Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

A friend of mine has this 1996 Apple computer, with an original 2Gb hard disk and 8x Cd reader. Include original keyboard, mouse and a keyboard II.

Probably he will give it to me.

Do you think is worth to pick up it for free?

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

As a collector of old Macs I'm going to be biased, but I'd say yes :).

The external condition of that machine looks reasonable - machines of that era are known for having relatively poor-quality plastics that became brittle with age, so the fact that there's no obviously-broken plastic is encouraging.

That machine is fairly flexible in terms of what OS it supports, ranging from System 7.5.3 all the way to Mac OS 9. And it can have as much as 512MB RAM, which is a lot for its day.

One really useful thing about Macs from this era is that they have both regular Ethernet and (I believe) a floppy drive capable of reading and writing 800k disks. This makes them good "transfer" machines, allowing you to copy files to 800k disks for older Macs like the Macintosh Plus, that have very limited networking and only an 800k disk drive.

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

Thanks very much. I inspected the inside and all the plastic os in perfect condition. It was working until 10-15 year when it was taken apart. The USB board that can be seen on the back I think it is not original. It has several dates printed or in labels sept 1996

I collect many things Apple related.

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

I would agree with andrewferguson - if I was offered it I would say yes.

However, does it have a mac monitor? If not then I believe you can use a vga input monitor but you will need a mac to vga interconnect adapter. The keyboard is one of Apple's better keyboards!

By the way, you mention it was taken apart, so does it work?

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

Yes, i know all his history, it was bought new by a design company in 1996 and it was sold a few years later to my friend. He used it a few more years and i think he installed the USB card on it. The computer is working for sure. The original monitor was a triniton and it broke years ago. I think it was a 19"". I will try to find the adapter or even a monitor.

It has also the original keyboard and mouse.

I have it at home now!!

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

How could you have questioned getting it.
Look at all that glorious discoloured beige plastic.
Great little machine, I'm glad you took it.
Brian

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

One thing about those vintage macs from that period is it probably wont power up, change the bios battery. If the battery is flat it won't do anything.

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

The bios battery has the date 2002 on it!!!

I cleaned the mouse. Is in very good condition except for the bottom rubbers.

Any idea to replace them?

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

Self adhesive teflon strips

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

Hello today I cleaned very well the inside of the computer. As Andrewferguson said, the plastic are very poor quality. They are ABS plastic and they were in good condition until I touch them.

The plastic piece with the on off button was broken and I did not notice it. I tried to repair it with acetone, but the result is not very good. Just enough for little use.
Another plastic part is broken too. See photos.

I will be very grateful if you could tell me if it is possible to get new ones. I mean modern reproductions or NOS or original, but in this last case I think all originales from 1996 are going to be affected by age as mine.

Thanks

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

I can assure you they weren't in good condition before you touched them. They may have looked OK, but they would just have been waiting to break.

In the Mac community such plastics are jokingly referred to as "Spindler Plastic", referring to Michael Spindler, Apple CEO from 1993 to 1996 and the idea that use of low-quality plastic proliferated during this time.

I don't know of any remedy to this problem, aside from being very careful. If you had the time / skill you could possibly 3D print replacements, but if the broken parts are attached to the larger case it becomes impossible.

I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it - yes, it is a shame, but it's certainly not unique and it probably would have happened sooner rather than later anyway.

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

Thanks. Yes they were waiting for my fingers... I just touch them...

On the thread about AVO, i load months ago an archive with same parts perfectly done in 3D to be printed. I will try to reproduce as many parts as I can for that machine and will load them here when ready.

Re: Old Macintosh 8200/120 POWER PC AND KEYBOARD II
 

Hello, looking for some information about the problem with plastics, i found that several people boil them in water and some of them says that the results are ok, do not know if it is true.

https://goldwingdocs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12060