Advice/opinion

I have an old ibook which got juice spilled into it, I went to apple and upon finding out it really isn't worth fixing, explored my options with my "genius". We found this: Apple
MacBook 13.3" MB061LL/A Laptop Computer Off Lease Refurbished - White

Intel® Core 2 Duo
1GB DDR2-667 SDRAM
80GB 5,400RPM Hard Drive
13.3" Glossy TFT Widescreen Display
Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
10/100/1000 Network
AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wireless Connection
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR Connection
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
MacBook 13.3" MB061LL/A Laptop Computer. The notebook for everyone. Now with more speed, power, and battery life.

for 399.00 and he said it was a great price, that he would buy it. I went to where it is for sale, and that guy told me it's "old" and not a good computer, then tried to sell me a mac air for 850.00. I'm feeling lost and confused, I need advice from you experts, what should I be looking for? I use a PC now, want to get a laptop for school papers and internet...why wouldn't that be fine? Any advice would be very much appreciated...Not looking to spend alot so for used or refurb, what is a good deal for a good machine...thanks again.

1GB is pretty small and it is Leopard. But honestly for for writing papers and basic web surfing it should be fine. Intel Core 2 Duo will handle most everything that the web has to offer. With 1GB I wouldn't be editing any large music/video/picture files but for basic stuff it would be fine. You can always upgrade RAM yourself.

Also 80GB isn't all that much anymore if you have a lot of media. I fill up a 64GB iPad and don't have hardly any of my movies or music on it. It's all apps.

Search ebay and see what these are going for - but 399 doesn't sound too bad.

You didn't say what processor speed, but based on the other specs I'm going to guess it's a 2007 MacBook of the same vintage as my beloved Blackbook.

If so, it is capable of running Lion (you'll need more RAM, but it's cheap cheap and easy to install), you can put in up to a 750GB 7200 rpm hard drive (I'm using a 500/7200 right now) and I find that apart from the sucky graphics capability that it runs like a dream. I'm sure it would seem dead slow by comparison with the latest and greatest but it's very zippity surfing web pages, and I've even done 720p video editing on it (though that was a bit painful, I must confess).

If it's in good cosmetic condition and over 2GHz, then I'd agree it's worth $400 (but not any more than that). The MacBook Air would in many ways be better, but it's pricier (of course) and has some limitations of its own.

Agreed with Chas on this. I have the late 2007 Macbook with 4GB RAM and X3100 Intel Graphics running Lion VERY well. That is probably the model just before mine as it has the GMA950. It will accept 3GB RAM and like Chas said will run Lion quite well as long as you don't try and run 15 things at the same time!

$399 is the highest I would pay. Is it in decent physical shape? If so it's not a BAD machine no matter what that person says. They just want you to by the AIR for more $$$!

Another thing that was not said, it will BLOW that iBook out of the WATER! Literally! Night and day to any Power PC Mac.