Is this PB a good deal?

[Rubin421]

A friend of a friend of mine is offering me the following 12" Powerbook for $1100:

1 Ghz G4
512 MB RAM
40 GB HDD
Built-in Airport & Bluetooth
Combo
With Panther, Office 2004 and Keynote.

1. Do you think this is a good deal?
2. Should I wait for the expo, even if I'm probably gonna go for a second hand PB?

Thanks guys.

 

[mcgarry]

A friend of a friend of mine is offering me the following 12" Powerbook for $1100:

1 Ghz G4
512 MB RAM
40 GB HDD
Built-in Airport & Bluetooth
Combo
With Panther, Office 2004 and Keynote.

1. Do you think this is a good deal?
2. Should I wait for the expo, even if I'm probably gonna go for a second hand PB?

Thanks guys.

(my answers do not take into account any software)

1. No ... unless your friend's birthday is coming up. It's not a crazy bad deal, but the specs/price are too close to a new iBook ... if the processor, HD, and optical drive are driving this decision, just go iBook. If you need some of the extra PB features/prefer its looks, check for deals around. My college bookstore is closing out the current generation (1.33 GHz, Combo, 60 GB) of new 12" PBs for $1110. SuperDrive version for not much more. These would have a better GPU and FSB too, even than the current iBooks. Of course that particular deal is only for faculty/staff/students at my school, but I can't imagine they're alone. I can't be the only person in this forum to have witnessed serious PB price drops lately!

2. Definitely. Prices on the current PBs will do anything but go up, and my guess is they are headed down. Speculation on this forum seems to have reached a consensus that even if not at MWSF, a PB bump is coming shortly (in January probably).

 

[dotnina]

Well, the software sweetens the deal a little, but only if you were going to buy that software anyway. Otherwise it's kind of a waste.

As has been mentioned, those specs are awfully close to the current iBooks.

Check this out: Amazon is having major rebates on some iBooks / Powerbooks. This iBook sells for $1000; once you throw the -$150 on that, and once you consider the absence of sales tax (err, unless you live in the few states where Amazon taxes), you get away with a very comparable machine to the one you're interested in, for just $850. Add more memory and you have almost the same machine, minus a few perks like the hard drive and possibly the graphics card (I'm not positive).

 

[mactropy]

Also, if you are a student at a university you are eligible for the educational rebate which would bring the entry-level PB (w/o SuperDrive) down to 1399 $.

That's pretty close to the price that you were quoting . . .

 

[thevessels]

i just got a :

15 AL powerbook
1ghz
768 ram
60GB HD
TONS of software ( final cut ect.. )
oh AND an airport extreme base station!
all in mint condition and original packaging
for ... 1200 US

im pretty darn happy with my setup...

you just gotta find the deals ... mine was eBay .. oh yeah!

oh airport and bluetooth aswelll...😀

 

[micvog]

A friend of a friend of mine is offering me the following 12" Powerbook for $1100:

1 Ghz G4
512 MB RAM
40 GB HDD
Built-in Airport & Bluetooth
Combo
With Panther, Office 2004 and Keynote.

1. Do you think this is a good deal?
2. Should I wait for the expo, even if I'm probably gonna go for a second hand PB?

Thanks guys.

FWIW I recently sold a 12" PB rev. C (mint with all docs and packaging) for $1500:

1.33GHz G4
768MB RAM
60GB HDD
Airport & BT
SuperDrive
Panther... no Office, Keynote

 

[yoda13]

Personally, I don't think that I would pay that amount for that setup. I think that I had rather have a new iBook. But that is just my two cents. 😉