What to keep: 6500/300 or Black 5400/300?

[Byrd]

Hi,

I'm culling my Mac haul again - just wanting to keep smaller, more used Macs. Two of the biggest Macs which perform and sound about the same - a 6500/300 and Black Director's Edition 5400 (with 6500/300 board inside) I'm eyeing off as next to go, sad as it sounds! I think one has to go, too big and bulky to keep both.

I believe the black 5400 is an Australian only special, but what machine would you keep - and why?

Thanks

JB

 

[Mars478]

The black 5400/300

as it is one of the Only black macs ever made. The Mac TV has all the fame but I have never seen info on this black mac.

 

[equill]

... I believe the black 5400 is an Australian only special, but what machine would you keep - and why?

I have a soft spot for towers, but the 6500's case has never enthralled me. Since the DE is peculiar to Australia, it is the pick of the two, I suggest. My DE comports itself very well with a G3/400MHz L2 card and max. RAM. TV viewing is adequate, but more 'how clever that Mac is' than enjoyable. It's a middling-accomplished Mac, but it is a DE.

de

 

[LCGuy]

Definitely keep the 5400 - its a black 5400, and they're very hard to come by these days, especially in good condition, with the matching black keyboard and mouse. You can pick up another 6500 one day whenever you feel like it, they're still fairly common, and since you've got the 300 Mhz board in the 5400, there's nothing that the 6500 really has to offer that the 5400 doesn't, apart from a tower enclosure, one extra PCI slot, and the subwoofer. So yeah, keep the 5400.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

. . . since you've got the 300 Mhz board in the 5400, there's nothing that the 6500 really has to offer that the 5400 doesn't, apart from a tower enclosure, one extra PCI slot, and the subwoofer. So yeah, keep the 5400.

Personally, I'd just recycle the (FUGLY*) plastic "tower" enclosure, storing the MoBo & goodies inside for a future hack! }

. . . or, if you're not into hacking, at least store the spares in case your collectable Black Beauty (pushing it a little there too*) ever needs a brain transplant.

* hyperbole alert! [] ]'>

 

[Bunsen]

subwoofer

Something I've wondered about - what, apart from the motherboard, is actually required to run the subwoofer? In other words, can the sub be transplanted into a hack machine based on the same logic board? Ignoring space considerations for the moment.

 

[LCGuy]

I've never delved very deep into an InstaTower before, but I'd imagine that if nothing else, there'd be an amplifier in there, since not only is there a knob on the back for adjusting the subwoofer level, but on top of that, the audio coming off the mobo would likely be too weak to drive the subwoofer directly. If you transplanted said amplifier into another machine with the same logic board, I can't think of any reason as to why it wouldn't work.