looking to switch...gradually.

Looking to buy a cheap mac laptop.
im looking to buy something really cheap < $200.

what can i look to get in this price range?
ive seen a lot of G3's G4's ? around that price range on craigslist. But I want it to perform well and run CS4. is this reasonable? possible?

and what is the difference in the softwares (the cats)? better? faster? just a different layout?

im a total newb.

CoryG said:

Looking to buy a cheap mac laptop.
im looking to buy something really cheap < $200.

what can i look to get in this price range?
ive seen a lot of G3's G4's ? around that price range on craigslist.

But I want it to perform well and run CS4. is this reasonable?

Click to expand...

No, it isn't reasonable.
You would be expecting a machine that could be almost 10 years old (or older) to run the latest graphics software.

Not gonna happen.

If you got one of the very last G4 PowerBooks and maxed out the RAM, then perhaps it could run CS4 okay.
I wouldn't expect much more from any other older notebook around the price range you're setting.

D3v1L80Y said:

No, it isn't reasonable.
You would be expecting a machine that could be almost 10 years old (or older) to run the latest graphics software.

Not gonna happen.

If you got one of the very last G4 PowerBooks and maxed out the RAM, then perhaps it could run CS4 okay.
I wouldn't expect much more from any other older notebook around the price range you're setting.

Click to expand...

would it have some sort of photoshop or Creative Suite on it already?
i really have no idea..

No, it wouldn't.

Purchasing Graphics Software is no different for Mac than it is for Windows.
It is still separate purchase.

will iphone/itouch development software run on one of these?

To run Adobe CS4 you need at least a G5, so that isn't going to happen.

CS3 should be okay but it won't be blistering performance...

You will need to purchase Adobe Ps or CS separate, if it is pre-installed make sure you get the licence and CD or it would be an illegal copy.

CoryG said:

Looking to buy a cheap mac laptop.
im looking to buy something really cheap < $200.

what can i look to get in this price range?
ive seen a lot of G3's G4's ? around that price range on craigslist. But I want it to perform well and run CS4. is this reasonable? possible?

and what is the difference in the softwares (the cats)? better? faster? just a different layout?

im a total newb.

Click to expand...

You're really asking way too much for a $200 dollar budget!

I would like to purchase a fully operational & good looking Ferrari for $5000-$10,000...but it's not going to happen either!

- Nick

wow guy.

the word newb, noob or nube...means i dont know ANYTHING about this stuff (Macs)
sorry i posted.

pigoo3 said:

You're really asking way too much for a $200 dollar budget!

I would like to purchase a fully operational & good looking Ferrari for $5000-$10,000...but it's not going to happen either!

- Nick

Click to expand...

Well, you could always buy an MR2 with a Ferrari 360 kit on it and straight pipes for around $12,000 .

But yeah, for $200 you won't be running CS4. Perhaps GIMP, but still not with the best performance. I would highly recommend just saving a bit longer and at least spending about $500 on an iMac G5 and upgrading the RAM; that would run quite a few graphical programs quite well, but CS4 is very GPU intensive too, so maybe CS3 would be a better choice of software.

CoryG said:

wow guy.

the word newb, noob or nube...means i dont know ANYTHING about this stuff (Macs)
sorry i posted.

Click to expand...

I don't think anyone was particularly harsh. What you need to come to grips with is the fact that the Mac world ISN'T like the Windows world. Buying a $200 Windows machine will get you a fairly new machine that will do a lot. A $200 Mac is going to be old and slow. Macs tend to retain their value longer than Windows boxes so what you are getting is going to be different.

Your best bet would be to buy and older iMac for ~$1000 or a new-ish Mac Mini with an Intel processor (for $600) and see how well you like the system, the performance and the community. That's the only way you are going to get a feel for how you want to proceed.

baggss said:

Your best bet would be to buy and older iMac for ~$1000 or a new-ish Mac Mini with an Intel processor (for $600) and see how well you like the system, the performance and the community. That's the only way you are going to get a feel for how you want to proceed.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it's the only way. You can purchase an older G4 (maybe a later G3) and still run OS X 10.4.x on it.

It won't be a speed demon, but it will give a person the basic experience of how the OS differs... which is one of the biggest hang-ups people have when first using a Mac.
No, they won't be able to run the latest and greatest software, but it will give a person valuable "hands-on" experience with a Mac before they make a larger financial commitment.

Once you can get comfortable with that, then you can move on to a newer model.
If you don't ever get comfortable with it, then you're only out a couple hundred buck tops... and you can still likely sell it for almost what you paid for it.

CoryG said:

Looking to buy a cheap mac laptop.
im looking to buy something really cheap < $200.

what can i look to get in this price range?
ive seen a lot of G3's G4's ? around that price range on craigslist. But I want it to perform well and run CS4. is this reasonable? possible?

and what is the difference in the softwares (the cats)? better? faster? just a different layout?

im a total newb.

Click to expand...

I ran CS3 on a 1.0ghz G4 powerbook w/ 1gb of RAM pretty well as I recall. If you look hard you may find one in like grade B/C condition on craigs list for 250-300

Even if you were to buy a newer mac, like a macbook for quite a bit more used with how well they retain value if you didnt like it you could sell it for at least what you bought it for. If you look really really hard and are patient you may even be able to make $50 when you sell it if you decide you dont like Apple machines.

CoryG said:

will iphone/itouch development software run on one of these?

Click to expand...

You would need an Intel based Mac for that. So unless you find some amazing deal, you're not gonna find an Intel machine for under $200. You should be able to find an early Intel Mac Mini for around $300 though.

Dude, you couldn't get a windows box with good enough specs for under 200 bucks to run CS4.