[rescue] Sun Kit Needed for EE Student Here

[velociraptor]

On 5/9/06, Sheldon T. Hall <shel at tandem.artell.net> wrote:
>  Peter Corlett writes ...
>
> > Don't tell me trailing-edge consumer kit is one of the few
> > things that is actually cheaper in the UK than the US?
>
> The other would be French cars, I suppose ...
>
> Seriously, the price of trailing edge computers around here (Seattle, WA,
> USA) is highly variable.  A sub-GHz PC would probably be just about free,
> but an early SGI Octane might actually have a price tag.  A lot depends on
> what it is, who's getting rid of it, etc.
>
> Most of the stuff I have was "priceless" in the sense that it had no price,
> but I did pay US$50 for an SGI R10K MaxImpact Indigo2 in workng condition
> with a tape drive an an external MO/floppy.  I paid US$5 apiece for a stack
> of Sun SPARCclassics.  My Tandem-badged SGI Challenge L "Deskside
> Supercomputer" was a freebie, but I've spent a few bucks on upgrades.
Etc.,
> so on, and so forth.

In my experience, Mac "asking" prices are highly variable over here.
A lot of Mac users tend to overestimate (as far as I am concerned) the
value of their used Macs--but apparently the market bears it, or they
would go down.  Look at Craig's list for examples...people offering
6-mo old Powerbooks for $100 of retail.

One of the most annoying things about the LEM Mac swap list is that on
the one hand, many of the listers seriously low-ball you if you post
something (even if it's valuable), but ask ridiculously high prices
when the same folks try to sell.

I think this partially stems from Mac folks being too emotionally
attached to their gear. :-)

In the past I've found the best deals on Macs is to find stuff that's
"broken".  There's a huge segment of the population who has no idea
what might be wrong with a Mac, or any other computer, for that
matter.  I wonder how much stuff gets thrown into the trash based on
such weak diagnostics as "it's doesn't work anymore"?  Particularly
with x86 boxes being sold at places like WalMart for less than $400,
"consumer" computers are very close to the "don't bother to repair"
stage, if not already there for the majority of folks.

Even worse are laptops as far as environmental/disposability/etc.  I
believe a major reason they are being pushed by manufacturers is
planned obsolescence. Since they can't really be upgraded to any
degree if a consumer needs something more powerful, they have to buy a
whole new box.

=Nadine=