01-21-2005, 09:33 PM

I want a macintosh pretty badly right now. Ive wanted to switch since i was about 11. I just dont have the finances.
I want to be able to run osx smoothly but i have no mac.....

I have about 300 usd funds. I know it doesnt sound like much but ive been selling things on ebay like mad trying to get that much. There is no way in heck that i can afford a mac mini... i know that sounds lame but its true...

I need your expertise... How do I get a souped up g3 for 300 dollars. Ive been looking around at graphics design businesses but they dont have any to sell.. i have no idea how much different models are worth on ebay

anyone have some sympathy?

01-21-2005, 09:59 PM

www.macofalltrades.com

Unfortunately, $300 doesn't get you a "souped up" anything - but:

In the "Older Mac" section, theres a B&W G3/450MHz 256MB RAM, 9GB UWSCSI Hard Drive, CD-ROM, Generic Keyboard and Mouse, and a Apple 17" Blue Studio Display.

If you can find a way to get a bigger hard drive in there, I'd say this is your best bet as far as a cheap Mac goes.

01-21-2005, 11:13 PM

Maybe there is something at Low end Mac Keep in mind that any OS non registry windows ends the problems you may be having Edit: here is an example

01-22-2005, 05:18 AM

I'm 15 too, you could try what I did? I saved up my own money, sold my laptop went without a computer for a few days and bought my mac from that. It's worth the thought?

01-22-2005, 09:12 AM

I got a job.

01-22-2005, 09:16 AM

Maybe you can work out some deal with your parents to match money for a Mac mini. Grades? Chores?

01-22-2005, 10:10 AM

How are you at fixing PCs? I earned a small fortune at around that age going around helping people with their PC problems, most of which were (before the age of spyware) all the shareware crap they'd installed. Nowadays you can probably bring spybot/adaware on a disk and fix most problems, or help people to install modems and so on. If you took notice of how things work then you'll have a huge advantage as most older people just stand back and flail their arms in the air when something happens to their PC rather than making the effort of learning how to fix it (actually very easy)

15 is actually the best time of your life for making spending-money IMO because you don't have any expenses. Seriously, I had a lot more disposable income back then than I do now with a full-time job (because then you have expenses like car insurance, credit cards, board/rent etc). But you have to be good at it and willing to persevere as once you've started, people generally expect you to finish

You may find also that you/your parents might meet someone who likes to build them for people as a small business on the side of what they already do, and are willing to share their profits with you if you can save them time. Example, a few years later I met a driving instructor who liked to sell custom-built PCs on the side and I made some reasonable money on the weekends doing the building and setting up for him. Then he'd do all the customer relations stuff. I probably only got like 20% of the profit but it was quite a money-spinner at the time (might no be quite so lucrative now with how cheap they've become). I kept doing this until leaving school, then I had to stop in order to sign on to jobseekers (or they'd have hung me out to dry for benefit fraud)

If you're any good at fixing or building (you don't have to *like* PCs but you may as well profit from them!), you can have enough to buy say a Mac Mini within weeks.

01-25-2005, 12:13 AM

I'm 15 and I've been wanting to switch for about a year and a half. With alot of persuasion, whining, and great grades and my mom trying real hard to use my old computer (it would freeze literally every 5 minutes and you would have to restart thew computer she finally gave up.) i got my ibook..the best thing i ever did!