New to Mac, Easy/cheap way to pick one up?

I've been a PC/Unix/Linux user my whole life, until I hit the Iphone craze. Recently I've been really motivated to pick up a mac and start development on some App ideas i've been toying with. Problem being, I don't want to go out and blow 300-1000 dollars on a new machine. I've been eyeballing ebay with no luck, is there anyway to get a cheap mac anywhere? Desktop/laptop , I would hope at least 800mhz with Leopard? Seems like the price of macs don't decrease due to age(which kinda blows my mind). Or is there a good site that offers a very nice payment plan for me to pick up a mac mini or macbook for cheap(with monthly payment options?). I know the apple site does but that is at retail cost.

The only hope you have of getting a quality used machine is on the apple website, they have refurbished models. ie: People buy them, 1 month later think, this is crap, I dont know how to use it or there is a problem, most likely because they screwed up something, Apple replace the machine etc and reinstall the software on the old one, cleaning and selling it off cheaper!

Refurbished Mac - Apple Store (U.S.)

To answer your question - No, there really is no way to get a cheap Mac unless you just happen to luck into one. Everyone thinks their old Mac is still worth what they paid for it even 3-5 years later and there are too many idiots out there willing to pay it.

That's a bummer, thats really going to hold me off from getting a mac then. Shame you can't develop in windows either. The cheapest refurb is still $800+, only way I see me getting it would be something $300-400 on a finance plan. Shame everyone paying so much money for old equipment.

It's a bummer. Just spent 6 months watching Craigslist here. Had people asking $25-50 less than a brand new Intel machine for their 4, 5 and even 8 year old G3, G4 and G5's. Most of the asking prices were so high, it wasn't even worth the time making them a reasonable offer.

I've had a hard time trying to get just 200 for my eMac, let alone a higher price. Guess there isn't much demand in my own area lol.

$200.00? Struth you were very, very lucky if you got that for an eMac. Go out and buy a lottery ticket whilst your luck is really in!

The eMac in question is the upgraded unit in my signature. Half the asking price was to make up for the new ram,dvdburner, and hdd I installed. That's akin to saying you bought a '92 Civic for 200 bucks and then promptly replaced all the worn out suspension pieces to the tune of 400 dollars in parts.. Surely you would want to at least make enough back to make up for that would you not?

Consider such things before applying the snide remarks.

Never said anyone selling their 4-8 yr old machines were getting their asking price. I've seen some place the same ad, week after week, for up to 3 months, until I think they finally give up on selling, not because it sold.

I've even seen some with either of the last two models of mac mini drop their asking price after the first month by $10 at a time over the course of 2-3 months until they were advertising it for the cash price and in person pick up I had offered them the first week it was listed.

And as to selling a 5-8 yr old computer. As you have now found out, you can't pour more money than it is worth into anything and expect to get any of it back. You'd be better off salvaging those parts to put into your next machine. No one with the cash wants it for the same reason you're wanting to sell it.

The best thing to do with those old things are to find a kid without a computer who's family can't afford even the cheapest piece of junk out there and give it away. Go over to their house to set it up for them and take a couple of hours to show them how to get started using it. The smiles and thanks you get are worth a great deal more than the $100-$200 you might have gotten sitting around waiting for just the right person to come along.

I got an eMac for $60 on a Dutch eBay-like website (second hand, although it was actually third-hand). 700MHz PowerPC w/1Gb mem and a DVD-RAM/+/-/DL burner. First Apple I ever bought

Sold it 2 weeks later when I ran into a second-hand 20", 2,16GHz iMac with 1Gb mem and 250Gb harddisk for about $550 in perfect condition.

I think that so far I've been doing well

You've done very well and found machines actually worth the asking price.

Most people in my area are still trying to get $750-$900 for that iMac while the $550 is in line with what it is actually worth.

craigslist is a great place to get one

I'm not even asking the Mac2Sell value, which is $260. Funny, I hear so many people tell others to refer to Mac2Sell to price their machine, yet when someone like myself offers their machine for less than that, we are told we might as well just give it away.

If I gave away all my old stuff, I wouldn't make any money to put towards the purchase of my new stuff would I?

OnlyTimeWillTel said:

I'm not even asking the Mac2Sell value, which is $260. Funny, I hear so many people tell others to refer to Mac2Sell to price their machine, yet when someone like myself offers their machine for less than that, we are told we might as well just give it away.

If I gave away all my old stuff, I wouldn't make any money to put towards the purchase of my new stuff would I?

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No offense but 200 dollars for a eMac is a bit much. If you look at the advertisement banner at the top of this site they have listed as it cycles through eMac for 109. Sorry but I think your being a little sensitive and overreacting to other posts a bit much. If you think it's worth 200 then try to sell it for that, but remember others can feel differently about that price as well and that isn't a slight on you or your perception.