MICRON Xceed Grey Scale video card with the works for sale on Buyee! I wonder how much this one will go for?

[Phipli]

On a more serious note:

It is a shame. There are many things (Micron Xceed grayscale setup, any Lisa) that I'm quite certain I'll never be able to afford because of a combination of this and eBay price fixing shenanigans.

c

I don't mind too much, I try to look for things that are specifically cheap and think of a project. I've been buying £10 PCI cards and trying to make them do things, or broken things and trying to fix them. I've fixed loads of dead video cards - it's more fun than using them

The other thing, is the bathtub curve - buy things that will be of interest in the future and enjoy them while they're cheap. No need to buy the things other people want.

As always, music software and graphics software on a £20 G4 is hours of entertainment!

 

[chiptripper]

I don't mind too much, I try to look for things that are specifically cheap and think of a project. I've been buying £10 PCI cards and trying to make them do things, or broken things and trying to fix them. I've fixed loads of dead video cards - it's more fun than using them

The other thing, is the bathtub curve - buy things that will be of interest in the future and enjoy them while they're cheap. No need to buy the things other people want.

As always, music software and graphics software on a £20 G4 is hours of entertainment!

This is why I've accumulated more G4 stuff. Perfect time to buy. Actually, perfect time was about 5 years ago, but still fairly cheap now (unless you target Cubes or high-end CPU upgrade cards or whatever.)

And the G3 - G5 lineup has loads of upside still. I love 68k machines but at this point they're essentially toys (for me.) Whereas if I want to tinker with a virtual synth or something, I prefer doing so on a G4.

 

[CircuitBored]

This is why I've accumulated more G4 stuff. Perfect time to buy. Actually, perfect time was about 5 years ago, but still fairly cheap now (unless you target Cubes or high-end CPU upgrade cards or whatever.)

Whereabouts are you located? Here in the UK we are definitely well past the bottom of the curve. Ten years ago people were still giving G4-G5 era stuff away for free but nowadays we are trending towards loony prices. Base model Sawtooths are going for £50+ and nice Quicksilvers have even touched £200 recently. Considering I got my first Quicksilver for £5 in 2011, that is fairly crazy. I guess people have figured out that a fast G4 gives you the best of both worlds when it comes to OS9 and early OSX. There are still cheap G4s out there but I think people are starting to wise up.

Whereas if I want to tinker with a virtual synth or something, I prefer doing so on a G4.

Any soft synth recommendations? I'm always looking to expand my G4's repertoire.

 

[Phipli]

Whereabouts are you located? Here in the UK we are definitely well past the bottom of the curve.

I'm in the UK. You can still get free and cheap G4s, even if not every one is.

Also, £50 /is/ cheap! At some point in the future they'll be hundreds again. Compared to a Quadra or an SE/30, even a £50 G4 is affordable to more people.

Any soft synth recommendations? I'm always looking to expand my G4's repertoire.

Have you got a copy of this?

PPC AUDIO software [OS7 - OSX.5.8, some 68K apps] - Macintosh Garden

Mirror of a near-dead torrent file containing a vast collection of PPC (and 68k) audio software, ranging from SSW 7 to Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard. List of items and brief description of the upload are as follows (warning: HUGE): Software fitting its time is a source of inspiration. Working to make...

macintoshgarden.org

 

[Byrd]

I sold three pristine graphite G4 Towers for basically $100 recently, to a local collector. They’re not desirable compared to other Macs of the era and pretty common to find. They’re also hard to pack and expensive to post. Go for the higher end models with fancy upgrades if you’re looking for a good collectable.

 

[chiptripper]

In Canada I can still find Graphite G4s for $50 or less, which is a steal. I see G5s for free all the time. MDDs have shot up in price, Cubes are expensive but seem to have plateaued. iMac G4 prices are all over the map but I have a feeling those will be prized. Just completely unique.

Any soft synth recommendations? I'm always looking to expand my G4's repertoire.

I prefer Reason 3, love the skeuomorphic interface. Absynth 1 is older but a lot of fun to play around with and nails that late OS 9 aesthetic.

 

[Juror22]

It is a shame. There are many things (Micron Xceed grayscale setup, any Lisa) that I'm quite certain I'll never be able to afford because of a combination of this and eBay price fixing shenanigans.

