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Cheap Ibook G4's?

M

MacDaddy951

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 7, 2005
107
0
Hi i'm new the Mac world and i'm lookin to get a Ibook G4 but there so expensive!?!?! At first i was gonna get a Dell Inspiron 6000 but i was reading peoples opinions on Dell's and they said they suck. Everyone says Apple's are the best so i'm lookin into getting an apple. I'm lookin for one under $900, i'm lookin at ebay and there expensive too! Is it even possible to get one under 900 bucks? and i'm not talkin 899.99 or 849.99 i'm talkin lower!!! LOWER LOWER LOWER!!! :confused: Somebody help me out!
 
check out the refurbished site on the apple store (the red tag deals section). If that's not low enough, you're going to have to go with some sort of used machine.

mac's aren't cheap, in that they last quite a while and hold up well. If you are wanting a "cheap" machine that's about what you'll get with the $500 notebooks from PC manufactuers
 
iBooks really aren't cheap at all. Nor are PowerBooks, iMacs, PowerMacs, eMacs.......

They are great little machines. I have 2 (14" 1.42GHz) and they are awesome. Get a refurb 12" or something. There is a 12" iBook G4 1.2GHz for $699. Get that. Cheapest you'll be able to get - from Apple.
 
Oh and by the way, welcome to the forums MacDaddy951! The people are nice here and are very informative. Welcome!! :)
 
are refurbished apple's any good? do they still work or are they all messed up inside?
 
thanks but i'm lookin for a g4 with 1.33GHz and 512MB and 40GB... i think i'll just keep lookin on ebay and spend the money... it's worth it right? right? :confused:
 
Macs are worth it. And the refurbs come with a full one year warranty and the ability to purchase AppleCare as well, just like a new Mac. I have heard great things about refurbs. They are not all messed up inside, and quite often, they have nice little extras like more memory, etc. in them. Don't dismiss them out of hand, they are a great deal, and IMHO, a less risky deal than ebay. Good Luck!! ;)
 
MacDaddy951 said:
thanks but i'm lookin for a g4 with 1.33GHz and 512MB and 40GB... i think i'll just keep lookin on ebay and spend the money... it's worth it right? right? :confused:
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Don't expect to pay less than $950 then. Really. Just save your money like me. I'm 13 and bought an iBook G4 14" in 4 months with NO help from parents... I'm getting a G5 soon, too. You can do it. :)

And to explain why I have 2 iBooks in my sig ... look at this thread. Read through the WHOLE thing. I got that extra iBook as no one else was using it - so now I have 2.
 
MacDaddy951 said:
are refurbished apple's any good? do they still work or are they all messed up inside?
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They just are "refurbished" and work in every single way. You are backed by Apple's 1 year warranty .. just like the new models.
 
lilstewart92 said:
Don't expect to pay less than $950 then. Really. Just save your money like me. I'm 13 and bought an iBook G4 14" in 4 months with NO help from parents... I'm getting a G5 soon, too. You can do it. :)

And to explain why I have 2 iBooks in my sig ... look at this thread. Read through the WHOLE thing. I got that extra iBook as no one else was using it - so now I have 2.
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lol it's not that i can't afford it i just don't wanna spend that much money cause then i'll be broke :rolleyes: i dunno it didn't take me that long to get a G in my bank account so maybe i'll just save up again... I really wanna get a mac! The refurbed apple's sound good but i need atleast 512MB, does the refurbed apple stuff on that site change often? There's a good seller on ebay who sells "reconditioned" apples and there priced good so i might have to get one from him and there cheaper. I'm a little hesitant about spendin that much on ebay though cause i don't wanna get ripped off.
 
Oh, I see, lol. Ok, I didn't mean to offend you if I did! Just be patient. You'll find the right deal sooner or later.
 
MacDaddy951 said:
The refurbed apple's sound good but i need atleast 512MB, does the refurbed apple stuff on that site change often? There's a good seller on ebay who sells "reconditioned" apples and there priced good so i might have to get one from him and there cheaper. I'm a little hesitant about spendin that much on ebay though cause i don't wanna get ripped off.
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You can upgrade the memory with third-party RAM for less money than Apple's. A reputable memory seller who tests and guarantees compatibility with the iBook would be safe.

I'm not much in favor of buying near-new machines from eBay -- for a minimal savings you have the inherent risks of not knowing who you are dealing with, and not being geographically close to them to deal with any problems. Also, the warranty status will be murky - theoretically the Apple warranty is transferrable, but not if the machine has been modified, abused or stolen.

Of course, it goes without saying that "near new" Macintoshes on eBay at large discounts have a pretty good chance of being ripoffs.

The Apple refurb iBook 14" 1.33 256/60 Gb Superdrive, Airport for $999 is a heck of a good deal, and you can up that RAM via third party.
 
CanadaRAM said:
You can upgrade the memory with third-party RAM for less money than Apple's. A reputable memory seller who tests and guarantees compatibility with the iBook would be safe.

