Thinking of buying first Mac ever...

A

adamvk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 16, 2008
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I am considering buying my first mac, as I am simply sick of Microsoft. I am looking at getting a G3 iBook just to experiment with before I actually decide to blow $2k on a MacBook Pro. Heres where I am looking at buying it from. http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/iBook-G3-600MHz-CD-12-inch-p-17256.html

Is that a good deal, and is that a good cheap mac, or should I look elsewhere?

edit: Anyone know what OS is on this model, and what the max resolution supported is?
 
That looks like a decent good deal to me. Being it says they reinstall the OS as originally shipped from Apple it will come with OSX 10.1, which is basically useless, but it will take anything up to 10.4, but Leopard won't run because it isn't a G4 867mhz or higher. The max LCD resolution is 1024X768. I had that exact notebook, and while it wasn't blazingly fast, it was OK for email, internet, word processing and Office stuff, but it did struggle a little bit with higher res movies. If it were me, I'd look for one with at least a DVD drive in it. Also, you will definitely need more RAM than 128mb. I had 640MB in mine, and it was much better than when I had 256MB in it. So, upgrade the RAM and you'd have yourself a nice little laptop
 
I'm not really sure what the real use would be in buying it - it's an old machine and it won't really give you a true idea of what the most recent iterations of the operating system is capable of.
 
Goto an Apple store and ask one of the employees there to give you a test drive on one.

I used to have a fairly nice dual core SLI gaming computer. I picked up a 12" PowerBook, and after about a month, I rarely ever used the desktop. I sold both and bought a 15" MacBook Pro and haven't looked back since. I even nuked my Windows partition about 6 months ago since I simply don't use it anymore.
 
If you're interested in a Mac, the only experience that matters is getting your hands on one and that Powerbook is just too damned old to be of any significant use as a demo, really. If there's an Apple Store in your area, take the advice above and my suggestion and head over to one, tell one of the reps what your situation is, and they'll be more than happy to let you play with one in-store for hours if necessary.

There's no substitute for real hands on experience on what's being sold today.
 
Joe Average said:
If you're interested in a Mac, the only experience that matters is getting your hands on one and that Powerbook is just too damned old to be of any significant use as a demo, really. If there's an Apple Store in your area, take the advice above and my suggestion and head over to one, tell one of the reps what your situation is, and they'll be more than happy to let you play with one in-store for hours if necessary.

There's no substitute for real hands on experience on what's being sold today.
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I really just want an old Mac just to play around with and get to know the os a little bit more. It would also serve well as a vacation laptop for internet, movies, etc... As for playing around in an Apple store, I just don't like playing around with computers in stores...I don't know why. Anyways, does this one look any better? http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/iBook-G3-800MHz-DVD-12-inch-p-17435.html
 
G3 iBooks tend to develop video problems.

Check out ebay and craigslist. See if you can afford a G4 iBook or even an Aluminum PowerBook.
 
felix88 said:
G3 iBooks tend to develop video problems.

Check out ebay and craigslist. See if you can afford a G4 iBook or even an Aluminum PowerBook.
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I've been looking around....I don't really want to spend more then $300....Maybe I should just drop this whole idea, or wait until EFix comes out. :)
 
They're around. I see a 1.07GHz 12" iBook G4 for $300 on my local craigslist.

If this is just to get a feel for the OS, have you considered a used Mac Mini and a KVM?
 
I think it's a terrible idea to go with a G3 iBook - I'd strongly suggest a G4 iBook or Powerbook, and have it running Tiger. Leopard would be unnecessary, but 10.3 [Panther, iirc] would lack some of the features, capabilities, and stability. Furthermore, I'd suggest getting something with 512MB ram.

I picked up a 12" 1GHz G4 Powerbook/768MB of ram off Craigslist for $350 and put Tiger on there, and it works like a charm. The main issue I see with trying to get a G3 iBook to get a feel for a Macbook Pro is it is like trying to get a feel for Windows Vista with 4GB of ram on a Windows 98SE or Windows Millennium Edition computer with 128MB of ram. It's going to be a completely different experience with regards to security, stability, compatibility, and so on.

You don't test drive the Malibu to get a feel for the Corvette.
 
I think I'm just gonna wait until EFix unless I find something cheap and fast. Thanks for everyones help though.
 
adamvk said:
I think I'm just gonna wait until EFix unless I find something cheap and fast. Thanks for everyones help though.
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You know that EFix isn't really going to do anything you can't already do though, right? I'm not sure how in-depth I can go on this forum, but it look like it basically amounts to the Chameleon loader on a USB flash drive.
 
If you do some looking, I think you could find a G4 iBook for under $300, there's one on my local Craigslist that is a 1.07ghz with 768MB RAM for $250. If you do a little looking, I'm sure you can find something that will do the job. And, as someone suggested, if there's an Apple Store close by, just let one of the reps show you what the new ones can do, and I can also recommend an Macbook Pro, I haven't found one person yet who wasn't happy with theirs. I wouldn't give up on finding a Mac yet, you can still buy a very capable Mac laptop for $300 or less that would let you get a feel for the OS.

