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Edited on Thu Aug-02-07 08:19 AM by NuttyFluffers
my folks (also known as parents) want a laptop. but they don't want to spend much money. so they are leaning towards cheap Wintel stuff. y'know, packaged bundles of $700 or less. they'd dig a mac too, but they're still of the mindset that all macs are primo priced. my sibling, busy with work and a family of his own, has pretty much given up on doing IT support for them, and i'd likely be stuck with the work. having done IT for easily more than 10 years with Wintel stuff growing up with them i'm absolute done with it. i got a mac and haven't looked back. but i can't abandon them to the horrors of Wintel clones and bad customer service, so i'm desperate to persuade them to get a cheap notebook.
so, i need a machine that's good for email, browsing, pictures, word processing, and that's about it. easy, i know. pretty much any machine since 2000 should fit the bill. i'm just torn whether i should bother getting them a machine that runs solid on Panther or Tiger. so i'm debating on either getting a powerbook G3/G4 or ibook G3/G4. if i can get a machine that can run Tiger comfortably with a minimal RAM upgrade and has a combo/super drive i'm cool with it. but i'd prefer it not go over $500, because at that point it'd be pretty hard to dissuade them from just getting a $600 Wintel laptop at the nearest Costco.
should i bother with G4s at all? powerbook over ibook? they'd appreciate simplicity and comfort over upgradeability. oh, and they are most easily wowed by speed, so fast loading emails and browsing is a plus.
been scanning LoweEndMac and Shopping.com and finding a few good prices. used G3s for around $250, a few G4s around $400. i'm wondering if i should just get them the G3, throw in some extra RAM and run with it. are there things i should watch for? issues about not getting OS discs? original software bundles wiped off? good stores?
edit: hard drive space simply isn't an issue. teaching them to use external drives, is a snap, and i already gave them one (200GB). RAM, CPU compatibility w/ OS might be an issue though. wondering if i should bother going G4 so they can use Leopard coming up.
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