sure no problem. I am very curious myself also.
i just picked up a used 2.26 GHz C2D mini on ebay and in my research the G4s looked to be selling between 200-300... not sure if mine will fetch that much but we'll see.
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MAC users are emotionally attached
- Thread starter LuvKaya
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sure no problem. I am very curious myself also.
i just picked up a used 2.26 GHz C2D mini on ebay and in my research the G4s looked to be selling between 200-300... not sure if mine will fetch that much but we'll see.
I'm thinking of eBaying my 1.66 mini as well to get a 2.26. What did you pay for it, if you don't mind me asking?
got it for $650 with $50 bing cashback. so net $600.
i was originally looking for a base 2.26 with 2gb ram and upgrading the ram myself but i found the price difference between the base and 4gb models were less than the cost of the ram upgrade. also the bing cashback made the deal even sweeter.
Well no... they're priced the way they are because old Macs are still useful. I have no idea what the current rate of decay for a PC is, but any Mac you can get up to OS X will be useful to someone. I gave each of my nieces a 500Mhz iBook G3 last summer as a gift... I just saw them for x-mas and they both told me how much they use their laptops and enjoy playing online games, doing their art stuff etc on them. These are 10 year old Mac laptops (granted I refurb-ed them), but two girls under 10 years old have been using them to get online and have fun, and have not managed to break either of them yet. I just realized the laptops are older than the girls. That's hilarious. :-D
I also have a friend that uses a G4 Mac Mini (1.33Ghz) as a media center, he listens to a ton of music and watches movies on his big-screen TV through it. He bought it for $160 on Craigslist with an upgraded hard drive and a fresh install of Leopard.
So you can argue that G3's and G4's are dinosaurs and are no longer useful... but I disagree. Different users have different needs and for many an older Mac laptop is still plenty enough machine for their purposes.
I also have a friend that uses a G4 Mac Mini (1.33Ghz) as a media center, he listens to a ton of music and watches movies on his big-screen TV through it. He bought it for $160 on Craigslist with an upgraded hard drive and a fresh install of Leopard.
So you can argue that G3's and G4's are dinosaurs and are no longer useful... but I disagree. Different users have different needs and for many an older Mac laptop is still plenty enough machine for their purposes.
LuvKaya:
You have it backwards... the high prices are not set by the sellers, its set by the buyers. And buyers have not yet had the opportunity to become "emotionally attached" to their systems yet. So, I would say - in my humble opinion - that emotional attachment has nothing to do with it.
I've also observed that many Mac owners never quite get around to dumping their old Macs when they upgrade. That may arguably be because of emotional attachment.
And, as regards Mac vs MAC. Accuracy in writing always a good thing, and MAC is not the same as Mac. In 2008 (give or take a year) the Hydro Power corporation in New Brunswick lost a contract dispute, to the tune of several tens of millions of dollars IIRC, due to .... a comma. Based on whether or not the comma was present the timing of cancelling a contract changed. The other party cancelled much sooner than NB Power thought they were allowed to, and NB power sued for their costs. They lost.
You have it backwards... the high prices are not set by the sellers, its set by the buyers. And buyers have not yet had the opportunity to become "emotionally attached" to their systems yet. So, I would say - in my humble opinion - that emotional attachment has nothing to do with it.
I've also observed that many Mac owners never quite get around to dumping their old Macs when they upgrade. That may arguably be because of emotional attachment.
And, as regards Mac vs MAC. Accuracy in writing always a good thing, and MAC is not the same as Mac. In 2008 (give or take a year) the Hydro Power corporation in New Brunswick lost a contract dispute, to the tune of several tens of millions of dollars IIRC, due to .... a comma. Based on whether or not the comma was present the timing of cancelling a contract changed. The other party cancelled much sooner than NB Power thought they were allowed to, and NB power sued for their costs. They lost.
I bought another G4 iBook on CL for $100 from some girl about two months ago... I cleaned it up (the software and the actual computer), dyed the top and bottom cases black, and put it back on craigslist for $350.... I sold it within an hour! And it wasn't to a stupid buyer, it was too a guy who has another iBook and a iMac... No emotional attachment here, just turned around and sold it for what someone would pay for it 
I bought another G4 iBook on CL for $100 from some girl about two months ago... I cleaned it up (the software and the actual computer), dyed the top and bottom cases black, and put it back on craigslist for $350.... I sold it within an hour! And it wasn't to so stupid buyer, it was too a guy who has another iBook and a iMac... No emotional attachment here, just turned around and sold it for what someone would pay for it
If that's what they pay for black, how much would they pay for PINK?