Don't lose hope, both of the Micron cards that I got were acquired through detective work and at the time, I paid a little over $200 for the SE/30 that the one came in (on eBay) and the other was found for $40 on CL. Both were identified, after a LOT of patience, (I looked at a lot of road-Apples) off of pictures showing the back and the rather unique connector plate of the card. Neither included the grayscale card and cabling, but both were the grayscale capable version of the video card. I sold one of the cards a couple of years back and I have almost built my own grayscale card a couple of times and now I've started working on that again, because you can never have too many projects going on.

Or a IIcx and cover most of the screen's visible area in black gaffer tape.

...well that just calls the whole hobby into question doesn't it?...but like Pushpull76, I also like this point of view.

 

[Crutch]

Don't lose hope, both of the Micron cards that I got were acquired through detective work and at the time, I paid a little over $200 for the SE/30 that the one came in (on eBay) and the other was found for $40 on CL. Both were identified, after a LOT of patience, (I looked at a lot of road-Apples) off of pictures showing the back and the rather unique connector plate of the card.

This. Get good at recognizing the rear port connector. Then set an alert and check out literally every SE/30 for sale on eBay. You will eventually find one for sale where the seller doesn’t know what he or she has.

 

[JT737]

Or you could have bought this one, which looks like it did indeed sell for its asking price:

Apple Macintosh SE/30 Computer w Micron Xceed Greyscale - Recapped - 128MB RAM | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple Macintosh SE/30 Computer w Micron Xceed Greyscale - Recapped - 128MB RAM at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[CC_333]

Or you could have bought this one, which looks like it did indeed sell for its asking price:

Apple Macintosh SE/30 Computer w Micron Xceed Greyscale - Recapped - 128MB RAM | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple Macintosh SE/30 Computer w Micron Xceed Greyscale - Recapped - 128MB RAM at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Ouch!

That's new-in-box money! Even a mint condition is hardly worth a tenth of that, is it?

I haven't paid the SE/30 market much attention in recent years, so my idea of what the market value is might be outdated.

c

 

[Byrd]

In terms of time, if you consider that the seller of that souped-up SE/30 probably spent dozens of hours restoring it, configuring it, sourcing parts, you can justify that price. A recent SE/30 restoration of mine took many more tens of hours than thought, and it was pristine.

 

[Juror22]

In terms of time, if you consider that the seller of that souped-up SE/30 probably spent dozens of hours restoring it, configuring it, sourcing parts, you can justify that price. A recent SE/30 restoration of mine took many more tens of hours than thought, and it was pristine.

Agreed.
And it did come with a fair amount of extras:
- fully working SE/30, already recapped
- 128 MB memory
- Rominator
- BlueSCSI (pre-loaded with a bunch of games, so you don't have to)
- Micron Xceed card (with working, non-original, grayscale adapter)
Basically, you plug it in and use it.
...and did you check out how cool the pictures were with the screen showing off the grayscale capabilities? Anytime I think I really can live without that, I see one of these shots and they pull me back in! So cool!!

 

[ObeyDaleks]

Are these prices really that shocking? Some of these items are very rare (e.g., the micron card), and some people want it bad enough to pay a hefty price when they pop up once in a blue moon. Also, not everyone cares about the “market value” (if there is such a thing). It’s not like there were 20 of those cards listed. Maybe the next one will sell for twice as much, and if someone is willing to pay it, congrats to them on a new toy. I personally don’t find the Micron appealing (imho it takes away from the SE-ness of the machine), but if I wanted it, I’d probably consider paying these prices.

 

[joshc]

Yeah there isn't really such a thing as market value - the value of these things varies a lot if you look at sold listings.

 

[JT737]

@ObeyDaleks -I am not necessarily shocked by these prices. First as had been mentioned is the rarity of the parts-both a Micron Xceed greycale with all of the trimmings and a pristine SE/30 are hard to come by, with-of course- the micron Xceed being the part that is very hard to come by.

And of course, there is all of the work involved with restoring a vintage machine. I've recapped, trouble shot, and retrobrited enough retro computer to understand that yes, it take a lot of time and patience to bring them back to pristine condition.

The bummer in all of this, at least in my opinion, is that people who would like to own some of these things are effectively priced out of it.