Death of a Powermac

[juansolo]

I'm sad to report that my Powermac of some 7 years bit the dust this morning. It was a fine machine, but we both new it's time was nearing an end.

As such, anyone waiting for stuff or trying to e-mail me might have to wait a couple of weeks longer while I sort this out. I'm not ignoring you, I just have limited e-mail access at the moment. New server isn't likely to be here for a couple of weeks and I don't do these fangled PC things (I'm a UNIX/Mac type), so all of my work, mail, photoshop and things that aren't games are on the Mac.

Just thought I'd share my grief.

[Andrew W]

Sorry to hear that your trusty steed has gone to the great /dev/null/ in the sky. My PowerBook is pushing 7 now and may need retiring next year. They do seem to last quite well.

[juansolo]

Mine's lasted quite well. Luckily mine was an early one. They fitted a different (cheaper) liquid cooling system to the later ones that had a tendency to leak and blow up the PSU. Mine was bone dry so I suspect the PSU has just died naturally.

Given that they're an almighty PITA to get to (involving a full strip down), it's just easy to strip the bits, flog them and get a newer box. Luckily I'm pretty paranoid regarding backups so the important stuff is all safe.

[shobet]

The porn is safe! I miss my ikkle 12" powerbook. :(

However my black Macbook is over 4 now and I think I'm due a replacement in the new year.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Ugh - sorry to hear that .
Hope you get it all sorted soon.

My 3 year old iMac has been suffering for a few months now - mainly overheating problems – from being clogged with DUST I bet - it lives in a dusty environment here at Feline Towers..

Thankfully I had bought a smaller new iMac for other reasons and that has been in heavy use for the last couple of months but I must get the big one sorted - I miss the extra screen space it has when doing website stuff.
Been using the old one as a video playback machine mainly in limited doses - watching box sets of stuff

[Ian Price]

Sorry to hear about your Mac. I'm a convert but have been having screen problems lately - only 2 years old as well! Sadly this means my partner wants to go back to having a PC next time we buy a computer. I'm sure I can talk her around - I've already started this as it took me an hour to move a PC from one room to the other and a matter of minutes to move the iMAc!

Hope you get a go replacement soon!

[FELINEGUITARS]

Sorry to hear about your Mac. I'm a convert but have been having screen problems lately - only 2 years old as well! Sadly this means my partner wants to go back to having a PC next time we buy a computer. I'm sure I can talk her around - I've already started this as it took me an hour to move a PC from one room to the other and a matter of minutes to move the iMAc!

Hope you get a go replacement soon!

If your iMac is under 2 years you should be able to take it back - even if you didn't take out applecare - European law etc
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/27/apple-fined-1-2-million-in-italy-over-warranty-disclosure-issues/

My mac started having problems a week after the applecare plan ran out - I do wonder if high tech equipment is programmed to do so. :(

Whilst I won't call myself a "fan-boy" (and I am capable of criticising Apple unlike some users who feel they can do no wrong) I do like my Apple machines and have only ever used a Mac  - since the friends I had who I would turn to when I needed help when I started with a computer 11 years ago were all Mac users too.

I am really liking the new Lion operating system - although still running Snow Leopard on the older machine

In other news I see Jonathan Ives got a knighthood! (wonder if the Queen uses an iPhone)

[Oli]

My Macbook (the white Core2Duo model) is about 5 years old, and it's really on it's very last legs too :( In it's life it's had a whole new case and keyboard, and now this 2nd keyboard has died. It started with just the trackpad and the keyboard not working (but the power button worked), so i'm having to use it with a USB keyboard/mouse... and now the power button has also died, and although I know which pins should start the machine back up, I don't want to risk it-- so I can no longer shut my machine down, or do anything that could cause a kernal panic (no Pro Tools, no strenuous use of the machine at all :( )

Thinking I might try and get this to last until the next gen iPad arrives, and get one of those for my casual web stuff, and then save and get a mac mini as a desktop machine.

If I had the money, of course i'd get and iMac, but that's just not going to happen with the taxman knocking at my door at the moment!

[juansolo]

Gone for a mini server this time (old model one, but still new and unused). Hopefully it'll drive the powermac's 30" monitor ok!

My dad has still got an old iBoob. One of these:



The inverters went bang in the monitor so I decapitated it and stuck an old HP screen on it ;) Still going strong, though it's a little on the slow side for Photoshop.

Touching wood, I've also got an original Intel mini as well that's sat under the telly serving my web site. Gonna hopefully consolidate everything onto the new server, give my old man the old mini and flog the old boob for buttons.

[juansolo]

Sorry to hear about your Mac. I'm a convert but have been having screen problems lately - only 2 years old as well! Sadly this means my partner wants to go back to having a PC next time we buy a computer. I'm sure I can talk her around - I've already started this as it took me an hour to move a PC from one room to the other and a matter of minutes to move the iMAc!

Hope you get a go replacement soon!

If your iMac is under 2 years you should be able to take it back - even if you didn't take out applecare - European law etc
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/27/apple-fined-1-2-million-in-italy-over-warranty-disclosure-issues/

My mac started having problems a week after the applecare plan ran out - I do wonder if high tech equipment is programmed to do so. :(

Whilst I won't call myself a "fan-boy" (and I am capable of criticising Apple unlike some users who feel they can do no wrong) I do like my Apple machines and have only ever used a Mac  - since the friends I had who I would turn to when I needed help when I started with a computer 11 years ago were all Mac users too.

I am really liking the new Lion operating system - although still running Snow Leopard on the older machine

In other news I see Jonathan Ives got a knighthood! (wonder if the Queen uses an iPhone)

Oh I'm not liking lion at all, I think it's Apple's Vista. They've tried to make it like iOS, which is just wrong for mouse IMO. Do not like. Quite happy with Leopard and Snow Leopard.

[Oli]

Oh I'm not liking lion at all, I think it's Apple's Vista. They've tried to make it like iOS, which is just wrong for mouse IMO. Do not like. Quite happy with Leopard and Snow Leopard.

Got to agree with you on this one, from what i've tried of Lion, i've not liked-- I can't upgrade my current machine anyway, as i'm perpetually around 200MB free these days!

The mini is a great piece of kit, I love them :)

[Ian Price]

If your iMac is under 2 years you should be able to take it back - even if you didn't take out applecare - European law etc
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/27/apple-fined-1-2-million-in-italy-over-warranty-disclosure-issues/

My mac started having problems a week after the applecare plan ran out - I do wonder if high tech equipment is programmed to do so. :(

Thanks for that - sadly when I said 2 years old I really meant closer to 3! Just looked at the first load of photos that I put on it and it is longer ago than I thought!

[FredD]

Don't know what you all see in Macs  :lol:

[Transcend]

Man apples dont last at all.

My dad has had an old PC for about 10-15 years now and its still going strong without a single hardware failure.

Granted its slow and cr@p now but it's still running

[Sancho]

I'm hoping our MacBook will give me at least some years of service. Because there's no way I can go back to a Windows based system now...
No, it's not perfect. But it has given me zero hassle, whereas the two HPs I had before conspired to give me a heart attack on a regular basis.