Purchasing advice - Powerbook G4

fhshortie08fhshortie08
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Hi,



I need some advice because... well, because I don't know much about laptops. I'm currently in college and I'm looking for a cheap portable laptop that I can do homework, web designs, and graphic designs on while I'm commuting around. I found a local guy who is selling the following:



Used Powerbook G4
  • 60 GB Hard Drive

  • 1 GB RAM

  • 1.67 ghz

  • MAC OS X Tiger (installed)

  • Adobe CS3 (installed) - Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, Indesign

  • iWork 08 (installed)

  • Microsoft Office 2004 (installed)

  • 15 inch

He's selling it for $750 and I just wanted to know if this ws a good deal before I buy it.



Thank you,

Kim

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    pevepeve Posts: 518member
    $750 is pretty expensive.



    a new macbook starts at $1,099.00 and has more features, higher speed, intel cpu etc etc. the only downside is 2 inch less screensize.



    i don't think you get the software (cs3, office, iwork) cd's with the powerbook.

    if yes... buy it!



    just a thought
  • Reply 2 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fhshortie08 View Post


    He's selling it for $750 and I just wanted to know if this ws a good deal before I buy it.



    It's not a terrible deal but there are a few things that don't seem so obvious when considering an older machine. The battery life of an older machine is usually worse and the display can be lower quality. Not to mention the power adaptor connection. We have a few G4 powerbooks where I work and almost all the connections have trouble. The magnetic magsafe couldn't come too soon.



    Also, you can get a refurb Macbook for $949:



    http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...nplm=FB061LL/A



    Also, you may not realise the staggering difference in performance between the Intel and PPC processors. It's very often a factor of 4 difference. The G4 CPUs were slow.



    Plus it's far easier to run Windows-based stuff on the Intel, you have so many options for that now and the macbook is smaller.



    The downsides to a Macbook though are the smaller glossy screen but you can get an external display to get round that. It's also a bit more expensive but for what you get, $200 is worth it considering you get a year's warranty.



    As for the software, that's a different issue but if it's only an installation you're getting then if you have any system problems, you can lose the software anyway. You could clone your drive as a backup I guess.



    If you really want it, offer a lower price. You can get one of these nice 12" powerbooks for $640:



    http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-G4-POWERBO...QQcmdZViewItem



    I used to have one of them and it was one of the best computers I've ever had. Extremely lightweight. So if you want the bigger 15", tell the person you've seen a slightly less powerful powerbook on ebay for $640 and you'd only get their one if it was $650.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    mrtotesmrtotes Posts: 760member
    As a student you get a discount on the normal prices anyhow. It's only 6 or 8 % but better than a kick in the nuts.



    http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Im...utingpage.html
Sign In or Register to comment.