White Macbook - too good to be true?

[Shake 'n' Bake]

If you compare spending a little more now for

(1) an item WITH a warranty. (refurb/or new)
(2) better resale value
(3) better future proof(and better specs - nvidia(up to 256mb vram, compared to crappy intel gma)
(4) and get a free touch(if you go for the new and not refurb route)

Than spending a couple hundred more is actually the SMART thing to do. Also, who knows what will happen to this laptop, or what this 'used, no warranty' laptop has been through?

If you can't afford that, then I would say to wait and either:
(a) save your money for the better one
(b) get an MS wind and hackintosh it
(c) or forget full portability and get a mini for about the same price!

(3) Not everyone needs a lot of GPU power.

(4) Only if you're a college student.

Not everyone has that much money to spend.

(b) You mean MSI Wind. And not all of the Wind works.
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OP: I thinks you should get this, but see if you can have the charger in the background. Having the install discs is a major plus, too, though if it were older, say an iBook or a PowerBook, the lack of install disks would not ring stolen bells in my head.

 

[Theclamshell]

Whoops. Stupid double posting and strange other things. Computer's acting weird today.

Anyways...lets try this again.

I found a 13 inch white Macbook on Craigslist.

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OS 10.4.10
13 inch screen
2 GHz Core 2 Duo
667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
No charger

$425.00

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Good deal, or stay away?

I saw this too, boston CL, if you can meet him, test it out and everythings good buy it id say thats about 200-300 off normal price but i have gone low selling electronics if i really just want them gone so it could be legit

 

[old-wiz]

I'd also look at what's present; for example, does the owner info match the seller? (go to the Apple/about this mac/more info._ Is there a finance app installed? (like quicken) to see if it's his name on it.

It could be stolen.

 

[skye12]

Just inform the seller you need the serial number to check
to see that's its not stolen....you'll know in 2 or 3 seconds.

 

[Eanair]

Yep, Boston Craigslist.

I inquired as to the whereabouts of the install/restore disks, and still haven't gotten an email back.

If the seller can't provide them, this seems sketchier and sketchier.

 

[Demosthenes X]

If you compare spending a little more now for

(1) an item WITH a warranty. (refurb/or new)
(2) better resale value
(3) better future proof(and better specs - nvidia(up to 256mb vram, compared to crappy intel gma)
(4) and get a free touch(if you go for the new and not refurb route)

All of which is irrelevent if it's out of budget. By the exact same logic I can conclude that, by spending a little more, you can get a Mac Pro with:

(1) More cores.
(2) Better resale value.
(3) Better future proof, better graphics, better processor...

So why didn't you just "save your money" and get a Mac Pro?

Used machines are a perfectly viable option, any many people buy used machines every day and wind up very happy. The question is whether this used machine is a good buy, not whether the OP should buy a brand new machine or not.

 

[Eanair]

Used machines are a perfectly viable option, any many people buy used machines every day and wind up very happy. The question is whether this used machine is a good buy, not whether the OP should buy a brand new machine or not.

I originally had some background in my original post, but after the post got all mixed up (some glitch in posting I think), I was too lazy to re-write it all.

I have an iMac, which serves me well for my work and personal use. I do miss portability though, of being able to take my laptop with me while I travel to keep up with emails, listen to music/watch movies, and download pics from my camera to free up space on my memory card. Also, if I had to occasionally crunch data for work in an emergency or if my iMac had a hiccup, I would be able to do so too.

PC netbooks are too simple and lacking, but something like a MacBook Pro seemed way too powerful. A MacBook seemed to be a good compromise - powerful enough to still occasionally do basic work in an emergency if I needed, but not overkill power. Because it's not my main computer, I was thinking that getting a used one would be okay.

 

[chstr]

Ive found better macbooks for that price.

 

[J&JPolangin]

I..have an iMac, which serves me well for my work and personal use. I do miss portability though, of being able to take my laptop with me while I travel to keep up with emails, listen to music/watch movies, and download pics from my camera to free up space on my memory card. Also, if I had to occasionally crunch data for work in an emergency or if my iMac had a hiccup, I would be able to do so too.

PC netbooks are too simple and lacking...

I have a 20" iMac and a eeePC netbook which is a great combo for what you list as your "portability needs"...

For the occasional "data" crunch, what do you find lacking on a netbook?

 

[Exegesis48]

Just because it doesn't have a charger does not mean that it is stolen. When i was getting rid of my old macbook pro, I actually considered keeping the charger because me and the wife are always fighting over the chargers and it would be nice to have an extra one to keep in the living room.

Also everyone knows the magsafe adapters are complete crap. For all we know the macbook's adapter could have caught on fire and he didn't have applecare to get a new one.

Anyway, you can easily get a new charger off ebay for $25 and Leopard for another $85 on top of that.

Personally I would fork out the extra cash and get one of the new Whitebook's from ClubMac or Mac Connection for around $930.

 

[Eanair]

I have a 20" iMac and a eeePC netbook which is a great combo for what you list as your "portability needs"...

For the occasional "data" crunch, what do you find lacking on a netbook?

The netbook I have doesn't have enough space for Office or Prism. Additionally, the netbook screen is too small for Prism graphs and layouts I create.

While it's not required, it would be nice to have Mac OS for 4Peaks since I'm used to that program's ins and outs.

 

[J&JPolangin]

The netbook I have doesn't have enough space for Office or Prism. Additionally, the netbook screen is too small for Prism graphs and layouts I create.

While it's not required, it would be nice to have Mac OS for 4Peaks since I'm used to that program's ins and outs.

...sounds like you have an 8.9 inch or smaller screen... my eeePC1000H is a 10" screen with a 160 GB HDD... plenty of space for most tasks and if I do drop or damage it, I won't be too upset... try looking at an eeePC1000HE, the battery lasts up to ~10 hours on that model = ~7+ with wifi on!