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Help, what computer now?

Martyimac

Martyimac

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 19, 2009
2,463
1,706
S. AZ.
My nMP is currently drying in the garage, spilled some water and the whole thing shutdown in an instant. So, if I did kill it, what computer might you folks recommend???
I am not a heavy user,, some light word processing, email, photo editing in Photo, web browsing. Thinking about a mini if I could find a 2012 or so with an SSD and 16GB Ram.

Any recommendations on places to look for good used  computers?
 
Martyimac said:
My nMP is currently drying in the garage, spilled some water and the whole thing shutdown in an instant. So, if I did kill it, what computer might you folks recommend???
I am not a heavy user,, some light word processing, email, photo editing in Photo, web browsing. Thinking about a mini if I could find a 2012 or so with an SSD and 16GB Ram.

Any recommendations on places to look for good used  computers?
Click to expand...
Are you satisfied from the nMP? or would you like an iMac?
 
filmak said:
Are you satisfied from the nMP? or would you like an iMac?
Click to expand...
An iMac would be fine but then my monitor becomes a paperweight. While the Retina/5K screens are awesome, I was perfectly happy with my 24" Dell running 1920x1080 not to mention mice, keyboards, etc.
 
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Go for a Mini. The ONLY advantage I can see for the 2014 revision is the graphics; the Iris is better than HD4000 in the 2012 models.
 
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Martyimac said:
An iMac would be find but then my monitor becomes a paperweight. While the Retina/5K screens are awesome, I was perfectly happy with my 24" Dell running 1920x1080 not to mention mice, keyboards, etc.
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You could use it as a secondary one for extended desktop or multiple apps open.
As I see you 're coming from a 6c D500 nMP, have in mind that you 're not going to have the same performance from a mini.
A used nMP?
What is your budget?
 
filmak said:
You could use it as a secondary one for extended desktop or multiple apps open.
As I see you 're coming from a 6c D500 nMP, have in mind that you 're not going to have the same performance from a mini.
A used nMP?
What is your budget?
Click to expand...
I am going to try and go with a mini, but I could buy an iMac no problem. But a new MP like what I have isn't worth the money to me. It was fun and bought on a lark but now, SMH WAY to much money considering how locked down it is.
 
Martyimac said:
My nMP is currently drying in the garage, spilled some water and the whole thing shutdown in an instant. So, if I did kill it, what computer might you folks recommend???
I am not a heavy user,, some light word processing, email, photo editing in Photo, web browsing. Thinking about a mini if I could find a 2012 or so with an SSD and 16GB Ram.

Any recommendations on places to look for good used  computers?
Click to expand...

I totally agree that a mini with SSD and 16GB RAM is all you need.
 
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Well, whatever i fried I did it well. We do have an authorized  repair store here. May try that first. If it's no more than a used mini that would be okay with me. Baby steps.
 
I know everyone here is just giddy with anticipation as to what I decided. LOL
So, the folks I contacted don't take trade ins, the buy your mac sites won't take a non booting machine, can't say I blame them. BUT-----B&H Photo has the base nMP on sale for $1899 with no sales tax and free shipping. So I ordered one.
WHY you ask? Because parts for these things are outrageous. One place, the cheapest, wants $500 for the can cover and a power cord, graphics cards are over $700, power supply (what I think died) is $400. When I start looking at prices, my dead nMP will be a great parts machine. I will upgrade the one I bought from 12G to 16G from the old machine, my SSD will pop right in, the graphics cards can be replaced with my 500's, And I will have other spare parts if any of the new ones fail after warranty is over. Also, it was under my $2K number I had set for myself, I won't have an aio or a glossy screened iMac I don't care for.
So, in my case, I can almost get the mid priced nMP for $1K less than they are currenty selling for and not have to deal with an iMac I don't want on the desktop.
Thanks to all for the ideas, greatly appreciate everyone's input.
 
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A Mac Mini with 16GB or RAM and an SSD should hold up for a little while.

A family member of mine has a Mac Mini with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and it's working amazingly for them.
 
G
Martyimac said:
I know everyone here is just giddy with anticipation as to what I decided. LOL
So, the folks I contacted don't take trade ins, the buy your mac sites won't take a non booting machine, can't say I blame them. BUT-----B&H Photo has the base nMP on sale for $1899 with no sales tax and free shipping. So I ordered one.
WHY you ask? Because parts for these things are outrageous. One place, the cheapest, wants $500 for the can cover and a power cord, graphics cards are over $700, power supply (what I think died) is $400. When I start looking at prices, my dead nMP will be a great parts machine. I will upgrade the one I bought from 12G to 16G from the old machine, my SSD will pop right in, the graphics cards can be replaced with my 500's, And I will have other spare parts if any of the new ones fail after warranty is over. Also, it was under my $2K number I had set for myself, I won't have an aio or a glossy screened iMac I don't care for.
So, in my case, I can almost get the mid priced nMP for $1K less than they are currenty selling for and not have to deal with an iMac I don't want on the desktop.
Thanks to all for the ideas, greatly appreciate everyone's input.
Click to expand...
Glad you made your choice. Kinda shocked you didn't want to shy away from Apple. But hey! You got a great deal! What year is the machine you picked up?
 
TC_GoldRush said:
G

Glad you made your choice. Kinda shocked you didn't want to shy away from Apple. But hey! You got a great deal! What year is the machine you picked up?
Click to expand...
It's still a 2013 but it's brand new in the box and under  warranty for 1 Year.
I seriously considered moving away from  but there are still some things I like.
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TheSkywalker77 said:
A Mac Mini with 16GB or RAM and an SSD should hold up for a little while.

A family member of mine has a Mac Mini with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and it's working amazingly for them.
Click to expand...
Probably, but my 2011 mini struggles with heavy graphics intensive websites, the fan spins up pretty quick on something as simple as the CNN websites, others are worse.
 
TC_GoldRush said:
Wow you bought a 5 year old computer for $2,000! What a deal! Sorry, but I thought you picked up a brand new one for that price.
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There are no brand new trash can mac pro's. Yes it's a 5 year old design and components but they work great. Considering this model isn't even on the  website anymore, in my particular case only, it is a good deal. It's the price we pay for being in the  ecosystem. My old macpro cost me $4K.
 
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Martyimac said:
There are no brand new trash can mac pro's. Yes it's a 5 year old design and components but they work great. Considering this model isn't even on the  website anymore, in my particular case only, it is a good deal. It's the price we pay for being in the  ecosystem. My old macpro cost me $4K.
Click to expand...
Very nice! Glad you found such a good solution.
 
Martyimac said:
There are no brand new trash can mac pro's. Yes it's a 5 year old design and components but they work great. Considering this model isn't even on the  website anymore, in my particular case only, it is a good deal. It's the price we pay for being in the  ecosystem. My old macpro cost me $4K.
Click to expand...
It's the price I used to pay. Finally managed to get (mostly) out of the ecosystem. Just have a few programs that require me to keep a few old iBooks alive.
Edit: Thought it was the MacBook pro laptop, sorry. Trash Can macs are boss.
 
Update. The new Mac Pro came yesterday and is now up and running. The SSD from the old one is the one in this new machine. :) So now, I am fairly confident that the power supply is what fried and suspect that the video cards and the CPU are still okay. Essentially I have all the replacement parts other than the power supply for this new machine and my effective cost is just the cost of a new power supply which is $400 retail. Maybe less if I searched around some more.
Works for me. :D
 
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