What to do with a deceased iMac?

[mpw]

What to do with a deceased iMac?

I have a dead iMac, it's a fairly old one; the first of the 'everything on a stick' format.

Rather than just send it to land-fill I'm wondering what I could do with it for little, or ideally, no, money.

I'd love to make it something 'practical', or at least something with a purpose, like a picture frame(boring), lamp, or (my personal favourite) a fish tank, but am worried the depth(front to rear) being just 5cm wouldn't give the fish room to breath.

So; ideas please, on what to do, how to do(I've limited practical skillz) and if there are any particularly agoraphobic fish that wouldn't mind living in it.

 

[SB13X]

See if it will blend??

 

[mpw]

See if it will blend??

Was hoping for something a bit more creative that I could use for something

 

[Bnice]

Donate it to some organization for kids.

 

[NYCHitman1]

My vote is pull a Office Space.

YouTube - Office Space Damn It feels good to be a gangsta scene

YouTube - Office Space Printer Scene (Original HQ)

 

[Pryomancer]

A fish tank wouldn't be a good idea. 5cm is too small for any fish you could keep it in, not to mention all the sealant to make it water tight (not sure if it is already, I doubt it).

All the cool stuff is likely to cost money to make.

 

[Isthmus]

how dead is dead. What parts need replacing to get it going again?

 

[mpw]

how dead is dead. What parts need replacing to get it going again?

The HDD, optical drive, RAM, Airport Extreme and power all seem good, it's the logic board that appears to have shat itself. It may just be capacitors, but I'm no expert. My local Mac shop guy says it's not an economic repair (unless I could do the work myself, which I'm not confident of, and the desktop has been replaced already) I guess I could donate to a willing charity, but in my experience many charities just don't want old gear!

Sad as it is the innards do seem close to worthless.

...5cm is too small for any fish you could keep it in...

Little bit of research does seem to support your theory, even forgetting their rights it would appear they'll just die, and replacing them would be a bore.

Am now thinking lava lamp???

 

[eyebeam]

You mention a lamp - How about a lava lamp? Might look cool.

 

[smacky]

I love lamp!

 

[mpw]

Right, liking the lava lamp idea; but where do I get a ~37x27x3.5cm heat resistant glass tank with an airtight seal??

 

[PGP_Protector]

Build a MAC into it, replace the tube with an LCD monitor, if you wish to stick with a Mac, use one of their Mac Minis to supply the horse power.

 

[CRPercodani]

A twitter feed?

 

[mpw]

Build a MAC into it, replace the tube with an LCD monitor, if you wish to stick with a Mac, use one of their Mac Minis to supply the horse power.

It isn't the original CRT iMac, it's the first of the G5 17" LCD, and it's already been replaced with a brand-spanking-new 21.5" iMac.

 

[PGP_Protector]

It isn't the original CRT iMac, it's the first of the G5 17" LCD, and it's already been replaced with a brand-spanking-new 21.5" iMac.

Turn it into a Secondary Monitor, Replace the MB & turn it into a web server, Make it into a TV Monitor for watching TV while you work.

 

[mpw]

A twitter feed?

Some sort of bird feeder/table? It's not such a bad idea...

I'm afraid if you're talking 'social networking' twitter, then you've probably already lost me! Still struggling seeing a point to twitter (and don't 'do' Facebook either!)

...still, I kinda like the idea of making a nesting box out the case, and mounting it in a tree Probably one of the technically least challenging too!

 

[mpw]

Turn it into a Secondary Monitor, Replace the MB & turn it into a web server, Make it into a TV Monitor for watching TV while you work.

Okay, space and need, pretty much rule out any kind of computing purpose, and I somehow seem to have acquired more redundant TVs than I have nipples.

So right now lava lamp and nesting box are the front runners.

 

[PGP_Protector]

Ant Farm
It's thin enough, should be easy enough, add some lights & use the gel that's used in the new ant farms it should look nice.

use a gel like in this vid.
YouTube - AntWorks Illuminated Ant Farm Gel

 

[mpw]

Ant Farm...

Oooo, cool.

 

[CRPercodani]

Haha yeah I meant Twitter as in social networking. I think your bird feeder idea would be even better and pretty simple to make.