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Resale Value of PowerPC Laptops after the Intel Switch?
- Thread starter Jomoma
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Yeah, but before then (the Performa and Quadra days) things were pretty stable. Basically those were dark days for Apple. Dark days for computers in general, because I would argue that in 1996, there was no decent OS on the market unless you could pony up $10K for an Indy.
I used Linux back then, it did everything I needed but I'll agree the consumer OSes seemed pretty damn bad. 
tristan said:
One of my friends has an Indy, I always thought that was the coolest machine of the 90's.
When I first started using Macs, it was the era of the fast and stable OS 7.1....then came 7.5.3 and the other bloatware. The early PowerPCs really suffered with the later versions of OS 7.x.x. OS 8 was neither good nor bad on the whole, and OS 9 was a mixed bag as well - I had good luck with OS 8.1, not so good luck with later OS 8.x.x versions, and I felt that OS 9.x.x was slow on my 266MHz iMac.
Tristan, you pretty much bought the worst portable Mac ever made, and I'm impressed that you stuck with Macs at all
. Still, we have a few later rev 5300s at the lab where I work and Apple seems to have ironed out the problems later in the laptop's life, since these are still going strong. But I've heard more than enough horror stories about the 5300 to believe them.
I wouldn't be surprised if current gen iBooks sold for about 85-90% of the price of a new iBook.
Yeah, using that Powerbook was like playing a game of minesweeper... one wrong click and you'd see BOOM, the bomb on the screen! I came back to the Mac about six years later, after I saw my uncle use an iBook for a weekend while I struggled with Windows ME.
I came back to the Mac about six years later, after I saw my uncle use an iBook for a weekend while I struggled with Windows ME.
It's kinda sad to think that the powerbook I spend $2,000 on not too long ago won't be worth nearly that after the Intel Books are introduced. But, I plan on keeping it for 4 years anyway, so by that far in the future I don't think it's worth worrying about. Even 4 year old notebooks aren't worth too much today, or are they?
generik said:Sell it now
And go computerless until they come out? lol
It's value has already decreased. Unless the prices drop significantly when the Intels come out, I would consider trying to sell mine right away... but most likely not. I'm happy with it.
Jomoma said:
IMO, if your only cutting the price by $100 for a used PPC, I would rather spend the extra $100 and get a new Intel model. I will soon be in the market for an ibook, I hope they drop the prices to rock bottom.... So everyone can afford one.
cgratti said:
One big factor to think about is how quickly the Pro Apps like Motion, Final Cut and Photoshop are ported. Pro users who invested Quad G5s will probably stick with PPC a for while, and won't mind using a G4 Powerbook. Anyway PPC will be around in the PowerMac for another year at least, so the G4 Powerbook will not be an orphan for a while yet.
By the way, is there anywhere to find some data of what resale values have done after a major upgrade? I'd love to see what has happened in the past when a major Rev A comes around.
Basically, I'm not worring, either I'll keep the PPC around forever, or dump it right before Rev B comes out.
Another weird question, does apple care keep around a bunch of old hardware to replace failing old equipment, or do they upgrade you if you have a problem. I haven't sprung for the apple care yet (I have a special insurance policy that covers accidental and everything else), but I might if it means a free upgrade if there's a problem in a few years.
Thanks!
Basically, I'm not worring, either I'll keep the PPC around forever, or dump it right before Rev B comes out.
Another weird question, does apple care keep around a bunch of old hardware to replace failing old equipment, or do they upgrade you if you have a problem. I haven't sprung for the apple care yet (I have a special insurance policy that covers accidental and everything else), but I might if it means a free upgrade if there's a problem in a few years.
Thanks!
crazydreaming said:
Well, my 400 mhz G4 TiBook will have it's 5th birthday next month. It originally sold for $2599, and it is now worth about $400.
So, it's now worth 1/6 of it's original value. And this is still using the same PPC G4 archetecture. I wonder how much lower it would be if it made a complete chip switch.
Yeah, today a 4yr old machine would be a TiBook 667mhz. Would you buy one now? That's the kind of thing you give to your grandma so she can check email. After four years, hopefully you've gotten your money's worth and resale value isn't that big a deal.
tristan said:
You can bump up the CPU in the 400 Tibook at Daystar -- to 550mhz. Not much but puts it back under warranty and makes it a LITTLE more modern.
tristan said:
I know others have commented on this too, but to add to what they said. The management and most of the company is totally different now as compared to the mid 90's. Apple is under new management (jobs and company) and has many new engineers in their staff.
risc said:I don't consider any of the pre-OS X OSes to be stable so I guess it figures.
Yeah I remember in the OS8/9 days I used to keep an unfolded paper clip on my desk just to push the reset button on my bondi blue. I did that more often than a normal shutdown. I am amazed when I see people still today talk about the good old days of OS9, are they nuts?
generik said:
But also probably didn't cost you $2599 new.
I also wouldn't say worthless. I know lots of folks still using machines >= 4 years old they have plenty of worth in terms of usefulness. You just wouldn't be able to get money out of it. Why pay $400 for a 4 year old PC when $400 will buy you a new one that will be 4-5x faster.
Are you buying the computer as an investment in hardware? Or are you buying a computer so you can use it?
When you buy a computer, it should be configured with an eye towards what you need. Yes, it might make sense to get some [inexpensive] options to increase the resale value, but if all you care about is resale value, buy real estate - that keeps going up in price.
When you buy a computer, it should be configured with an eye towards what you need. Yes, it might make sense to get some [inexpensive] options to increase the resale value, but if all you care about is resale value, buy real estate - that keeps going up in price.
ewinemiller said:
I would never want to go back, but OS 9 was a nice system. VERY fast on my 0.4 Ghz PowerBook and very solid as long as you could live without MS and AOL. With any of those crappy apps brining the whole system down they had to make something to compete with W2k, so here we are.
I went to Win95 from OS 7 and it was like heaven to be back to the Mac. I still have a copy of OS 9 on my PowerBook drive, simply because battery time is about 1/2 longer and it can sleep for AGES (>10h for light use on current Macs, anybody?) .
I don't know.. Once you own/use something for 4+ years doesn't the sentimental value outweigh the measly hundred you could squeeze from eBay? I'd much rather give it to a relative (grandma like the above) than sell it off. BUT if you are worred about the intel switch then by all means sell the bugger now because anyone who tells your PPC can still go for anything above 50% is BSing.