[yohei72]

Hi, all. First-time poster, longtime (but only moderately knowledgeable and still slightly technophobic) Mac user.

Backstory: My long-obsolete and often troublesome blueberry iMac finally gave up the ghost this past weekend. Won't turn on anymore and computer doctor says it's probably not salvageable without way more expense than it's worth, but the drive is probably fine and he can extract it and put it in a firewire enclosure for me.

So... looking for a replacement unit on *very* tight budget (I was counting on ol' blue holding out for at least a few more months while I saved up). For use on word processing and Internet surfing, and playing CDs, and little else. Might just be a holdover unit for a year or so while I save up for an upgrade.

My pretty Mac-savvy roommate swears by refurbished units and spent some time with me last night going over options and making recommendations. He recommends:

-Refurbished Mac mini - we were looking at ones on eBay for less than $500 - some with warranties from the sellers and at least one with 150 days left on the free Applecare package or whatever-ya-call-it.

+$100 or so monitor, maybe from the Dell outlet site

+a 0.5gig or 1 gig Flash drive, which he sez I can get for $40 or so.

+the printer, keyboard, Zip drive, mouse, etc., that I still have from the last setup.

Thumbs up or thumbs down to any of this? In particular, any thoughts on the pitfalls of buying refurbished/used, or on things to watch out for in those cases?

Kind of a vague and broad query, I know. Thanks, everyone - your second, third, fourth... opinions are much valued.

[imitchellg5]

Why do you need a flashdrive?

[gooser]

a month ago i bought a refurbed mini for my girlfriend for christmas. bought a g4 model because of the apps she uses now. anyway got it from the apple store, 1.33 processor with 1gig of ram.i kinda pre-set it up for her so it will be ready to go on christmas day. the point of all this is: internet on this thing just flies. importing cd's flies. it runs rings around my g4 imac. not suggesting that you get one of my specs, but you'll be amazed at how much more responsive these things are than your blueberry. and yes, they still offer them from time to time at the refurbed apple store. you just gotta be patient and keep looking. good luck.

[brokecollegestudentF04]

I got a sawtooth that I can hook you up with for a decent price that will get you by..

[yohei72]

imitchell: Well, I've long wanted an external drive to back up my computer. And I don't think the rescued hard drive from the iMac is gonna last that long. Roomie seems to think the flashdrive is a cheap and effective solution, for my purposes. And 1,831 posts? You are addicted!

gooser: Where did you get this mini? The apple store? How much of a good or bad idea is it to go outside that source (to eBay, for ex.), where they can be had for cheaper?

Thanks, everyone!

[imitchellg5]

A flashdrive isn't going to be enough to back up your computer with... you need a dedicated external HD for that. You think I have a lot of posts? Wait until you see Kevin or Spliffdaddy

[gooser]

yes, the apple store but i had to look a couple of weeks til i found the model i wanted. the apple store is usually better, you get the same warranty as a new one. in my case i had an unadvertised processor speed increase (common for these models) and an unadvertised memory bump. unless you have a reason for preferring a g4 i would recommend an intel model. either can be had for around your budget and i agree with imitchel, a flash drive ain't gonna cut it. go to the apple store (online) and look for a red save banner on the lower right hand corner. i believe i paid $429.00 for mine.

[yohei72]

Thanks again for your time and answers, guys.

Re. the flash drive: Well, what he really had in mind was that I'd just back up Word docs, e-mails and my web bookmarks on it. The distinction was initially lost on me, with my dubious tech-talk comprehension skills. I'd probably be willing to settle for that, since I think an external hard drive is outside my budget range right now.

Re. G4 or Intel: Anyone have thoughts on any particular reason to prefer one or the other? There are plenty of both out there.

Finally, over on another forum somebody told me that in order to get a Mini on eBay for the less than $500 I'm shooting for, I'd need to invest 3-8 weeks of research and bidding and set up a snipe account. Is this true? Doesn't sound terribly doable for me, given that whatever computer time I get is stolen on my roommate's iMac (heis being quite generous in that regard) and that I can't really go that long without my own computer. I was hoping to be selecting and buying something next week.

[gooser]

1. a few-cdrw's are much cheaper than a flash drive.

2. g4 or intel? very simply put, an intel will cost you a little more than a g4. an intel will also run windows (this costs extra). an intel is better equipped to run applications of the future. a g4 is better equipped to run the applications of today. some applications are faster on one, some on the other. either system will blow away your blueberry.

3. i have no idea who you're talking to. look around for yourself. do separate searches for mac mini 1.25, 1.33, 1.42, 1.5,1.66, and 1.83. a few have buy it now prices for around $400.00 and these are usually more expensive than regular bidding. you usually don't have to wait 3 to 8 weeks on a buy it now. what's a snipe account? good luck. $500.00 will buy you a good system today.

4. learn how to evaluate your seller before you bid on anything.

5. edit: just looked, the 1.66 and 1.83's are way out of your price range.

[foo2]

Originally Posted by yohei72 

Hi, all. First-time poster, longtime (but only moderately knowledgeable and still slightly technophobic) Mac user.

Backstory: My long-obsolete and often troublesome blueberry iMac finally gave up the ghost this past weekend. Won't turn on anymore and computer doctor says it's probably not salvageable without way more expense than it's worth, but the drive is probably fine and he can extract it and put it in a firewire enclosure for me.

I wouldn't even consider a non-Intel Mac at this stage in the game. The G4/G5 hardware is obsolete. Maybe not today, but soon, coding and compiling for the Motorola CPUs will be a distant afterthought.

A new Mac Mini is $575 at Amazon after rebate, give or take, shipped and delivered, no tax. I suggest you start there. I don't see the point in buying from Apple since, after tax, you really don't save money. Amazon is the best I've found. If you can find the last model generation from Amazon, you can REALLY save money. In other words, the Core2 Macs have just been released for the higher-end hardware; search for a plain Core(non-2) model and you can save big bucks.

I got my MBP1.83 for $1500 when it was selling for $1800 everywhere else doing exactly this, perhaps 4 months ago, right after the first MBP revision.

Check your city's local craigslist.com site for a monitor. You should be able to get monitors for much less than $200. Heck, $150 buys NEW 19" LCDs nowadays, so $40 should get a nice used 17" or 19" CRT. Buy locally to check it out yourself and to avoid $hipping charge$. Techbargains - coupons dell discount computer sale buy cheap digital camera cheap laptop amazon, best buy, tech bargain - Techbargains.com and Ben's Bargains - Bargains, Coupons, Freebies show good deals too.

A flash drive, 1GB, is $9.99 at Microcenter. Don't spend more.

[nickw311]

I also would recommend an external hard drive. When I had my Mini I had a 160gb MiniMate that hooked up through firewire. Since the hd was faster and bigger I just made it my main hard drive and booted off of it and everything.

Now I just use it as my backup with my MacBook and I back up my HD once every 2 weeks or so.

here is the link to the MiniMate web site:
MicroNet Technology - The Leader in Storage Technology

There are other companies that make similar products but I dont have any experience with them. You may want to pick this up later though since you are on a budget.