Whatever I can get for $40 or less, has FW and will run Leopard up to El Cap. Something like an a1278 5,1 or 5,5 or a1224 7,1. I'm not very picky. For Tiger, something like a cMP1,1. You get Tiger up to El Cap. Heck due to their limitations, ppl are practically giving away cMP 1,1s right now.
That is a 100% correct. You can easily score an upgraded cMP 1,1 for less than $50 on eBay.
Are people actually finding Mac Pros for that cheap? At least here on US eBay I cannot find any such thing. People want hundreds to ship them.
I never buy macs via ebay. Every single mac purchase Ive ever made new or used (aside from a few portables now that I think about it) has been local because ebay frankly is a rip off when you factor in freight unless you can buy and pickup locally. My cMP1,1 was picked up three years or so ago with 32gb ram and a 120gb SSD and ElCap install for $80 bucks. Over 2020, there was that big push for 4,1 & 5,1s due to their expandability. It was during this period I saw 1,1's for $40-$50 bucks on Craigslist, Facebarf etc. Granted not spec'd out with the absolute best/maxed componentry but incredibly cheap for what they are and very expandable despite their macOS 10.11 limitation. Being that I still use PowerPC and Leopard, I don't see this as a limitation by any stretch rather a great opportunity to get cheap 1,1s
If you filter for "sold items" and "auction", you can find loads of them sold for $40 to $80 in the last months.
Both have their strengths. With ebay you IMO almost always overpay through freight charges but you have legitimate recourse if there is an issue. Local sales are almost always one off back of your car cash transactions, so you absolutely do run that risk of getting a screwed up whatever. I have confidence in my ability to fix most things that may arise and I don't over pay should I need to sink money or time into a repair. If someone doesn't hold that skill set, it makes sense to favor use of ebay/paypal as there is recourse for the buyer should something not be right, thus legitimate added value in the inflated price.
This is true for the big box towers and iMacs. But if you're going for a mini or a laptop, shipping isn't THAT horrendous.I never buy macs via ebay. Every single mac purchase Ive ever made new or used has been local because ebay frankly is a rip off when you factor in freight unless you can buy and pickup locally. My cMP1,1 was picked up three years or so ago with 32gb ram and a 120gb SSD and ElCap install for $80 bucks. Over 2020, there was that big push for 4,1 & 5,1s due to their expandability. It was during this period I saw 1,1's for $40-$50 bucks on Craigslist, Facebarf etc. Granted not spec'd out with the absolute best/maxed componentry but incredibly cheap for what they are and very expandable despite their macOS 10.11 limitation. Being that I still use PowerPC and Leopard, I don't see this as a limitation by any stretch rather a great opportunity to get cheap 1,1s
Ignore ebay and pay attention to local to you sale platforms.
What I always do when buying something on Craigslist is bring along any peripherals that I’d need to test out every major function (display, keyboard, mouse, CD, DVD, FireWire drive, etc.) and ask if they’d mind if I tested the machine out before buying it. Most everyone I’ve met has been totally fine with it, and after I’m sure everything is working, I’ll buy the computer. If everything is NOT working, I’ll generally inform them of the issues I’ve found; if it’s not a dealbreaker to me, I’ll demonstrate and try and work out a better price and if it is a dealbreaker I’ll inform them and thank them for their time.
That's great - but can look a bit... intimidating I guess?
None, as it's identical (hardware-wise) to the fully supported Early 2011, save for a minimally faster CPU and bigger stock hard drive. I'd advise to start with the restore discs shipped with an Early 2011 13" (which will be at 10.6.6 level) and update to 10.6.8. If you start with a 10.6.8 install made on another machine, you'll probably have to copy over some plist files (from the restore disc) for SpeedStep to work correctly - in your case, those for a MacBookPro8,1.
Eh, worth it to come off as a bit intimidating if it means that I get something that guaranteed works.That's great - but can look a bit... intimidating I guess?
Fair point! I’m usually only super obsessive about checking that things work if the machine is specifically advertised as 100% working and that’s why I’m getting it, or it’s something fairly new that I intend to use as a main or mainish machine.
Very fair point as well. my scrutiny level goes way up as well when I'm buying something new or new-ish because we're most likely puting some significant cashola towards it when we do and as spoken to earlier, marketplaces like CL really have no recourse other than your initial inspection. It's big dollar instances like this where ebay protections really do add value - not so much IMO on the smaller stuff.