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acoustics940

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2006
85
0
I will be buying a notebook next month for college and keeping my desktop at home it takes up way to much room and is a pain. I have been looking around and think I want a mac most pc laptops I have seen get old and shabby looking within a year and slow down to horrible speeds so. I have a friend who has a mac I am not quite sure what kind but its almunimum and extremely small with only like 100 something mb a 800 mhz and 35 gb hd I think. I was extremely impressed by how fast it ran even after 3 years for such low speed cpu and low memory. I will be using it for usual school work microsoft office internet music burning things and about and hour a day or less some warcraft 3/ starcraft. I have been looking at the g4 ibooks I know they are older but I have found some good deals that would save me alot of money like $700 ones with decent stats 1.3ghz 768mb and a video card. I would just like to know from experienced mac users would it be wise to buy one of these for school and not have to buy a new one within a couple of months? I will be buying one in January I am a student so things over $1000 get kind of hard to pay for so the g4's sound good to me
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
I will be buying a notebook next month for college and keeping my desktop at home it takes up way to much room and is a pain. I have been looking around and think I want a mac most pc laptops I have seen get old and shabby looking within a year and slow down to horrible speeds so. I have a friend who has a mac I am not quite sure what kind but its almunimum and extremely small with only like 100 something mb a 800 mhz and 35 gb hd I think. I was extremely impressed by how fast it ran even after 3 years for such low speed cpu and low memory. I will be using it for usual school work microsoft office internet music burning things and about and hour a day or less some warcraft 3/ starcraft. I have been looking at the g4 ibooks I know they are older but I have found some good deals that would save me alot of money like $700 ones with decent stats 1.3ghz 768mb and a video card. I would just like to know from experienced mac users would it be wise to buy one of these for school and not have to buy a new one within a couple of months? I will be buying one in January I am a student so things over $1000 get kind of hard to pay for so the g4's sound good to me

I figure when you say "college" and stuff you're from the US. If so, check out the Refurbished store - you can pick up older models that have been returned, fixed and passed a second quality control check before being sold at a significant discount - you also get the full Apple warranty if something goes awry.

If you go Here
you can find some great deals on new Intel Macs, with MacBooks below the $1000 mark, there's a black one there for US$899.

I'd really steer clear of the iBooks now, they're great machines but the future is Intel and you may as well spend a little extra cash to get something that's going to take you into the future in comfort.

Don't forget that as a Uni student you'll be eligible for the Apple Education discount - check out the education store online for pricing.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
Sounds like your friend has a 12" 867mhz Powerbook. They are great machines. My mom's is running fine and almost as fast as my 1.5ghz 12" Powerbook.

Shop around for a cheap iBook. They can be had.
 

operator

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2006
110
0
Canada
I've been using a 12" ibook for almost 2 years now - it still runs perfectly. This computer is a real workhorse - it has seen almost constant use since I got it, has performed very well, and never crashed ever (not even once!). I think an iBook is still a good choice, as long as you get a good price. Also, the iBooks have really good battery life... 4+ hours.
 

acoustics940

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2006
85
0
Ok I am a noob what would be a decent setup and how much should I pay for it. I was thinking a 1.4 with 1gb if i can find it for around $800 But what is a good g4 cpu. I know they are diffrent from intels and amd I have no idea what the diffrences are in powerpc processors
 

steelphantom

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2005
555
1
Ok I am a noob what would be a decent setup and how much should I pay for it. I was thinking a 1.4 with 1gb if i can find it for around $800 But what is a good g4 cpu. I know they are diffrent from intels and amd I have no idea what the diffrences are in powerpc processors

For 800 bucks, you could get a refurbished MacBook from the Apple store. It would be way faster than a G4 laptop and would be more "future-proofed." The refurbished machines come with 1-year warranties and are essentially new (save the packaging). If you can swing $800, definitely go with a MacBook.
 

acoustics940

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 14, 2006
85
0
Yea they are $799 but with tax and mac office it will be about $1200 =/ TN tax is a killer and mac office is insane
 

steelphantom

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2005
555
1
Yea they are $799 but with tax and mac office it will be about $1200 =/ TN tax is a killer and mac office is insane

You can get Office: Student and Teacher Edition for $149. Still not exactly dirt cheap, but better than the regular $399. See if your school (or prospective school, if you're not in college yet) offers discounts on Mac software. They might be able to get you an even better deal on Office.
 

n-abounds

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2006
563
0
I have an iBook you can have for cheap. PM me if you're interested...

1.07GHz
768Mb
80G HD (it's a new hd cause I wanted more space)
Superdrive
14" screen

I know 1.07 is lower than some iBooks, so I realize it will bring the price down. But yea, PM me.
 
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