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What's a good sale price for my PowerMac G5 quad?

R

RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
Hello all,

I am curious to know what the real world value of this machine would be so if anyone that responds would try not to invoke the power of the sold listings on eBay, I would greatly appreciate it. The reason for this is because I am trying to do this as a local sale first as to avoid price adjustments made for shipping and the eBay fees.

I honestly thought that I was at a point where I would be able to hold on to a machine for a while, but finances are dictating otherwise.

My machine's specs and what I am including in the sale are as follows:

Late 2005 Power Mac G5 (quad core) with original User's Guide
2 x 2.5GHz dual core CPUs
16GB RAM
Dual 500GB HDDs(I can reformat to put them in RAID configuration or not)
Airport Extreme Card for b/g networking
Bluetooth
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 256MB VRAM Graphics card
Running OS X 10.4.11(Tiger)
-23" Apple Cinema Display with original User's Guide(aluminum model with the 2FW and 2 USB ports)
-Original white wireless Apple keyboard
-wired Apple mighty Mouse(clear, not white)
-Apple iSight camera in original box with all original pieces/accessories and manuals
-OS X 10.4.3 retail installation disc in its original box with original documentation(box is a little ripped)

Of course I'm willing to reconsider what I am including and adjusting the overall price as well. I posted this in the Marketplace forum, but since this is the PPC Mac forum, I figured people that visit this forum as often as I do, or at all, would have a good idea of the real world value.


Well, that's it. So if anyone has any other questions that are not answered in this itemized list; please feel free to comment and ask. Thanks in advance for any advice/offers/whatever as long as it is related to this machine.
 
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In Total?

With all of those included? I'd say that a good starting price is probably about $300-$400. But would you do me a favor and private message me? I have a question about the display.
 
Good luck selling it. I couldn't give one away. It had less RAM but was a quad G5 I spent hours refurbing and making perfect.
 
What's the cosmetic condition, and do you have the original box and discs? $300-400 as others have said is usually about right, but I've seen them push $600-700 if they're in nice condition and have everything if you manage to hit on a collector or enthusiast.
 
Frost7 said:
What's the cosmetic condition, and do you have the original box and discs? $300-400 as others have said is usually about right, but I've seen them push $600-700 if they're in nice condition and have everything if you manage to hit on a collector or enthusiast.
Click to expand...

the cosmetic condition is almost mint. The RAM installed is also new(as in purchased less than 1 month ago). The display is also perfect and has no issues with the screen or resolution.

I was trying to include as much as possible to make this more appealing especially for someone that is either looking for a great machine at a lower price or someone that knows the PPC Mac and is willing to buy it. It's looking like(if the quotes here are accurate) that I will end up keeping it. And I'm fine with that because I love this machine.
 
RedCroissant said:
the cosmetic condition is almost mint. The RAM installed is also new(as in purchased less than 1 month ago). The display is also perfect and has no issues with the screen or resolution.

I was trying to include as much as possible to make this more appealing especially for someone that is either looking for a great machine at a lower price or someone that knows the PPC Mac and is willing to buy it. It's looking like(if the quotes here are accurate) that I will end up keeping it. And I'm fine with that because I love this machine.
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Your setup is almost the same as mine. And I tell you I would not part with mine for the years to come.
 
Nameci said:
Your setup is almost the same as mine. And I tell you I would not part with mine for the years to come.
Click to expand...

And the thing is that I don't really want to, but it is kind of necessary, but not if I'm going to take a loss on it(which is something I hate to do with anything).

And yes, some people would say that buying this machine anyway is kind of asking for it, but I seriously doubt that this machine of mine is honestly worth less than $450(how much it cost me + the RAM upgrade). If I cannot make at LEAST $500-$600, there really is no point in selling it because I would have to sell my iMac G5 and iBook G4 to make up the difference.

And the iMac with a nice bright line of dead pixels along with a broken FW port on the iBook, I seriously doubt they would bring in very much.
 
RedCroissant said:
And the thing is that I don't really want to, but it is kind of necessary, but not if I'm going to take a loss on it(which is something I hate to do with anything).

And yes, some people would say that buying this machine anyway is kind of asking for it, but I seriously doubt that this machine of mine is honestly worth less than $450(how much it cost me + the RAM upgrade). If I cannot make at LEAST $500-$600, there really is no point in selling it because I would have to sell my iMac G5 and iBook G4 to make up the difference.

And the iMac with a nice bright line of dead pixels along with a broken FW port on the iBook, I seriously doubt they would bring in very much.
Click to expand...

If you don't have some sort of emotional attachment to it (which I have with mine, that is why mine is priceless), you can part it out, that is the best way to get much more money from its sale. And that includes your iMac and iBook as well.

On a financial standpoint investing more on an obsolete platform seems foolish, sooner or later its book value will go down to nothing and for some it will be considered as trash.
 
Yeah, this is the "problem" of, if you have an older computer that is working, that you can never get what it is really worth/what it would cost you to replace it.

If you have your software loaded on it, and it runs what you want it to, then I would keep on using it. The G5's only really started to get outstripped by the 2010 or so mini's and the like, and they still hold their own.

When you price up the total amount you would have to spend on a new rig, not just on the computer, but on the software, and the time it would take you to get it loaded and set up, it isn't worth doing unless you have to.

That being said...you can buy a quad core 2009 Mac Pro for about $750...with that, you could run 10.5.8 Leopard, and possibly some of the software you are running now. This same Mac Pro will also be able to run Mavericks, so that could help ease your transition into the future.
 
RedCroissant said:
the cosmetic condition is almost mint. The RAM installed is also new(as in purchased less than 1 month ago). The display is also perfect and has no issues with the screen or resolution.

