Where is the cheapest mac?

Ok so its about to be my birthday, and i honestly dont need anything but i would like to get a cheap mac that could be upgraded to mountain lion if needed, and that is going to be hard because my budget is around $200-300. i would like to get myself a nice gift, and i really cannot find a mac anywhere that cheap that can upgrade to mountain lion. Thanks!
(my first post) and tell me if this is in the wrong section because i have a feeling it is.

You need a 2007 or newer Mac to be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion. The Mac Mini's are always the cheapest Mac's, but you have to buy a 2009 or newer version of that. A $200-300 budget is tight for an iMac, but you MIGHT be able to get a Mac Mini if you search eBay and other sites really hard..

If you up your budget to $500+, then you open up a lot of options..

well i mean i can go up to $400 but i would like to get a laptop (specs needed for mountain lion OS X Mountain Lion - Technical Specifications ). and i checked ebay and its mostly models that only support lion

Apple computers retain their values really well and this is a good thing (as a owner) and a bad thing (as a buyer)..so anything within the past couple of years is going to sell for at least 60-70% of the original retail price..I wouldn't expect a drastic price reduction..

Heck, G4/G5 iMacs from 2005-2006 are selling for about $250 and these can only be upgraded up to Leopard at best and if those iMacs only come with Tiger, then you'd have to shell out another $100 just for the Leopard installation disc..

no i have a imac g4, but i hate the performance and thats why i would like to upgrade to mountain lion, and i am in a high need of a laptop too

In my experience with used Macintosh computers/pricing…$400 is going to be the minimum for finding a Macintosh laptop that can run Mountain Lion. And at $400…it would have to be a terrific deal. $500 would give you a bit more flexibility.

- Nick

It appears you suffer from the same problem I often have: champagne tastes on a beer budget.

You want a laptop that can run Mountain Lion (presumably "well") on $300. This just isn't really going to happen unless you get incredibly lucky.

I think I paid about double that for my 2009 MacBook Pro which can handle ML (now that I've upped the RAM to 8GB and put in a 500GB hard drive). And I think I got a sweet deal (it's in great shape).

gigitygigity911 said:

Ok so its about to be my birthday, and i honestly dont need anything but i would like to get a cheap mac that could be upgraded to mountain lion if needed, and that is going to be hard because my budget is around $200-300.

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I have one with a monitor that I'll sell for $50.

Can't be upgraded to ML though - it is currently running Snow Leopard - or Leopard - I', not sure off-hand.