Closets, Cupboards, Street Corners: Where Dead Macs Go To Die
4:32 am, November 5th, 2008, Giles Turnbull
Dead Macs. You see them sometimes. Upended in a trash bin or shopping cart. Pilfered for parts, poked and prodded by scavengers who have left just the most useless innards behind.
Other times, they’re more intact. This G4 iMac vanished within minutes of being placed outside. The outdoor ones tend to do that, don’t they? Even if you plaster them with signs saying “Broken, honestly, don’t steal this unless you enjoy hoarding plastic junk.” You know, like this:
People still take them. Wonder what the record fastest time is? Has anyone left a dead Mac outside, then sat down with a stopwatch?
You have to read the notes on this photo, especially the one covering the sad-looking SE30: “We couldn’t even find a screwdriver that could undo the screws.” Heh.
What do you do with your dead Macs?
All pictures used under Creative Commons license, thanks to the photographers: jonbro, waffler, General Wesc
Posted by Giles Turnbull in Hardware, News, Vintage Tech | Comment on this article
Ill probably be one of them taking them off the street. even if they are broken they do uplift the look of a room. Older ones can be made into fishtanks
Jared, on November 5th, 2008 at 4:59 am
What do I do with dead Macs! Why revive, renew, and reuse! Like many our our listeners, my home is a haven for discarded Macs. I’m I’ve got around 170 of them!
James, on November 5th, 2008 at 5:17 am
Well, they don’t always get snapped up instantly.
Here in Oz, I found an old 233 MHz iMac, that had been on the sidewalk/footpath for a couple of days. Couldn’t help myself and brought it home. Plugged it in and it booted up.
Dundz, on November 5th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
SE30? Tsk, tsk, Mac Plus in the picture.
John leake, on November 5th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Jesus, what kind of question is that? I give them homes! And thank Jobs that iMac G4 went home with someone before the frost got it.
NewtonPoetry, on November 5th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
John: thanks for spotting my error. Must get these glasses cleaned. Ahem.
gilest, on November 5th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I just shed one single, solitary tear.
Jazzy, on November 5th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Looks like a sidewalk sale.
Partners in Grime, on November 5th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Aren’t macs vulnerable to trojans and Malwares. I noted that malware, spyware and trojan writers are starting to direct their attention toward mac. Steve jobs should make the latest mac osx adequately protected from those kinds of malware.
I was tempted to buy one of those sweet items. Now I might be changing my mind and be frugal.
Barry, on November 5th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I’d take them. Make great props for shoots.
Fergus, on November 5th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I was walking down the street about a year ago, and I witness a man placing a TiBook on the curb. I didn’t want to seem like a scavenger, so I rounded the block (giving him enough time to finish taking out his trash), and very quickly snapped it up. I would say that took about five minutes total.
As it turned out, the only thing wrong with it was that the battery was dead, and that it had a wonky install of Tiger, with several components missing. I took it home, cleaned it up, hooked it up to my old yo-yo adapter, installed a new 512MB RAM chip, performed a good “erase and install” of Tiger, and voila. The only thing I needed was to order a new battery.
I’m typing this post on it right now.
Andrew, on November 6th, 2008 at 8:20 am
John,
SE/30 had ADB, but that SE looks like it has a connector under the floppy. Was that a mouse or keyboard connection?
-Doogie
Doogie, on November 6th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Oh yeah – old Macs go to my kids or my Mom, whoever is in more dire need.
When they are done, they come back to go into my museum/garage where they sit like they’re on the island of misfit toys. Every once in a while they come out and get booted up, but strictly for entertainment. My kids are typically beside themselves when they see that 9″ black and white monitor come to life. (If they knew I paid twice what it cost for my new MacBook Pro…)
-Doogie
Doogie, on November 6th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I picked one up a G4 Tower 450MHz at the recycling centre. Didn’t give the boy chance to put it in the bin. That’s the fastest you can snatch one. Or can you do faster?
Geffen, on November 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm