OK - What's the real deal with used iBook prices?

[FoxyKaye]

Here's a question for anyone who has an opinion: What's going on with used iBook prices right now?

I'm passively looking for a used iBook/Powerbook G3 or G4, and the three minimum requirements I have are: DVD drive, wireless installed, and Firewire. This opens up anything from the last revision of the clamshells all the way forward. Frankly, I'm not looking to spend more than $200.

However, looking on Craigslist (and eBay for that matter), the prices make no sense - I'll see a G3/500 for $350 and a G4/1.2 for $450, or a clamshell for $500 and a G4 for $300. Is it that folks just don't know where to price things right now, or is there some other force at work? What would be a fair and realistic price given that the PPC models are essentially yesterday's technology now and the Intel Macbook entry level can be had for $1099.

Folks like lowendmac.com and everymac.com give some current "street" prices, but I don't see a lot of people being consistent with these either - prices are either way over or way under.

Note: I'm not complaining that I haven't yet found a laptop at my price point - I'm biding my time and really have no urgent need to acquire now vs. later. I'm just trying to point out that prices seem to be all over the map when they used to be fairly predictible, and I'm not sure what's actually a "real" price for any of these notebooks anymore. Thought it might make a decent discussion (or not), since there's a lot of marketplace exchanges on MR, and I've been very fortunate to find some amazing deals here and there's a good concentration of people who can say with some authority that they know what they're talking about.

Here's a few examples from Craigslist:

* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sys/189081120.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/sys/188908865.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sys/188779187.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/188731111.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sys/188587657.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/188944852.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sys/188585539.html
* http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/188243940.html

 

[w_parietti22]

Sorry. no way you going to get a G3 or G4 for $200. $300 for a G3 maybe.

 

[After G]

I think some people value their Mac hardware more than others. You also have to consider the fact that the person may have spent a boatload of money upping specs other than the CPU (HD, Memory) and wants some return on their investment, or at least fair pricing for the add-ons they made.

 

[kaboutertje]

Second hand mac buyers are simply dumb. Since the sellers never settle for less, I don't care though I also sell my macs for far too much if people keep buying it.
I'm going to sell my gaming pc soon though, it's 3months old and bought it for about 1k, but I would be happy if I could sell it for about half of it. It should be the same way with apple gear, but a lot of people buying them don't care about specs but only about how they look, so yeah the prices seem to be right.

But I would just save up and buy a new one, or buy a used windows one

 

[disconap]

People on Craigslist tend to have no idea whatsoever what something is worth. It sucks if you're a seller (I tried to sell a $900 amp for $450 and some guy tried to talk me down), but it's great if you're a buyer--I got a box of tech, including unopened wireless cards (3 of them) for $5 from some girl cleaning out her garage...

 

[quigleybc]

Just find one that is close to what you want and offer them $100 less....that's what I do.