Advice on Selling older iMac

[AngelaParrish11]

Hello!

I bought a used iMac G5 last Christmas for $750. It has been a great computer, but it still has Panther. It doesn't have the capacity to upgrade to Leopard, which is kinda rough.

I have used it every day, but I just bought a new aluminum MacBook. I'm a musician and switched to macs primarily for the music capabilities, and now that I take my laptop everywhere with me I don't have a lot of use for the desktop anymore.

How much should I potentially sell it for? I was thinking that someone who needed a really basic mac might be interested in buying. I don't want to charge too much (or too little, since I'm in need of money). I really have no clue what I'm doing and I'm a fairly new Mac convert.

Extra info:

Mac OSX Version 10.3.9
1.6 GHz Power PC G5
768 M8 DDR SDRAM
One CPU
CPU Speed: 1.6 GHz

Thanks for the help!

Angela

 

[MarkMS]

Those G5 machines still have a lot of life in them. And why do you think it can't run Leopard? It should be able to run it pretty well, but it might not be as speedy as that MacBook.

Anyway, that said, you can check Mac2Sell to get an approximate price. The best way to sell is to go through eBay or Craigslist. You can also try some forums, but make sure you have references for big items like this.

Don't forget to format the hard drive before you sell. You don't want your files in someone else's hands. Just insert the discs that came with the iMac, go to Disk Utility and zero the drive. If you need more info on this, check this article out. If you are still stuck, let us know. We'll try to help you out!

 

[AngelaParrish11]

Thank you so much!!!

I called the Apple Store helpline to purchase Leopard and it said that it couldn't run Leopard... said it didn't have enough power...

 

[txnoob]

Yeah, I would keep that machine as a back up. If the memory in that machine can be upgraded easily, it would do you a great service and should run Leopard pretty well. My G4 1.25ghz machine is older technology and slower than your G5 and it runs Leopard almost as fast as my brand new mini in basic tasks.

 

[txnoob]

Thank you so much!!!

I called the Apple Store helpline to purchase Leopard and it said that it couldn't run Leopard... said it didn't have enough power...

That was either a lie, or a mis-informed rep. However, again I would look in to upgrading the memory. If you spend a little and max out the memory, and you still want to sell it, I think it would increase your chances.

 

[AngelaParrish11]

Wow! Thanks so much for the great advice. I am trying to get money to pay for a car... that is why I'm selling the computer. It is a great machine though. Sometimes if I let it hibernate, it won't wake up, though. It is still "on" but the screen is black and it makes a loud whirring noise... what could this problem be?

 

[Sun Baked]

A G4 at half the clock could run Leopard and it runs OK on a G4 1GHz and 768MB -- so that machine isn't a problem.

 

[AngelaParrish11]

Sold it on facebook Marketplace to a friend in about 30 minutes. Whew!