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Sell Imac G5 for Macbook??

A

adom

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2006
252
0
UK
Ok, bit of advice needed here. :rolleyes:

So ive been a mac convert since the G5 iSight iMac came out last october..and my 20" is great. Just one problem, I've found myself using it for playing my music on, web browsing and general day to day useage...not the photoshop and webdesign I thought i might. :p

I was wondering wether or not it would be a good idea to trade this in and buy myself a Macbook. I can do the same stuff, but obviously will be left with a much smaller screen space.

Or maybe i should stick to the iMac. I dont know. Those Macbooks have caught my attention, and with the Intel gear which i missed out :mad: on by 3 months in them, its tempting.

Whats the low down on the ability to buy a Macbook with G5 2.1 1.5Gig Ram spec iMac. Will the cost of it cover it? Or am i going to have to sell then add more cash to it?

Any views would be great!!! :D Thanks!
 
If go do get it you have to remember you''ll end up need(or really wanting) external speakers, and 13'' is much much smaller then 20''. I went from 17'' to 20'' and its so much nicer, so to lose 7'' it might be hard, which may make you want to get a display. I would say go to an Apple store and play with 13'' MacBook, and see if its big enough for you
 
X5-452 said:
Wow. I think you got ripped off. $950 seems way too long for a G5 with 1.5 GB of RAM.
Click to expand...
I had to price it cheaper then what Apple sells it refurbished. It was pre-iSight as well. I also get education pricing.
 
zap2 said:
If go do get it you have to remember you''ll end up need(or really wanting) external speakers, and 13'' is much much smaller then 20''. I went from 17'' to 20'' and its so much nicer, so to lose 7'' it might be hard, which may make you want to get a display. I would say go to an Apple store and play with 13'' MacBook, and see if its big enough for you
Click to expand...

i second that. 20 inches down to 13 is a big leap. not to say that you wouldn't like it, there's just a *chance* you may not. with that big of a purchase at stake, i think you should go play around in an apple store (or, if not close enough to one, a best buy/circuit city) and really see a 13 inch laptop face to face.
 
Well, its not actually 7 inch drop, as MB's DPI is higher than on iMac... but the loss is still big. I'd keep the iMac, especially if it is 20 inch :D
 
Keep the iMac G5!!!

The Macbooks did not impress me very much any way... wait for a smaller rev Macbook Pro ;)
 
I think you'd be able to cover the cost of the macbook, definitely. It really comes down to this - do you need portability? If you don't, definitely keep the imac, which is a great machine. If you do, then I can't recommend a macbook highly enough. :)
 
The 20" iMac G5 2.1 goes for $1299 on the Apple website. Granted that it's refurbished and without the ram upgrade, but it has a full one year warranty.

On eBay, I would guess you'd get around $1200 (there's always stupid eBay people who will pay too much), which would leave you with around $1100 after fees.

Although 20" to 13" would be tough, I would have a harder time going from 250GB to 60GB/80GB on the hard drive.

For what you use it for, keep the iMac and buy a cheap iBook.
 
eXan said:
Another reason to keep the iMac :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, very true. Im just easily enticed by new products - and have felt a slight downer since i got this due to the lack of the intel/bootcamp capability. But hey, ive got a peecee downstairs I guess.

Thanks for your views, ill check out the macbook at a reseller today, but I think the big head iMac will stay :p
 
Adom,

I have the same thought as you. In fact, I've been trying to sell my father's URL="https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/204201/"]iMac G5[/URL] with 1.5Gb of memory for $900 shipped (yes, that was a plug). You should get a bit more for yours, hopefully.

My mother has a MacBook. Compared to my father's iMac it doesn't feel noticeably faster. Also, some programs are not universal yet. This may or may not affect you. For me, it is annoying since I can't watch The Daily Show until Flip4Mac becomes universal. :p Seriously though, I'll have to use Lightroom, Finale, etc. when I get my MacBook and I'm not sure if any are universal.
 
