So on the one hand, we value the length of service our Macs will give us, but at the same time we crave the sexiest new designs and features. These conflicting desires are slowly but surely filling your local landfill with older Macs, most of which are guilty only of not coming in a fruit flavor, or being made of titanium. In fairness, for every Mac I see on the side of the road, I see five PCs. But unlike their 386 brethren, these old Macs have so much left to give. So before you decide to move that old Mac out to pasture, call up your local senior center, dance company or elementary school.
Chances are they'll have a use for it.
Better yet, maybe there's an elderly relative or a young person in your life who might be able to love your old Mac just as much you did when you first got it. Tristram Perry works as a publicist in Boston, Mass., and for the past three years, has been the only Mac in an otherwise all-Windows office. The first computer he owned was a Macintosh Classic, and it still works perfectly. Don't get spun by the media.