Edit: If you want to spend a little more here's a G4 iBook 800mhz for $359:

http://www.wegenermedia.com/g4ibk.htm

They've got several others as well
 
That's just stupid to wait, if you buy the $2K MBP and decide that you don't love it ( 1% chance) you can always sell it on ebay for atleast $1800, probably could get $2K for it.
 
I agree with everyone else. Just buy the MacBook Pro. You will absolutely love it. Its simply guaranteed. If you have multiple Apple Stores in your area, find one without, or with a little, restocking fee. Just in case that <1% chance occurs and you don't fall in love.

I bought a MacBook back in late Feb right after the revision was released. A few months later I got a PowerMac G5 for work use, and recently I was planning on getting an iMac 24" to replace the PowerMac. But now I've decided to get a USB to DVI adapter and make MacBook as my primary work machine.

If you are unsure of how you'll like a Mac then the best thing to do, like suggested previously, is to go to an Apple Store and play around with one of the units on the floor. Online you can also schedule a one on one meeting so you can talk with someone to figure it if a Mac is for you. If you want to use a Mac for a while yourself then I'd suggest picking up a G4 Mac Mini for $250-400 on eBay or Craigslist. You can then sell it back at almost full paid price, if not higher. Though, like mentioned before, you won't get the full feel of what the latest Macs are like from an old unit. You'd just get the feel for a few of the OS features which you can get from playing at the apple store.

-robodude666
 
Don't get a G3.. that'd just be a nightmare. The intel macs are much better IMO.

I'd just spend some time in the Apple store before buying... I recently bought a MBP and love it. Aside from the fact that it's a furnace.
 
I just don't know if I want to spend 2k on a laptop right now, I'm not even sure If I need another laptop. Like I said, I think I will just try to install Leopard on one of my computers. Thanks to everyone for looking though. :)
 
That's like saying (in Windows terms) "I want to try out Vista, so I'm going to buy this Pentium 2 laptop with Windows 98"

Apples to Hondas comparison. G3s are slow, clumsy and impractical. Hack OSX onto your current computer (you don't need to wait for efix, its already an unbelievably straightforward process) or just buy the Macbook Pro.
 
adamvk said:
...I am simply sick of Microsoft.
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? Wif what? This board can help you with your PC problems... donno about your mac problems... don't go down into the mac subforums too often... its a creepy place :p

But yeah, windows troubles?
 
Dude just go to the nearest Apple store and play around with the displays. They have a bunch setup and if it's the in store minons that bother you tell them your just looking :)

I love my Mac but God damn where do they find these people that work in their stores....
 
I'd have to say I'd just throw *cough*OS X*cough* on your *cough*PC*cough* to try out rather than spending hard earned money on something that isn't really going to give you a proper idea of what you're thinking of getting yourself into.

If I were an avid Windows user trying to get an OS X fan to switch over, I definitely wouldn't show the person an obsolete machine to give them an idea of what they're missing. Plus, 10.4 to 10.5 is a rather large difference as far as usability. In some ways a good comparison would be Windows XP to Windows Vista. (10.4 to 10.5 is *in my opinion* a more warranted upgrade than XP to Vista actually)
 
First, WAIT A MONTH, new notebooks will likely be out soon.

Second, why a Macbook Pro? What do you plan on doing with it? A Macbook (and aluminum ones are supposedly out next month) might fill in what you need.

Third, that G3 is ancient and won't run shit. Don't do it. Play with a display model in a store, ask questions, and ask questions from people you know that own OS X systems (and ask here!).
 
Serpico said:
Third, that G3 is ancient and won't run shit.
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I guess that by "won't run shit" you mean "won't run games."

That G3 needs a memory upgrade, but after that it would be perfectly acceptable for a general-use laptop. Sure, it won't run Leopard, but you don't *need* Leopard.

However, look around. You can get an 800MHz white iBook for less than that.
 
taylorwilsdon said:
That's like saying (in Windows terms) "I want to try out Vista, so I'm going to buy this Pentium 2 laptop with Windows 98"

Apples to Hondas comparison. G3s are slow, clumsy and impractical. Hack OSX onto your current computer (you don't need to wait for efix, its already an unbelievably straightforward process) or just buy the Macbook Pro.
Click to expand...

exactly what i was going to post (just illustrated in a much better way).

it's pretty pointless to buy a G3 or G4 today with hopes of comparison. At the least you'd want to get a first gen intel macmini., even then it's not great.

you'll have to try it to see for yourself and if you are eager enough you'll get one. in the end you'll see it is a computer just like everything else and it has quirks, problems and advantages like all the others.
 
Buy a used Macbook and use it for a while. You'll be able to sell it for exactly what you bought it for.
 
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