Help Needed Bringing Someone Over To The Good Side!

[TenderBranson]

Hey everybody.

After a year of lurking on this site, the great members of the macrumors forums convinced me to convert. I am now typing this from my 1.5 15 inch powerbook.

Anyway, my girlfriend has become intrigued by OSX, ILife, and just the overall feel of my mac. Her old Compaq, after 4 years of struggling, is useless, so she's back in the market looking for a new computer. She's debating between a G3 Imac and a new dell. Although her price limit is $500, she's hoping to spend between 200-400.

Being new to macs, I need some help deciding what system would be best for her.

This is what she intends to do with the computer:
Surfing, Reading e-mail, word, some excel, maybe watch a few DVD's, and hopefully some light photoshop work.

How much MHZ do you think she needs? Any specific models come to mind?

And by the way, if anyone has an old imac (which now sits unused due to the brand new Powermac G5 you recently bought ) that their willing to sell within that price range, please respond. Not only will you pocket some cash, but you'll help to bring one more person over from the PC world.

~John.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Although her price limit is $500, she's hoping to spend between 200-400.

\

You aren't going to find a new Mac in that price range. Period. Check e-bay or google search used Macs or check the Marketplace and Classifieds section of the forum.

Question. You said word, excel, Photoshop work. Does she have Office and Photoshop for her PC? If so she's going to have to shell out cash for the Mac version which almost as much as how much she wants to spend on the computer. If she already owns the software I personally wouldn't be pointing her to a Mac. She has a pretty hefty investment already. The title of your post sounds like you are actively trying to push her into getting a Mac instead of giving her the pros and cons which is NOT a good method of switching someone.

 

[NusuniAdmin]

I would not really recommened a mac to anyone unless they have even the slightest interest. Period.

 

[TenderBranson]

\

You aren't going to find a new Mac in that price range. Period. Check e-bay or google search used Macs or check the Marketplace and Classifieds section of the forum.

Question. You said word, excel, Photoshop work. Does she have Office and Photoshop for her PC? If so she's going to have to shell out cash for the Mac version which almost as much as how much she wants to spend on the computer. If she already owns the software I personally wouldn't be pointing her to a Mac. She has a pretty hefty investment already. The title of your post sounds like you are actively trying to push her into getting a Mac instead of giving her the pros and cons which is NOT a good method of switching someone.

I'm sorry, I should've made myself clearer. I do realize no new macs exist in that price range. Me and her were actually looking at G3 Imacs on ebay.

To SiliconAddict and Nusuni...I completely agree with you that it's not a good idea to push someone into buying an apple if they don't have any preexisting interest in one. This is not the case with her. She wants to get a used G3 Imac, but only if it will be capable of running panther, doing the tasks I listed above, and won't cost her more than she can afford.

To be a little more specific, how much mhz does she need? I believe the G3 Imacs scale from 233 to over 600 mhz. While the difference might seem unimportant in 2004, it's important to keep in mind that the latter model is has almost 3X the speed of the former. Would any G3 Imac be capable of running panther, or would you strongly recommend the 600 mhz model over the 233?

 

[TenderBranson]

Here, what do you guys think about this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5718505521&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

 

[janey]

imho for that price range she should just get someone (like you, perhaps? ) to build a PC.
it'll be easier and better than running Panther on a computer that can barely handle it (G3 iMac).

 

[egor]

Here's a question, does anyone think that they might be able to get an emac for that amount? That'd certainly be able to run panther and do all those things, right? But its $300 more... is that vast a saving possible on ebay? Or maybe at a refurbished outlet?

JUST A THOUGHT!

 

[solvs]

Forget eBay. Go to someplace like www.powermax.com or www.smalldog.com for refurb or used iMacs. I've seen 400 MHz G3s that could run Panther ok, and you can upgrade them as you can afford to. Only problem is the limited software they come with. I guess if either of you is or knows a student or teacher you can get discounted software. But even then it's going to be over her very low spending limit.

If you know how to build a PC, that would be the best thing. But even a cheap PC isn't going to be very good for that price if you buy at Dell or HP.

My advice would be to wait and see if you can get a refurb from Apple. Or one of these. About $600. I've had very good experiance with them, and when she's ready to buy something else, they do trade-ins.

 

[janey]

If you know how to build a PC, that would be the best thing. But even a cheap PC isn't going to be very good for that price if you buy at Dell or HP.

at that cost, build, not buy.

 

[TenderBranson]

This looks like an incredible deal...

I don't understand why this imac wouldn't be able to handle Iphoto/Itunes/Word/Surfing while running Panther without a hitch...

The last thing I'd expect this forum to recommend is a PC...

 

[janey]

This looks like an incredible deal...

I don't understand why this imac wouldn't be able to handle Iphoto/Itunes/Word/Surfing while running Panther without a hitch...

The last thing I'd expect this forum to recommend is a PC...

sure with that gig of ram it'll be sweet.
photoshop wont run nicely and fast, but it'll be okay i suppose. my iBook G3 800/384mb ram can sorta work with photoshop.
Or you can install gimp. Whatever works

dude, just because this forum has `Mac` in the name doesnt mean everyone's a die hard Mac loving zealot.
that people actually mentioned the PC as being potentially better than a Mac in this situation shows that we're not all close minded bigots
there's nothing wrong with a PC (or having one, using one, building one, ad nauseum), and I think it would be better because it would be more powerful, but whatever.