I read that statement as coming from someone who is not emotionally attached, and yet - the price is still high.
So you got a 2.26 w/4gb for $600? (free shipping?)
Did it come with any warranty?
For $79+tax(and a little patience in waiting) you could've got the same thing from Apple refurb with a one year warranty.
For me, yes, I'll admit, it's sentimental. I have a great emotional attachment to my very first Mac and have been girding myself for the past couple of days to prepare it for leaving my home and going to a new one. I'm not selling it, I'm giving it to a friend who will appreciate it and who is actually eager to have it with its original Tiger OS reinstalled. I have long since moved on to intel-based Macs and love them but that first G5 iMac will always hold a special place in my heart.....
Tomorrow I'll be firing up my baby and checking her contents once again to make sure I don't accidentally obliterate some important file that I'd overlooked and left in there, and then I'll be doing an erase-and-install, putting her back to the Tiger OS with which she first came into this household.
I'll miss my sweet G5 iMac........
Tomorrow I'll be firing up my baby and checking her contents once again to make sure I don't accidentally obliterate some important file that I'd overlooked and left in there, and then I'll be doing an erase-and-install, putting her back to the Tiger OS with which she first came into this household.
I'll miss my sweet G5 iMac........
On the contrary, old Macs are kinda worthless:
My MDD G4 is about 5 years old and worth $70-100 max.
My PowerBook G4 is 4 years old and I'd be lucky if I got $350 for it. I know, new computer at walmart. That machine cost $2000 4 years ago.
What are you comparing? IBM T series and tablets tend to hold their resale, so do some high end machines from other companies.
Just because the crap that cost $500 at walmart 5 years ago is worthless now? LOL.
My MDD G4 is about 5 years old and worth $70-100 max.
My PowerBook G4 is 4 years old and I'd be lucky if I got $350 for it. I know, new computer at walmart. That machine cost $2000 4 years ago.
What are you comparing? IBM T series and tablets tend to hold their resale, so do some high end machines from other companies.
Just because the crap that cost $500 at walmart 5 years ago is worthless now? LOL.
When you're lucky enough to get your hands on a sexy Mac Pro it's hard to resist getting emotionally attached to it Macs have a long lasting appeal. They're iCandy to the consumer!!!
Macs have a long lasting appeal. They're iCandy to the consumer!!!
I never have understood why people think Apple products (or any material object for that matter) are sexy. It just seems awkward.
I don't think it has anything to do with emotional attachment, more of people just trying to get some money back when they spent so much in the first place haha plus Macs usually hold there value a lot longer than a PC
You wont be complaining when you want to sell your mac.
Best post in the whole thread.. lol.. not that you would unless you wanna upgrade, n pay toward the new one!!
I think the people selling their older Macs are not emotionally attached. If they were, they wouldn't be selling them at all. It may just be that they don't need them anymore but still recognize the value of those computers and want to recover some of their investment.
True, the G4 and G5 chips are old technology. But if you pair them with an OS that's designed to run on them (Tiger), they still run very well.
A few months ago, I installed Leopard on my wife's Powerbook. It ran but it was quite sluggish. Last week, I reinstalled Tiger on it and now it runs like a champ. Just about as good as my 13" MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard.
The thing I've noticed, and this is what I also believe drives up the value of 2nd hand Macintosh's, is that Mac users are more careful with their computers ... and often retain all the original packaging.
A 3 year old iMac in pristine condition, well looked after, and sold in it's original box with original packaging and manuals/restore discs will fetch a healthy sum on the 2nd hand market.
It's nothing to do with emotional attachment, it's just that when people buy a quality device they tend to treat it that little bit more carefully, and as such the resale value remains higher ... especially compared to mass produced, cheaply made, PC boxes.
A 3 year old iMac in pristine condition, well looked after, and sold in it's original box with original packaging and manuals/restore discs will fetch a healthy sum on the 2nd hand market.
It's nothing to do with emotional attachment, it's just that when people buy a quality device they tend to treat it that little bit more carefully, and as such the resale value remains higher ... especially compared to mass produced, cheaply made, PC boxes.
Used Macs sell for high prices because many people do not need the performance provided by the latest processors. Most people want to do a few basic things-- email, web, chat, word processing-- that are easily handled by older processors. However, such people DO put a premium on systems that are easy to use and manage. OS X beats Windows XP hands down in this regard (regardless of what some people may think of Windows 7). That's why older Macs are much more desirable than older PCs.
As far as "emotional attachment" by sellers determining the market-- without a corresponding emotional demand by buyers-- that's just laughable to anyone who has even glanced at an Economics text. Market price is determined where supply intersects demand.
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