cheap Macs?

[cellio]

Dear LJ brain trust,

I'd like to get an inexpensive laptop. It won't be my main machine; it's for travel and other situations where portability is useful. So it doesn't need to be studly; it just needs to be reliable and support basic tools like Firefox, emacs, SSH, FTP, and that sort of thing.

This would be a prime opportunity to explore the Macintosh, which some of my friends rave about, except for one little thing: I can get a (new) Dell laptop for around $400, but Macs start at $1100. Is there some less-expensive option I'm missing?

Comments

[siderea]

my experience has been that people are glad to get anything for an old machine

Not, in my experience, in the Mac world. Macs are built like trucks and retain their forward utility much longer than PCs, so they amortize much, much, much more slowly than PCs do.

Case in point: Currently, on eBay, G3 laptops are going for over $400. Those are, like, four year old machines. And those are not particularly refurbished.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, I was extrapolating from my more general hardware experiences. While I've had two Macs leave my hands, one was to a burglar and one via a venti mocha, so I don't have direct experience of Mac resale value.

[siderea]

one via a venti mocha

Ah, did it keep going to sleep on you? ;)