Out with the old iMac…
by Peter Rojas 
posted Aug 31st 2004 at 5:23PM
Somewhat fittingly given today's news, I was walking down Orchard Street yesterday afternoon when I spied these two girls jumping up and down on an original iMac someone had thrown away (we've seen a lot of broken and obsolete computer gear tossed out on the street in our day, but this was the first time we'd ever seen an iMac). Anyway, not only did it not seem at all weird to them that I would pull a cameraphone out of my pocket to snap a pic, one of the girls even asked me if I was using a Treo (she'll actually be guest-editing Engadget next week).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Boris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
for real... u should have her do that.
Kevin Lee @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
shes almost as good as michael bolton
mark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
about a month ago while trying to install developer tool on my 233 mhz G3 imac. it stopped turning on. i mean i push the power button, it makes it's happy little chime and then, it turn right back off again. i wish i could get a picture of me on here stomping the hell out of it. maybe showing off my bullet hole stickers on the side
Booker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
Honestly. This is the best idea you've given me today... my old orange paperweight is going DOWN!
Phantroll @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
This would have been an excellent educational opportunity to teach the joys of computer recycling.
The new iMacs, on the other hand, will be easier to throw.
pomegranate @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
Those girls are obviously iHP owners, pissed off about the firmware....
roo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
But I'd love even more to see more iMacquariums. Oh well, another one bites the dust.
Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
It looks like the iMac is bleeding, all over the sidewalk. Maybe it's just me.
ryecob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
why didn't i find that?... i coulda used that blueberry for spare parts. btw, that's a really good looking cameraphone image. what model r u using?
Sped the Assassin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
thats a pretty decent pic with a camera phone... what is the resolution?
Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
I took it at 640 by 480 and then cropped it and shrunk it down a bit before posting. I was surprised by how well the pics turned out--sometimes you can get decent pics out of the Treo 600 (as Dr. Bill Koslosky has demonstrated: http://www.wireless-doc.com/treophototips.htm), but usually they're just way too blurry or underexposed to be of any value.
J. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
G3 iMacs still fetch a couple of hundred bucks, if they work. Once they're retro or vintage- when it becomes cool to have a big honkin' CRT again- they'll go for more.
David Woodbury @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
That looks way too small to be a real iMac.
Judas Iscariot @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
That sounds like a corrupt PMU, you could've fixed it by pressing a lil' button inside the imac's case... oh well it sounds like it had a long full life anyway :) We have about 40 CRT imacs where I work (point-of-sale terminals) so I've had a change to trash a few... it IS fun.
Jake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
My girlfriend's blueberry iMac has actually gotten faster with each os 10 upgrade. If you have an iMac that won't start, take out the PRAM battery for a day, zap the PRAM and put it back in. Got an extra one, I'll take it!!
Bada_bing @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
Now that is just plain wrong. Really, it is. Are those also Nvidia logos on that rubbish in the dumpster? Shame on you, Apple, for going with an Nvidia 5200 "anything" chipset. Of course, I still want the new Imac...who wouldn't? Once again, Apple has taken a simple concept, and by making it simpler, essentially perfected it.
Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
That's criminal, they should be arrested :(
It's torn me up inside seeing that.
Stern @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
Old CPUs, unless hopelessly broken, make good Citrix ICA clients. If you don't know a school that runs Citrix, let me know and I will point you to one. They will get a perfectly good machine, you will get a tax deduction, and everybody wins.
Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
That picture gets funnier everytime I see it.
Great job capturing the moment.... oh and the Treo comment... money!
While I'm posting I thought I'd take a minute to comment on the sh*tyness of computers that use proprietary parts to fit into an unjustifably small box. I'd take another CM of depth for a removeable video card... and selling 1024x768 screens should be a crime.
Shouldn't have let the iPod design team at this one.. they probably "inherited" the original iPod design from another group and have been milking it to death since. An Xserve G5 with an LCD would have been soo smooth and maybe even clusterable in the future.
Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
That picture gets funnier everytime I see it.
Great job capturing the moment.... oh and the Treo comment... money!
While I'm posting I thought I'd take a minute to comment on the sh*tyness of computers that use proprietary parts to fit into an unjustifably small box. I'd take another CM of depth for a removeable video card... and selling 1024x768 screens should be a crime.
Shouldn't have let the iPod design team at this one.. they probably "inherited" the original iPod design from another group and have been milking it to death since. An Xserve G5 with an LCD would have been soo smooth and maybe even clusterable in the future.
paul @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
I'm curious... did they say why they were jumping on the iMac? Was it theirs, or did they find it?
Shane @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
Wow, I've heard of feral children before but this is the first time I've ever seen them in action. Macy Gray Jr. is looking particularly frightening in that photo. Break, Break, Break, Kill, Kill, Kill, Destroy, Destroy, Destroy.
Evgeny M. Chernikov @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
Sorry for possible misuse of English, it's not my native language.
G3-500 iMac is something like Celeron-700 (I'm a PC user, guys). Celeron-700 is GOOD computer. Two girls had found old (yet useful) device. On the street. They haven't tryed to turn it on (no wall socket to plug the powercord, you get it?) or to fix it if iMac is broken. So they had turned it into a useless pile of junk. They probably thought computer is useless if it can't run some cool videogame they saw on teeee-veeee...
This is a COMPUTER! A real one! It may be old, scratched, cheap, slow, but it's a box with SVGA screen, half-gigagerz CPU, amount of RAM enough for load OS, office applications and even media players!
This is sad. Pop-culture turns people's brains into rotting tomatoes. When jakal finds a lot of food, jakal eats until jakal feels sick. Then animal pees on the rest of the food so nobody else can use it.
Illusion of easy life created by pop culture makes people stupid and ignorand. THIS is what makes me sad.
And, as a darn sentimental geek weirdo, I feel sick when someone shits on a beautiful little computer.
ian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
i agree number 23.
faustus @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
A fitting farewell to the Disco Era of Computers. I hope those girls brought it home afterwards to use as a kitty litter box.
MG @ Dec 19th 2005 12:04AM
i agree with 23 too, i would love to take that mac home, in fact im looking at this with an se/30