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WTB - Pentium Desktop or tower

B

BGoins12

Experienced Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
249
Location
Amherst, Ohio
Looking for a working Pentium desktop or tower. I'd strongly prefer a Packard Bell or an Acer, but anything will do. I'd like to be a 75+ MHz. Doesn't have to have a sound card (I have one) or even a CD drive (I have tons of these). I'd prefer something local (Cleveland area), as I really don't have the extra cash for shipping.

PM me if you have one.

Thanks!
 
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You probably have but have you checked the thrift shops and goodwills around your area? I see these less and less but they're still out there. Also, a small wanted ad on your local craigslist will attract attention to people who have older machines and don't know what to do with them. Worked for me!
 
NathanAllen.... nope... our Goodwills around here have a strict policy of no computers or even video game systems. Sadly we have a recycling center in our county for computers, and people dump them off there all the time.

Unknown... I could if I needed to. However Joekster on here is giving me a Dimension 166 tower for a few bucks plus shipping. But I wouldn't mind picking up a few more, especially a desktop.
 
Yes, but Freecycle is such a major PITA, at least in my neighboorhood. You gotta have the email addy set just so... there's no continuity between the nearby regions -- if there's even one near enough to you to be worthwhile. Some regions let you post/view immediately and some do not! And even then the posts need to be moderator approved before they're displayed. I'm really almost sorry I even signed up in the first place. There's just nothing easy or simple about it. It literally takes the automation out of computers/IT.
 
BGoins12 said:
NathanAllen.... nope... our Goodwills around here have a strict policy of no computers or even video game systems. Sadly we have a recycling center in our county for computers, and people dump them off there all the time.

Unknown... I could if I needed to. However Joekster on here is giving me a Dimension 166 tower for a few bucks plus shipping. But I wouldn't mind picking up a few more, especially a desktop.
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Gah! I hate hearing of things like that; at least give the public a choice of salvaging and not doing away with it.
 
BGoins12 said:
NathanAllen.... nope... our Goodwills around here have a strict policy of no computers or even video game systems.
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Are you sure?
Goodwill has been expanding their computer recycling programs (Ohio included) - I dropped off a Dell Optiplex a month ago at the local store:
[h=4]Dell, Goodwill Expand Technology Recycling Partnership to 100 New Donation Sites[/h]Dell and Goodwill Industries International has added 100 Goodwill® donation sites to the Dell Reconnect computer recycling program, making it convenient for more than 42 million U.S. households to drop off computers and related accessories for free, responsible recycling.
The new collection sites, located in Delaware, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, are now among more than 2,200 Dell Reconnect collection sites across the United States and Canada. The new sites are expected to divert approximately 5 million pounds of e-waste from landfills each year.
 
The reconnect programs makes sure the computers get recycled (not resold) so the systems are taken out of the marketplace (even if they are not old and still usable). Dell did this to kill reselling of still usable systems so people have to buy new (and hopefully from DELL).

Systems that might have ended up at a thrift to be resold and used (or just collected) are now going straight to the recycling centers. I havn't seen a computer at Goodwill in ages, just some misc software and maybe a monitor once in a while.

It used to be recycling centers charged people to dispose of electronics so people would give them away on places like freecycle. Now that people can just find a Goodwill drop off location and dispose of the items whenever they like fewer people are bothering to look for new homes for the stuff. It also seems the local repair guys (and small time recyclers) are cut out of the loop for older material to refurb.

Some Goodwills hold online auctions for electronics(none in NE Ohio that I know about).
 
Yeah, it sucks. They promote the recycling center here so much via mail, TV, etc that NO one throws away anything computer related. Sucks. Just 10 years ago I was bringing home old IBMs, 286s, 386s, 486, Commodores, TIs, Ataris, etc. I probably had 60 or 70 computers. Of course back then I was only 13 and never thought that any of them would be worth money, and I don't have any of them anymore.

I had a Commodore Amiga 4000 in 2000, but it was tossed when we moved because back then (The "gray area" if you will), it was essentially "worthless".
 
My local recycling place focuses more on scrap metals. So then, that leaves our local ewaste event. My dad is the coordinator of it, so I kind of get to pick out whatever I want.

That being said, I also didn't know the meaning of the "vintage=worth more money" concept. I threw out a few computers a while back, one with a big MHz display.

Our local Goodwill is way too small to be hosting online auctions, much less a website. :)
 
I havn't moved in 35 years and I am lazy, so things tend to just sit around (like my first computer my Timex 2068 from 1983). When I did get in the mood for cleaning I did stupid things like junked a trashbag full of DOS games boxes (kept the games and manuals), wish I still had those boxes.

Not all vintage stuff is worth money, and some of it isn't worth the bother to sell and ship, but some items have shot up in value over the last decade. A working Amiga 4000 is probably worth $200+ these days, much more with upgrades. If anything saving the upgrades , which are easier to store, is smarter then keeping whole machines if you run out of space.

I am thinking about finding another recycling place around here to raid for old systems, but I kind of filled up the lab raiding the last one so it might not be such a good idea. Seems like I am better at finding items then I am at getting rid of duplicates.
 
Thew goodwills here send most of their electronics to a store in Austin-- most, not all. I can't figure out who makes the decisions. The only electronics I can find are loose games and disks of many kinds and cables. No computers or game systems at all.

I got a tip that best buy (of all places) junks electronics but it's a bit newer than I care to deal with and haven't followed up on that lead yet. Might never follow up on it.

Lemme say, though, whenever I put up an ad on Craigslist the response has been overwhelming. Once somebody came to me with a Kaypro II that I just couldn't afford, but WOULD have bought if I had the money.

I think it's been suggested, try a wanted Craigslist ad.
 
An amiga 4000 should be worth quite a bit.

I was able to get $400 for for an A2000HD. Though that included 9MB, internal CD-ROM, Bridgeboard and 1084 monitor.
 
One of the Goodwill stores in San Antonio used to have quite a bit of older computer items a couple of years ago. I picked up a complete working Apple IIc along with some older DOS based software, packages of blank 5 1/4 disks and a couple of other parts for about $30 IIRC. When I stopped by last summer while in town, the guy told me the store policy had changed and they only kept P4 equivilant or newer systems or parts for resale. Everything else went to the recyclers. Their prices also seemed to have doubled or tripled. Later, I stopped at another thrift store and was told they had pallets of donated computer equipment. I talked to some of the workers and they told me there appeared to be some older pieces but when I approached the manager about possibly looking at the stuff and buying a few items, the manager refused, insisting that none of it was vintage era stuff even though they had no idea what was there.
 
BuggZ said:
...but when I approached the manager about possibly looking at the stuff and buying a few items, the manager refused, insisting that none of it was vintage era stuff even though they had no idea what was there.
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Jeez, I can't stand arrogant people like that, they get on my last nerve. Really, looking at a packed up pallet you can't know what is there.

Today I went to a local TV repair place (yep, they still exist here) and might go to work as a plasma repair guy! Not glorious but hey I need the work. Anyway, they get in P3 and above as for computers, when I asked about a P1 he said to check the yard sales and flea markets.

If I get to work there I will be giving you guys first pick on whatever I come across that's any kind of interesting. Here's to hoping!!
 
The only Goodwill that DOES get computer and such around here is the Sandusky one, 30 miles west of me. The only bad thing is they overprice them. Pretty much any desktop or tower that comes in is $50-75 without a monitor, keyboard or mouse. Monitors are $20.
 
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