WOW, 24hrs ago i would NEVER thought about replacing my Power Mac

Okay,

So, remember yesterday how i tried to discourage someone from buying a mac mini and that it would be cheaper and more efficient to upgrade the G4 powermac? Well looking at the prices of mac minis,
WOW, I WAS SO WRONG!!
I cant believe it!!!
New-ish macs in general have dropped in prices! (i never look because i never thought i would be able to afford one)

Now i WANT ONE!

But, are they really all that great?
I mean i JUST got my PowerMac in august, but with leopard and all....
Those ARE cheap!
So im SERIOUSLY considering buying one,
i cant afford it right now (I have $180 to my name right now), but my birthday is in a couple of months, and i could always trade in my PowerMac for like $3........

Thats what i should do for my birthday, completely upgrade my computer space! A new mac, a new mouse for sure, new speakers, and a FLAT SCREEN!! WOW!! (I have a 19inch gateway CRT)...

Anyway,
down to details.

What should i know about buying one of these?
Core duo or core 2 duo: does it really make a big difference?
I have no idea about anything past G4.....lol.
About how much am i going to pay for one of these refurbished?
Now at the apple store they are from $429-$679,
will this stay the same over the next, say, 5 or 6 months?
Can i get one somewhere else cheaper?

Just give me the Mac Mini 101 if anyone would like to, im excited now

Also, what should i do with my PowerMac?
Trade it in?
Sell it?
Im sure since leopard it has gone done in value VERY fast.
How much do you think it would be worth with
Dual 533
896 ram
40gb hard drive
tiger
dvd/cdrw
and the rest at stock?
Probably not nearly as before leopard....(sigh)


Any comments?

Anything???????


Thanks,

Tanner.

argh.......the newer ones dont have modems!
Can i work around that?
External modem?

Apple makes a USB modem

Great, thanks!

I wish apple would build one in though, i mean its not going to make it THAT much bigger if at all.

Its almost as if dial up is becomming obsolete! LOL.

Tanner31593 said:

Thats what i should do for my birthday, completely upgrade my computer space! A new mac, a new mouse for sure, new speakers, and a FLAT SCREEN!! WOW!!

Click to expand...

Since a mini comes with none of these, I doubt it would be as inexpensive as you hope it would be.

Tanner31593 said:

Its almost as if dial up is becomming obsolete! LOL.

Click to expand...

I'm surprised dial up services are still offering service. Its soooo slow.

OHHHHHHH trust me,
it IS sooooooooooooooooooooo slow.
Horrible.
But it's not like we have a choice though,
we live too far away for anything else.
We cant have satelite dish either.
And we don't get any cell phone reception.
And even our landline phones REALLY suck.
It's nice in the country though........

Tanner31593 said:

OHHHHHHH trust me,
it IS sooooooooooooooooooooo slow.
Horrible.
But it's not like we have a choice though,
we live too far away for anything else.
We cant have satelite dish either.
And we don't get any cell phone reception.
And even our landline phones REALLY suck.
It's nice in the country though........

Click to expand...

Lowell, MI is considered country land? According to google maps on my iPhone, you look like you're 20 minutes away from Grand Rapids (the Apple store I was at for the Leopard grand opening) which is a big town.
I was able to get some reception 10,000 ft high up in the Rockies.
Unless you don't live where your profile says you do.

PowerMax.com gave me a trade invalue of $225-WAY more than i expected.
Will that go down in about 4 or 5 months?
But if i take that when i'm ready, (assuming the trade in value doesn't go down, but odds are it will) i'll have to buy from powermax.com, theyre cheapest one is $488 for a core duo 1.66.

Maybe i should trade the PowerMac in now and use an old PC until i get more money which might take a couple months to afford the whole scha-bang, but if i go back in may or june and my PowerMac is worth $125 than that wouldnt be very good.

Any advice?

Well,
Lowell is considered a hick country nowhere land to the people who live there.
People say its like a hole in the ground with no cell phone signal.
But im techincally in ionia county,
im sort of in the middle of lowell, saranac, and ionia.
And it takes way more than 20 minutes to get to the apple store.
It's not that far distance wise,
i mean im sure we are better off than most, but roads in the lowell/ionia/saranac/ada area are kinda dilapidated. ALways construction somewhere....
its nice being kinda close to GR though.

If i'm not smack in the middle of lowell, i dont get cell phone signal.
But i have a nextel so maybe it would be more accurate with a company with DECENT coverage for a change (we pay for a sprint/nextel merge fee every month, can you believe that?!?!)
Don't even get me started on nextel, could go on and on....
i should start a new thread about that.

ANyway......

YOu were in GR for leopard?
I was in the same mall during the same week bryphotoguy was there!
LOL.
Woodland is pretty nice, IMO. But then again ive been to like 2 other malls so.....

How does the GR apple store compare to others??

Tanner31593 said:

YOu were in GR for leopard?
I was in the same mall during the same week bryphotoguy was there!
LOL.
Woodland is pretty nice, IMO. But then again ive been to like 2 other malls so.....

How does the GR apple store compare to others??

Click to expand...

