On 3/8/2010 2:58 PM, David Colvin wrote:
<snip>
I'm definitely familiar with the System Saver. My 512k had one on it
when I bought it last year. I took it off immediately. I just don't
want to log that many hours on it.
Let me ask everyone something. If a person wants his early Mac (no
fan) to last forever, whats the best approach? Use it occasionally for
short periods? Use it for several hours each day? Put it inside a
plastic bag, box it up and never take it out and play with it? Or some
other approach? I would be curious to hear opinions about this.
It seems a shame to box it and never use it. Anyway, maybe I should
have started a new thread for this but this thread had kind of strayed
off the original topic. So, tell me what you think.
I came to terms with the idea that my old computers simply will not last
forever on original parts. I'm not really into it for the collecting,
per se, though I do kind of like having an original 128k Mac. I used
mine quite a lot for some writing I was doing at the time, and it hasn't
failed yet (other than the bad ROM it came with. I still need an
original replacement set...). But, if you compare these to, say,
collector cars or vintage watches or anything else collectible, you'll
find very very few still working with all original parts.
That said, it depends on what your goals with it are. Vacuum sealing it
and storing it in a climate controlled facility or something might well
increase the odds that your children or grandchildren or
great-grandchildren might pull the funny box out and be able to power it
up. But.. that's surely not much fun. On the other hand, you can set it
out proudly on display somewhere, never use it, and it'll possibly work
almost as long if you rarely use it.
On the other hand, if you have a definite use for it, then I say use the
thing. Short of catching fire, there's not really a failure mode that'd
impact the cosmetics much. If it really is in particular pristine
condition, then perhaps it might be worth some extra precautions, but I
really don't foresee some hypothetical future where a 512k Mac with
original internal parts is worth much of anything different than one
that's had some work done to it to get it working again. Surely not
within a time period where you're concerned about it yourself :) I'd
much rather get the enjoyment of playing with and even getting good use
out of a vintage machine than the bragging rights of having something in
the closet.
Just my two cents.
Scott
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