| The main thing is never to forget why you're buying the Mac - it may be VERY nice and blazing fast, but do you really need a Dual 800MHz G4? As such, your motivation will be different depending on whether it is a replacement, an upgrade or your first purchase, and if you plan to do 3-D design, Word Processing, DTP, Graphic Design, Children to Use, or Gaming. Here's a few things to reflect upon:
1. Ask yourself what the computer's main job will be: For multimedia, high end graphics, audio editing or any other demanding task, you will need a fairly new, fast model. If your budget is limited, you'd be better to wait a while to gather sufficient funds, (you can also wait if possible ana verage of 6 months and the computer that your likly looking at will be much cheaper then its current price/) than to purchase a model that is inadequate.
On the other hand, a slower model may get the job done, if you are prepared to wait. Just use software appropriate to the processor speed. MS Word 5 will be fast on a Quadra, but not Office 98 or 2001!
Ask the seller if any original software is available with the computer. Odds are these would be older versions adapted to the Mac you're buying.
2. Set your budget. A used $900 Mac can be ALMOST as good as a new model costing $2000. It will of course be slower, and may have some limitations on running the newest operating systems, games and applications. The law of diminishing returns apply: There is a hefty price to be paid to get that last bit of extra speed..
- 3. Ask these questions:
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- a.) What is the hard drive capacity?
- On older, 680xx Macs, get at least 250MB. On Power Macs, less than 500MB just isn't enough. But if you are offered a really amazing deal, remember that you can always replace the disk with a bigger one, or add an external drive. However your next problem with this might be RAM, since older mac's just don't have the capasity for large amounts of RAM and since RAM for older macs tend to be expernsive this might limit your chose.
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- b.) How much RAM is included and what is the maximum amount of RAM this model supports?
- The Mac Plus ran well with a maximum of 4MB, but today's standards make 256MB a strict minimum for any serious use. Take into account the total amount of RAM the computer can receive; for instance, a CPU with only 72MB that can be upgraded to 128MB would be an alright chose if your planning on baicw work processing or limited graphics where file sizes will be small. . Classified ads will often display details like 40/500, meaning 40MB of RAM and a drive capacity of 500MB.
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- c.) What processor is used?
- Older Macs are based on the Morotolla 680XX series, starting with the slow 68000 and all the way up to the much faster 68040.
Processors determine the speed of the computer. Since they are soldered onto the motherboards for the 68-based Macs, they cannot be upgraded in most cases. Although some manufacturers came up with creative solutions to accelerate or replace the processors, these cards and adaptors are obsolete, may cause some compatibility problems and are generally hard to find.
Power Mac first generation processors, the 601, have grown into today's lightning fast G4s. For Power Macs, you must also look at the clock speed, measured in megahertz, to compare computers based on the same processors. A 601-based computer at 66mHz will be slower than a 601-based computer at 80mHz. Even for pros, it gets hard when trying to compare different processors at different speeds - such as a 603e at 200mHz versus a 604 at 130mHz.
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- d.) What Will I Be Doing With This Computer?
- If your getting the comptuer for your children to learn to use then one of the early B&W G3's might be an option, since they are cheaper and they can run OS 9. If your just looking for basic work processing then you can easly pick up a LC I, II, or III for 25.00 CAD or less, however OS 7.5 is about the hiest you can run on the LC III and slightly lover on the I and II. But the LC's are great for back word processing and getting a program like MacWrite II is cheep infact you can get it free online. If your going to be getting in to DTP (Desktop Publishing), then you might wish to look at a later G3, early G4, since you will likly be using Photoshop and QuarkXPress, but if you don't mind slower speeds you can get an early G3 (PowerMac 9600 searies) that will do the job just fine. If you are getting into heady graphic design and will be using programs such as Photoshop 6, Illistrator 9, and other hi end programs you might need to look into the G4's though the late G3's (400MHz and 450MHZ with 512 RAM) can suit you, but remember you only have 4 slots for the G3's and G4's for RAM, so you do not wont the computer coming with two slots filled with 72 RAM to give you 128 you wish a single chip of 128 RAM.
To see what is currently available from Apple visite their site at: http://store.apple.com/1-800-795-1000/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/
If you further questions regarding buying a Used or New Mac please feel free in contacting us, for further information.
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