Are these computers worth getting?

[gryffinwings]

So at the local e-waste recycling center, I found the following:

Beige PowerMac G3 (Non-tower)

Macintosh Performa 550

Macintosh LC III (Seems to be missing a chip that would go in the square socket, FPU Chip?)

Are any of these worth getting? What should I expect in regards to problems? What should I expect to pay? Additional thoughts?

 

[EvieSigma]

They're all worth getting, but the 550 is the most valuable.

 

[Solvalou]

Grab all of them. They will all be useful in some form or another. The 550 especially, I'd kill for one of those, they are hen's teeth rare in the UK.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Short version, yes all are worth grabbing, especially if you're getting them for free.

Long-ish version:

The Beige G3 desktop makes an excellent bridge machine for transferring things back to older machines that can't be networked easily.  The Performa 550 uses the same motherboard as the Color Classic II so folks with original CCs tend to grab the machines purely to swipe the mobot.  LCIII is a solid 68K machine all on its own and you're correct that the empty socket is for the FPU.

As far as issues go:

- Beige G3 is going to be the most reliable with the weak points being case plastics.  Everything else is usually pretty reliable.

- Performa 550 will need to have motherboard caps replaced, as well as analog board caps if you want to stay on the safe side.  Case plastics are likely going to be super fragile.  Reason you don't see many of the Performa 5xx series around anymore is because it's almost guaranteed that they won't survive shipping.

- LCIII will need motherboard and power supply caps as both are very common failure points.  Case plastics might also be a concern but not as much as the Performa.

 

[gryffinwings]

Short version, yes all are worth grabbing, especially if you're getting them for free.

Long-ish version:

The Beige G3 desktop makes an excellent bridge machine for transferring things back to older machines that can't be networked easily.  The Performa 550 uses the same motherboard as the Color Classic II so folks with original CCs tend to grab the machines purely to swipe the mobot.  LCIII is a solid 68K machine all on its own and you're correct that the empty socket is for the FPU.

As far as issues go:

- Beige G3 is going to be the most reliable with the weak points being case plastics.  Everything else is usually pretty reliable.

- Performa 550 will need to have motherboard caps replaced, as well as analog board caps if you want to stay on the safe side.  Case plastics are likely going to be super fragile.  Reason you don't see many of the Performa 5xx series around anymore is because it's almost guaranteed that they won't survive shipping.

- LCIII will need motherboard and power supply caps as both are very common failure points.  Case plastics might also be a concern but not as much as the Performa.

These machines will not be free as the center sells items on eBay. So I do not have a reference point to work with, but I'm hoping to negotiate due to the fact they haven't been really looked at and are really dirty.

Recaps are not a problem for me, just did the analog board for a Macintosh SE FDHD.

For the LC III, what is the deal with the FPU chip, is it required to run the computer?

Thanks for the information so far.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

If you can get all three for under $100 you'd be doing reasonably well, though obviously the lower the better.  If they have a high enough ask that you couldn't get all three, ditch the Beige G3 as those are still relatively cheap and plentiful.

FPU isn't required for the LCIII to work, though if you wanted to add one they can be had for ~$10:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/361788721684

 

[gryffinwings]

If you can get all three for under $100 you'd be doing reasonably well, though obviously the lower the better.  If they have a high enough ask that you couldn't get all three, ditch the Beige G3 as those are still relatively cheap and plentiful.

FPU isn't required for the LCIII to work, though if you wanted to add one they can be had for ~$10:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/361788721684

I might ditch the Beige G3 anyways because I have a Power Macintosh 7200/90 which seems to be a very similar machine anyways.

Thanks for the information, I wasn't sure about the LC III with the empty socket, by the way, what it is the purpose of the FPU?

 

[trag]

The cases of the 7200 and Beige G3 have similarities.   And they're both PCI based, but the G3 is a much more capable and upgradeable machine. 

 

[Cory5412]

The G3 will be faster, but they're extremely similarly capable. The main thing a Beige G3 could do that a 7200 couldn't do, if it was the year 1999 and this was interesting to you, is run the early versions of Mac OS X.

Both will make fine bridge machines or generic system 8/9 machines. The 7200 will also run system 7.5/7.6 if that's of interest.

by the way, what it is the purpose of the FPU?

Floating point calculations. Media software and mathematics software are sped up by it. It was omitted from many less expensive Apple computers up until the PowerPC line in 1995 because it doesn't impact day-to-day usage on most home computers before the 2000s. Even after then, the floating point performance on the 603 was typically lower than on the 601 and 604 series CPUs.

The G3 was when consumer and professional Macs were united. They utterly destroy previous machines in both types, but that's in benchmarks of raw outright calculation, and not necessary system responsiveness.

 

[dcr]

. . . by the way, what it is the purpose of the FPU?

FPU = Floating Point Unit, which is basically a math coprocessor.

If I recall, there was some software that required an FPU.  I know at work back then, we started with an LC (no FPU) and later got an LC III (don't remember if it had the optional FPU or not) and it seems to me the only thing that maybe didn't work on the LC was a game or two.

Oops.  Just saw this was already answered.

 

[gryffinwings]

Thanks everyone for the information, I passed on both the Beige G3 and the Performa 550. Didn't really want to get the Beige G3 and I found out that the Performa 550 PROM battery had gone critical, bunch of battery acid and gunk had gotten on a portion of the board, didn't really want to bother with it since I've got plenty of projects, so I only got the Macintosh LC III, only issue is that it does not have a hard drive and the hard drive carriage is not there, if anyone knows where to get one I would appreciate the help.

 

[Compgeke]

SCSI2SD + Sticky Tape

 

[ArmorAlley]

I'd spend $50 on all three if you can get them, and if not, the Beige G3 is a great all-round mac, easily expanded and very useful as a bridge mac (as has already been mentioned).

 

[gryffinwings]

I'd spend $50 on all three if you can get them, and if not, the Beige G3 is a great all-round mac, easily expanded and very useful as a bridge mac (as has already been mentioned).

$50 was not going to happen, prices for vintage Apple products seem to be on the rise. The Performa 550 was a no go with the busted battery causing damage, so I didn't want to get into that, I already have a Power Macintosh 7200/90 that should work nicely as a bridge PC anyways, along with my Powermac G4 loaded with OSX 10.4.11 to maintain classic compatibility.

 

[Unknown_K]

I think you can stick the motherboard of an LC3 into a Performa 550, as well as other boards but you would be competing with people looking for CC upgrades (same boards).

Beige G3 are good bridge machines (mostly because of built in ADB, ethernet, and SCSI plus a G3 CPU). I love the towers (wish I had more then 1), but the desktops are useful as well (have a few of them).

Kind of hard to get a good deal when you are hageling with a seller who sells vintage items on Ebay. The one recycler I used to hit sold on Ebay and had a storefront for towers but just the more modern items especially laptops. He didn't have a clue about old vintage stuff and let it go a few times what scrap was worth.

 

[Gorgonops]

LC3 into a Performa 550

No. The LC III is essentially the equivalent of a Performa 550(*) in terms of what's on the board but the form factors differ between the pizza boxes and the AIO's. It wasn't until you got to the 580/630 that they shared the same slotted-in design. (Which is incompatible without substantial hacking with the form factor used in the 520-575 and CC.)

(* Actually the 520 is more strictly equivalent, as the plain LC III is also 25mhz. LC III+ is 33mhz.)

 

[seanrox]

SCSI2SD + Sticky Tape

I personally like to use velcro verses sticky tape to secure my SCSI2SD inside my Mac IIci