Unexpected conquest: Classic and Power Mac 5400/200

[LaPorta]

Well, yesterday I went to the retirement party of my middle school science teacher (he retired after working for 50 years, so it was a big deal). My old computer teacher had contacted me previously, and she said she had some old stuff at her house. So, she brought her old Classic and Power Mac 5400/200, plus disks, manuals, and other odds and ends. This is exciting for me, because I have never had a 5xxx all-in-one style machine, and they always looked so cool to me when I was 12 or 13. Now I will get to play with one. I am pretty sure it was stored in a non-controlled environment, judging from the yellowing it has suffered. All of this came my way for free, so I was pretty pumped!

I will get pictures this evening when I get a chance.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Nice conquest!  The 5xxx machines are interesting beasts because you can load them up with a TV tuner, FM tuner, Video input/output, Ethernet, and a CPU accelerator and yet they somehow still garner less interest than their nearly identical brethren, the 64xx tower.  Of course, that might be because the plastics are likely the absolute worst and most brittle you'll see as they're peak Spindler-plastic.  I'm going to hazard a guess that when you picked up the 5400 it creaked and squeaked a bit?

 

[LaPorta]

There was a little of that, yes, and I had a hunch that that was the case. I'll try to not break anything while I am at it! Sorry the photos are not here yet.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Be especially careful with the front cover.  Those clips break very easily and then you're stuck with a cover that will never fit snugly again. 

Also, here's a link for the Service Source PDF in case you don't have it already.

http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/legacy/powermac.perf_5400.5500.pdf

 

[LaPorta]

Here are two shots of the 5400. Works perfectly, and other than the awful yellowing (see be the more normal keyboard) appears in fairly good shape. I am keeping in mind the brittle plastic. Are there any ways to upgrade this thing, like

extra VRAM? Also, anyone retrobrighted anything like this, and is it even worth it considering how brittle these plastics usually are?

 

[Juror22]

I've retrobrited a number of items and there are two that I've shied away from and one is my 5200.  If those clips on the side (the ones hiding the screws) don't shatter when you pry them out, other parts and clips will crack and break - even under minor pressure.  You have a nice all in one bridge machine, recap it, max it out with goodies and enjoy!

Be extra careful with the vent on top (and sides), I had a similar vent on top of a 1710AV that I lightly pressed on and it just crumbled to pieces.  Since the design is the same on these, I have always been careful with my 5260.