Hi,

maybe I can help you with your decision. I have just sold my imac G5 20" (bought may 2005 when rev. b came out) with 2GB RAM and got about 1250 Euros for it...boguht a white 2ghz MacBook for the money, the only upgrade I did was 2GB RAM with third party modules.

My reason for the switch was that I'll go abroad for an exchange study program in August so keeping my iMac was not option for me since I wouldn't be able to take it with me (well, probably, the airline allows me 30kg, who needs clothes anyway?!?!)

My thoughts:

1) Display
I absolutely LOVED the 1680 resolution of my iMac and I had big doubts about switching...even thought about getting a MBP just because of the screen resolution (though i don't really like their design and won't need the other features)...finally I waited until my local Apple retailer got the Macbooks (which was 5 days after their release) and I decided to buy one.

I hardly miss the 20" of my imac now because the display turned out to be gorgeous. The screen is the brightes thing I've ever seen, the glossy screen is really great, indoors and outdoors (tops the glossy VAIO screens by far - and I know them cause my dad has one).

My biggest worry, however, was that I couldn't work with so many windows at the same time, but thanks to expose that is not a problem at all. Sometimes, when using Microsoft Word, I miss reviewing two full pages at a time, but I am getting used to that one. I don't think that the smaller screen is a disadvantage when surfing in the internet, because most websites are still optimized for 1024 resolutions.

2) Harddrive / RAM
Also one of my concerns - but as there are now 200GB laptop drives announced, and as any idiot can switch harddrives in the new Macbook, I'll upgrade my harddrive by January or so. By that time, Leopard should be out, I can do a clean Mac OS install, probably using the old 60GB as external HDD....and 200GB drives should be down to 200 Euros by then.

Go for the 2GB RAM upgrade right away! Did improve my iMac speed a lot when I did, same thing with the MB.

3) Speed
I think the MB is noticeably faster compared to my iMac, only the applications which are not universal (yet) like Microsoft Office are definitely slower.
I believe the whole Intel switch and the Intel performance is a bit overrated. Sure the Core Duo is awesome, but the G5s were pretty decent babes too. If you got a G5, the Intel processor alone wouldn't be a reason to switch (but I can only speak for myself)

4) Price
Well, I see you're from the UK, so a white MB is 800 pounds there, which is the same amount you will probably get for your iMac, then you'd have to invest about 100+ pounds for the RAM upgrade...and probably invest in a more spacious harddrive later.

5) Use
Though I love my MB as much as my iMac, I wouldn't have sold my iMac if I hadn't had to. So I would make this decision about where you'll use your computer. If you only use it at home at your desk, then keep your iMac, but if you like to use it at work, university, in the garden, in cafes, on your sofa, or wherever, buy a MB.
 
This all makes interesting reading, and addresses a current concern of my own..

I have a 1.6ghz G5 17" iMac and a 1.33ghz G4 12" iBook. I love using both of them, but neither seems to fully satisfies my needs.

The iMac's comparitive speed and screen size is great for iMovie/iPhoto work, but the iBook allows me the flexibility to leave the study and sit in the same room as my wife while i browse the internet and send emails etc..(to ensure a long and happy relationship, I cannot overstate the importance of this!)

I don't really do anything "productive" on the iBook (I knew it was a gratuitous purchase at the time), but often wish that I could be editting images/movies with the added grunt of the iMac, but in any location.

To compound the issue, neither machine has a superdrive, which means I'm often taking the iBook upto my son's room and plugging in to his (non wireless) eMac in order to burn DVDs. Not a hardship, but neither is it ideal.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that selling both machines will just about fund a white MacBook with Supderdrive, allowing a single machine that should do everything I want...

My only real concern is whether I can constrict myself to a 60 or 80gb, harddrive, although if this does prove restrictive, I understand the upgrade process is pretty straight forward? (not overly keen on external storage solutions).

I'm also conscious that the longer I dither over this, the less I will make from the sale of the Macs.. Indecisive? me? don't think so...:confused:
 
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