Need a Mac!

[waxboy]

So I've been searching for some good deals on a certain mac - I wont go into specs here cause theres not MUCH of a need to. either a G4 MDD, or a low end G5 (believe the lowest is the 1.8?Ghz).

The main issue is that I can NEVER find any deals good enough, or legit enough on ebay.com or my local mac outlet.

Anyone here know of some good places to look online for machines like that that may be used or refurbished?

Thus is life on a potato budget

[tjcasey1]

http://dealmac.com/?sid=2242cecfa4d00fe ... 626eea6410

Dealmac is a place worth getting familiar with. Hunt through their "consumer tools" at the bottom of the page.

The great thing about Macs is that they don't depreciate very quickly. The lousy thing about Macs is that they don't depreciate quickly enough. Most people aren't looking to sell their extremely old Mac, they're looking to buy a newer one at the best price possible. Sellers know this and price accordingly.

Give some thought to refurbished models at the apple online store as well. They're selling a cool iMac G5 for $750 that had a defective capacitor (it's only listed when it's in stock, and it comes and goes, so you have to keep checking the web site). They replaced the capacitor and are selling the refurbished model with a full warranty.

[Jeff White]

I can sympathize with you. eBay freaks me out a bit.

However, I have successfully bought TWO used Macs off of eBay in the past 18 months, the second one (1-yr old 15" powerbook 1.5 ghz, combo drive - $1250) last week. I saved a ton of money and the seller was local to me. We spent about an hour hanging out and going over the computer before I left with it. Really trustworthy guy.

I have a dual 1.8 G5, Live5, DP, and a ton of VIs. It's fine for my "tape deck" style of using DP. I paid $1625 shipped for it when it was going for $1999 + tax in the Apple Store. Runs fine. I've seen them for as low as $1200 on eBay recently. As far as I am concerned that's a great price.

My method: Make sure that the seller is either someone (or store) has great feedback (recent) and is selling similar high price products. I won't buy from a seller with less than 98% positive feedback (which is my feedback rating). Both of my Mac purchases were from sellers with over 50 positive FBs, recent high priced auctions with good feedback on them, etc. Just be smart. Obviously, this does not guarantee a perfect transaction but it helps. I also always contact the seller before I bid. Common sense.

I've sold some pretty high dollar items (Alesis HD24) on eBay and went out of my way to answer questions etc. I expect that from any seller in return.

You can also always check out Craigslist for local buys.

Jeff

[judecca]

emily at www.smalldog.com hooked me up with an amazing 1.8 dual refurb at a great price. i'd check that out. btw...if you buy a ram upgrade they install it for free and garuntee it as long as your apple care.

ryan

[Osumosan]

Don't forget the deal section on the apple store page. I've gotten my last two refurbs from them. Good deals. You just have to pay the tax.