

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I somehow damaged my eMac hd with a clipboard and key command overload, and I'm told it's repairable (with Disk Warrior), but I've been planning an upgrade for months now, so once I've worked out how to transfer all the stuff from the 40 Gb disk to a 250, the smaller one will become a paperweight. I may still repair it and use it as a bare external with an IDE-USB adaptor.

Oh, and what about an XJ12 Jag? Yesssssss! **** these high fuel prices!

Hugh, I think you've just convinced me to sell my G4 1.67 GHz powerbook. You know what? I'm better off just getting a 1.42 GHz eMac and Maxing out the RAM on it. This 400MHz does everything I need a laptop to do. Yes it sucks I can't watch videos on youtube...But it does everything else..

Anyways, yes can you imagine an XJ12...Good lord...I hate working on those engines too..I swear if one more person complains about gas prices, I'm going to bash their skull in. It costs be about $80 to fill up my Jag with 93 octane and that's not even adding in fuel additives which it needs and oh yeah...I get 17MPG.

xj6jaguar1985 said:

You know what? I'm better off just getting a 1.42 GHz eMac and Maxing out the RAM on it.

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See the thread about eMacs in Hardware. Someone else out there is an eMac fan. I'd like a 1.42 eMac, it has a better graphics card in it.

Anyways, yes can you imagine an XJ12...Good lord...I hate working on those engines too.

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A relation of mine was a Jag fan, and seriously considered an XJ12 which was being sold for a song. I love V engines, esp V8, but I persuaded him that the cost of spark plugs would keep him poor, never mind the price of fuel. In the end he bought an XJ6 that needed 'doing up'.

Not complaining, but comparing: in hindsight (the curse of the human race), I made a mistake when I bought a diesel vehicle a decade ago. I wasn't interested in speed, and I liked the economy factor plus the lower levels of pollution. 10 years on and I'm paying more for fuel with additional taxes than petrol vehicle drivers who pay their taxes at the pump. It would cost me about NZ$100 to fill my Hilux tank - and that's without the road tax I pay every 10K kilometres. I get about equiv 30 mpg though, pretty good for a heavy utility with a turbo engine.