Over the last months I’ve acquired two “classic” Macs. The first is the Power Mac G4 Cube (with the matching Apple Studio Display) introduced way back 2000. The second is a 2003 iMac, the one with a white round base and flat monitor attached to the base via an articulating metal arm. I’ve always considered these two Macs to represent the very best in industrial design from Apple.
Part of the process of acquiring these Macs included rewatching the old Macworld and Developer Conference keynote videos that introduced them. To round out the trip down memory lane, I also watched the relevant operating system introductions.
One may wonder what the heck I am doing spending money on old, outdated computers. Well, let me answer that!
First, I consider these two Macs to be industrial art. I started this whole process thinking I would find good examples and just display them in my office as strictly static pieces. All good intentions until I discovered just how much fun these Macs were to use, old software and all. They have become working rather than static art. As art goes, they were extremely inexpensive, only a couple of hundred dollars for everything. Low cost, beautiful and useful art, how can one go wrong?
All of this led me to ponder why these Macs are so much fun to use. Was there something to the magic that Steve Jobs talked about so often in all those old videos? For me, there is. There is something to using a product that is as beautiful to look at as it is to use.
What I’m trying to say is, if there is some old device that you loved to look at or use, don’t be afraid to track it down, purchase it and use it! Like other art, we are only caretakers for the next generation. So many of these objects end up in the trash or destroyed because they are deemed no longer useful due to age or just slowing down. Some devices though transcend that and become something special, something to be cherished and maintained for future generations to enjoy and remember. Something to not throwaway in our throwaway society.
The More We Learn, The Less We Know 
You may be dating yourself with this. Good point though, recycle, reduce, reuse, and now just keep.
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