[guod]

Ok as you guys may have seen in my last thread, i decided to buy a powerbook and started to shop around. I found 2 of them (from the same guy) that are not stolen and are in pretty decent shape. He has all of the original documentation to show he bought them and seems to be a nice guy.. One of the powerbooks is the 15" g4 1.25 ghz, 1gb of ram, 10.4.xx (forgot what version) and is pretty mcuh good to go. The only downside is the battery doesnt hold a charge for very long and ONE of the USB ports does not work. Other than that the laptop is in GREAT shape. he is asking 300 for it...The other one he has is a 12" g4 1ghz with 768 ram, 10.4.xx (forgot what version in good shape BUT, the superdrive does not always burn cds/dvds..it reads them but does not burn them. Other than that, it is in great shape. He wants about 375 for it...Would it be a mistake to buy either of these or both and resell one? Are these major problems? Are these symptoms of something else?

Thanks

[peeb]

Well, I don't think you're going to make a lot of money buying both and reselling them, the basic decision you have to make is what you want to use it for. The 12 / 15 issue is a personal preference one. Those prices are not bad, so if the machine suits your needs, it could be a good buy, but I would seriously look at refurb / second hand MacBooks as well.

[guod]

well again...the money issue and i think for 300-375 i could get a pretty decent machine..but i want to know if the problems with them are something i should be concerned with.

[peeb]

Well, the superdrive sounds like it's on the way out, and the usb failure sounds like it is a dodgy connection on the board, but if those don't bother you, then no, nothing in that makes it sounds like there are huge issues with those machines. Bear in mind though, they are a little old, and both are starting to fail in small ways. That does indicate that they may not be completely trouble free in the future. Also, factor in the cost of a new battery if that's important to you, and any OS upgrades you might get, new versions of iApps if you will get those.
IMHO the 15 inch is better value - bigger screen and the fact that the 12in models tend to be highly prized by people who want a very small laptop (the smallest now are still larger than the 12 inch).

[guod]

yea..well i will keep that in mind..it is a hard decision to make...

[SierraDragon]

What Peeb said, and I agree the 15 is better value. Like he said: "the basic decision you have to make is what you want to use it for."

-Allen Wicks