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wanting to buy cheap mac laptop

S

steezy1337

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 29, 2008
338
0
Carlisle, UK
hi guys,

i've been looking into buying a cheap mac laptop (probably a G4 ibook) but i didn't know if it was worth doing with it not being an intel machine. i'd only be using it for IM, listening to music and web-browsing when i'm away from my imac 20". do you think it's worth doing? i sold my windows laptop because i can't stand using the OS since i switched :D
 
Nice move on the Windows ditching ;)
What is your budget? Intel machines will last longer in the long run, but it all depends on how much you have to spend.
 
money's not really an issue i'd just have to save up for a bit longer, but i didn't really want to spend much seeing as it wouldn't really be used that much.

i've seen a G4 ibook with 1.42Ghz CPU, 1Gb RAM and an 80Gb HDD.
 
Yes, the ibook G4 would work very well, and will be fairly cheap. I paid $300 for mine, and never have regretted it.
BTW, I bought mine from betamacs.com . They were very helpful, and it came loaded with software, even though it was a clean install.
 
do you know if they sell to the UK? i've been looking on ebay in the shops there because i can't think of anywhere else that would sell them
 
I wouldn't recommend buying an iBook currently. A CoreDuo MacBook probably would be a lot better for you, check out eBay. They are like $500 now.
 
steezy1337 said:
hi guys,

i've been looking into buying a cheap mac laptop (probably a G4 ibook) but i didn't know if it was worth doing with it not being an intel machine. i'd only be using it for IM, listening to music and web-browsing when i'm away from my imac 20". do you think it's worth doing? i sold my windows laptop because i can't stand using the OS since i switched :D
Click to expand...

You may even be fine with a 900 MHz G3. I wouldn't install Leopard on it, but I don't see why it couldn't take 10.4.11.
 
MysticMage said:
I wouldn't recommend buying an iBook currently. A CoreDuo MacBook probably would be a lot better for you, check out eBay. They are like $500 now.
Click to expand...

thanks for that one i didn't realise there' were any macbooks going that cheap, all i need now is some money to buy it with :D
 
steezy1337 said:
thanks for that one i didn't realise there' were any macbooks going that cheap, all i need now is some money to buy it with :D
Click to expand...

Definitely look into Macbooks rather than iBooks. The G4 iBooks will give you trouble with Flash intensive sites, especially video streaming based ones that have a 480p/HD option. I know in the US, we have Hulu for that. I'm not sure if that's available in the UK, or if you have something similar.
 
Yeah definitely go with the Intel. The G4's are pretty slow for simple stuff like youtube. Also be aware that there were a lot of intermittent shut down issues with the Macbook Core Duo's.
 
I wouldn't recommend an iBook. The G4 is pretty much going to render it useless when snow leopard comes out. It already is heavily crippled in that many apps require Leopard and/or an Intel processor. Granted you can run Leopard on a G4 but I would't recommend it.

Any Macbook would suit you fine.
 
Apple all life said:
sorry I don't know how that can be real it is unbelievably cheap
Click to expand...

I know. That's the point of WM. They buy them really cheap in bulk from businesses and things. They then make sure they work and sell them at still discount prices. Also try betamacs.com .If you decide on a desktop, try mac-resource.com on the refurb page.
 
NewMacbookPlz said:
Definitely look into Macbooks rather than iBooks. The G4 iBooks will give you trouble with Flash intensive sites, especially video streaming based ones that have a 480p/HD option. I know in the US, we have Hulu for that. I'm not sure if that's available in the UK, or if you have something similar.
Click to expand...

johnny13oi said:
Yeah definitely go with the Intel. The G4's are pretty slow for simple stuff like youtube. Also be aware that there were a lot of intermittent shut down issues with the Macbook Core Duo's.
Click to expand...

This is just untrue. My 1 ghz iBook with a paltry 512 mb of RAM essentially functions as my media center. I watch Hulu on it constantly. No problem.
 
foothead said:
I have ordered 2 laptops from wegenermedia. It is NOT a scam. Their customer service was great, and they were really helpful.
Click to expand...

Well, seeing that your screen exploded, I might wanna consider not buying from the same place ;)
 
jtgotsjets said:
This is just untrue. My 1 ghz iBook with a paltry 512 mb of RAM essentially functions as my media center. I watch Hulu on it constantly. No problem.
Click to expand...

Does it run Hulu 480p? I meant to mention that in my original post...whoops.

My 800mhz G4 iBook with 640MB of RAM would choke up on many video based sites, especially 480p streams.
 
johnny13oi said:
Yeah definitely go with the Intel. The G4's are pretty slow for simple stuff like youtube. Also be aware that there were a lot of intermittent shut down issues with the Macbook Core Duo's.
Click to expand...

There were problems with overheating and crashing early on. But there was a firmware update in late 2006 that fixed that - I haven't had a crash since on my Core Duo machine. :)
 
jtgotsjets said:
This is just untrue. My 1 ghz iBook with a paltry 512 mb of RAM essentially functions as my media center. I watch Hulu on it constantly. No problem.
Click to expand...
The G4's run youtube fine at that speed for, atleast the newer gen g4's. Its the g3's that struggle with anything flash based.
 
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