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

A note of caution about used Macs...

[starmessenger.livejournal.com]

I'm coming in a little late and you may have already made your decision, but I want to amplify a previous comment that "Apple builds tanks." This is true. I'm still using the the Mac Plus I bought in 1987. It shows no signs of decline. We're still using the iBook we bought in 1999 -- again with no indication that the machine will ever die.

That said, I have to keep buying new Macs anyway, because Apple has historically made no effort to ensure backwards-compatibiility for third-party software in successive releases of the Mac's operating system. The software that runs on my immortal Mac Plus (System 6, I think) won't run on the iBook, nor will the iBook's software run on the Methuselan Mac; the software that runs on the iBook (OS 9) won't run on my current work Mac (G4 Tiger), and vice-versa. If I ever upgrade to an Intel Mac, the software I'm using now won't run on it. New software for the Intel machine won't run on my G4.

No backwards compatibility is probably the main reason why most software developers never took the Mac seriously until the UNIX/Intel release. A good developer can get a twenty-year-old Windows program running on XP. Not so with Macs -- at least not until the Unix/Intel release.

I think the important thing to keep in mind is that if you're planning to buy a used Mac, it will likely be a Motorola machine, and you'll be limited to a narrow subset of software. New software for the Intel Mac might not run on it, and developers are unlikely to release upgrades or write new programs for a what is essentially a dead hardware platform. A used G4 will probably meet the needs you have now. But if your needs change in the next few years or something really great comes along that you want to use, you'll be screwed. Yes, the machine will last forever -- a "forever" in which you're stuck with whatever was current the year you bought it.

Re: A note of caution about used Macs...

[goljerp]

While this is true in general, I think you're being a little bit pessimistic.

I have purchased the following computers from Apple:

1. Mac SE - ran up through system 6.x
2. Quadra 610 (could run nearly everything the SE could) (ran up through System 7.5?)
3. iMac G3 rev B (could run nearly everything the Quadra could) (ran up through Mac OS 9)
4. iMac G4 (half dome) (Mac OS X 10.2 on it; could, I think, be upgraded to 10.4, but I haven't bothered. Can also boot into Mac OS 9, and through emulation ("classic mode") runs almost[1] everything the older iMac can.
5. iBook G4 (about a year old). Runs Mac OS X10.4; through classic mode could run the stuff the iMac could (but I haven't bothered)

Now, admittedly the intel change will eventually lead to developers writing intel-only programs. At the moment, though, it looks like they're writing "universal" code, which can run on the large existing base of PowerPC G4s running OS X as well as on the intel machines. Also note that the new intel machines have emulation which will run older PPC-complied programs, although not the "classic" (OS 9) apps.