Need advice for a used mac ibook

11-14-08 | self

[SoftballMominVA]

My daughter's PC died last night probably due to a systems upgrade sent by Microsoft. I strongly suspect this upgrade as the culprit as my desktop had the same symptoms after the same upgrade. The cost to fix was about 300. I'm not willing to put that into repairs for hers because she was already having massive other problems.

So, based on everything I've read (largely here) I'm looking for a used Mac.

Is there anyone who would be willing to just look over a couple or three postings that I've found on Craigslist and another site that sells refurbished Macs and give a thumbs up or thumbs down based on value vs. asking price?

I'm not asking for a guarantee, just a general nudge in the right direction and after that it's 'you get what you get.'

[jalisco555]

Actually I found a company that sells refurb’d macs. I found one there with an OS X, 512 ram, 80 gb hard drive for about 250. Is that a deal too good to be true?

Probably wouldn't go with less than a gig of ram these days.

[AppyPappy]

If you got the money to burn on a used computer (always a bad idea), you got the money to pay some kid to put Linux on a computer.

The computer is bootable. Booting is a hardware application. A person will a minor knowledge of things can get your computer back and save your data. I do this constantly and I would never buy a used computer.

Here’s a hint for everyone. Computers consist of several parts. Every one of those parts cost less than $50.

Motherboard - $50
Processor - $50
Hard drive - $50
Power Supply - $50

If you go here, they will tell you or someone you know how to fix the problem

http://www.techimo.com

If you just want to spend money, that’s OK. But don’t fool around. Spend lots of money and get something that will work. Don’t buy someone else’s problem. You already have a used computer. Don’t get another one.

[Leisler]

You can get 15inch laptops new from Wal-Mart, for under $400. Go to Wal-Mart . com.

[stratboy]

OpenOffice is good, but they have introduced a version of open Office for Macs - NeoOffice that works without a hitch. I use it daily with no problems.

[ReignOfError]

I wouldn’t recommend a used iBook. The G4 version will run — just barely —the latest version of the OS, but it’s teetering on the edge of obsolescence. Little new software will support the G4 chip.

Plus - and I say this as a die-hard Apple fan — the iBook was not their most reliable machine. They have logic board problems after a while. I got more than five years’ use out of mine, which isn’t too shabby, but a used one isn’t a great bet.

The Mac Mini is no speed demon, but it’ll get you an Intel processor, so it’ll stay current a lot longer. It’ll work with just about any monitor, and any USB keyboard and mouse you already have. They’re $599 new, and you might be able to find a used one in your price range. They all have at least a combo drive, which is a DVD reader and a CD reader/burner.

A bonus is that if you have more money for a beefier Mac later, the Mini doesn’t have to go to waste; it’s a fantastic machine to put in your entertainment center as a video/music player, and with some add-on hardware and software can even double as a DVR.

[cowboyway]

I’ll second that - their prices are quite a bit lower and based on my experience the quality is excellent.

Personally I've never bought a refurb but an engineering manager where I used to work switched to Mac from PC about a year ago and needed three machines so he bought three refurbs.

He said they ran great and when one of them died Apple repaired it for free.

[TomGuy]

You might look at some of the refurb offers through various retailers.

www.tigerdirect.com

www.techforless.com

The advantage with a refurb through a retailer is that they usually have a 30-90 day warranty.

[Locomotive Breath]

I have an iBook G4 that's worked fine and can run Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" (see minimum system requirements at end) although any version of the OS is probably fine for what you want. The batteries age out after a while so see if you can find one that has got a recent replacement battery.

Here are some on ebay that meet your price requirement, although I'd recommend that you try to find one locally so you can try before buy.
iBook G4
iBook G4
iBook G4

Leopard:
Minimum System Requirements Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor 512MB of physical RAM DVD drive for installation.

The Home and Student Edition of Microsoft Word is $149.95, so if you can find the computer for $350 you should meet your $500 budget.

[TomGuy]

Good pc’s are available for as little as $300.

Good laptops are available for as little as $400.

You might check

www2.pricewatch.com/public

www.pricegrabber.com

[AppyPappy]

” hubby says that since it has Vista and only 1 GB of ram it will be practically worthless”

Your hubby is correct

[kevkrom]

OpenOffice is good, but they have introduced a version of open Office for Macs - NeoOffice that works without a hitch. I use it daily with no problems.

OpenOffice, as of 3.0, now has a native Mac version -- try it, it's great. I ditched NeoOffice for it.

[IYAS9YAS]

Yes. And for $600 you can get a Dell at Walmart.com

There are 4 Dells at $598. All of them have 2 gig processors and 3 gigs of ram with 250 gig harddrives.

Walmart Laptops

[FateAmenableToChange]

In my opinion, the comp is in all effect ‘dead’ because it cannot be booted up in any way, shape, form, or manner by someone such as I with limited information

knoppix is an open source cd-bootable linux build that you can use to fix file problems on a windows computer. You might be able to replace the .dll file and still have windows functionality. http://www.knoppix.net/get.php

[capydick]

Thats sounds pretty good. If you Google the stores name - you will probably find a website which has reviews from people who have frequented the store.

[Comstock1]

These guys sell a lot of used systems and they have an excellent reputation in the Mac community. They have a wide assortment of models that are used/refurbished etc.

http://www.wegenermedia.com/

[Leisler]

Everex 15.4” gBook VA1501V Laptop PC w/ VIA C7-M Processor

$399

[CORedneck]

There are plenty of places where to buy a used Mac. I would go with one with an Intel chip over the G series (G4 or G5). In fact you can even setup an Intel Mac as triple partition where you have OSX, Linux and (ugh) Windows. I have a couple Mac's with that setup. I use Fedora 9.

I am almost Windows free, the only thing I use it for is MS Office for teaching my university class and doing DVD items.

[Fishrrman]

Can you spend a little more?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013FRA0O

Comes with a 1-year warranty, you can buy AppleCare and extend that to 3 years.

This will run the Mac OS _and_ Windows if you need to. It should keep you going for at least 3-4 years.

Another option:
- Go to apple.com
- Click on “store”
- Down towards the bottom of the page, look for “Special Deals”
- Click on the “Refurbished Mac” link
Apple factory refurbs come with a full 1-year warranty (same as the new ones), and in many cases are indistinguishable from a new computer.

I would recommend that ANY Mac you get - new or used - should be one of the more recent models that now have Intel-based motherboards.

- John

[poindexter]

See if it has OS 10.4 or later; that seems to be the dividing line for a lot of program compatibility.

[taxcontrol]

You can probably save you kid's PC without spending the $300 by converting it to run Linux. However, this may require you to develop some computer skills with regards to downloading an iso image and burning to cd / dvd and installing the Linux versions of the programs/utilities that you mentioned. For example, OpenOffice provides word processing, spread sheets, etc.