Folks,
I went to turn the power on for my Rev A iMac last night and ...
nothing. As if it was not plugged in. After trying some different
outlets and checking the connection in the back, I admitted to myself
that it was probably a power supply problem. Maybe the dreaded flyback
transformer. I took it to a local Apple repair shop and they will do
some diagnostics and report back to me tomorrow. The guy said he thinks
it's the power supply too. And he said it would cost me $500 to get it
repaired because the power supply and monitor are integrated into one
piece. Naturally, I am in a state of depression about this, since I
love that iMac. I've had it since the second weekend iMacs came out
(August, 1998). So at this point I have some questions, which I want to
get this list's collected wisdom on.
#1. Is $500 the going rate to repair a problem like this, if it is a
power supply problem?
#2. Should I sink $500 into repairing this iMac? Before you instantly
answer No, I should point out that I take pride in owning one of the
first iMacs, to go along with my 1985 Fat Mac (anybody remember those?)
that still works! So to me, this machine is something more than a bunch
of plastic, metal, and silicon ("The Soul of an Old Machine"?). I'm
attached to it. Plus I've upgraded it to have 288 MB RAM and a 45GB
hard drive. So it would be kind of cool to keep it running as long as
my Fat Mac has. On the other hand, it's old as computers go. Maybe I
just need to get over it and move on to a new machine. What do you
think?
#3. If "Buy a New Machine" is your answer to #2, then what should I buy
to replace it? Should I just bite the bullet and get a Dell, Dude?
Just kidding!!! I love the look of the new flat iMacs, but the price
seems pretty steep, especially considering I was not planning on getting
a new computer at this point and my wife said "Do whatever costs the
least money." But they are pretty tempting. If I get one of the flat
iMacs, which is the best buy? Or should I just go with a G3 600MHz
Graphite iMac for $999? I guess a basic question is whether the flat
panel and G4 700 MHz procesor are worth the extra price ($1349 vs
$999). The eMac looks like it has the features and functionality I'd
want, but I don't know if I could qualify for an educational purchase.
Maybe I could get a teacher friend to buy one for me.
#4. I have a bunch of data on my old iMac's hard drive. Could I just
replace the new (flat or not) iMac's hard drive with my old one and boot
off of that? Another thing I've seen is the Wiebetech DriveDock
FireWire interface for 3.5in ATA drive. From the description at Small
Dog, it looks like that would work as a way to turn my old HD into an
external Firewire HD. That would be pretty cool. Does anyone on the
list have any experience with these?
Any and all thoughts on these questions are appreciated.
Thanks.
Mike
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