Buying tips needed

Hi, it would help people make suggestions if you tell us what you'd like to use the machine for

my initial suggestion would be to get a Mac Mini, a used or refurb one (old style before the refresh) should be a reasonable price now and will easily cope with light usage, you'll need a monitor to plug it in to mind

 

Do you have any authorized Mac retailers in your area? I'd recommend stopping by - you can usually find some nice refurbished models for much lower prices.

I'd recommend looking into a model that's a few generations old, either MacBook or iMac. Also, the suggestion was brought up for a Mac Mini - that's a great idea too!

In any case, before you purchase anything, make sure you stop by either a Mac retailer or an Apple store first. Play around with Mac OS and see what you think at first glance.

 

buying tips

you can save money by buying used. Macs are well made and they can last for many years. I would avoid purchasing any Mac with the G5 Power PC processor. These models have problems with overheating. Apple has discontinued supplying software and updates to all the Power PC Macs which were manufactured thru 2005.

I recently used mac2sell.net, an appraisal guide to Macs, in purchasing a late model iMac advertised on craigslist.com. I found that sellers often have no idea how to price their computers so prices vary. Mac2sell can show you where the values are.

The newer Intel based Macs will run the current Mac OS, Snow Leopard. The Intel Macs will support current applications and will be supported by Apple and by 3rd party SW makers well into the future.

 

I would also avoid the non Intel Macs because they don't support Snow Leopard (the current OS).

I suggest a Mac Mini. You can use a cheap PC keyboard, mouse and monitor and get the Mac experience. For a little bit extra, I would suggest an Apple keyboard so the command, option and control keys are properly labelled.

There is a dealer around here selling used PPC Imacs for $500 and used Intel Imacs for $800. I would skip the PPC version for the Intel version. I haven't seen used Mac Minis but I'm sure you can find one if you try.