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A used mac for my mom?

I

iamamthelawl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 16, 2007
15
0
I want to get my mom a present for her birthday because the current computer she has at home(I am away) is a dell from 2000 with a pentium 3 and a hacked version of xp(Thnaks comp usa /sarcasm/), and 128 megs of ram. The thing is i am lacking the money and I know she wants something new so I thought I would get her a mac. She will not care about what version of os x it is as long as it works so here are my options, which do you think is best?

1- Buy a used mac mini
2-Go on ebay and buy a used imac g4
3- Get a used power book

she uses the internet and watches some basic movies(mpegs not dvds) so It does not need a lot of power or apps. The most I will need is the apple version of office.

Any ideas?
 
Ibought my mum a Laptop last year to replace her ancient PC (she wanted Windows :( ) and She loves it.

I would deffo say get her the book my friend - she'll love being able to use it anywhere in the house and such like.

:)
 
I'd buy her a PC laptop or desktop. You can get her a machine that will last several times longer than any of the machines you listed above while likely costing less than any of the three.

She's obviously done fine with her current PC for the better part of a decade; the path of least resistance would be to get her an updated version that would allow her to continue doing her stuff.

The worst thing you could do would be to buy her a two or three year old machine (ie, inferior hardware) just because you wanted her to use a Mac. In fact, the worst thing you could do would be to buy her anything other than a c2d Intel machine, as one of those would enable her to work another eight years without a hitch.
 
I still think that the Powerbook is the way to go. A 12" would probably be fine for her, anything is going to be an upgrade. I would chose something that is maybe older, but more durable as opposed to a PC that might not last three years. I disagree with the theory that the PC will last longer, how many people still have a Compaq from 2000? One of the ones that will last five minutes without the charger...
 
She gave you birth, and you're getting her a used one? :p

Just kidding. Go for it. It's better than any PC Laptop out there for the $$$. You get her a Vista/XP machine, and you'll spend more time taking off viruses and troubleshooting, than her actually using it and being productive...
 
If you are going the PPC route I would go for a Powerbook. It will be great for her for all that she would use it for. If you want to get an Intel I think a used Mac Mini would be great for her. Just keep looking around for some good deals on eBay.
 
I would say go with the used mac mini. For the money you would get an intel mac and she could even use the monitor she has now (probably).
 
I bought my mom a MacBook (before she was using my old eMac) and absolutely loves Mac. She isn't a power-user and the lower end machines work wonders for her. I purchased her MacBook as a refurb to save money and bought the AppleCare.
 
Emac G4

I just was in the same situation, a mom with old pc. I bought on craigslist an EMAC G4 1.25gh for $300 ! . She loves the computer -does what she needs, email, internet, internet video playback. It was this forum that I got the idea, somebody recommended a G4 as solid processor.
 
i got my parents a TIbook from the marketplace here... loaded it with leopard..and its been the best thing ever.... three words "ichat screen sharing" for "support" ....it is the way to go for sure...
 
Do not get an iMac G4. People such as myself will pay more for an ilamp because of its shape, even though it is slow, has a small screen, and is otherwise completely useless.

I would recommend at least a core duo mac, if you go that route. The core duo is the same as the low end intel dual core processors.

on the same note, you could get a 500 dollar refurbished C2D PC (yes, even a laptop at this price) with Vista and ESET NOD32 antivirus, openoffice.org, firefox, thunderbird, and VLC (video lan client). This will satisfy almost any low end user. I recommend looking for specials or newegg.com if you go this route. this would actually be better than saying "learn this new operating system and general way of doing things on this not that fast computer" When you switch somene to a mac, they expect a LOT More.

I personally have been using vista since the beginning of the year, and i do miss my mac, but thats because im just a hardcore mac geek :D
 
I think with any computer you get, it's going to be an upgrade.

But, to me, a mac mini sounds like the best idea.
For the price and everything included, it seems like it will last the longest out of everything on your budget.

And Happy Birthday to your mom. :D

Good luck.
 
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