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Buying an MDD now... good or bad idea?

tpmidd

tpmidd

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 14, 2004
30
0
New Jersey
I've been looking to upgrade from my current 900 mhz g3 iBook and have not wanted to spend a hell of a lot of money. I just found an offer for a dual 1.25 MDD with a 23" cinema display for a low price on craigslist and was wondering what the lifespan of this computer would be now, seeing as it's many generations old. Would it be worth it to buy a PPC tower at all now with the whole Intel transition or not? Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
Are you cool giving us the price? I really liked the MDDs a lot. A dual 1.25 would be a good computer and a nice upgrade from the G3 iBook. Depending on the price, it may be a good investment. The Intel macs are still having some quirks (such a whine/moo in MB and MPB) and there is not an Intel PM available at the moment. Give us some more info and we can get you an opinion :)
 
$700. It appears to be pretty much barebones, stock RAM, stock GFX card, etc. (No Airport). But it's a dual 1.25, and a 23" monitor... with the ability to talk down. Since I have a 20" monitor I might not get the 23" as well, etc.

These are from the listing:

IMG_5560_resize.JPG

IMG_5555_resize.JPG

IMG_5568_resize.JPG


Any thoughts?
 
I would buy that setup in a second with the 23" display and that computer for $700 to be honest. If the monitor had no problems (deal pixels, lines, etc.) then that is a great deal. I wish that was around here cause if you didn't take it I would :)
 
The listing says no dead pixels...
IMG_5556_resize.JPG


I was just a little skeptical about it being a few years old, a G4 (two chip generations behind current models), and how many years I could get out of it (although thats hard to know for sure).
 
It really depends on what you are going to use it for. If you are into heavy photoshop/indesign/illustrator or heavy video editing then you will notice its age. However, the system will continue to run this software for years to come. I would say you could get 2-3 more years out of that machine. The Intel transition is going to take a long time to fully takeover all software. It will last you longer than a current mini and that would set you back more than $700 alone. If you upgrade the graphics card and memory you will see much better performance / lifespan out of it as well. Get that up to at least 1GB and you will be in shape for some time. This is, of course, just my personal opinion ;)
 
These machines are really noisy. We have one at work and I have a dual 1.4 at home. Just so you're forewarned...
 
thats a really good price, mainly for the 23" you can just get an ADC-DVI adapter for like 80 bucks and it'll work with anything through DVI.
 
I'm waiting for a response from the seller. Does anyone have one of these machines? What's a good gfx card upgrade for this upon purchase? Any other thoughts?
 
If you need OS 9 bootability, the FW800 version of that machine won't boot OS 9.

Otherwise nothing wrong with the machine.
 
That is an excellent offer and you would be wise to take the person up on it if the machine is in good working order. I recently purchased a dual 1.25 MDD a week ago, after coming from a 1.33Ghz 12 inch PowerBook G4. I was considering a new MacBook, but I changed my mind shortly after I sold my PowerBook. I payed $749 CDN for the same specs as you are looking at, plus the following:

- 2 x 120 GB HD's
- 2 x 512MB RAM

Overall, the noise of the machine hasn't bothered me. Maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others. You will definitely hear the computer if its sitting next to you on your desk. Again, for me personally, it's not an issue at all. I'm glad I have a desktop now. I didn't like having a laptop very much.

Good Luck,
Noah
 
scammer...

that ad is definitely a scam. i've seen those EXACT picturs before.

but on the advice level, i too am interested in thoughts about MDD machines now? I posted a query about this a couple days ago about the price/befeit ratio of MDD g4s vs g5s?
 
What makes you say it's a scam... the pictures seem to be hosted on a legitimate business' site and the price isn't that low to be an obvious scam. Did you deal with someone like this? I'm curious now.
 
from your g3 this machine will be a nice step forward, but if you have a 20" so will be a intelduo mini.
 
Thanks for the heads up... that's pretty much the exact same ad I've been looking at. I don't understand why people scam at all, looks like I'm going to keep looking.
 
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