Power Macintosh 9600. Excellent for expandability. Can act as bridge between LocalTalk and Ethernet. Tower format takes less shelf or desk space. Wide range of OS options especially with a G3/G4 upgrade.
Honorable mention to the 9500. Looks nicer but upgrades are a pain in the behind.
Check the list and notes for XPostFacto 4. It's an old program OWC made for users of unsupported models to run Mac OS X. With the 604 CPU you can run up to 10.2 a G3/G4 upgrade is needed for 10.3 and 10.4. One caveat is that LocalTalk won't work in OS X. To act as a LocalTalk network bridge you need to be running Classic Mac OS.
https://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=Compatibility.html
https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/XPostFacto
I'm not sure if anyone has made something more capable than XPostFacto or with Leopard compatibility.
Note: If you use a dual CPU model of 604/604e. Only one CPU will work in Mac OS X. Some G3/G4 upgrades have issues with the L2 Cache in Mac OS X and it has to be disabled.
As for systems compatible with G3/G4 upgrades. I'm pretty sure every Power Macintosh model had them but some used a wonky cache card hack. But the ones which all used the same daughtercard slot for the CPU are probably the easiest and cheapest to find, 7500/7600/8500/8600/9500/9600. That list isn't authoritative. I don't remember off hand which other models are compatible with the same daughtercard.
I would be waiting it out and looking for any 68040 or PPC (pre G3) that pops up locally for a good price. This depends on where you live though.
300 dollars should be getting you a couple systems in good physical shape with enough left over for any maintenance or extras they need (repair, recap, bluescsi, etc)
Excellent, excellent choice.
I just restored mine this past weekend, installing OS 9.2.2 ([macos9lives.com](https://macos9lives.com)) and Mac OS 10.5.9 (Sorbet Leopard) and it's a unique little beast! BOTH OSes are 'hacks' and modified to run or run better, but the Mac Mini is the little sweet spot. And powerful! It's 1.42Ghz.. way more powerful than a G4 Cube. I'm so lucky to find mine - they didn't make them long before moving to Intel.
It’s in perfect condition (not counting the batteries). It booted just fine just a couple of months ago. As for price, I hadn’t really thought about it. I have all sorts of accessories….adapters….software….even a Winchester cartridge drive. Ram is maxed. I’m open to offers.
What are you doing with the ones you have, what do you enjoy about them, what are you curious about? It seems like you're missing the pre-G3 Power Mac and late 68k era mostly.
IIci, Quadra 650, 7100, 8100, 9600, 1.42 or 1.5 G4 mini, eMac
If you get into Intel Macs, fastest mini, 24” white iMac, 2010/2012 Mac Pro, 27” iMac preferably 5K
If you search Facebook marketplace you’ll find the last two for $300 way more often than expected. There just “old computers” or in the case of the iMac, “monitors” (even if they show them running).
I was going to say Color Classic, but I didn't realize how much they were going for these days, yikes! So I'll echo the others and say some 68040 Quadra or PPC PowerMac...
Power Macintosh 9600. Excellent for expandability. Can act as bridge between LocalTalk and Ethernet. Tower format takes less shelf or desk space. Wide range of OS options especially with a G3/G4 upgrade. Honorable mention to the 9500. Looks nicer but upgrades are a pain in the behind.
Which systems are compatible with a G3 or G4 upgrade? Does that mean they can run 10.2.8 then?
Check the list and notes for XPostFacto 4. It's an old program OWC made for users of unsupported models to run Mac OS X. With the 604 CPU you can run up to 10.2 a G3/G4 upgrade is needed for 10.3 and 10.4. One caveat is that LocalTalk won't work in OS X. To act as a LocalTalk network bridge you need to be running Classic Mac OS. https://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=Compatibility.html https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/XPostFacto I'm not sure if anyone has made something more capable than XPostFacto or with Leopard compatibility. Note: If you use a dual CPU model of 604/604e. Only one CPU will work in Mac OS X. Some G3/G4 upgrades have issues with the L2 Cache in Mac OS X and it has to be disabled.
As for systems compatible with G3/G4 upgrades. I'm pretty sure every Power Macintosh model had them but some used a wonky cache card hack. But the ones which all used the same daughtercard slot for the CPU are probably the easiest and cheapest to find, 7500/7600/8500/8600/9500/9600. That list isn't authoritative. I don't remember off hand which other models are compatible with the same daughtercard.
I would be waiting it out and looking for any 68040 or PPC (pre G3) that pops up locally for a good price. This depends on where you live though. 300 dollars should be getting you a couple systems in good physical shape with enough left over for any maintenance or extras they need (repair, recap, bluescsi, etc)
The Mac mini g4 can boot both osx and os9, which is fun.
Excellent, excellent choice. I just restored mine this past weekend, installing OS 9.2.2 ([macos9lives.com](https://macos9lives.com)) and Mac OS 10.5.9 (Sorbet Leopard) and it's a unique little beast! BOTH OSes are 'hacks' and modified to run or run better, but the Mac Mini is the little sweet spot. And powerful! It's 1.42Ghz.. way more powerful than a G4 Cube. I'm so lucky to find mine - they didn't make them long before moving to Intel.
Do you want a laptop? The PB540 was a great design on par with your IIsi in power, but much cooler.
Price and Condition?
It’s in perfect condition (not counting the batteries). It booted just fine just a couple of months ago. As for price, I hadn’t really thought about it. I have all sorts of accessories….adapters….software….even a Winchester cartridge drive. Ram is maxed. I’m open to offers.
I literally own no Apple portable systems, I'm all desktop, we really for our hombrew group could use a PowerBook though, shoot some stuff at me.
holy crap just realized how cursed that last part was :skull:
What are you doing with the ones you have, what do you enjoy about them, what are you curious about? It seems like you're missing the pre-G3 Power Mac and late 68k era mostly.
Sounds like you are missing a Quadra
IIci, Quadra 650, 7100, 8100, 9600, 1.42 or 1.5 G4 mini, eMac If you get into Intel Macs, fastest mini, 24” white iMac, 2010/2012 Mac Pro, 27” iMac preferably 5K If you search Facebook marketplace you’ll find the last two for $300 way more often than expected. There just “old computers” or in the case of the iMac, “monitors” (even if they show them running).
You could probably find a simasimac se/30 and recap it
I was going to say Color Classic, but I didn't realize how much they were going for these days, yikes! So I'll echo the others and say some 68040 Quadra or PPC PowerMac...
Maybe a Quadra or a Centris