Is there a place or website where one can sell an older computer? I know that if it’s worth anything at all, it will be worth only a small fraction of the original price, that’s not my goal. Maybe there is someone who likes this particular one I don’t know.
It is a PowerMac G4 Cube with a 15" studio flat screen monitor with speakers and all the cables included. I have the original invoice detailing all the specs but it means less than nothing to me. (RAGE 128 Pro card w/16MB SDRAM, what the heck is that?? ) It works just fine, we’ve just moved on and now it’s taking up space.
Where should this machine’s new home be?
Thanks!
(PC fans, start talkin’ smack now, I don’t care! )
You could try craigslist (www.craigslist.org). The PowerMac G4 was produced for several years, so posting its exact specs in your ad there would be helpful, especially the processor speed, amount of RAM, and the size of the hard drive. RAGE 128 Pro is the video card.
If it’s a low end G4 you’ll be lucky to get 50 bucks for it. If it’s a higher end model (faster clock speed, etc) you can probably get 100 bucks or maybe a bit more for it.
Its a cube, so there might be some collector interest in it. Maybe $100 or $200 at the most, but dont be surprised if no one answers your ad. I can get a nettop for 200 that blows the doors off that thing.
The G4 Cube hasn’t be sold by Apple since 2001, but it has a cult following, so it might be worth something. Wikipedia lists a couple of Cube websites.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some case modders that would buy it and gut the case and put something more current in it. The cube wasn’t very practical, but it looked really cool.
I’ll second what others have said that its worth less than $200 at best. There are some on ebay with “buy it now” prices of $150, and some on open auction with current bids of less than $50. Some folks like to use the case and upgrade the innards.
In 10 years it might be a collectible. There’s a market for mid 80s computers like the Vic 20, TRS-80, and Timex Sinclair. If it were me, I’d just toss it. If it’s worth the effort to you to list it, pack it, and ship it for $100… go for it.
I’ll also second Gazelle.com as a good place to sell more recent electronics, ie 3-5 years old.
If you really want to make the most out of it, go ahead and gut the case and turn into a G4 Aquarium. You’d get the value of the case and a premium off of people too lazy to do it themselves.
If your screen has a decent resolution and is still sharp it may be worth a few bucks. Say, about 25 to 75 dollars. So you want to think if it’s worth splitting the lot up.
Here in Australia we have an organisation called Technical Aid for the Disabled, who take old PCs, delete and reinstall the OS, clean them up, and set them up for people with various disabilities. It would count as a charitable donation too. You might find that more satisfying than selling it, if there is any such organisation in your area. You should definitely not dump it, computers should be recycled.
It’s 1024x768. Which isn’t too bad to me for a 15" screen, but I know others disagree. A bigger problem may be that it uses an ADC port. The last computer to use that port was manufactured in 2005. And I can’t find an adapter for less than $100.
That said, the monitor is still selling on Amazon at a little over $100.
The pic in that article is the exact system that I have…
Oh hell, I think now that I’ll just box the thing up, store it and trot it out after I retire. I think it’ll look even cooler in 20 years or so!
BTW, I didn’t think that convection cooling was a good idea, so I cut a hole in the old desk that I was using and installed a fan in the hole right below where I placed the Cube itself. That worked very well but the power converter (?) got way hotter than anything else so I did the same thing to it too.
) It works just fine, we’ve just moved on and now it’s taking up space.
)