Used eMac recommendations?

[gravyboat]

I'm looking to buy an eMac for a friend and trying to decide between two options. They're both combo-drive:

1. 1.25ghz with 1ghz ram with about 10 months left on the Applecare warranty;

or

2. 1.25ghz with 256 ram with basically zero mileage on it but no warranty (it's owned by a family friend who tried it for about a week and then went back to her old computer.)


Option 2 would be a little more expensive, plus more memory would be needed. I'm leaning toward 2 because hey, it's brand new, but I'm concerned about the lack of warranty.

I've run Hardware Test on it, got online, played around with the applications, and there are no issues. Is this about all I can do to test it out?

Also, how much of a factor is usage? Option 1 has been in use every day with some bigger applications- is it more likely to fail sooner? I realize there's no way to predict longevity, and from my own experience I know that Macs last forever, but I'm not familiar with eMacs and maybe there are some issues that I'm not aware of with them.

Note also that my friend plans to use this for a long time. She had an older eMac until now that she loved before it got stolen, and doesn't do anything more intensive than email-internet-digital photos.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

Tracy

 

[Macky-Mac]

....I realize there's no way to predict longevity, and from my own experience I know that Macs last forever, but I'm not familiar with eMacs and maybe there are some issues that I'm not aware of with them....

as you say.....there's no way to predict longevity

option 1 is cheaper, has more RAM and has 10 months of Applecare? that's the one I would go for

the fact that option 2 has "basically zero mileage" sounds appealing but that's also a negative because "problems" that might show up aren't covered by any warranty

 

[gravyboat]

Thanks for the reply, Macky-Mac. I appreciate your perspective and see your point. Option 1 had some issues earlier that were fixed and seems to be running smooth now- maybe that's a better bet.

 

[Eraserhead]

Definitely #1, as it is cheaper and has more RAM which you would need to add to the 256MB eMac.

 

[gravyboat]

Another vote for #1- I guess this makes it official 🙂

Thanks Eraserhead.