mac4mac.co.uk

I'm after a reasonably priced Mac mini for my dad to use at home. Been keeping an eye on ebay, but frankly the prices are astonishingly high, with even G4 versions regularly going for about £180-200. I'm not wanting to spend that much ideally, nor would my dad want me to!

So, if anyone knows of one around the £100 mark (give or take), please let me know!

Airport/Bluetooth would be nice, but not essential. Not bothered about hard drive and RAM as I might try upgrading those myself, or I know a company that might do it (I'm owed a favour). If G4, would prefer the 1.42GHz or 1.5GHz model, not the slower 1.25GHz one, but beggars can't be choosers. My dad's currently using an ancient 400MHz G4, so anything's an improvement.

Thanks,
Steve

_________________
* Steve *

* Witty statement goes here *

Hi Steve,

I'm up for selling my 2010 Mac Mini which I know is out the budget you were looking to spend.

But if you change your mind drop me a line.

Thanks

James

If your dad is happy with the emac, why dont you just buy a faster one. I got the 1.25ghz to replace an old imac for my father in law. He was really happy with the improvement. You could add more ram to make it faster.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-eMac-G4 ... 196wt_1141

_________________
Gary.

______________
█████████
-- RANGERS FC --


"Macintosh - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end." Douglas Adams.

He's currently using an old G4 PowerMac (the tower design, not an all-in-one) - he recently bought a new LCD monitor for it, and he'd want to keep that - hence why I thought a Mac mini would be ideal. He gets to keep his new monitor, but a speedier Mac. I did think about a G5 PowerMac but it would be overkill for his needs and a bit too big for his desk! A Mac mini would be the best solution, but it's just finding a decent example at a reasonable price that's proving difficult - I can't believe what people are paying on ebay for even the low end 1.25GHz G4 Mac minis!

_________________
* Steve *

* Witty statement goes here *

Macs in general have excellent resale values but Mac Minis are even better because they make the perfect media centres - especially the latest ones with an HDMI port built in.

_________________
Tech collection: iMac 5K, Mac Pro (x2), Mac Mini (x4), PowerMac G5, G4, 9600, iPad Pro, iPhone SE2
Photography collection: Canon 5D Mk3, Canon 50D (infrared converted), and too many lenses...
Follow me: &

There's a G4 mini on fleabay UK right now at £65 Buy it Now price but for that it can't be a fully working one, can it?

_________________
iMac, iPad, iPhone, Nikon and

Thanks David!

But it went for £170 in the end (+ £10 postage), which for a 1.33GHz G4 I think is too much. I'm watching another 6 or 7 which are due to end over the weekend, will see if I get lucky. I'm reluctant to spend much more than £120, unless it's an Intel model and I might stretch to a bit more.

Thanks anyway!

_________________
* Steve *

* Witty statement goes here *

I bought my Mac Mini from ebay in 2009, a very clean C2D with wireless Apple keyboard for about £330. I'm well chuffed with it. But ebay's always a risky place to buy! I added 2GB Ram and it flies - I'd try for an Intel model if you can, but it's hard to find any Minis for ~ £100

Except for the one I saw before. Which would be a gamble.

_________________
iMac, iPad, iPhone, Nikon and

It would definitely be a gamble - it's not working, and the seller doesn't know what model it is and can't guarantee anything about it! It could just need a new power supply, but it might need more. Looking at the picture of the rear it has only 2 USB ports so it is a G4, one of the first models from 2005. At least it has free p+p.

Yeah, I quickly ruled that one out - like you say it *could* just be the power supply which would be fairly cheap to replace (£30?), but equally it could be the logic board which would be expensive. Considering that, I think asking for £65 is far too much, there's not even a "Make an Offer" on that one.

Like they say... walk away!

_________________
* Steve *

* Witty statement goes here *

what about an ibook that he can connect his monitor too and use a wireless keyboard and mouse.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-iBook-G ... 500wt_1156

_________________
Gary.

______________
█████████
-- RANGERS FC --


"Macintosh - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end." Douglas Adams.

_________________
iMac, iPad, iPhone, Nikon and

Well, I bought a 1.42HGz G4 Mac mini on ebay for £107 - plus £15 postage. That was about two weeks ago, but because of Parcelforce (or rather Parcelfarce, as they shall now be known by me) it's taken that long to reach me. Don't ask, it's a saga in itself.

Just had a little play with the mini this afternoon at work. It's got an 80Gb drive, Combo drive, 1Gb RAM and Bluetooth - but strangely no Airport. Now, that puzzles me, which is why I've posted back here. I was under the impression that on the Mac mini, the Bluetooth and Airport were optional but were on a combined board - so you either had both, or none at all. That's why I can't figure out why System Profiler says it has Bluetooth, but no Airport card installed.

It's not a deal-breaker to be honest, as my dad's not even on the internet at home (yet), but would be interested to hear if anyone else thinks this is odd. If he wants to get internet at some point, it will have to be an Ethernet connection or a USB dongle I guess - Airport would have been nice, but as it wasn't mentioned on the ebay listing I can't really complain. It will be more than good enough for my dad, considering he's using an ancient 400MHz G4 PowerMac!

Specs on the box say: MAC MINI 1.42GHZ / 512 / 80G / CMD / BT / B
Model No: A1103
Family ID: Z0B8

Any ideas?

_________________
* Steve *

* Witty statement goes here *