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Shreve Systems is Dead and Going
perfessor multigeek writes "Since back in '78, Shreve Systems has been the funkiest aftermarket source of Apple stuff. Well, not anymore. They're going out of business right now and any folks looking for hundred-dollar working laptops (with bag and Works), ABD keyboards for a fiver, or Mac Plus supplies, better get over there soonest." You could start your own online store with what you could buy over there.
Shreve Audio bought the domain name.
Every time I click the link in the article, I get http://www.shreveaudio.com...
I could have sworn it was Apple Besktop Dus... oh, well.
--
I've had this sig for three days.
No wonder these guys went out of business. Look at the prices for refurbished 6-7+ year old machines. If these are actually market prices, anyone want an 9500/180MP 128/4GB/4x CD-ROM/ATI Nexus 128 for $1200? Funny you can find nearly the same thing on eBay for $45.
The PowerBooks they're showing most prominently on their page are 5300's. Anybody who's ever owned one can tell you that these are far and away the worst laptops Apple ever made. They're bulky, hot, and they were even slow by the standards of their day.
I wouldn't wish this laptop on my worst enemy, even for $199. They should be paying people to haul their 5300's away.
It's not entirely clear how that $199 price applies to the PowerBook shown, anyway. Their price list shows the original PowerBooks-- the 100 and 140-- for $199, but the 5300's are $450 and up. At that price, they're definitely not worth it.
And check out their prices for the 3400's-- nearly a thousand bucks for a laptop with 16 MB of RAM and a 3 GB hard drive! Considering that you can get a brand new iBook for just a few dollars over that, these prices make no sense at all.
I'll be sorry to see Shreve Systems go, but at these prices, I honestly hope they don't get any takers.
I write in my journal
I can't see how this is a valid slashdot story. Well, yes they have some fun old mac stuff (if you really want an old PowerMac handing around), but who's ever heard of them before? Their website generally sucks and they seem to be simply drawing people into their liquidation and audio store.
You obviously haven't been a Mac user too long, or have been living in a cave.
Shreve Systems was selling refurbished Macs for almost as long as I've used them. I still have an old Quadra 610 pizza box that was my first computer (like, only mine, not the family computer). My dad bought almost every pre-G# Mac he ever owned or specced from Shreve. For the Mac user without the deep pockets or with a frugal streak back in the day, they were the only place to look for equipment. Even these days, you never know when you're going to need to replace parts on someone's old PowerMac or need an AppleTalk card for an ImageWriter, and Shreve were the guys to talk to. Now that source has dried up.
You can get nice, used Blue and White G3 systems from ebay for about 300-500 dollars, and those will run OS X and modern software, especially after a RAM upgrade.
3400c/240 Refurbished 16/3GB/CD $949
This is for a crappy old powerbook with 16 megs of ram and 3 gigs of hard drive space. You can get a brand new iBook 700 mhz G3 with OS X 10.2 for $999 from Apple!
Tips and Tricks for Mozilla
I'd give that to the portable or perhaps the PB 140
I've owned 'em both. The PowerBook 140 was small, snazzy, and pretty fast running System 7.1 or whatever it was. The 5300 was slow, slow, slow. Who the hell cares about video out when the computer is so damn slow?
I write in my journal
Having said all that though with eBay getting bigger and bigger it is often cheaper to find legacy machines there. Any business that depended upon legacy machines and legacy parts either would go out of business or just end up marketing with eBay. But it would be hard to keep the margins if you weren't buying large stocks of those parts.
That was the Veta Bersion
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
You sir, are correct. My bad. Most embarrassing.
How could I screw up one last chance to recall the best low-bandwidth bus ever made? After all, how could we ever forget a bus that performed *above* spec for almost fifteen years? *
I blame too much caffeine and not enough sleep; after all, it couldn't be the fault of my sloppiness, could it?
Rustin
*the ABD spec was actually rather loose while the chip set used by Apple was extremely consistent. When the clones came out and worked merely to spec (for example, not complying with the rock-solid Apple ADB waveform) a number of ABD devices such as the late, lamented ABD I/O failed and had to be reworked to the new, less-rigorous hardware. Ah, I'll miss ya! -R
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
Okay, so enough sentiment. Y'all are bitchin' too much about lack of places to get goods. You want a frickin' ad? Here's a frickin' ad!