I'm not much in favor of buying near-new machines from eBay -- for a minimal savings you have the inherent risks of not knowing who you are dealing with, and not being geographically close to them to deal with any problems. Also, the warranty status will be murky - theoretically the Apple warranty is transferrable, but not if the machine has been modified, abused or stolen.

Of course, it goes without saying that "near new" Macintoshes on eBay at large discounts have a pretty good chance of being ripoffs.

The Apple refurb iBook 14" 1.33 256/60 Gb Superdrive, Airport for $999 is a heck of a good deal, and you can up that RAM via third party.
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What do u mean by "third-party" like a computer shop or something? is that expensive? 256MB is really low for what i need the computer for. I'm using the computer to make music so i need the memory i don't really care about getting it online or anything i just use my desktop for that. But yeah it's hard to trust ebay sellers but the one's i buy from have good feedback or are powersellers i don't buy from others.

... and lilstewart92 it's cool i wasn't offended by ur comment at all :) but how are u makin that much money at 13? i didn't start workin till i was 16 that's good u got that money though keep it up! :cool:
 
MacDaddy951 said:
What do u mean by "third-party" like a computer shop or something? is that expensive? 256MB is really low for what i need the computer for. I'm using the computer to make music so i need the memory i don't really care about getting it online or anything i just use my desktop for that. But yeah it's hard to trust ebay sellers but the one's i buy from have good feedback or are powersellers i don't buy from others.

... and lilstewart92 it's cool i wasn't offended by ur comment at all :) but how are u makin that much money at 13? i didn't start workin till i was 16 that's good u got that money though keep it up! :cool:
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Thirt party is like another vendor to buy from. For RAM, I reccomend Crucial. Go to RamSeeker to find the best prices out there for RAM.

I made the money mowing lawns all summer long and I just got done mowing for 6 hours today. Can't wait until the season is done :eek: .
 
Do you install it or do u take it to a shop and do it? Learning about the wonderful world of Macs is fun :D
 
MacDaddy951 said:
sorry i have another question :p does the ibook have a burner?
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Only the 14" iBooks have DVD+RW burners. The 14" 1.42GHz come standard with DVD+RW burners . None of the 12" iBooks have had DVD+RW burners. The 1.2GHz 12" iBook G4 comes with a combo (DVD & CD+RW), the 1.33GHz 14" model can either come with a combo or a DVD+RW. Does that clear up your question?
 
lilstewart92 said:
Only the 14" iBooks have DVD+RW burners. The 14" 1.42GHz come standard with DVD+RW burners . None of the 12" iBooks have had DVD+RW burners. The 1.2GHz 12" iBook G4 comes with a combo (DVD & CD+RW), the 1.33GHz 14" model can either come with a combo or a DVD+RW. Does that clear up your question?
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yeah thanks ;)
 
MacDaddy951 said:
Do you install it or do u take it to a shop and do it? Learning about the wonderful world of Macs is fun :D
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You can do it yourself, a rather extremely small procedure... done it about, Oh, I'd say 2 minutes?

Just make sure you have a small enough screw driver. That is what held me up. :p

A eye glass philips screw-driver should do the trick. You can also just have someone at BestBuy do it or an AppleStore, if you feel uncomftoratable doing the procedure. It's not hard at all.
 
lilstewart92 said:
You can do it yourself, a rather extremely small procedure... done it about, Oh, I'd say 2 minutes?

Just make sure you have a small enough screw driver. That is what held me up. :p

A eye glass philips screw-driver should do the trick. You can also just have someone at BestBuy do it or an AppleStore, if you feel uncomftoratable doing the procedure. It's not hard at all.
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Wow! really! that's cool! OMG i should just get a refurbed one like someone mentioned and upgrade MBs it would be so much cheaper :eek: ! man u guys are good help! I'm gonna have to look more into this... thanks a lot ;)
 
First, go refurb if price is really a tight thing for you. Refurb machines are just as good, have the same warranty, same AppleCare-compatibility, and in fact usually go through as much and more stringent quality assurance testing than a brand new one off the assembly line. Save a few hundred there.

Second, if you're a college student (like at a local community college.. ahem), buy from the Apple Store for Education.

Also, really do a little thinking about your needs. Should you spend the $200-250 more to get the 14", in order to get a DVD burner? Or would it make more sense to buy the 12" iBook for under $1k, and spend $113 buying the LaCie d2 DVD+/-RW external drive from the cheapest vendor on Froogle? (The LaCie, additionally, offers dual layer burning, so you won't have to compress your DVDs that you're copying, or so you can burn more data, and even has a cool feature called LightScribe which allows you to print labels on the top of the discs if you get LightScribe-compatible blanks.) Obviously, for the vast majority of people, the second scenario makes more sense; you'll save money AND get a better product.
 
Jsmit said:
It seems as though the 699 USD iBook on the refurb page has a CD only drive (no burner).
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Oh, was that the one he was looking at?

Hmm... well I was ganna mention that the there are iBook 12" that only come with CD drives and those are EDU computers -- only able to be bought new from the Apple Store for Edu.
 
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