New (to me) iMac. First Apple, and a couple questions

[slapguts]

About two weeks ago my windows laptop finally died, and I finally decided to step up to an iMac.

Here's the thing, I'm cheap. Really cheap. So I started the search. Found myself a 17" G4 iMac with an airport card, 80gig HD, mouse and keyboard for $75. All it needs is a new logic board. Seems it took a spill off a desk, and the jumper for the LCD came unstuck. No worries, the external monitor option still works fine.

My first question, what are my chances of finding a cheap board to get it back to it's former all-in-one glory? What kind of cash should I expect to spend?

Also, I'd like to pull all the info off my old laptops drive. If I get a 2.5 enclosure, will I be able to get to the goods by simply plugging it into my new iMac? Or will I have to do some sort of magic to make that possible?

I did check out a shiny new 24" iMac, and it definitely made my pants fit funny, bit that price tag-ugh. Beautiful piece of kit, though.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

You bought a non-working computer for $75 because you are cheap? I have no idea what a logic board cost, but surely its more than that. If this is the same thing, this one is $200

http://cgi.ebay.com/iMac-G4-Flat-Pa...ryZ25439QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Sadly, I dont think Macs are for thrifty spenders.

As far as the hdd from the other computer, if you put it in an enclosure, it should show up as an external drive on another computer.

 

[slapguts]

Thanks for the ebay link, that's the one I need, I think.

The computer works fine, just not through the included LCD.

$275 for a G4 iMac seems like a good deal. I could be happy with that.

So a windows laptop hard drive will just show up as an external? That would make the transition remarkably simple.

 

[clyde2801]

Have you tried craigslist? Might be cheaper...