Perfessor Multigeek's Guide to Mac Stuff Sites
(incomplete 'cause otherwise you'll never drop by my site when I put up my new Mac links next month)
Guide to Mac CPUsThis is Apple's own site for detailed specs on all their machines ever. I'm starting you off on the page for older machines to remind you that a well-configured 1996 Mac w/ a USB/Firewire card can run OSX just fine, thank you very much.
Mac of All TradesGetcher used macs here! Pretty visuals, delicious prices, detailed info. Selection could be better and there's no old stuff at all but I can deal with that. Have I bought from them yet? Nope. Am I likely to in the future? Yep.
MacResqThe best place I've found overall to pick up gear. Even the guys in that article figured that out.
Focus of Mac Hardware good workaday resource for doing mods. No cool toys. Considerable good data.
Missoula Mac User Group, Yeah, I know that you haven't heard of them; neither has anybody else outside of Montana AFAIK. Best place for overall newbie resources.
Powermax Cheesy setup, improving selection, good prices.
ResExcellence In the old days I would have suggested MacFixit, but these guys have taken their place. If you've been in the Mac world for a while you'll recognize them as the old-time source extraordinaire of ResEdit hacks.
Small Dog Shrinking selection, great quality, excellent service, annoying interface. Bottom line, these are the guys to turn to for premium service, support, and savvy. Been around quite a while and, hey, they enclose coupons for Ben and Jerry's.
applefritter. They've built Macs into everything from 1930's radios to LEGO people to ziplock bags. You can't buy anything there, but still much fun.
Think Secret Nice little rumor site. Some cool moments.
Of course, for those of us in the New York City area, there's always TekServe, an Apple and media gear mecca. You want to know what Lou Reed, Jam Master Jay, or Oliver Pratt are using? Ask them. You want toys? They got 'em. Ten cent cokes, vintage radios, serious testing gear, and a massive knowledge base. Hell, I once even applied for a job there when it would have meant giving up a far-better paying sysadmin gig. If they're good enough for Steve J., then they're worth a look.
Oh, by the way, the last time that I posted this list I included Shreve. What did I say?
ShreveExpensive, distracting, but the best place to get weird low-end stuff like Mac Plus manuals and Daystar cards.
There. You all feeling better now?
Rustin
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
Those guys have a very bad repuation in the Mac community. You might be able to get something from them online but, that is the extent of it especially since their support and quality, not to mention prices are not good.
Word of mouth on these guys is not exactly positive.
Everyone who has dealt with Shreve Systems has discovered that they are an organized crime ring. This is not an exageration... If you aren't patient enough to read my tirade just take a look at this link to a usenet search for Shreve Systems... 2700 unhappy customers, 'nuff said.
Whats more, dealmac.com started their consumer complaints section because of Shreve Systems!
Here is my personal experience. I bought a mother board from them some years ago. I paid full price for a NEW motherboard and recieved a USED motherboard. The salesperson assured me it was new even though I could plainly see that someone had unproffesionally modified the board with a soldering iron. I checked the PRAM and discovered that the board had over 9000 hours of use logged on it! I sent it back the day I got it and was charged a $100 restocking fee. When I explained that I had ordered a new part and they sent me a used part they would press the infinite hold button on their end then hang up.
So I was steamed and started to do some research. I was collecting information to file to the Better Business Bureau. (I discovered that the Louisiana BBB is a faceless black hole of inaction.) Searching online, I came across former Shreve Systems employees confessing to crimes committed while on the job as some kind of revenge for getting fired/laid off. The stories ranged from changing printers page count back to zero, to selling completely broken equipment and then charging restocking fees when the customer returns the part.
Macworld and macweek magazine should never have continued to publish their ad in the back with the knowledge of these kind of business practices. Shame on them.
It's worth noting that Shreve Systems tends to seed various web pages with false positive reviews of themselves to throw off first time buyers.