I want to get a mac, help plz

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will_z32

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Hi, I used to use only own macs from about os 7.0 till about 8.5, I decided to switch to a PC after that. Now I would like to purchase a mac to use OS x, I already have a nice pc for games and such, and would like a low end used mac capable of running os x. What kind of Mac could I get used for cheap that would run os x fast enough for normal stuff, ie eb viewing, running stuff like office etc.. Any places to find used macs cheap would be helpful also. Thanks!
 
If you can afford a 12" PB. I would certainly think about that right now. But hey maybe you are more thinking second hand st. like a 500 Mhz. DP?? Depends on your needs of course. Office should run quite smooth on everey mac capable of running Jaguar, but please always considder increasing on RAM 128 Mb just ain't enough!
 
I have an iMac DV 400 Mhz that runs OS X just fine with 384 mb of ram. My local Apple reseller has some for sale for $400-500. Shipping can be expensive for the iMacs due to their size, I would recommend looking locally.
 
No budget contraints; get a 12" PowerBook. Budget contraints; get a 12" iBook.

The iMac is cool, but Apple has started to focus more on making its laptops really, really awesome. The new PBs are killer. Make sure that you have at least 256mb of RAM in anything you buy if you want to run OS X. 128mb will do, but 256mb will set you free. Plus, RAM is cheap.

Make sure you have the Combo drive (Superdrive if you want to burn DVDs). I think the Combo drive is standard on all of them anyways.

Also, if you can afford it, put an Airport Card in the machine. Things are going that way for Apple.

Magnolia1240
 
You can get one of the "old-style" CRT iMacs for about $650. These are new machines, not reconditioned units. And some on-line sellers offer free shipping.
Check my sig for the specs on my machine :D
 
An option for finding lower end macs that I recently discovered: Go to your local university and ask them if they would be willing to sell you one of their older surplus computers. I just got an 450mhz iMac DV for $300. Which I might add runns OS X just fine after I bumped the RAM.
 
I have access to an iMac DV Indigo 400mhz with 384mb ram. As much as I love OSX over OS9, I'd rather run OS9 in it because it can't handle OSX well enough, IMO. If I were in your shoes, I'd get a 700mhz iBook. That way, the novelty is double: a laptop, running OSX. The 700mhz iBook is sold for $999, I believe.
 
hmm, dusky, not sure what has been done to screw up that indigo, but something's wrong if it doesn't work better and faster in os x than os 9. i may have 512 ram, but that shouldn't make that big of a difference.

in fact i was just in os 9 quite a bit after running disk warrior on one of my external drives that started acting up. while there i decided to play around a bit as i often wonder if i'm not just attracted to the eye candy of X. but frankly, it was slow and painful to do anything. file transfers between drives take incredibly long, browsing was ok, but not near as fast as icab in os x. program launching was sluggish, though i'll admit a few of them did run a wee bit smoother in os 9. but not enough so to make it a preferred os.

you sure that imac is fully up to date on it's systems - both X and 9? or perhaps there is one particular app or 2 that this applies to? because overall the experience in os x should still be far superior to that in 9!!
 
you sure that imac is fully up to date on it's systems - both X and 9? or perhaps there is one particular app or 2 that this applies to?
Click to expand...

I just had an issue with speed. Unbearable to me. So unbearable that when I replaced my iBook (temporarily) with a G4 iMac, I did it thinking that I'd be handing the G4 iMac to my sister within a matter of months, because I didn't want her having to cope with using OSX in her Indigo iMac. (She just could not go back to OS9, leaving Adium behind.)

The factor here might be that... my primary computer at the time I checked out the Indigo iMac 400mhz running OSX was my 700mhz iBook. That is, I was used to running OSX in a faster machine... have you ran OSX on a machine faster than your iMac G3, for a good amount of time?
 
I'd recommend you choose nothing slower than 400mhz, and allow for at least 128mb RAM. A second-hand or refurbished G4 PowerMac or, if you can find one, a Cube, would be about the sweetest little machine you could get for that kind of money. An iMac 500 or better would be quite nice.
 
Dusky - we also have a 600 mhz smoke imac in the house and i really can't tell much difference between them. but it is obviously still a G3 so maybe that's it. i suppose perceptual relativity is always an issue but so far i'm amazed at how well my mac has kept up. i do credit a good part of that to regular maintainence and repair - something i think many macs lack becuase people don't think they need it.

other than the other imac, i haven't used anything but store displays for short periods - i still haven't seen any so fast that i need to rush out and buy one for my needs - which don't involve extensive video or pro graphic work. (nor intense games)
 
I'm running OSX (Jaguar) on a TiBook 667 with 512 mb of ram and OSX still feels sluggish to me.

My G4350 seems to run OSX only marginally slower, so I'd guess that the laptop architecture isn't quite what it is on the desktops.

Either way, I wouldn't get anything slower than a 350 G4. (the eMacs seem like the best bets with the G4 chips.)
 
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