Cheap Mac Replacement Strategy Needed

[Todzilla]

Colleagues,

After a 3 year hiatus, 2 moves and a couple years in non-climate controlled storage, my studio is getting reinstalled. The casualties from the aforementioned abuse is not as bad as feared. The only pieces that are toast are my two old Mac Classic IIs, which I used to run MOTU Performer (Hey, they did the trick!).

Now that they're both toast, I'm looking at the best and cheapest (did I mention cheapest?) way to get up and running again.

I'm cool to Ebay up an iMac or the like for $250, but then I have the issue with my MOTU MicroExpress MIDI interface using a serial connection.

What's the cheapest way to get a Mac that'll read floppies, have a serial connection and still be a reasonably newish machine?

I don't want to get a machine that I can do digital audio on, 'cause I'm a cheapskate analog guy who slaves MIDI tracks to SMPTE. Enough to handle a buttload of MIDI tracks on MOTU Perf 4.X is cool.

If there's a cheap way to convert USB to serial, that's okay too.

Just looking for cheap ideas. I want to get out alive for $200 - $300.

Thanks in Advance...

-Todzilla

[TimOBrien]

Ever thought of contacting your local Mac User Group??? Look around your area and find out where they meet.

Might be buddies there with older machines who would be happy to help you out with the transfer.

We used to do this kind of stuff for members all the time in the groups I've belonged to....

[Todzilla]

Tim,

That's a good idea.

Also, I'd like to get a fairly newish machine, say a $250 iMac, but that brings with it compatibility issues with ports, floppies and other remnants of my legacy.

I'm kind of fishing for some cheap suggestions on how I might bridge the floppy gap (superdrive for $40?) and serial-USB port issues as well.

I'm asking on this forum since my needs for this box are strictly MIDI sequence related.

-Todzilla

[jdean]

i just bought a beige G3 (300mhz, 256mb ram, 10gig hd, av personality card) for $100.00. serial ports, floppy drive, scsi. everything a classic mac user could ask for. i had a couple of monitors around but even if you have to buy a new display you could come in under $250.00.

nothing against the imac (i'm writing this on one), but the beige G3 has as good or better performance, upgradeability, and doesn't require adaptors for your existing hardware. if you like the all in one form factor, the G3 AIO is a G3 board w/ 15" monitor in the same box. mac of all trades or ebay should have them in your price range.

[reco]

There is a local shop in St.Paul MN Called Que Computers.....

http://www.quecomputers.com

They have older macs starting at $49.99(PowerPC 4400/200 96/2G/CD/modem) and they have beige g3's from $125 (Beige G3--233MHz 128M/4G/CD) and another for $150(Beige G3--266MHz 128M/4G/CD) they have blue and white g3's for $350!

Check them out they usualy have a ton of old mac's and pc's.
I got a Pentium II 300 for my friend to run cool edit pro 1.2 on for like $75.00 it was a magor band too.

Check them out give them a call, there realy cool.
Hear me now thank me later!
-Reco

p.s. I have a list of used mac dealers in MN I have to find them but if you want them I'll look.

[Todzilla]

Jdean, Reco,

Excellent leads!!!

It looks like the Beige G3 will suit my needs best. It's got all the goodies I'll need without resorting to weird retrofits of ports etc...

The Mac of all trades link looks great.

I don't know how my Classic IIs will feel to be so thoroughly outclassed...

[jdean]

if your really worried about the classic II's feelings, send them to me. i have a bunch of old macs they can look down upon thereby retaining their self respect.

[Todzilla]

Jdean et al,

Don't kid around about getting those Classic IIs. The shipping is probably less than the monitor dumping fees charged by my landfill. ;^)

My final solution:

I just ordered a Beige G3 Mac from macofalltrades.com. It is essentially the most powerful, modern Mac that still has the legacy features I need, i.e., serial ports and a floppy drive. So, I can install MOTU Perf 4.X from floppy and hook up my MOTU MidiExpress through the serial port. Plus it has a 30 day warranty, so I should be able to avoid a lemon.

It should be a huge step up from my Classic IIs and it only cost me $150 + $50 for a 17" Apple monitor. Computer depreciation is our friend!

Of course, I dare not use it for serious digital audio recording. (or do I?)

Thanks for everybody's input!

[jdean]

serious isn't a word anyone has ever used to describe the crap i churn out, but on my g3/300 i'm getting 16 tracks in logic 4.8.1 with 10-11 plugins while using the system drive for audio. with a second HD i could probably get 24+ tracks going.

[brent319]

Do you by chance live near a university? Ours has a surplus department and i get lots of Macs there. Mostly iMacs, but I did buy a beige g3 that I run os X on as a music server in my shop. I gave $20 for it. iMacs generally go for $100 to $175 depending on age. Might be worth looking into.
Good luck.
brent