How to get started with Retro Computing!

This guide will help you find a good Apple Mac that will be reliable and fun to use as a vintage machine.

1. A PowerPC laptop like the iBook G4 or PowerBook G4 is a great place for beginners to start, because they are:

   • Easy to find and affordable on sites like eBay and Facebook Marketplace
   • Still quick and usable (with browsers like InterWebPPC you can send emails, watch YouTube, and more!)
   • Great “coffee shop computers”, because they are still usable and not as valuable as something new if someone were to steal it.

2. Another great option if you want something older is a Macintosh SE/30. It’s nostalgic, has a cool 2-color grayscale display, and you can mod it to your liking :)

3. The third great option is a Power Mac G5 because it’s super fast (great for light and heavy tasks!!), not too expensive, and easy to use and set up, as long as you have a decent monitor (i use an old lcd tv with a vga port) and a usb keyboard & mouse.

4. Last but not least, the eMac (Education Macintosh) or iMac G3 are both good options if you want a lower-end PowerPC Mac. The iMac G3 is still pretty capable, and it makes a great OS 8/OS 9 mac. The eMac is a great choice if you want the same feel of the iMac G3 but with the faster PowerPC G4 chip.