# Anyone using an older Mac? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407 "2008-03-14T22:13:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/1 "2008-03-14T22:13:00Z")
My primary computer is a PowerBook G4 I bought in 2005 (pre-Intel). Not exactly ‘older’; just not the latest and greatest. But my other computer is a 2001 iMac Indigo 450mHz G3 PowerPC. It’s set up in the back bedroom/office. It’s running OS 10.3.9, which is as far as I can go with it. (The G4 is running OS 10.4.11) I put an AirPort card in it, so it’s fully functional. It has Office for Macs, so I can do what I need to on it. Just now I’ve set up the VPN and RDC so that I can connect to my office PC. Sure, it’s slow; but I can browse the Internet, read and write MS-Word and Excel documents, and do my job. I’m pretty sure there are people here using older Macs than my seven-year-old one. Who are you, and what are you using? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/2 "2008-03-14T22:31:23Z")
We have a Pismo PowerBook G3 that we use as our kitchen Internet Kiosk. I works perfectly well (well, it won’t play Flash animations very well), and has gone without a reboot for almost a year. I also occasionally use an ancient PowerBook 165 as a terminal. The next oldest machine is My G5 Quad, which really isn’t very old… ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/3 "2008-03-14T22:52:56Z")
My home computer is a 1997 beige Power Mac G3 minitower running OS 8.6. It does pretty much everything I want it to, but I’m hoping to upgrade soon since I have been unsuccessful in figuring out how to get Baby to talk to a USB port and my institution has thrown out it’s last computer that had a Zip drive, so moving data back and forth from home to work is now impossible. I think perhaps I’d like a G4; my ambitions are modest :), and I have tons of Classic software that I don’t want to rebuy so I’m avoiding OSX. JRB ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/4 "2008-03-15T00:29:56Z")
I’m using an eMac that I bought in 2002 or so. I suppose in computer terms that’s decrepit. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/5 "2008-03-15T02:19:46Z")
[QUOTE=JR Brown] My home computer is a 1997 beige Power Mac G3 minitower running OS 8.6. [/QUOTE] Nevermind. I have my old macs mixed up. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/6 "2008-03-15T02:25:59Z")
[QUOTE=JR Brown] My home computer is a 1997 beige Power Mac G3 minitower running OS 8.6.. . . JRB [/QUOTE] Just wanted to say that this is awesome. I have a 199.. 2? Powerbook 170 (my baby!) that I want to get running as a dedicated Nethack machine for the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/7 "2008-03-15T02:30:15Z")
I managed to connect to the Dope using a PowerMac 8100/80 running System 7.6.1. 🙂 IE3.1 on this system had a fit when confronted with modern Java and Javascript. I had to switch them off and then download iCab 2.99, the newest browser I could find for pre-X PPC systems. Even then, it took five minutes to render a page of the Dope. Then I got my MacBook Pro back. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-using-an-older-mac/441407/8 "2008-03-15T03:44:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Even then, it took five minutes to render a page of the Dope. [/QUOTE] As it says in the Good Book, “Render unto Cecil what is Cecil’s.”