Help on buying cheap Mac for little sister

[Bosox3]

My little sister has been begging me to buy her a laptop for christmas..so Ive been looking online for one thats not soo expensive as the macbooks..ect.

Id rather buy her a Mac rather than those Acer Laptops most stores are having sales with.

She's 14 years old and wants it for basic homework (word..excel..ect) and internet surfing.

Ive been seeing a few nice Ibook G3's for cheap but I wasnt sure if they would be fast enough. I know what she'll be doing doesnt need the fastest speeds but just in case she plays around w/ other mac features..Ilife..ect.

 

[Dybbuk]

G3?

Come on big bro, show her some love. Just how much are you willing to spend?

 

[Bosox3]

G3?

Come on big bro, show her some love. Just how much are you willing to spend?

haha...I buy her whatever she wants all the time...but im not about to spend a G on a laptop she will prob ruin shortly after.
Since the Acer one is around 378...Im wasnt looking to spend anymore than 450ish.

 

[aross99]

I wouldn't get anything less than an old iBook G4 with a 1.0G cpu and 1G of Ram.

I had Tiger running on a Powerbook G4 1.0 w/768K and it ran pretty well. Surfing and e-mail was fine. Office X ran fine, and I even ran some Photoshop 7 work on it.

I upgraded it to Leopard, and it works OK, but I think it could use more ram.

The kids (13 & 16) run AIM, Myspace, and Facebook on it ALL THE TIME, and they love it.

What they didn't like was running photo booth with an external iSight. It works, but its pretty s...l...o...w...

Problem is, you can find a refurb Macbook for around $800-$900, and these are WAY WAY faster. I think the iBook G4's are at least $500, and the screen stinks @ 1024x768. The 13" macbook has a much nicer 1280x800(?) screen.

With any G4 you are deadended with Leopard, but you have a very workable machine for basic uses. With an Intel machine, you should be good to go for a while.

I would really try to find a refurb macbook for the best value, or a nice used iBook G4 for $500 +/-... If the macbook is Apple refurbed, then you get the standard 1Y warranty too...

The new macbooks @ $1099 are a steal. You get a great machine with 1G of ram...

 

[brop52]

Unless you have money growing on trees get a G4.

 

[Dybbuk]

haha...I buy her whatever she wants all the time...but im not about to spend a G on a laptop she will prob ruin shortly after.
Since the Acer one is around 378...Im wasnt looking to spend anymore than 450ish.

Can you get your parents to pitch in on it with you, and maybe get her a Core Duo MacBook?

 

[tingly]

Neo Office is a free knockoff of the Word/Excel/... programs, save you a bunch there.