iMac 2007 question

Just saw an ad for a used 2007 iMac with 2 gigs of ram and n intel core 2 duo 2 ghz processor for $125. I would use it for the kids as their computer. I've asked the seller what size hard drive and if equipped with the SuperDrive. What else should I look for when I check this out. It currently has OS Lion and comes with a Mighty Mouse and non apple wireless keyboard. Any advice would be appreciated. It just seems it's priced that low for a reason. It also has office 2011 and iLife installed on it.

The price seems reasonable and provided everything is working, it sounds like something you can use for the kids for awhile. One thing I might point out.... make sure the seller gives you the CD and the Product Key for Office 2011. Without those, you would be using a copy not legally registered to you and if you had to reinstall, would lose Office 2011. (Office 2011 requires activation, which is why you need the original CD and Product Key.)

Thanks for pointing that out about the office install disk and key. I'll be able to check it out tonight.

Is this the white plastic iMac or the Aluminum one? If the Metal one that is a very low price. I own the late 2007 iMac 20" and Mac2Sell has it listed for way more than that.

It's hard hard to make out from the photo if it's aluminum or plastic. If it is plastic is that a decent price for it? It's the 17" one by the way.

The 17" is a late 2006 and is the white plastic model. Price is okay subject to chscag's earlier post about an operating system and Office activation code and CD. New came withb Tiger OS X..4.4 install DVD's, two off, which includes Apple Hardware Test. Here is a 1.83GHz selling for more:-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iMac-17-Desktop-Late-2006-/141085291530

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate all the advice

Yes Harry beat me to it as I was sleeping. 17" but for that price not a bad deal still.

Got a chance to check it out, it has some vertical lines on the right side of the screen. And he mentioned that the optical drive does not read disks sometimes. I thinking it may not be worth it in the long run.

Yeah, it sounds like one to avoid. The vertical lines down the right side could either be the display or the logic board GPU. Both are not worth fooling with. You could overcome the bad optical drive perhaps....

Suggest keep looking for something better for the kids. Lots of good used Macs out there but you do have to be careful not to buy a "pig in a poke".

The optical drives all fail. They can be changed but even better just a USB external DVD drive.

The lines on the LCD though does not sound good. Could be the LCD Panel going bad. It also could be a dirty socket/plug where the LCD plugs into the Motherboard. Had that with my 20" G5. It also could be the GPU but I have found mostly those two things to cause the lines.

Do you have a Budget limit? I am sure there are better iMacs for maybe $300 or so on Ebay without those issues.

Charley I like your Pig in the Poke comment!

Here is one for Low $200 that does not look bad.

Apple iMac 20" Core2Duo 2 4GHz 2GB 500GB 6MBL2 Mac OS x 10 5 8 | eBay

Another one a bit higher.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-Ap...1762908?pt=Apple_Desktops&hash=item35ccf349dc

If those are the machines I think they are they are just like my 20" iMac I own with Santa Rosa Chipset and will even run Mavericks when released. Devs have put up a list of supported Macs with Mavericks and mine is on it.

Guys, thanks a lot, appreciate all the advice, I'll check those links out and keep looking.

Avoid like the plague. The late 2006 17" iMac had known issues with the LCD, starting off with a few vertical lines, then in many cases extending to at least half of the display. Apple's extended coverage for this issue ended long ago.

Buying computers seems much like buying a motor vehicle. Avoid the first series of a new model and that is what the original iMac you asked about actually is.