What's your favorite Mac, and why?

[9Teen90Nine]

As the title states, what's your favorite Macintosh and why?

I'm gonna say the Pismo, understated but refined.



Runner up would have to be either the Duo line, just a unique concept that I really loved or the 20th anniversary Mac.

[ovalking]

I'll go for my Performa 475.
Nice looking compact box, really good performance/price ratio at the time. Quite quiet, some upgrade routes, and reliable - still used weekly.
Downside is the appetite for PRAM batteries.

Honourable mentions for SE/30, Duo 280, 8500, B&W G3.

[Knezzen]

PowerBook G3 Kanga - All that power in a retro 90's PowerBook package is simply amazing!
Quadra 700 - Compact 68k powerhorse that I still use almost every day

[9Teen90Nine]

Some great choices you two. 

Quadra 700

I found a Quadra 700 on the curb once.  Completely rusted internally.  Guess whomever had it let it stay outside.    Long story short, I took it and refurbished the case and built a pretty powerful gaming rig inside it.  Was a hit with some geeks at the LAN parties I attended in 2006.  Wish I still had it, I'd place my old MacBook Pro in it.

[darthnVader]

My favorite Desktops are the Quicksilver and PM9600.

Favorite AIO's are the G3 AIO and the iMac G4.

Favorite portables are the PB3400c and the PB G4 12".

[nanopico]

Macintosh TV.  Almost completely useless, but I love it.

[Krysta]

The 20th Century is my dream computer, but my favorites are the Fruity iMacs (one of which I have that runs and I still use for old games) or the LC 575, my first Mac.  I'm a bit of a softie.

[CyberDot]

I am currently restoring my SE30 because I love the thing.

[Knezzen]

I am currently restoring my SE30 because I love the thing.

Same here!

[mrhappy]

I am currently restoring my SE30 because I love the thing.

Same here!

A 'Plus' here! Too cool!!

[cmstuber]

I have a lot of favorites and I use all of these nearly daily for various routine tasks.

The Wallstreet because ADB, Serial, and 2 card slots.  Plus the ability to Run 8.6-10.4.  I use one exclusively as a print server for my Stylewriter (9.2.2 & 10.3), and another as a go to 8.6 machine.  Connects to the Newton without so much as a thought.  The ability to swap batteries and media drives is also a huge plus.  This is probably the most versatile computer in the arsenal.  Starcraft anyone?

iBook G3 466SE iBook.  This is my go to G3 machine for running 9.2.2 and 10.4.  With an upgraded SVGA LCD, this computer is gold.

PowerMac G4 1GHz DVI:  when 9.2.2 and 10.5 are essential I ALWAYS grab this one.  The ability to pull disk images from the web quickly with 1GB ethernet, then boot into 9 and burn a Classic bootable disk.  You can't beat this work horse.

17" PBG4:  this is my go to portable studio.  I like running Logic in 10.5 on this guy. 

12" PBG4:  in my opinion, this was the best portable Apple ever built.  Yes, I do say better than the Duo.  It's agile, no frills, but has connectivity that's nearly standard to it's 15" and 17" cousins.  I use this as a strict 10.5 machine and I access Plex and my main iTunes/iPod library from here. 

20" iMac G4:  I love the G4 iMac design.  With the display able to move towards you, the experience of using this computer is spectacular.  I use it mainly for Sibelius notation work.  If you need to check small details, forget zoom, just move the display closer like a picture or a book.  Genius. 

PMG5 Quad:  I used to build an Xgrid with about 15 various computers that could run 10.3/10.4 for a few weeks every year and do mass video encoding to support 603, G3, and G4 machines on my Plex server and AFP shares.  But with a G5 Quad, it'll do it by itself and hardly strain it's eyes.  I dual boot 10.4 and 10.5 server and run lots of diagnostic netboots and netinstall images so when things go down I can get them back up in a hurry. 

Finally, a more modern one: 17" MacBook Pro.  It's a mobile desktop for all of my modern tasks.  ExpressCard, FW800, 3 USB ports, Thunderbolt (on 2011 models). 

Oh man, so many more to choose from.  I probably would have also said my hot rodded cube too, but it's currently not in use do to space constrictions. 

[TheGrandPubaa]

The sort-of next generation colorful Macintosh designs post-Jobs return are the most exciting designs to me overall(modern Macintoshes these days are so boring), but the iMac G4 is particularly clean and sexy. Despite my currently not owning one, she has called her siren song to me since I first laid eyes upon her maybe as far back as 2001/2002 in a commercial. She will be mine. Oh yes, she will be mine.

I mean, that whole range from around 99-02 was crazy cool. I guess if I had to pick a runner-up to the gorgeous iMac G4, it might have to be the Sawtooth Power Mac G4? I also don't own one of those - yet - but the whole subtly subdued aesthetic really works for me.

[twokayprod]

Easy. My trusted G4 Digital Audio 2x533 MHz. This thing was incredibly expensive, but it stuck with me through all this time, the only piece of electronics that has never let me down and still works today - 17 years and counting. Hell yeah!