broken ibook-fix or sell?

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I have an ibook g4, 14-inch, with an 80gb hard drive, superdrive, and 1gb of ram. it has worked great for more than a year now, but the other day i tripped on the cord (it didn't have the mag-safe) and the computer fell over my desk. it hit pretty hard and i picked it up and looked at it, and the screen worked fine and all of the keys and everything still also work fine, but the only thing that was wrong is that the metal frame that surrounds the lcd screen is broken. the screen doesn't stand up straight and it just kind of hangs, so i have to prop it up against something to use it. i took it to the local apple store to ask him and it sounded like it would be kind of expensive to fix. i was thinking about buying a macbook anyway pretty quick here before i go off to college, and so here is my question. should i pay the multiple hundreds of dollars to fix my ibook and then sell it in hopes that it will warrant a higher price, or sell it as is?
 
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We can't make the decision for you-- it will depend entirely on what your cash flow looks like right now and what you really want to do.

Macs generally hold their value for years, so if you want to save the money you could get the iBook fixed. If I were planning on keeping the unit, that's what I might do.

I would not repair it just to sell it-- you'll be frustrated at what you could probably get for it.

If you want (and can) spend the money for a MacBook, it would also be a safe investment.

If you're looking for someone to give you validation that you should buy a MacBook instead of repairing the iBook, here it is:

Buy a MacBook and don't spend the money on repairing the iBook. :)
 
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iBook G3|800Mhz|256MB Ram|ComboDrive|30GB HD|
If your seriously looking in to buying a macbook, I'd tell you to sell your iBook and put the money you get for it towards a Macbook. How much were you thinking of selling it for?
 
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well, my plan is to sell my ibook to get the macbook but i didn't know if i could warrant a higher payment for a broken ibook or a fixed one(after repair costs).

i don't really know how much i could sell it for. i paid somewhere around 1300 for it i believe, and it's got a pretty decent setup. what do y'all think?
 
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Sell it "as is." You most likely will not recoup the costs of fixing it, based on what you've written here.
 
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you might get $600 for it on ebay, as is. $850 repaired
 
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I broke my ibook too (ee my avatar pic). It's been sitting in the closet for week. I was planning on selling it, then thinking of tearing it down and parting it out. Speaking from experience, don't get a new macbook until AFTER you sell or repair and sell the ibook. I made the mistake of getting the macbook first, and I haven't even thought of my old broken ibook for weeks. I hate ebay, and I am scared to death of causing more damage by parting it out, or even attempting a repair. Anyway, just wanted to say, I know the feeling of having a broken ibook in the house. Let me know the outcome of you ibook adventure, maybe I will finally get the motivation to sell off mine as well.
 
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sell it and put the cash towards your mac book
 
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The wisest decision for me is to sell the iBook and buy a MacBook. I agree with the other post, never repair the iBook just to sell it. The results would frustrate you.

Even though you won't get a high price for the broken iBook, the small amount would help in buying the MB. It's better than keeping a broken iBook in the house. :)
 
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Sell it as-is with a full description of the damage. It is an easy fix (if you know your way around an iBook) and someone in the know will pay appropriately for it.
 

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