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cuckoococoon
Joined: 11 Sep 2006
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 Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:52 pm Post subject: Mac advice |
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HI!
A friend wants to give me a computer.
It's a Mac G-4 laptop that he says he bought about 2 years ago for $1,500.
He says that it has been giving him a little bit (not a lot) of trouble and that it might need a new hard drive (in the future). He also says that I need to get a system disk.
My question: Is it worth the effort? How expensive is a hard drive for a Mac? Are we talking hundreds of dollars?
AND
Do you think it would be hard to get a new hard drive or upgrade it in Korea? Thing is, I think I might want to add some more RAM or something.
Sorry, I've never owned a MAC before.
You know, I could just buy a new PC for like 900$
anyway,
Thanks for the help |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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It really depends on what kind of trouble the Mac has been giving him. And if the harddrive is going bad, that makes anything you store on it likely to be lost. Again, it really depends on what's going wrong with it.
My first iMac that I bought way back in '99, the harddrive 'lost magnetism' and it caused a big headache. I bought a new harddrive, about 5 times the size of the stock one, for about $80 USD and was able to install it myself, no problem. If you've got to do that, then yes, a system disk is absolutely essential.
If you get back to me with some specifics, I may be able to offer some advice. Also, what are the system specs? How much ram does he have now? Which OS is he running? It should be OS 10, but which version? You can sometimes find install disks on eBay if you need to. What happened to his copy? That's just irresponsibility if he lost it. You should always keep those in a safe place, Mac or PC user both. It's like buying a car then loosing your keys.
Off the top of my head I don't know what kind of harddrive is compatible with a Mac laptop, but it should be easy enough to find. And they really aren't that expensive for a decent size. They do sell macs here so I imagine you can get the parts somewhere. If not, that's the beauty of the internet.
Either PM me or ask here if you have more questions. I can't guarantee I know the answer, but I'll try.
-S- |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:33 pm Post subject: Re: Mac advice |
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| cuckoococoon wrote: |
HI!
A friend wants to give me a computer.
It's a Mac G-4 laptop that he says he bought about 2 years ago for $1,500.
He says that it has been giving him a little bit (not a lot) of trouble and that it might need a new hard drive (in the future). He also says that I need to get a system disk.
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A little bit of trouble can go a long way. Would you buy an problematic Pentium M Centrino 1.4Ghz of the same year?
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My question: Is it worth the effort? How expensive is a hard drive for a Mac?
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Unless you're exploring Macs as a project and you can afford the upkeep of them, then yeah it could be worth the effort. Just don't pay more than $500 for it.
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Are we talking hundreds of dollars?
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Hard disk prices ranges from 80.000 to 300,000 won and you're limited to 250-300gb 2.5" hard disks.
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Do you think it would be hard to get a new hard drive or upgrade it in Korea? Thing is, I think I might want to add some more RAM or something.
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It will be hard to find shops willing to support something rare and obsolete.
[quote]
You know, I could just buy a new PC for like 900$
[quote]
Depending on your needs, you can get one at $300 which can be easily upgraded to last far longer than something that cost much more and can't be upgraded. |
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cuckoococoon
Joined: 11 Sep 2006
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:41 am Post subject: |
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Wow, thanks you guys!
I think I might take him up on his offer... I would only have to pay for the upgrades.
There's one more thing that concerns me. I have two iriver mp3 players and the work GREAT with PCs..... I really hope I don't plug in my 40G player and it gets wiped out. |
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Lizara
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:56 am Post subject: |
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| Which iRivers do you have? I have the H320 and it works fine with my Mac. The Mac sees it about the same way it would see another hard drive. But if you have one where you have to install software, that might be a different matter... |
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re:cursive
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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| The old G4 powerbooks are nice machines but 1500 bucks is a bit too much to be spending on one. |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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| He's paying for the upgrades, so that means next to free! |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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I was actually wondering (for my mac G5...sans intel) if they sell Mac RAM at the computer market in seoul.
I thought what I have is sufficienty but recording music...and play back is a bit of a B. |
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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: Mac advice |
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| cuckoococoon wrote: |
HI!
A friend wants to give me a computer.... |
I would say take it, fix the problem (shouldn't be more than a hundred or two), then sell it and make a profit. Just reformat the PC and see if it runs smoothly. Many times, problems lie within the installation of new programs (sharing IRQ numbers come to min).
Though, selling something for a profit that a friend gives you as a present is seen by many as shallow. I guess it depends how well you know someone. |
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