iMac G5 20" - what is a good price?

[Edd2104]

I have found an iMac G5 20" on eBay that is ending very soon. It has a 1.8GHz PPC processor, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. It also has a Superdrive installed. At the moment, the current price is £205 and there's only an hour and a half left. I am very, very tempted by this deal. It would be my first Mac and I was wondering how much would be too much to pay for it. It doesn't appear to be wireless-enabled; would that be difficult to alter? Or could I just buy a USB stick? I would also have to purchase a keyboard and mouse or use my current ones. The final disadvantage is that it is currently running 10.3. Would it be able to cope with Leopard? I think the machine is well-specced enough to do what I'd want to with it, which would be web-browsing, work and photography, along with storing a collection of recorded videos. I'm guessing it would cost me in the region of £100 for Leopard, a new Apple keyboard & mouse set and a wireless adapter? Please find the item description at the bottom of this post.

Thank you,

Edd

PS. First post!

You are looking at an Apple iMac G5 that my dad has asked me sell for him. It is about 2 years old, has been used by him at home, still comes in the original box and has still has the original protective stand tape on it. It has a 20" widescreen and he had it upgraded to the maximum amount of RAM that this model can take - 2Gb. The 160Gb hard drive has been cleared down and the Mac OSX (10.3.5) has been re-installed. He has kept the mouse and keyboard, but these are simple and cheap to come by. Further features are :-

Superdrive DVD writer (writes and reads DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW discs)
nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 AGP graphics (64MB VRAM)
Three USB ports
Two FireWire 400 ports
Line input socket
10/100BASE-T Ethernet port
Internal modem

Supplied are the original Software Install DVD's and the mains cable.
No scratches on the casing and no dead spots on the monitor.
I don't want to ship this item even though it's in it's original packaging so bear that in mind if bidding.

Any questions drop me a line. Good luck !

[themanfromvlad]

I think it's hard to justify that purchase, especially if you are going to throw more money into it. PPC Macs are unfortunately just not that great of an idea right now, more and more developers are dropping support for it, and the processor just can't keep up with a lot of things. It will struggle even with some of the basic things you mentioned you want to do. I have that same computer at work and some websites can slow it down. Although I will say with 2Gb of Ram and Leopard it has been decent for me.

I'd save a bit more and get a refurbished or used Intel Mac.

[Vulcan]

I agree as well. The refurb store had older Intel C2D iMacs going for $699 just yesterday.

[Dustman]

Originally Posted by MysticMage

I agree as well. The refurb store had older Intel C2D iMacs going for $699 just yesterday.

He's in the UK though. Not even a Mini refurb would be that cheap there. I would save up an extra $100 or so and get an intel mac on eBay. Even a Core Duo (as in first generation intel macs) would kick the G5's a$$ in terms of processing power.

[Edd2104]

Cheers for your help. The price has risen to £310 with about five minutes left now; I just don't think that, having taken on board your suggestions, it's worth it. I will be looking out for Intel Mac Minis from now on. I do have a TFT monitor (albeit a nasty beige 15" one), and a keyboard & mouse so I guess they are a good solution. I am also interested in the iMac G4s, although I do recognise that you pay a premium for the design and it's not really the best investment. My friend has one and watching DVDs on the screen is great.