11-12-2007, 10:01 PM

i have found this mac on eBay and I was looking for input on weather this is a good starter mac. This would be perfect for me as I'm only 15 years old and i don't have the money for a newer one. and plus I've been looking at upgrades for the g4 and I could always upgrade later when I have the money.

Thanks,
JeX

11-12-2007, 10:17 PM

hey,

I'm not yet the best mac expert but from past experience I would probably say buy. I have an iBook g3 I bought from ebay so those are also great machines. Pm me if you have any questions

11-13-2007, 03:26 AM

Well i bought the lowest spec MacBook as i didnt want to lash out a lot of money in case i didn't get on well with the Mac (my first ever mac) - I now wish that i had bought a higher spec Mac and do not ever see me returning to the Windows fold.

11-13-2007, 10:31 AM

400mhz is a little outdated now. I would look for something more in the 800mhz-1ghz. Even doing simple tasks you will notice quite a lag with only 400mhz. quicksilver g4 the quicksilver is a bit more but you can search around and find the lowest price with a faster processor.

+ I would look for something with at least 10.4 tiger installed, and the system disks if possible

11-13-2007, 10:41 AM

Before you buy, make sure the thing comes with the PROPER install disk — meant for that particular model or an across-all-model install disk purchased from Apple.

If it doesn't, sooner or later you'll end up with a doorstop until you lay out more cash for a system disk.

11-13-2007, 10:43 AM

if you do choose to buy this be aware that the OS on it is 10.3 - i assume tiger (10.3.4 - when it was released). its not the newest leopard. there are small differences. but i think you will get the general idea.

11-13-2007, 04:46 PM

This system is similar to what I have and as something to tinker with, it's not a bad system. Lots of upgrade potential and suprisingly works decent at that low of a speed. I ran Panther until last month and it runs similar to Tiger, just with fewer bells and whistles mainly.

Note that you can upgrade one of these pretty far but the cost of the upgrades all together will run about the same as a Mac Mini which is much more powerfull and the Mini will run Leopard, the G4 won't.

-MikeM

11-14-2007, 03:57 AM

I don't believe in a "starter" computer. Just get a good one to begin with. Why risk having a bad experience with a used unit or a low end unit when you can have a great experience with a good one, not to mention you'll grow into it fast. Much faster than you'll wanna replace it. Last thing you want is to be able to use features or get the experience of a good mac 6 months from now when you won't be able to buy a new one for a while and be stuck with something you outgrew.

11-14-2007, 04:15 AM

Personally i would wait a little while and save up. Im 17 and got my macbook a while ago and fully understand how tight money can be. I would go for a mini I'm not sure how it works over in America but i got a discount of about 50£ because i'm a student which helps out. So check your options and price up ask about discounts. There's nothing more annoying on getting a older system and out growing it in no time at all. I personally wouldn't buy a second hand computer through ebay but plenty of people do. Just make sure you have the restore disks since older disks can be hard and expensive to find.

11-14-2007, 10:17 AM

You can find perfectly capable Mac Mini's (G4) on eBay for < $400. While this may be a little more money than you originally hoped, this is a MUCH better alternative (read: more capable) to a very outdated sub-800MHz G3. Of course, I'm also assuming that you have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.