It's nice I guess. It was mad crazy for the grand opening. I was like 10th in line and an older couple was in front of us. The lady looked like she was in her 70's. She had like a panic attack before she got in the door.
Compared to other stores, it's the same. They're all basically setup the same. The one on Michigan Ave. in Chicago has all that fancy floor work and the stairs leading to the second floor.

If you can wait, save for a Core 2 Duo model. A CD chip is only 32 bit while the C2D is 64 bit. The processors can handle larger chunks of data at a time or something. They're signifcantly faster. Not that a CD Mini is slow, you'll see more benefit and longevity from a C2D Mini.

The price you were quoted isn't bad. It's a pretty fair price for a Dual 533MHz. I think I sold my Dual 1GHz on eBay for not much over $400. I probably only made $350 after all the fees. A dual processor PowerMac should hold it's value well, much more than a G4 with only one processor. That being said, it might not fetch that amount for a trade-in value come June. I certainly wouldn't trade for a PC until you can afford a Mini. I don't say that because I hate Windows or PC's, you won't be escaping the fact that computers depreciate in value.
I would say stick with the PowerMac until you have enough. Try selling it on Craigslist to see if you can get more than what PowerMax offers you.

Well,

Yeah i planned on getting a C2D, when i see the word/number 2 in the processor description i get hooked

Yeah,
i guess i will wait on trading in the powermac.
Even if the value goes down, i could always spend a little bit more money to upgrade and then trade in. Or not.
And if i did trade it in i would be dreading lugging out my old windows pc, mostly because its so dang big and its only a 600mhz p3!

Do you think the prices of the minis will go down or up?
I wouldnt think so unless a new one is being released?
I dont know but the refurb apple store has some dang good prices!

And with iPods if you give apple your old one you get 10% off a new one,
same for Macs???????
I could always trade in my old G3 lombard with bad hinges, then sell my powermac and get a better deal, or does it not work like that?

I'm excited though!


I have $200.16 in the "Mac Mini fund"!
But im buying a $20 bird tomorrow and food so that will probably leave me with $170ish.
Still!
Thats already like a little less than 1/3 of the price of the mini!

if your computer does everything that you need it to with no problems at all then why change computers?
-chris

coach_z said:

if your computer does everything that you need it to with no problems at all then why change computers?
-chris

Click to expand...

Well......why not?
Sure, there is cost, but you only live once!
As i grow and as Mac OS grows, it would be ideal if my computer would grow with.
My PowerMac doesn't seem to be filling my shoes at the moment.
If i maxed out everything in my powermac (which i was planning to do, except i wasnt maxing anything out, just going with the cheapest version of 'acceptable'), it would have costed me about $300 give or take,
and mac minis are not much more expensive.

He's asking if your Dual 533MHz is working great now, why switch?
If you're planning for the future, there will be faster models in the future.
He's suggesting you hold on to the computer you have until you really need to upgrade. Or is there something you are unable to do with it now?

Well yeah,
you guys got me there.

My thing is burning DVDs-I wanna be able to do that, but i'd need a DVD burner, and a bigger hard drive....and maybe some software.
And i wanted to max the ram out so things would be a bit snappier as i am getting the beachball way more often than i used to.

The only thing i cant really do is run leopard (officially).
Maybe i will hold off.....but i read somewhere the Mac Mini might be discontinued?

I don't know. I guess im just antsy.
I'll keep saving money up after my birthday and maybe during the summer and maybe by the time i decide i may have enough to buy more than a mac mini (a future iMac anybody? maybe they will have build in drink dispensers by then ;D). I dont know- I guess i just want to treat myself.
But i guess i treat myself every time i turn this baby on

ALthough what it isnt what i want to hear--its good advice. Maybe i'll follow it.

I highly doubt anyone would build a drink dispenser into a computer. Liquids and electronics don't exactly mix well. Check the laptop forum. Every third thread is about how they, a friend, or a pet spilled a liquid on their now dead laptop.
I would try and control your urges. A SuperDrive is like $35. Go to Macsales.com for one. I picked up a second one for my Mac.
For now, I would stick with what you got, be happy you haven't switched to Leopard, and keep saving for all that stuff.

bryphotoguy said:

I highly doubt anyone would build a drink dispenser into a computer. Liquids and electronics don't exactly mix well. Check the laptop forum. Every third thread is about how they, a friend, or a pet spilled a liquid on their now dead laptop.
I would try and control your urges. A SuperDrive is like $35. Go to Macsales.com for one. I picked up a second one for my Mac.
For now, I would stick with what you got, be happy you haven't switched to Leopard, and keep saving for all that stuff.

Click to expand...

I was WAY kidding about that one ;D

But you guys are right,
I'm gonna hold off.
Maybe buy some more practical things i need, the things that ARENT fun to buy (The shelf my TV is on is being held together by a clamp under it and wood glue.....)
And a digital picture frame would be nice as i have a 30% off coupon......
ill hold off on the mini for a while---until then the apple store will have to continue to wipe the drool off theirs

Thanks you guys!
Rep'd ya.

Be interesting to see your views in twelve months. IMHO minis are like cubes - novelty appeal.