well, if you live in Michigan, you will know about the Gibralter Trade Center in Mt. Clemens and Taylor. Basicly, they are huge flea markets open all week, with special shows on the weekend. well, there was a Computer and Technology show out at the one in Taylor this past weekend. Well, while browsing around the PC parts, I come across this one guy's table. he had alot of old mac stuff, too much to list. but, what caught my attention was a NEW IN BOX Powerbook 520c from many years ago. i wanted it so bad. He was asking $50 for it, but all I had was $45. Tust me, I am good at negotiation, but this guy wouldnt budge on the price (guess what, he was a Chemistry teacher at a local high school!!) Well, I was bummed. A few other items he had on his table were interesting:
Microcoft excel version 5 NIB for both Mac and PC, 2x Mac and 2x PC
2 Macintosh IIci's very yellow, no keyboard, mouse, monitor $10 each
A Umax Supermac clone. unknown price. up until, I have only heard about the existance of mac clones.
A powermac of some sort. came with mouse, keyboard, and monitor, with system 8.5.
he had a bunch of other stuff. Now, I am sooting myself in the foot on that Powerbook, because my mom (who was with me) offered to lend me the money for the PB, but I was looking at something to get my PC working. at the end of the show, when I decided to get the Powerbook, she couldnt lend me the money anymore, because something came up.
Then, I came across another table, with two collage students running it. they had a bunch of PC parts, but a stack of laptops caught my eye. low and behold, it was a stack of powerbooks, which they were selling for parts. they were all in very good condition, except for a 5300cs, which was in pieces. there were about 5 Powerbook 140's, a few 5300 series books, and a few others. all of them, except for the 140's had thier port covers intact. none of them turned on, because they didnt have any adapters for them. I am shooting myself in the foot for these too, because I should have gotten the 5 powerbooks, which were $5 a piece, because they would work with my spare AC adapter, which I use to charge my external battery on my Powerbook 100.
I can tell you the reason I "chickened out" on the Powerbooks. I am currently persueing a top of the line Mac mini, with a 1.42ghz G4, 1gb ram, and a superdrive. pricetag: $1,024.00. I have less than 1/2 that set aside. So, I need to scrap together every dollar I get. Plus, I want a copy of that iWork '05, an extra $79.00.
well, that was my weekend fiasco. took me a while to write. can anyone price how much that NIB PB 520c is worth? Thanks for listening. -digital 
Sheesh- I'm feeling empathy pains on that one. But, I understand you've gotta save up for that Mini. But, NIB 520C!!! No doubt you could've turned around the next day and resold it online and MADE money.
Oh well...
no, I would keep the brute for 20 years, test it, and then resell it, making alot more. but yeah, i want something recent, not 10 years old. I know macmall.com had some 800mhz G3 iBooks for $700 about 6 months ago, but I doubt they still have any.If I were to get a new Mac, i would rather it be a laptop, but the mini is just as small, I just need a keyboard/mous/display station, and I could haul that thing anywhere.
But yeah, who knows? I could find another treasure at the next cokmputer show I go to. there are a couple in March, but I cant go, because I am busy those weekends. maybe in April... -digital
I would have RUN to the nearest ATM and gotten a big wad of bills to buy up all of that stuff, then i'd sell most of it on eBay nad make a profit.