PowerBook: Determining if it's new or not?

tlingtling
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I am going to get a 15 inch G4/1.5 PowerBook next week from my friend (claiming to be brand spanking new). He claims it's from his friend/an authorised Apple reseller and it has to go through him (my friend) in order to get a special price.



My question is, how do I know if the hardware is new and not used/refurbished? Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    gargar Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tling

    I am going to get a 15 inch G4/1.5 PowerBook next week from my friend (claiming to be brand spanking new). He claims it's from his friend/an authorised Apple reseller and it has to go through him (my friend) in order to get a special price.



    My question is, how do I know if the hardware is new and not used/refurbished? Thanks.



    or stolen?



    the reason why you ask this on this forum means that you actually don't trust him, don't you?



    so if you don't trust him and/or the price is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to special.

    i won't do it.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    one way is from the serial.



    the **4XX[and 7 other chars after] start tells when it was made. ie it should not be old. the XX is for the week it was produced. ie if that week is over 3 months ago you can suspect it not being so new.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    If journaling had been turned on, you might inspect some of the log files and look to see if the filesystem shows more than factory testing or installation of applications and user accounts.



    If after use, the machine was nuked and paved with clean install, this info won't be present, but if it is a floor demo model or a 2nd hand machine that hadn't been purged you might find evidence in the logs.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    tlingtling Posts: 45member
    **4XX[and 7 other chars after] = serial number where XX is the week. So the ** would be the month? Can someone give me an example of the **4XX? I.e. today's October 7, 2004, so how would it read?



    Also, I'm new to the Macworld. How do I check the journaling of the machine? I want to check everything on the spot before paying.



    Thanks for all your help!
  • Reply 5 of 6
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    Do Macs still store hours in use in the PRAM/NVRAM ?
  • Reply 6 of 6
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    Uptime is stored. System Info and/or some terminal commands will report its value since restart.



    Not sure if there is also a cumulative value since 'activation'. Some 'nix have total time flags.



    Quote:

    Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.



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