350 G3 iBook or Powerbook with cd-rw ?

[FrankAZ]

Greetings from Arizona,

My daughter just graduated from highschool .... top of her class !!!

D-m! What parent doesn't appreciate that ?! <G>

As a grad gift we gave her a chunk of cash ($1100+) to buy an iBook from MacMall.

Being the frugal girl she is, she's decided to buy an older Mac and pocket the difference.

She asked me to search for a new/discontinued Mac and gave me a list of specs.
Was a Mac with this combination of specs even made.
Is $700 a possibility ?
If so, would someone suggest where I might purchase one online ?

These are minimum specs (except the price):
G3 or G4
iBook or Powerbook
128MB RAM
350Mhz
OS-X compatible
5 GB hard drive
cd/cdrw
$700

I felt that she might do better getting a less expensive cdr model and get an external burner. Does that make sense ?

Thanks,

Frank

p.s. Thanks to all who gave much good advice in reply to my dumb cdrw speed question a while back.

[blue&whiteman]

how about this (http://www.macofalltrades.com/product.asp?dept%5Fid=5&pf%5Fid=G3700IB2&mscssid=5DWV1PQ87S338HNEH4RABL472CFMAX6F)

its more machine than she even wants and its only 600

unless all she wants to do on it is word processing and web browsing I really advise higher than 350mhz. 500min esp with a G3. you could get away with a 400 if it was a G4. osx runs much better on a G4 cpu. also when it comes to watching movies on it or anything like that a G4 will do much better also.

btw.. good for her on the grades and its great that she has a dad like you who can show her how good hard work is with a nice apple laptop :)

others I found:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14909&item=4133419654&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14909&item=4133760734&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14909&item=4133515172&rd=1

[sigamy]

Check Apple's Special Deals page for refurbs and previouse generation models. Go to http://store.apple.com and click on the Red "Sale" tag on bottom left. This page changes daily so check back often.

She'll be able to get a much faster processor than the 350mhz you quoted. If she wants to do iMovie, Photoshop or other Altivec-enabled apps she'll want a G4. If she is just doing word processing, email and web then a G3 will be fine.

I disagree on the external burner. Even though she may only use a burner a few times, it is very nice to have one built into the machine. She can burn music CDs and back-up college papers onto CD.

Good luck and congrats to her!

[sockeatingdryer]

You should just tell her to go ahead and get one of the new iBooks. And I'm about 70% serious and 30% joking. I'm a rising Junior (high school) and I bought an iMac 466 G3 that I thought would last me until graduation. Well, it barely lasted me my Freshman and Sophomore years. I went and got a SuperDrive eMac that I'm keeping until graduation, then I'm getting an iBook. (Maybe even take the eMac with me, too...).

In short, DON'T buy an older machine. It really isn't more economical... trust me. Show her this post if you can't convince her yourself. I tried it... didn't work.

I think the only older machine she should get would probably be this one. (http://www.smalldog.com/product/12652639)