I was trying to include as much as possible to make this more appealing especially for someone that is either looking for a great machine at a lower price or someone that knows the PPC Mac and is willing to buy it. It's looking like(if the quotes here are accurate) that I will end up keeping it. And I'm fine with that because I love this machine.
Click to expand...
Sadly I know someone who would love to have your Quad and pay a fair price for it because he's always wanted one, but every time he's refused to actually commit and pull the trigger on buying.
 
I've recently sold mine:
Quad 2.5GHz
7800GT with artic cooling
6Gb ram
250Gb Hdd

for 300eur, tower only.
took a while but...

I guess it all depends on where you live
 
Nameci said:
If you don't have some sort of emotional attachment to it (which I have with mine, that is why mine is priceless), you can part it out, that is the best way to get much more money from its sale. And that includes your iMac and iBook as well.

On a financial standpoint investing more on an obsolete platform seems foolish, sooner or later its book value will go down to nothing and for some it will be considered as trash.
Click to expand...

I do have a pseudo-emotional attachment, but I can easily get past that by rationalizing it as a "need to sell." I live in a college town so I'm also hoping that someone sees my ad and thinks it's a good idea to at least take a look at it. So in addition to the PowerMac, I have decided to sell all but one of my Apple items. As of now, I have posted a CL ad in my area for the following and have tentatively priced it at $1,100(expecting offers that are lower, but hopeful that they won't be too much lower):

1.) PowerMac G5 quad(same as in the ad)
2.) 17" iMac G5 w/iSight, 160GB HDD, 1.5GB RAM, OS X 10.4.11, included: MacAlly third-party keyboard and mouse
3.) 1st gen iPad 32GB WiFi/3G (with original box, power adapter, sync cable)
4.) 16GB iPhone 3GS(white, unlocked, with original box/accessories)
5.) Apple iSight camera with original box/cables/accessories/manual
6.) EPSON InkJet Printer brand new unopened
7.) OS X Tiger 10.4.1 retail DVD in original box with original documentation

$1,100 might be too much to ask, but perhaps someone that knows the PPC world will see the value in this and want to jump in.
 
If the $1100 is for all of that together, you might be able to get a good offer.

If it's just for the Quad, you need to dial your expectations back... way back. Quads were getting $1000-1300 in 2008 when they could still beat up everything but the Mac Pro. Now they're way behind even the Mac mini.
 
Frost7 said:
If the $1100 is for all of that together, you might be able to get a good offer.

If it's just for the Quad, you need to dial your expectations back... way back. Quads were getting $1000-1300 in 2008 when they could still beat up everything but the Mac Pro. Now they're way behind even the Mac mini.
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Hey Frost7,

Yeah, it's for all of that together. I know people on CL like to immediately start bargaining down, so I thought that $1100 would be a medium-good starting off point to where those bargaining wouldn't go too far.

Yeah, I know I wouldn't get that for the Quad. I was just hoping that $550-$600 was reasonable for that alone, but it seems like that's also unreasonable.
 
Interesting... Here in Europe, a Quad in decent condition alone can still fetch about €300 (~$400) if it includes Airport and is maxed out on RAM, hard drives and video card. That's for the tower only!. 23" Cinemas sell for another €220 (~290) on eBay Germany.

I was lucky enough to get my Quad for $190 and the 13" cinema for $140, and by european measurements it was a once-in-a-lifetime deal... I guess in the US that's more or less the usual price, right?
 
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With all the specs you said, tower+screen + the whole thing you could easy get 500 euros (660 usd aprox) from a mac addicted, very easy. I dont think much more cause of the ppc limitations.
 
Colpeas said:
Interesting... Here in Europe, a Quad in decent condition alone can still fetch about €300 (~$400) if it includes Airport and is maxed out on RAM, hard drives and video card. That's for the tower only!. 23" Cinemas sell for another €220 (~290) on eBay Germany.

I was lucky enough to get my Quad for $190 and the 13" cinema for $140, and by european measurements it was a once-in-a-lifetime deal... I guess in the US that's more or less the usual price, right?
Click to expand...

cyberghoser1 said:
With all the specs you said, tower+screen + the whole thing you could easy get 500 euros (660 usd aprox) from a mac addicted, very easy. I dont think much more cause of the ppc limitations.
Click to expand...

I guess I really should have moved to Europe when I had the chance. Around here, people see "unsupported" and regardless of its condition, assume it's garbage or at the very least a computer for their kids.

I had someone offer me $300 for everything in that list. It took almost every ounce of will power not to respond to them. Anyway, thank you for your input.
 
RedCroissant said:
I guess I really should have moved to Europe when I had the chance. Around here, people see "unsupported" and regardless of its condition, assume it's garbage or at the very least a computer for their kids.

I had someone offer me $300 for everything in that list. It took almost every ounce of will power not to respond to them. Anyway, thank you for your input.
Click to expand...

Below at least 500-550$ I think you better keep that baby.
 
cyberghoser1 said:
Below at least 500-550$ I think you better keep that baby.
Click to expand...

I love this machine. And I won't sell it for less than $500 because I have $450 invested in it and taking a loss on something that I won't be able to afford to replace will bother me for a very long time.
 
cyberghoser1 said:
I'd say keep it, you invested on it, enjoy it so more time and then consider sell it.
Click to expand...

Frost7 said:
If the $1100 is for all of that together, you might be able to get a good offer.

If it's just for the Quad, you need to dial your expectations back... way back. Quads were getting $1000-1300 in 2008 when they could still beat up everything but the Mac Pro. Now they're way behind even the Mac mini.
Click to expand...

Sorry to revive an older thread, but would anyone here mind at all taking a look at my ad? I would appreciate any criticisms(good or bad). I'll be keeping my iBook G4, but everything else it seems really has to go. Thanks again to everyone.

PowerPC Lot
 
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