I'm looking into a desktop (all I have is my powerbook 12") Which is great for travel, not so great for business. SO I know someone who is selling: Dual PowerPC G5 2.0 GHz, 4GB RAM and 1 500gb HDD and 20" Apple Cinema Display w/ convertor (it's this display, the older one) He's asking 2k for it. Seems like a decent price to me, but I really have no idea, since it's an older machine & I have nothing to compare it too. I Figured someone on here might know more than me!
Seems way high to me since you can get a brand new iMac which would be much more powerful, have updated software, etc. for as low as $1200. The Apple Store (U.S.) - iMac
That also seems a little high. I have that same display in a 17". Plenty big for my desk. The PowerPC G5 is also a little old. I know the new intels are a bit pricey (i was pricing them myself) but you'd probably want to replace the Harddrive if it hasn't already been done. No telling how much longer it will last. Have you considered one of the new iMacs? If you have a display, have you considered a MacPro tower? Or are you specifically going used to save money?
I also vote too high. My boss has been looking at used Macs on Craigslist (cause our company is too cheap to buy new) and he has seen G5s for about half of that price, although probably with different specs. Monitors are not that expensive anymore either.
I agree that it seems high. If you go onto Apple.com you can price out a new 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 20 inch iMac with a 500gb drive at $1599 then head over to Crucial.com for 4 gigs of memory $113. So for about 1700 bucks you have a brand new machine with 10.5. Of course it isn't as customizable, but they are great machines.
I've got a display so I'm looking at... do I get a new MacPro tower? do I go with a mac mini? Or do I forget the display and tower and go with an iMac? I'm going to be getting a timecapsule so I won't need a huge harddrive in my machine anymore. The iMac is pretty big and I already have a display. I certainly don't want anything bigger than what I have. I use my desktop for DVD burning from iMovie, etc so I'm not sure the mini has the stamina of the MacPro. Whether I go with a mini or a tower, space is not an issue for those. So I have a dilemma. What you get depends on what you need it to do and how much you want to spend. Now am apple display runs about $500.00 new. So he's asking about $1500 for that G5. I think that's too much. In the meantime....I'm doing nothing.
You can plug the display into the iMac and have extra screen real estate. That's what my boss is doing. He has a 20" iMac with a 20" LCD connected to it. You can never be too young or have too much screen space.
Neither will fit on my desk. There's no good having two 20" displays if you have to lay on the floor to look at them. A 17" is as big as my desk will fit. As is I have to have it across the corner rather than straight in front of me. My desk also holds a scanner, printer, VHS and TV. Oh, and a desk lamp. The tower is underneath. I just don't have room to go bigger. Or any need to. I've seen them. They're huge. (My TV is a 13". So is the one in the living room.)
I'm saving my pennies for a MacBookPro to replace my Powerbook G4. I don't really need another laptop, but frequently come home and find that my GF has stolen the Powerbook even though I gave her my old Mac....... If you really don't have much space, then maybe a Mac Mini, but the iMac is a better deal.
$2000 is way too high. Personally I wouldn't spend $1000 on it. As mentioned - buy a new iMac instead. Speed wise it will wipe the floor with the G5. G5 Macs are obsolete. It's been over 2 years since Apple went to Intel. Godiva - don't forget that all Apple laptops have DVI ports. You don't need a "desktop" to use your old display.
I don't want two displays. Two displays is a waste. I already have a display. So a desktop would be redundant. If I got a desktop I'd have an extra display to get rid of. If I bought a tower or a mini, I could use my present display. If I could, I'd put my present display in the livingroom as a TV but I've been reading up on that, and it would cost more to do that, with poorer quality, than buying a new flat screen TV.
I think what n8kwx is trying to suggest is that you could get a Mac laptop, either a MacBook or MacBookPro, and use it as a desktop machine with the monitor you already have. I was the one who suggested using two monitors. If you look at how a Mac Mini is configured, it is essentially a MacBook without a display and keyboard/trackpad. Unless you are doing video editing for an upcoming movie or you need to add 4 hard drives inside the case, a Mac Pro tower is probably overkill.
Thanks for the link! Everyone else, thanks for the words! I was also thinking that was a bit high, but wasn't entirely sure. Guess I'll go back to looking, maybe at something new. Technically, I dont NEED anything yet. But soon, the poor laptop can't run all my programs at once very well.
I don't see any point to hooking my display up to my laptop. I can just use the laptop. The difference in screens isn't that great. I also like the full keyboard and graphics tablet I use for the desktop. I also have a lot connected to my current tower. I think the thing I liked about the new MacPro as opposed to the mini were the number of ports. I have the printer and scanner attached permanently. I also have several cables I like to have attached permanently so I can download from either the digital camera or the MiniDV without having to search around for cables and then search around for an empty port. I just got a USB turntable I'd like to hook up permanently as well. Plus there's the occasional pen drive or external harddrive I hook up to move things back and forth from school or for some other reason.
I have a 23" cinema display that I hookup to my 15" MacBook Pro. I love the versatility that the setup gives me - all the mobility of a laptop and the workspace of a desktop when I need it. FWIW, I do find there is a significant difference working on a 23" monitor versus the 15" of the laptop. I also have an apple keyboard and a plain old mouse for when I am sitting at my desk. They hook into the Cinema display so there is never any need to fuddle with them being set up. All I need to do is just plug the display into the laptop. If you don't need to be mobile, you probably will get more for your money out of the MacPro or Mini. The MacPro is one hell of a nice machine, but depending on what you are doing it might be overkill, but hell, if you can afford it, then I say go for it. If not, then an alternative solution is to go with the mini and get some usb or firewire hubs to connect all your devices.
^^+1 If you get the MacPro, you can devote one core to surfing the web, another core to running background processes and you will have 6 cores left to donate to the SETI project.
I took the Mac dive late last year and bought a black Macbook through Apple's refurbished section and have been very happy with it. Saved a couple hundred bucks and the only difference I can tell between mine and Nichole's store-bought white Macbook is that mine came in a brown box: Apple Refurbished Site
My Powerbook G4 was also a refurb. Comes with the same 1 yr warranty as new and you can buy Applecare if you want to extend to 3 yrs (I didn't).
Somewhat off topic, but interesting: http://www.modyourmac.com/?p=101 BTW, I have a PowerMac 7200 that I don't have any use for. It was the first Mac that I bought for my own use. Its sitting in my office because we don't have any room for it at home. I can't throw it away, it still works.
