I saw a topic on here that was about buying a refurb iMac... so since I just got a used iMac a few days ago, I decided to start my own topic.
Since I am only 14, there is no possible way I would ever be able to afford my own iMac. I had a $200 iMac G4 for about a year, then it died
.
When my mother told me that her friend was getting rid of there iMac and that she offered to buy it for $900, I was kind of skeptic. You can buy a newer one for about $400 more.
Once we went to go check it out, I was shocked. I was suspecting a old iMac G5 (pre-intel). It was huge (no pun intended). Not as big as the new 27'' iMac, but still pretty big.
They surprisingly still had the box. They had the new iLife 09 and iWork 09 and Snow Leopard installed. Also the Microsoft Word stuff.
Here are the specs:
2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB of Ram
667 Bus Speed (does this mean anything?)
24'' screen
250GB harddrive
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256mb.
When I first set it up I noticed that everything was very well taken care of. No scratches on the screen, or even dust. I got a wireless mighty mouse with it, and the older white wired keyboard. When I first plugged the keyboard in, I noticed that the keys were not responding properly. I switched it with one of the older imac g3 pink keyboards I had lying around. The mighty mouse doesn't scroll down, but neither does my other mighty mouse at my dads. So it might just be designed problem
The computer started up rather quickly. The first thing I did was make my own "account" thing, as well as my families. Once I got into my own "account" (I can remember what they are called ) I installed Google Chrome, because I like it better than Safari. Then I play around with Photo Booth, and then upload all of them to iPhoto. It seemed just as fast as my older 1 year old iMac.
I love Snow Leopard. I use regular Leopard on my Dads iMac and I used Tiger on my old iMac. Snow Leopard is just so... cool! I love how the apps folder is on the dock, it makes it way easier.
I installed The Sims 3 on it to test the graphics and such, and it runs really fast with all of the stuff on HIGH. Some of the Sims faces are black, which is weird, but it doesn't bug me. It still runs faster than on my PC.
There seems to be a problem though with the Airport. It cuts in and out, which makes facebook and msn annoying. I tried to update the iMac, but it didn't help. It just started today, and it was fine for the first few days... so it could just be my internet.
I haven't put all of my music onto itunes on it yet, or synced my iPod. But I did hook up my printer and it connected right away. On my PC I had to search for drivers, which sucked.
So far, the only REAL problem has been airport, but like I said, it's probably just my ****ed up internet. I really love how big the screen is, but if I play on it for more than 20mins, I get a little bit of a headache, which probably isn't such a bad thing .
If I get anymore problems, I will update it. But so far it seems like a very reliable computer.
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So the verdict is, buying a used mac isn't such a bad thing. The iMac thats 1 year old at my dads is an open box, and we haven't had any problems with that either.
If you need a computer for home surfing, or for the family, buying used it a good deal. It will save lots of money, and even though it might not be the newest shiniest apple product, it will still likely do what it's needed to do.
If you are thinking of buying a used mac, think of what your using it for, and what kind of speed you need. Don't go buying a G3 for $30 if you want to get into photo editing, that would just be stupid.
A G4 and up is good for common surfing, itunes, and DVDs. If you want intel, than some G5s and newer with be. Intel is for all the newest software and snow leopard. For PowerPc's , you need 867mhz or faster to run leopard, but I find that tiger is also good.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions, let me know !
Will be posting pic of computer later, but I just recently dropped my camera into a lake... soooo I'm going to have to dig up my older camera for a pic
Since I am only 14, there is no possible way I would ever be able to afford my own iMac. I had a $200 iMac G4 for about a year, then it died
. When my mother told me that her friend was getting rid of there iMac and that she offered to buy it for $900, I was kind of skeptic. You can buy a newer one for about $400 more.
Once we went to go check it out, I was shocked. I was suspecting a old iMac G5 (pre-intel). It was huge (no pun intended
). Not as big as the new 27'' iMac, but still pretty big. They surprisingly still had the box. They had the new iLife 09 and iWork 09 and Snow Leopard installed. Also the Microsoft Word stuff.
Here are the specs:
2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB of Ram
667 Bus Speed (does this mean anything?)
24'' screen
250GB harddrive
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256mb.
When I first set it up I noticed that everything was very well taken care of. No scratches on the screen, or even dust. I got a wireless mighty mouse with it, and the older white wired keyboard. When I first plugged the keyboard in, I noticed that the keys were not responding properly. I switched it with one of the older imac g3 pink keyboards I had lying around. The mighty mouse doesn't scroll down, but neither does my other mighty mouse at my dads. So it might just be designed problem
The computer started up rather quickly. The first thing I did was make my own "account" thing, as well as my families. Once I got into my own "account" (I can remember what they are called
) I installed Google Chrome, because I like it better than Safari. Then I play around with Photo Booth, and then upload all of them to iPhoto. It seemed just as fast as my older 1 year old iMac. I love Snow Leopard. I use regular Leopard on my Dads iMac and I used Tiger on my old iMac. Snow Leopard is just so... cool! I love how the apps folder is on the dock, it makes it way easier.
I installed The Sims 3 on it to test the graphics and such, and it runs really fast with all of the stuff on HIGH. Some of the Sims faces are black, which is weird, but it doesn't bug me. It still runs faster than on my PC.
There seems to be a problem though with the Airport. It cuts in and out, which makes facebook and msn annoying. I tried to update the iMac, but it didn't help. It just started today, and it was fine for the first few days... so it could just be my internet.
I haven't put all of my music onto itunes on it yet, or synced my iPod. But I did hook up my printer and it connected right away. On my PC I had to search for drivers, which sucked.
So far, the only REAL problem has been airport, but like I said, it's probably just my ****ed up internet. I really love how big the screen is, but if I play on it for more than 20mins, I get a little bit of a headache, which probably isn't such a bad thing
. If I get anymore problems, I will update it. But so far it seems like a very reliable computer.
--- - ----------------------------------------------------------------- - -
So the verdict is, buying a used mac isn't such a bad thing. The iMac thats 1 year old at my dads is an open box, and we haven't had any problems with that either.
If you need a computer for home surfing, or for the family, buying used it a good deal. It will save lots of money, and even though it might not be the newest shiniest apple product, it will still likely do what it's needed to do.
If you are thinking of buying a used mac, think of what your using it for, and what kind of speed you need. Don't go buying a G3 for $30 if you want to get into photo editing, that would just be stupid.
A G4 and up is good for common surfing, itunes, and DVDs. If you want intel, than some G5s and newer with be. Intel is for all the newest software and snow leopard. For PowerPc's , you need 867mhz or faster to run leopard, but I find that tiger is also good.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions, let me know
! Will be posting pic of computer later, but I just recently dropped my camera into a lake... soooo I'm going to have to dig up my older camera for a pic
