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Won a Performa 5210CD, importing it. What should I look out for?

alectrona2988

Well-known member
I honestly didn't know what issues these had when I bought it, it was out of sheer impulse.
Speaking of which, it just got to the dist. center in Indianapolis, so it'll be coming very soon.
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
Alright, while I'm waiting for one of the worst financial decisions I've made, how could I upgrade this with a 6400 board? I know there are some on eBay. Also, could one use a Radeon 7000 in this computer with the internal display?
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
I’d wait for it to arrive first before buying more parts for it - make sure it’s intact and all. Hoping for the best with it!
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
Yeeeeep. I have a 6360 already but the system needs a 3.3V regulator to work with that.
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Also attaching pkg details. asked for protective wrapping and packaging too
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
It just got to my city, so I should be getting it tomorrow. Fairly certain it isn't early enough to where they could deliver it today. My parents are probably gonna lose their shit as I drag in a massive box that's 60 lbs from japan.
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
Welp, it WASN'T too early.
It's coming today. Will my parents disown me, or will I suffer from trying to fix one of the most hated macs ever?
Only time will tell.
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
I'm also just gonna take some time to reflect on the wild on/off adventure.
March 20th, 2022... it was a very busy day for me, and a rushed one at that.
I won this Performa 5210CD at 8AM for about $10 on Sendico. I was allocating $125 to spend on international shipping.
I took a bit of a rest for a few hours, until I met up with some friends to go bowling.
RIGHT AFTER I went bowling, I took my bike out and started picking salvage electronics up from the e-waste center.
As I returned, I saw my bike got stolen. Someone cut off my lock and took off with my way back home.
The rest is just sheer explanation and hell. Let's just say I got way too ahead of myself.

A couple days later, Sendico receives the package and tells me "Yeah, we can't ship this via sea mail. You're gonna have to pay up the ass with FedEx." Okay, that's not exactly what they said but I didn't account for it.
With my FOMO at full blast, I decided to go with it either way.
It took me about a month to save up for paying the rest of shipping, and honestly it kinda drew me back.

What matters is that I have something... awful. Hopefully I'll get some good use out of it, but if I'm honest, I've spent my "fun money" I get from selling salvage/parts on worse things.

I'm someone who's on the verge of graduating High School, so I am literally PILED UP with stuff in my mind.

Glad you guys talked about these machines and your experiences with them, though. But honestly, this was quite a rush.
 

Johnnya101

Well-known member
You'll learn in time, NEVER rush into anything! Take your time... Unless it's something so absolutely rare you'll never find another.

Hope it's in one piece :)

I remember I got my 80lb G3 molar shipped, that arrived safely. But from a different country is a different story.
 
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alectrona2988

Well-known member
Honestly I've been looking for something with this form factor for a while now, and I couldn't find anything else like it for a while now.
As for rushing things, it's been a thing with me for almost my entire life. Whether it's the fact I'm on the spectrum or I'm just under stress often, I'm not too sure.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
At this point you’ve gotta open this thing on video to catch your reaction - damaged or not. Would be a fun watch!
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
I think I MAY be able to pick it up tonight.
My parents didn't disown me once I mentioned it luckily. Besides that was a joke...
But yeah. I can't wait much longer and I don't know if the clumsy delivery people are gonna get it through.
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
I hate myself.
More importantly, I hate FedEx now.
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Hoping I can get a refund but I don't think it'll happen.
At least I can get this damn piece of shit back together with packing tape I guess?
And it does work too...
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Very unfortunate, but sadly expected. Too difficult to ship one of these. At least it works and isn't totally destroyed, good luck getting it back in one piece again, should be possible.
 

Byrd

Well-known member
Argh - save every bit and do the jigsaw puzzle to piece it back together. ABS cement, used sparingly should enable you to resurrect the casing with minor imperfection.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
We all go through the learning process. When I was your age (a good 20+ years ago), I learned the hard way how not to work on my SE/30 by busting the glass nipple on the back of the CRT. I was lucky that they were cheap as dirt back then. Don't worry, just remember for the next time.
 

joshc

Well-known member
It's not really FedEx's fault, though. This is like trying to ship some ceramic in a small amount of bubble wrap. Put a claim in, though I doubt it will go anywhere as Buyee don't seem very helpful when this happens.

The 5x00 series is on the list of machines I won't consider for shipping, but really the same applies to most of this stuff now - these plastics are very brittle.

Hopefully you can piece it back together and try to get some enjoyment out of it.
 

alectrona2988

Well-known member
Well I did buy some Gorilla Superglue which holds plastic together. When I get home I'll probably have to take the computer apart. Also the flyback might be dying too! Not sure what part to replace that with...
 
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