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Where to Buy

NastyComputers

NastyComputers

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 14, 2010
144
25
Tehachapi CA
Hey everyone I really want to buy a used iMac G5 (really want a 20" but don't think I can spend that much) 17" 1.8....anyway my question being: Is there anywhere online that you have delt with that has good prices. I have looked on eBay, power mac, and some others. Thanks for the input.
 
Depending on where you live, Craig's List can be a good option. Patience is the key when looking for something specific. Check every day. Bookmark the search string and save it to your toolbar so that you're reminded each day.

The obvious advantages are that you can find something nearby, see it before you make your purchase, and avoid shipping costs.

Though, I suppose it helps if you live in a major metropolitan area.

Good luck!
 
I would not recommend an iMac G5. They tend to have power supply, logic board, and thermal management issues as they age. Generally, once they get diagnosed with a major issue, the cost of repair results in them being dumped on the used market as an "awesome" deal.

Get a dual processor Power Mac if you need raw power, and as an upside, it'll be cheaper.

If you really want to stick with the iMac, like the others said, you can find it but you need to be persistent.
 
a iMac G5 hmmm thats a tricky one
stay away from the 1.6 ,1.8,2.0 models they suffered from the bad caps problem ,
which can be expensive if you cant solder yourself or know somewhere to get it done cheap ,
they also have failing lcd panels and graphics (starting with lines on the screens ending with a black screen )
not to mention overheating issues as the heat compound is getting older and the psu failing
the later isight model 1.9 and 2.1 are a little bit better ,
but still have failing lcd panels and isight cams stop working ,failing psu's
and the heat issues , the G5 is just not a cool runner anyway
and apples design of the iMac didn't really help to cool down the G5 and could barely manage the heat
despite the chances of the iMac g5 failing soon the prices are high ,
but the early intels are not much better ,
follow up ebay for a couple month and you will see what i mean

if you can live with a G4 and a 17 inch crt
look at the eMac 1.42 superdrive models,
because they came with 160 gb and ati 9600 64mb graphics ,
they had been introduced in mid 2005 and sold until 2006
are a much safer bet if you plan to use the Mac longer and dont have a huge budget
then you can grab a nearly as new eMac 1.42 for the fraction of the price and
it wont be that much slower compared with the G5 iMacs ,
the G4 processors are much much underrated

make it easy if you place a eMac 1.42 in front of me and a iMac g5 2.1 20"
i will always grab the eMac 1.42 ,
as" i " like to stay on the save side and do not like spending money on things likely to fail
and i just would not bet on a iMac G5 lasting long , there are some outside working steady but ........i just would not bet on


another contender would be a Mac mini G4 1.42, cheap to grab up and just buy a 20 inch or bigger monitor for it or a lcd tv as the modern lcd tv all have some sort of port for a computer vga /dvi/hdmi as i have one connected to a lcd tv
and i have 3 eMac's ok one had a failing superdrive but they are failing in iMac G5's too
 
I would definitely try to look around on craigslist. If you are patient and know what you are looking for then you can find some completely AMAZING deals. Also, I agree with the idea of an eMac. They are really nice machines if you get a 1.25ghz + model. I really like mine a lot.
 
Thanks

Thanks everyone for the input. I do have a lot of eMacs (one 1.25 and three 1.42's which I have for sale) which I like them but I want a bigger screen and take less space on my desktop....I am using one of the 1.42/1GB/160GB, I don't know what to do. It sounds like the G5's have had a lot of problems. What about the intel based iMacs? Do they have any of the same problems?
 
NastyComputers said:
Thanks everyone for the input. I do have a lot of eMacs (one 1.25 and three 1.42's which I have for sale) which I like them but I want a bigger screen and take less space on my desktop....I am using one of the 1.42/1GB/160GB, I don't know what to do. It sounds like the G5's have had a lot of problems. What about the intel based iMacs? Do they have any of the same problems?
Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure. I know the Intel models generate much less heat which was probably the main drawback from the G5 processor in general. But I have seen many on eBay with messed up video/screens so I really don't know. But I would definitely go Intel over an iMac G5. If you want more power though the G5 quad still gets a higher geekbench score then early Intel iMacs ('06) ~2800 for the iMac and ~3300 for the G5 Quad. But I'm guessing you would rather have an all-in-one design?
 
if its only a big monitor you want , then connect a bigger one to your eMac 1.42 as they had the better graphics (ati 9600 64mb ram ) they can manage a bigger then 17 inch second display , but my favorite is to connect another 17 ich display and use a app called screen spanning doktor which hacks the open frimware and enables the graphics card to spann the destop over two displays (the internal and the external ) as apple just disabled that feature to get customers to buy more expensive Mac's
so you get a screen space of 34 inch together


http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

btw works on the ibook too
 
MacHamster68 said:
if its only a big monitor you want , then connect a bigger one to your eMac 1.42 as they had the better graphics (ati 9600 64mb ram ) they can manage a bigger then 17 inch second display , but my favorite is to connect another 17 ich display and use a app called screen spanning doktor which hacks the open frimware and enables the graphics card to spann the destop over two displays (the internal and the external ) as apple just disabled that feature to get customers to buy more expensive Mac's
so you get a screen space of 34 inch together


http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

btw works on the ibook too
Click to expand...

Thats a cool tool too bad it only supports Tiger. :mad:
 
further down the page are the commands for open firmware hack to enable manually , so you could try it without the tool, i cant test it as i dont have leopard anymore it was just to slow on my emac ,dont know why, as i even have 1 gb more ram inside ,emacs 1.25 1.42 take 2 gb and tiger flies
 
MacHamster68 said:
if its only a big monitor you want , then connect a bigger one to your eMac 1.42 as they had the better graphics (ati 9600 64mb ram ) they can manage a bigger then 17 inch second display , but my favorite is to connect another 17 ich display and use a app called screen spanning doktor which hacks the open frimware and enables the graphics card to spann the destop over two displays (the internal and the external ) as apple just disabled that feature to get customers to buy more expensive Mac's
so you get a screen space of 34 inch together


http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

btw works on the ibook too
Click to expand...

Well I want to be able to run windows xp also, which means I will have to get an intel based setup.
 
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