Macbook Advice

[catfish743]

So A guy has a black macbook for 800 dollars. 1.5 years, 1 GB of ram 80 GB of memory. I'm going to be using it as a companion to my iMac. Do you think this is a reasonable price or should I shoot for lower? The only problems I can see are the brightness sometimes randomly adjusts but I don't know if that is normal and the click button is faulty uniess there is something between the battery and the round thing under the battery but above the mouse if the macbook were flipped over. Any suggestions?

 

[hankolerd]

depends on what you mean by companion. you can get an 32gb ipod touch for $500, and it would be a good companion, but if you mean, something you can take all your files with you when you are on the road, and access them at the same time, then that might not be what you are looking for. I don't think the $800 is a horrible asking price, but if the screen has some issues and the clicker, then it is definitely worth bartering.
I personally think the macbook air would be a perfect companion, but it is of course a little more spendy. depending on your budget, you might wait and see what apple does when they udpate the macbook pros. if you just need a lappy on a cheap budget, then I think you would be plenty happy with a macbook.

EDIT: Just saw you had an iphone, so an ipod touch probably isn't what you are looking for.

 

[Hankster]

What software do you plan on using on it? And, how often are you going to use it?

 

[catfish743]

depends on what you mean by companion. you can get an 32gb ipod touch for $500, and it would be a good companion, but if you mean, something you can take all your files with you when you are on the road, and access them at the same time, then that might not be what you are looking for. I don't think the $800 is a horrible asking price, but if the screen has some issues and the clicker, then it is definitely worth bartering.
I personally think the macbook air would be a perfect companion, but it is of course a little more spendy. depending on your budget, you might wait and see what apple does when they udpate the macbook pros. if you just need a lappy on a cheap budget, then I think you would be plenty happy with a macbook.

Do you think I should barter down to 750? he has other people looking at it so I don't want to lose the option of buying it.

What software do you plan on using on it? And, how often are you going to use it?

I plan on installing leopard as well as eventually 2GB of Ram. I am goign to use it for Word processing, taking my files home with me instead of dragging my iMac to and fro and just being able to log onto iChat and Adium places besides my dorm room. Also Downloading files but nothing too extensive like photo editing.

 

[amanda kathryn]

for $950 you can get a "new" refurbished macbook with those specs, a warranty, it's up to date, no screen issue, etc.

unless his price goes down, i would just go refurb.

 

[TallManNY]

The refurb santa rosa macbook will be more powerful than the macbook from a year an half ago. Though you will end up getting it in white or paying a good bit more. I think the extra power, warranty, no issues, would be worth spending a few hundred more dollars.

$1099 on the Apple store right now.
Refurbished MacBook 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - White
13.3-inch glossy widescreen display
1GB memory
120GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in iSight camera

But I think the macbook is a great computer. And getting it cheap means that you don't worry about it getting dinged up while traveling too much.

 

[catfish743]

I asked him how low he would go. Any other opinions? some other people have suggested another type of a computer that is not a macbook. But I want the mac OS.

 

[catfish743]

so 800 is the lowest he would go, But i was looking at refurbs on the apple store. I could upgrade the memory more and i could possibly get a bigger hard drive for about 150 more dollars or so. Any suggestions?

 

[heatmiser]

I'd buy a refurbished Macbook from Apple. It's worth it for the year's warranty and clean condition.

 

[Hankster]

I would be concerned over the screen, that's the last thing you want issues with. If you can afford it, go with a refurbished as they are safer and come with warrenty.

 

[andpeo23]

i would definitely shoot much lower...especially with the issues it has. offer him half and then start negotiating. if he is telling you he has other offers he may be blowing smoke. if it were me i would follow the advice of those above and go for a refurbished macbook. gl

 

[sparkyms]

If he is not willing to go lower, I'd tell him to forget it. Like everyone says, you can get a refurb macbook for not that much more. And they are great quality like-new machines!

My dad has a refurb, and you wouldn't know the difference other than it comes in a "refurb box".