![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/c\/ca\/Macintosh_IIcx.jpg\"alt=\"Original "\\"Im")
\n I still have a Mac IIcx<\/a> that uses a single SCSI Drive. I fire it up every 6 months. I use it to help a client. I am amazed that it still works so l grin every time l turn it on. It was very expansive in its time.<\/p>\n
I also have a school client that runs System 7 because of 1 specific long-abandoned program.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThat\u2019s crazy – the Macintosh IIcx came out in 1989, so that machine is 33 years old! For those too young to know, it sports a 16MHz (not GHz) Motorola 68030 processor. Apple uses their own Apple Silicon processors now, before that Intel, before that PowerPC, and before that<\/em> they used Motorola processors.<\/p>\n
Sandy Foster \u2014 Elago Apple Watch Charging Stand<\/h3>\n
Elago Apple Watch Charging Stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \n When I bought my first Apple Watch, waking up in the middle of the night to order that first available version, I used the included charging cable on my nightstand to juice it up overnight. It was pretty easy to do, but it was also pretty easy to knock the Watch off the charger in the night while reaching for my bottle of water. And then, after a couple of years (around 2017, I think), I saw the perfect solution online.<\/p>\n
Elago made the most adorable holder for the charging puck \u2014 it was in the shape of the original Mac Plus, which happened to be the first Mac I\u2019d ever owned way back when! It\u2019s true to the actual design, right down to the little hole we used to need to force eject a cranky floppy disk. The Watch slips into a slot in the top, keeping it in nightstand mode and taking up very little space. That\u2019s a real plus for me, since I don\u2019t have a clock on my nightstand. I still get a kick out of that little stand, which explains why I haven\u2019t ever purchased an all-in-one charging stand for my iPhone and Watch.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, that same stand is still available at www.elago.com\/…<\/a>, along with several variations ( www.elago.com\/…<\/a>), and it\u2019s very affordable at $14.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nWe are kindred spirits, Sandy, I still use my Elago Apple Watch stand on my desk in my studio. It\u2019s just as adorable as you say. It may not be as old as Barry\u2019s IIcx, but it\u2019s got that classic feel.<\/p>\n
Steve Davidson \u2014 AirPort Extreme<\/h3>\n
Airport Extreme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \n I\u2019m still using an AirPort Extreme 802.11ac that I bought in June 2013 \u2014 certainly not as a router or Wi-Fi access point (all that functionality has been turned off) but as a network attached storage device to host TimeMachine backups storage of big files that just don\u2019t belong on my MacBook Pro.<\/p>\n
It has attached to it a 6TB USB drive (it used to be two 3TB drives through a USB hub). Once upon a time (almost a decade ago), it was our home network router\/access point, but no more; once Apple abandoned the product, it lost that job \u2014 but as a networked files server it still excels. Apple stuff is built to last!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nIt never occurred to me that you could still use an Airport Extreme as network attached storage, but that\u2019s a great idea. The amazing thing is that this 2013 router has Gigabit Ethernet. The USB port is only USB2 but for your use, it\u2019s probably perfect, Steve.<\/p>\n
Tim Jahr \u2014 2011 MacBook Pro<\/h3>\n
2011 MacBook Pro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \n I\u2019m still using my Early 2011 MacBookPro laptop! This is pretty amazing when you consider that means we\u2019re coming up on almost 12 years of usage! Ok, to be fair, this has never been my work machine or even my workHORSE machine. I\u2019m a Windows SysAdmin by day and have generally had a Windows desktop at home as well for most of those years. I\u2019ve also bought several Chromebooks and Windows laptops for my wife, or for my work machine during those intervening years.<\/p>\n
But my MacBook Pro was always a slick machine. With the 13-inch model, it was incredibly light for 2011, yet with plenty of screen space to get things done. Now it feels kinda bulky compared to the Air or other products, and the screen resolution of 1280 x 800 looks toy-like compared to today\u2019s display panels. But do you know what? It still works great for most web browsing, email, and chat clients like Slack\/Teams\/Discord, and that\u2019s where I spend the overwhelming majority of my time on my non-work machines.<\/p>\n
This is a bit of a throwback for many people today, but I love that I can burn a CD for my wife to play in her car that doesn\u2019t have Bluetooth. Or I can rip a CD\/DVD when I get one. Yes, I still buy both – and not just those times where certain releases are ONLY available in that format, but just because I also love having a copy that\u2019s MINE and not limited to content deal changing or locker services going away, and with full album art and liner notes and such.<\/p>\n
