Buying a USED '07 MacBook- Your Thoughts?

Hey all,

Going to be purchasing a used 2007 black MacBook from Amazon. Currently I am looking at one with these specs, and would like your input on if this is a good deal, or not

Price: $500.00

Specs:
Apple MacBook - Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz
RAM 1 GB (Upgraded to 4GB)
HDD 160 GB - DVD?RW (+R DL) (Upgraded to 500GB) - unsure what brand/type
GMA 950 - Gigabit Ethernet - WLAN : Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft)
MB063B/B

The machine is running Lion (10.7.2), and included is Office Mac 2008.

Tried asking an opinion over @ Mac Rumors, and only got 1 response. Would be very appreciative if I could get some more input on this.

Thanks!

-G

The price may be a bit too high. Mac2Sell lists the same machine for $450.

I'm running the exact same machine and can tell you for a fact that the seller is, um, fudging a little.

You can certainly PUT two 2GB ram modules in such a machine, but it will only "see" 3GB no matter what you do. Limitation of the hardware.

Now, I love my BlackBook to pieces. It's a total workhorse, and thoroughly modern in every spec except graphics (the graphics capability will seriously let you down, but I mostly work on 2D stuff and don't use high-end games, 3D, or 1080p video so I'm not disappointed by this). It struggles to run Google Earth, to give you some idea of its 3D capabilities, though 720p video and two screens don't seem to be a problem.

I'm running the latest everything on it and while it would seem slow compared to a MacBook Air or other very recent Macs, it's speedy enough for normal stuff, and just flies in the web browsing department with the latest Safari.

BUT

I'm not sure I would pay $500 for another one unless it was in MINT condition at this point.

While its still a "current" machine thanks to having 802.11n, Bluetooth 2 and the ability to run Lion (I also swapped out the original HD for a 500GB 7200rpm model), the graphics limitations and the RAM limitations mean I can only go so far with this great box, and I'm starting to really hit that wall. I'd be surprised if OS X 10.8 ran (or ran well) on it, and there are already areas where it really can't go (1080p video for example).

YMMV here depending on what you do, but while I think it was an INCREDIBLY smart buy in 2007 that doesn't cover the fact that it is OLD. It's held up better than models released JUST before it, but it's still old and getting older (forgot to mention -- my battery is finally going south as well, but hey after four+ years I'm not surprised by this).

Also, if that Office 2008 doesn't have the original discs, I wouldn't accept it. Pirated software is generally more hassle than its worth.

If your needs are modest and you understand its limits, it's a great machine -- clearly the best MacBook of the early models, which has held up remarkably well.

I know this is way over what I assume to be your budget.

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Dual-core Intel i5 - $1019
Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Dual-core Intel i5 - Apple Store (U.S.)

To me in the long run this would be a better value, comes with one year warranty and eligible for AppleCare to extend to 3 years.