lend me your vast experience

[flowery_twat]

Heya. I could use some advice on two issues if you've got it

Comments

[minervacat]

i've never bought any computer equipment from ebay, but i can recommend dealmac.com as a great place to start looking for refurbed or new-and-severely-discounted macs. it's kind of hit or miss for what they have, but their prices usually can't be beat and they deal with really reputable resalers - look under "computers" and then "apple systems".

insidian just bought a brand new (but severely stripped down; she put the memory and the wireless card from her old ibook in it to bring it up to speed) powerbook g4 for something like $600.

[flowery_twat]

Thanks! That's awesome. I have ebayphobia. Any alternative is very appealing, I'll check it out.

*smooch*

[wesleysgirl]

Mr WG bought me a used ibook on ebay from an individual and I wouldn't recommend it overall, as if the computer isn't what you were expecting there's little you can do about it. In our case the "new" battery that was meant to hold a four hour charge only lasted 30 minutes, but by the time we found that out there wasn't anything we could do about it, and there really hadn't been any way for the guy to know because he hadn't used it himself, just bought it and checked the battery (and it did "read" as charged to 4 hours, it just didn't actually hold the charge that long) and sold it on again. Also, it turned out that particular model was prone to logic board failure and would have been covered under warranty, but the way Apple does things you can't get it fixed unless you're the original owner (well, plus the warranty was a year expired by the time the computer started to have problems, so it wouldn't have anyway.) Anyway, I'm not upset about it in the long run because the computer was $500 and lasted a year and showed me the wonders of

[flowery_twat]

Yeah, that's definitely what I'm afraid of. I can deal with a fair bit of wonkiness for myself, but my mum is going to be in Azerbaijan, where she'll probably be one of mere dozen's of mac users in the entire country. The whole point of the mac is to not have any maintenance issues.

Thanks.

[ethrosdemon]

There is no such thing as cheap cell service in Canada. What part are you going to be in?

[flowery_twat]

Montreal. I've seen plans as low as $20/month - way less than I'm paying now. I just want to know what providers are decent and deal-with-able, and which ones are to be avoided at all costs.

[ethrosdemon]

I had Bellmobility and hated them.

Wait, are you going to McGill?

[flowery_twat]

I'm joining the faculty at Concordia.

Why did you hate Bell? The reception and such was bad? Or the customer service?

[swmbo]

My thoughts on ebay for something big like a computer

[swmbo]

Also:

http://www.macreviewzone.com/html/reviews/guides/archive/refurb/refurbwatch.shtml

That's just refurbs, but it has some pricewatching stuff

[flowery_twat]

Ha ha. You make me laugh. As if I haven't spent at least a hundred hours drooling over the macbook and counting down the days until I get my post doc grant so I can buy my own. Babe, you don't have to sell me on the macbook. I'll probably go for pro - I just can't resist the extra bells and whistles (and it's a few ounces lighter).

Where are you getting this rebate from though? I haven't seen anything under 1K.

I want to start mum off with something cheap in case she decides she doesn't like it (unlikely, but possible), and then let her decide she needs the macbook on her own.

So what made you finally decide you wanted a laptop - you've always been pretty adamant that you couldn't deal with a laptop keyboard, that you need a special ergonomic one. I'm surprised you changed your mind.

[swmbo]

Well, for a primary computer, I still like the desktop. But one of the main things is I might go to Germany this fall with Mom and I'd like to have a computer with me - obviously slim to nil chance of getting on the internet, but it'd be nice to have along