As a bonus – and I swear I\u2019m not just saying this to get Allison mad at me – you know what I can do with this laptop? I can plug in any number of devices that I already own – a mouse, or an external keyboard, or a flash drive (to load up music for MY car, where there\u2019s also a compatible port), or a printer that will actually work 100% of the time when I click print (I swear wireless and networked printing still stinks in 2022), or a webcam, or a gaming headset, or even a delightful light-up LED Christmas tree in December \u2014 because this laptop still has a USB-A port! More than one of them even!<\/p>\n
I know USB-C is the future, but for all these devices I\u2019ve just named, USB-A is still WAY<\/em> more common [I did some research on this to make sure this wasn\u2019t just my personal bias – talking with the person who does all the hardware purchasing at my current and former jobs, which cover local government, K12 education, and higher education.<\/p>\n
In each case, new MacBooks were the only computers they bought that didn\u2019t have USB-A ports, and none of them had carried or purchased mice\/keyboards\/thumb drives\/printers that used anything but USB-A still]. Yes, I could do all these things with a dongle with a new MacBook. But it\u2019s even nicer (and cheaper) when it\u2019s built-in. And there\u2019s nothing to forget to bring with you when you\u2019re away from home. Extra bonus – I can charge my Bluetooth earbuds with the cable they come with too!<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a full-on Ethernet jack built-in – saving me in situations where the wifi is sketchy, or I don\u2019t have the password. There\u2019s a slot for SD cards if I have my digital camera with me and don\u2019t want to bring extra cords to transfer the photos.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s still one of the best keyboards I\u2019ve ever used as far as ease of typing and a satisfying amount of travel. And it\u2019s old enough that it has an awesome sticker on the front because I\u2019m not worried about ruining the look of a new laptop.<\/p>\n
Sadly, it hasn\u2019t been able to get OS updates for a couple of years now, so I no longer feel good about using it for work things or anything financial. And I can\u2019t put GarageBand on it (legally). And I know some of these features\/ports have been sacrificed in the name of making the devices thinner, and I\u2019ve come to grips with the fact that even though neither I nor my friends and family care one fig about having our phones and laptops be thinner than they already are, I know I\u2019ve lost that battle in Apple\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m sure a new Apple silicon Mac will be amazing in many ways. But I have a feeling this old thing isn\u2019t going the eRecyling center anytime soon!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nI think it\u2019s awesome you\u2019re still finding value in this vintage Mac, Tim. I\u2019ll pull back the curtain a little bit here – Tim and I have had numerous \u201centhusiastic\u201d conversations about USB-C and shockingly he and I are on the opposite side of the enthusiasm on that topic. Hence his gentle jab there.<\/p>\n
I have to say I did yet another fist shake this week as I needed to plug in 4 USB-C devices but I only had 3 USB-C ports on my M1 MacBook Pro. I hadn\u2019t carried the extra<\/em> MagSafe power cable so I had to choose between keeping my laptop charged while recording, or having my external USB-C display give me more screen real estate. I could have carried an HDMI cable too because I have one of those useless ports. I wonder if someday Tim and I will see eye-to-eye on this subject.<\/p>\n
\nWe\u2019ve got another half dozen \u201cI\u2019m Still Using It\u201d stories from listeners, and even one from me, but I\u2019m going to save them for the Christmas week. Thank you so much to everyone who wrote in with their stories. It\u2019s fascinating to hear about these wonderful tools that make you happy. If you have an \u201cI\u2019m Still Using it\u201d story, please send it to allison@podfeet.com<\/a> with that exact subject, and I\u2019ll read it on a future show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the NosillaCast we talk often about the new hotness \u2014 the phone you won\u2019t be able to live without, the charger that must be in your travel bag, or the newest note-taking app that will finally help you organize your thoughts. But we rarely talk about those tools that we\u2019ve been using for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[5596,772,5595,5594],"class_list":["post-27272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-2011-macbook-pro","tag-airport-extreme","tag-elago-apple-watch-charger","tag-mac-iicx"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Im-Still-Using-It-Logo.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27272"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27278,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27272\/revisions\/27278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Elago](\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0498\/9589\/9290\/products\/61xIR_2B5u_2BaL._SL1500_800x.jpg?v=1601653543\" "\\"Im")
![\"Flat](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/6\/67\/AirPort_Extreme_2007.jpg\" "\\"Im")
![\"2011](\"https:\/\/www.notebookcheck.net\/uploads\/tx_nbc2\/IMG_6499_1600.jpg\" "\\"Im")