You know that old mac that now just sits in the basement?

[Matt]

I am a believer in "Every computer can be used for something".

After a bit of searching I found a few useful and quite unique ways of using that Mac you don't use anymore. Or just buy one, I think all thses ideas are pretty cool

COMPACT MACS

Some of the things you can use these types of machines for are:

A clock,

you heard me. If you can get some freeware with a screensaver of a clock, it would look pretty cool to hang an old compact mac on the kitchen wall, and let it sit there forever

A recipe Machine.

Do you or your wife have too many recipie books? Or just want something that looks cool? Get one of those compact Macs, type up on it all the recipies you think you or your wife would use, and plonk it on a kitchen bench.

POWERBOOK

An in car entertainment system

You could probably pick up an old Powerbook pre-G3 for what, $30 from ebay? Put some games on it, keep it under the car seat for the kids, so for those long journies (or short ones) let them grab the old book and play with it all the way.

UNIVERSAL

Now for the boring stuff:

Printer server

Do you have a big network at home or at your workplace? Any Mac could probably handle this (depending on the size of the network), being used as a printer server.

Musical Jukebox

All you need is a fair sized Hard drive, depending on your music collection size,
and a decent pair of speakers.

Back-ups.

Self explanitory, put all your important stuff on em.

Email reciever

Email recievers to get mail, good if you get alot of mail.

tv/radio

If you have a Mac that supports TV and or Radio cards, this is an execellent way to use your old Mac if you have no use for them

Mix n Match

If you want to, you could fiddle around and use them for a number if the listed or other purposes. For example, you can use a compact Mac as a music box for the kitchen (with upgraded HDD) and a recipe machine.

CONCLUSION

That old Mac can be used for anything,

WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS

sorry for the long and too inspired post

 

[Absolute Zero]

I like the handle on the iMac... you can attach a chain to it and use it as a BOAT-ANCHOR!

 

[IanCT]

or ...

I like the handle on the iMac... you can attach a chain to it and use it as a BOAT-ANCHOR!

Or a Window-Opener.

 

[Badger]

The one piece models - SEs, classics, CRT iMacs etc - make nice aquariums and terrariums.

 

[immdb]

Since 1985 I've had…
Macintosh 128k, Plus, SE, II, IIx, IIcx, Quadra, PPC, G3,
G4, 14" iBook

I still have all but the 128k, PPC and G3. Actually, I still have part of the 128k… it was upgraded to the Plus. I need to pull them out and put them to use.

 

[Murlyn]

I need to figure out what I can do with my mac running 9.2 or 3 can't remember It's one of those mac clones.. power computing.. it's a big sucker.. not sure what to do with it yet though.

 

[MacMan3.0]

thats halarious dud.. a blue imac as a fish tank... that would be rad

 

[witeshark]

I just met a lady with a Mac clone running OS 7.5. I want it! It's so cool, There is no dock, and finder (from Apple menu) is called chooser!

 

[technologist]

The Chooser was what is now "Connect to Server" and the Printer Setup Utility. The Finder is what it always was: a file manager.

System 7.5 was a darned good OS for 1994.

If you have an old Mac that's not doing much...give it to a school, charity, friend, etc. Or even eBay. Old Mac hardware is usually pretty tough; it can survive a lot of abuse.

 

[WilliS]

yo, chooser rocked

 

[mynameis]

People want Mac Clones? I had trouble giving one away a year or so ago.

 

[shaun89]

I like the handle on the iMac... you can attach a chain to it and use it as a BOAT-ANCHOR!

Thats that parody witht eh white background with the video editor. Funny stuff... Just felt like saying something lol.

It would be kind of fun to look at the past and jsut think that that was normal a while back.