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Help me buy a used mac!

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pottebaum

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 7, 2007
40
0
Hey,

I've gotten really excited lately at the prospect of buying a mac. I'm a student, though, so price is a major concern--meaning I'll be buying used off of ebay or something of the like.

So far, I've sort of narrowed it down to the emac (but I'll take suggestions). I'm not going to be using any high graphic demanding programs on this computer...I just need it to run smoothly.

Also, would I be much better off going with the Tiger operating system than I would be with the Panther?

Price range- anything below $400.

Thanks a ton!
 
Tarkovsky said:
A refurb Mini with you student discount shouldn't cost more than that.
Click to expand...


Hmmmm....That might work, but then I'd have to buy a new screen, keyboard, speakers, etc...and it wouldn't looks nearly as cool, either.

I'll look into it nonetheless. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Tarkovsky said:
A refurb Mini with you student discount shouldn't cost more than that.
Click to expand...

The cheapest core solo mini sells for $479 and you can't use the edu discount on refurbished machines. That route will cost much more than the OP's stated budget, especially after considering the monitor, keys and mouse.
 
After the discussing regarding the prices of used ibooks/powerbooks is that even an option. surely a refurb macbook would be the best option?
 
Good point. However I would imagine they already have access to a keyboard and mouse and monitour. An ibook would be very nice however. I use a 933, not fast but very functional for the basics of student life.
 
I'd much rather have a desktop, though. I'm not in college yet, so I'll probably start worrying about getting a laptop in a year or so.
 
hey you can buy my emac for $500 but the shipping may be a killer :eek:

seriously the emac is a great way into macs and mine runs like a screamer, never had any trouble with it at all. Also it runs photoshop BETTER than my new iMac :p

for a good looking mac at a great price go hunt one down, i remember when I bought mine the original flat screen iMacs were just out and for the same specs cost over three times as much. How much they have fallen in price eh?

good luck
 
eMac, without a doubt. My first Mac and still my favorite Mac. As has been said, shipping will be a fortune as one does actually weigh more than Luxembourg, but deffo worth it. Should be able to get one for under your budget. :)
 
I would say a Powermac G4 would be an option for you. You can pick up an older model for a few hundred, which would leave you extra for a monitor/keyboard/mouse. Then with a Powermac you can upgrade it later if you need to, if the original features are a little lacking. It won't be the fastest thing out there, but it's a good 'starter' unit. Mine runs tiger fine, a little slow on some newer apps. though. Depends on what you plan on using it for.

I would also suggest looking at Craig's list in your area. If you could pick something up localy, this would save you shipping charges. This is how I got my Powermac.
 
Thanks for all the help guys.

I'm still wondering, though..Would I be much better off with the Tiger OS than I would be with Panther? I've seen quite a few emacs with Tiger installed, but most of them have 256 ram...which I believe is the bare minimum for running Tiger. It'd probably run pretty choppy then, right?

And when I was checking out the requirements for certain programs (like iTunes 7.0), I'd see things like "10.3.9". Is the 9 just a version of the Panther OS that I could download for free from home?
 
pottebaum said:
Thanks for all the help guys.

I'm still wondering, though..Would I be much better off with the Tiger OS than I would be with Panther? I've seen quite a few emacs with Tiger installed, but most of them have 256 ram...which I believe is the bare minimum for running Tiger. It'd probably run pretty choppy then, right?

And when I was checking out the requirements for certain programs (like iTunes 7.0), I'd see things like "10.3.9". Is the 9 just a version of the Panther OS that I could download for free from home?
Click to expand...

10.3.9 is the final update on Panther.

But I'd be wary of running Panther if you want an even semi-modern system these days. I suspect that, once Leopard ships, you'll see Tiger 10.4.9 (probably) as the minimum requirement for a fair bit of newish software.

I suggest that you, if at all possible, bust your budget by a little bit and go for a Refurb Intel Mini. In terms of residual value - and performance - you'll get the furthest ahead.

Let's put it this way - a good (as oposed to a Sawtooth or Yikes) G4 Powermac will run you at least the $400 you cited. Same with a decent eMac. Both of them will lose 50% (or more) of their value within a year.
 
Panther works fine for me for now, and I really wouldn't bother upgrading to Tiger when Leopard is so close.
and people say macs are just for big *******
 
With a little patience, you can find a good deal on a PowerMac G4 tower on Craigslist. You'll have to wade through a bunch of people who think their 17" CRTs and pirated software somehow add value to the bundle, but great deals do pop up now and again.

I hope you could find something similar to the last Craigslist special I scored: Quicksilver 867MHz, 250GB drive (formatted to 128GB due to internal bus limitation), 1.12GB RAM, CDRW drive, GeForce 3 AGP + Radeon PCI video, keyboard & mouse for $250. Add a decent LCD display and you're all set.
 
I don't think the mini is really an option for me. The lowest priced refurbished one I can find at the moment is like $550, not including the screen, keyboard, mouse, and speakers I'd have to buy.

How about this offer:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...item=&item=140071348232&rd=1#ebayphotohosting

I already asked him and he said the computer comes with Tiger OS installed; Panther is just what he has the disks for. I know the price will go up as the end of bidding nears, though. I'm just throwing around ideas.
 
Yeah if you want to get into macs that looks pretty nice. Its specs are identical to my Ibook which I love. I run iTunes, Firefox, quicksilver, and leave it on for days on panther.
 
I haven't had one problem with my 700Mhz eMac in 5 years :) I'm running Tiger without a problem. Fast to boot, fairly responsive (I only have 384Mb RAM. Get that upgraded ASAP :p)

All in all, an excellent machine
 
^Which one of the two is more related to how responsive a computer is; memory or processor speed?

Thanks. :)
 
pottebaum said:
^Which one of the two is more related to how responsive a computer is; memory or processor speed?

Thanks. :)
Click to expand...

You wont get a top of line for that budget. Try getting a good well-oiled machine rather than worrying too much about memory or processor.
 
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