My neighbor recently gave me a 17" ppc iMac they'd written off as dead. A little inquiry revealed the MB was populated with faulty electrolytic capacitors. I pulled it apart, recapped it, now I have a working iMac. Frankly, I'm amazed at what people will throw away...
Next they brought over their sons intel-based 13" Macbook they'd written off as well. Hadn't been used in ~ 10 months. He'd dropped it (while running) off a bed. There was some bruised poly on the upper right corner and a vertical dent across the optical drive slot.
To shorten the story, I diagnosed a failing HD (takes 3 min. to boot; numerous bad sectors), dead battery and possibly a failing optical drive. Evidently he has 'no money' to spend (~ $200 to fix this one), and will 'someday' purchase a new Macbook. So this one is back in a closet somewhere.
He told me he'd give it to me when he purchased a new one and transferred his data off. Then he said he just might keep it. It's really unusable as it is due to the HD issue & spinning beach-ball syndrome. And no, he's not backed up. In other words, the story (and status) is changing daily.
While the early twenty-something fools around, I decided to tack and started looking around on Craigslist. LOTS of used Mac laptops. I've narrowed it down to:
2006-early 2008
G4 1.67GHz PPC or Intel Core Duo that replaced it
12", 13" or maybe 15" (which is getting rather large)
MATTE Screen Only!
Either Macbook or aluminum Mac pro
I've read that these years were built very well. Apple spits out so many models/versions it's hard to keep up. Any techs out there who are repairing these things on a regular basis? Weak spots? How best to evaluate HW on a potential purchase? Used pricing guidelines? Jump in anywhere . . .
Next they brought over their sons intel-based 13" Macbook they'd written off as well. Hadn't been used in ~ 10 months. He'd dropped it (while running) off a bed. There was some bruised poly on the upper right corner and a vertical dent across the optical drive slot.
To shorten the story, I diagnosed a failing HD (takes 3 min. to boot; numerous bad sectors), dead battery and possibly a failing optical drive. Evidently he has 'no money' to spend (~ $200 to fix this one), and will 'someday' purchase a new Macbook. So this one is back in a closet somewhere.
He told me he'd give it to me when he purchased a new one and transferred his data off. Then he said he just might keep it. It's really unusable as it is due to the HD issue & spinning beach-ball syndrome. And no, he's not backed up. In other words, the story (and status) is changing daily.
While the early twenty-something fools around, I decided to tack and started looking around on Craigslist. LOTS of used Mac laptops. I've narrowed it down to:
2006-early 2008
G4 1.67GHz PPC or Intel Core Duo that replaced it
12", 13" or maybe 15" (which is getting rather large)
MATTE Screen Only!
Either Macbook or aluminum Mac pro
I've read that these years were built very well. Apple spits out so many models/versions it's hard to keep up. Any techs out there who are repairing these things on a regular basis? Weak spots? How best to evaluate HW on a potential purchase? Used pricing guidelines? Jump in anywhere . . .