Looking at the older Macs? (first time buyer)

Blackhawk47

Blackhawk47

Blackhawk47

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Joined
17 Sep 2007
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West Yorkshire / Market Bosworth
Hi guys,

Dont normally post here as i have only ever had ipods but not ever gone over to a mac.

What i am planning to do is keep my PC as my main PC (gaming, etc) and use the laptop (mac) for web browsing, photos, movies, music, and all the stuff you would do if you didnt have your main pc, ie on holiday.

Now originally i was looking at this Apple Macbook White:
http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/white/

as my first Mac (used one at my old job - so i know the basics around os x).

So at £719 it is a the cheapest "new" mac straight from apple.

And now i have been just browsing the well known auction site, just checking out the prices and found ones like the Apple Powerbook G4, which looks very sleek, aluminium and so on.

Just wandering if there is any point not to look at a good condition old apple laptop :rolleyes:
 
The downsides are the G4 processor being significantly slower and the fact that future releases of OS X might be Intel-only. Might be worth it if you can get a very good price.
 
An old mac i'd say is anything over a year old, considering Apples marketing machine, to buy a PowerPC powered mac, that would be ancient history.
 
Blackhawk47 said:
Now originally i was looking at this Apple Macbook White:
http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook/white/

as my first Mac (used one at my old job - so i know the basics around os x).

So at £719 it is a the cheapest "new" mac straight from apple.
Click to expand...

If you are a student you can get the educational discount.

Alternatively, you can get a refurbished one straight from Apple; completely guaranteed and shiny just in a plain brown box. You can get a refurbished 2 gig unibody for £799.
 
No, don't buy a PowerPC Apple as they are ditching support faster than a teenager father ditches his pregnant girlfriend.

I'm a firm believer that you need to invest as much as you can afford when getting an Apple product. If you can get the Unibody MacBook or if not then the WhiteBook. You can even blag a HE Discount if need be.

Or get a refurb (see above £799 for a UniBook - Bargain!)
 
I would also recommend the refurb store. I got a 2.4ghz white Macbook there a couple of months ago for £600ish.
 
I do exactly what the original poster is planning - I run my PC for games and my MBP (C2D 2.4GHz, 8600GT-M 265MB, 4GB) for everything else including running Parallels for Windows and Office for work.

It's likely that the applications being produced in future will become more Intel based, although Universal (PowerPC and Intel in one) binaries will become harder to produce as the tooling will evolve and at some point the code will be dropped. Apple are attempting to shake off the PPC from the OS as it complicates things heavily.

I think if you can get a MacBook Pro with the Santa Rosa chipset as it can make use of the full 4GB you can install. The chipset and C2D area also 64bit compatible so they're better for support (the older Core is only 32bit).

The only additional expense you may find with an older MBP is replacing the battery - so factor that one in.

Other than that I find it a very productive platform and feels a little more human compared to windows. That's my opinion so others may differ!
 
Think i will buy new or direct from apple like the refurb.

Question though, has anyone here got a refurb mac and can comment on what the condition was like?

I only ask because i got a shuffle (first gen) refurb a while back simply for use in the gym. Just wandering what condition a macbook would come in, should i expect dead pixels and the like ?

EDIT:
Refurbished MacBook 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - Aluminum, Damn that does look a good deal :(
 
Refurbs look brand new Blackhawk, they replace the casing I believe. I've bought an iBook and a Macbook from there in the past. Neither have had dead pixels or anything.
 
The base MacBook (white plastic) was £601 with HE discount when I last checked
 
I bought a coreduo macbook 2.0 ghz and upgraded the ram to 2gb and it runs very nicely with leopard. All cost about £400 6 months ago. Id love one of the new ones but its hard to justify the extra cost. Have you tried the new unibody ones yet?
 
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