Hey there, I am posting this as a courtesy to a very nice gentleman I spent several hours with today. Spotted the listing on Craigslist, responded, drove out to Philadelphia (if you are not somewhere near Philadelphia you can probably ignore this post since shipping is not an option) and proceeded to rummage through the "attic" of this building for quite awhile.
The company is NTR (www.ntrweb.org) Here is the "blurb" from their website: "Founded in Philadelphia in 1974, Nonprofit Technology Resources serves low-income people by refurbishing used computers, providing hands-on work experience, and assisting community-based service organizations to use computers in their work. We are the oldest computer service organization in the area devoted exclusively to nonprofit organizations and the people they serve. Our computer refurbishing "factory" serves as a training ground for people to grow their computer skills. Our Computer Thrift Store serves the community with affordable, dependable computers."
If you are looking for Compact Macs, Quadras, LC's, PowerPC's (towers, desktops, all flavors) older C/PM machines, PC's (of all flavors...I know, not Apple but they have lots) Apple IIgs (did not see any II machines, but they did have a Franklin or 2) right through All the various G3, G4 and even G5 towers up to all flavors of iMacs from the Bondi Blue right through to modern versions, it is worth the ride!
I hope it is appropriate to list this here. I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO affiliation with these people. Had never met or spoken to (or even heard of them) prior to seeing the Craigslist ad a few days ago.
But, for all the money we spend on machines I thought this was one where more than just the seller and the buyer benefit. My money is going to something more than just someone else's pocket (although that's fine w/me, this was even better!!) and if compact macs or newer are your thing, they have them in droves.
I walked (drove) away today with everything from an original 128k through some of the Drexel University branded machines to SE Superdrives and a few in between. Milk crates filled with mice and keyboards of ALL flavors from the first mac keyboard to the latest.
They were so nice to me and so helpful (spent time shooting the breeze with some of the locals who were in to learn how to use computers and we joked about how old the stuff was I was buying!) that I felt since I had my fill....well, I simply ran out of $$...... that I wanted to see if anyone else could benefit from my experience.
I had fun just checking out all the other, non-Apple stuff they had. There is so much in the way of software too that I literally had to look at Aaron (ask for Aaron by the way!!) and say "OK, I'm not looking any more, time to go back downstairs before I pull out the credit card!!
Here is the link to the craigslist ad: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/sys/4430687742.html
If for some reason this post is not appropriate for this forum please feel free to move it accordingly. I just had such a great time going through stuff, seeing all the stuff there (that I could not get because I would need 2 vans to remove it!) and they were so nice and helpful (we spent 2 hours getting stuff, plugging everything in and testing it, going to get the right keyboards and mice to test everything etc.) that I wanted to help them out by perhaps putting more people onto their treasure trove of macs they are clearing out.
Have a great day everyone, I know I did!
Zan