Which is the best value Mac to buy?

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Hey guys,

 

I need a Mac for reasons, and I'm trying to find out which Mac has the performance I need, and also is super cheap. I plan on looking for it on Craigslist. ( Don't care to hear why I shouldn't buy from there, just leave me be. )

 

So I'm thinking 8gb ram and at least 4 threads of processing, would be better if I can get 4 cores for processing instead though. ( I can live with just 4 threads. )

 

Other than Ram and the Processor, I'm not even sure what there is to care about on a mac... guess Storage type, but really I don't care as long as it has enough storage, it can be 5400rpm or whatever.

 

I don't know all the ins and outs of mac products with their all in one specs. I'll be doing my own research, but for now...

 

If anyone knows the sweet spot for cheap but still great performing mac machine, I'd like to know what that sweet spot is.

 

Oh, I don't care if it's an all in one, mini, or laptop. Just the best performance at a cheap price.

 

I also have no clue how their Operating System works with updates. If I buy an older product will I be able to keep it up to date with their latest OS free or how does it work?

[Drak3]

First thing is first, budget?

Second, do you require a desktop, or a laptop? If you don't require one over the other, which would you prefer?

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Just now, Drak3 said:

First thing is first, budget?

Second, do you require a desktop, or a laptop? If you don't require one over the other, which would you prefer?

Considering Craigslist will be full of different prices, budget isn't going to really help anything. But I'm gonna try and find something under $200.

 

Don't care if it's desktop, laptop, or mini. If I had a preference, I'd say mini or laptop, but if the price is right, I'll get whatever.

 

I'm going through my local listings, if I find anything I can post and ask  more questions, but please do help with ideas.

[Goodman2265]

build a hackintosh, I can help you with it

[Drak3]

Just now, vSyNd1c4t3 said:

Considering Craigslist will be full of different prices, budget isn't going to really help anything. But I'm gonna try and find something under $200.

 

Don't care if it's desktop, laptop, or mini. If I had a preference, I'd say mini or laptop, but if the price is right, I'll get whatever.

 

I'm going through my local listings, if I find anything I can post and ask  more questions, but please do help with ideas.

Okay, quad core is preferable over a dual core if clocks are the same or similar, and you should check the CPU's specs on Intel ARK, for iGPU information.

 

Also, look into whether or not problems with things like USB, Thunderbolt, and Thermal Throttling with the models that really catch your eye.

I doubt that there are going to be many older Macs running SSDs. don't worry about that too much. Just make sure that the HDD isn't making a ticking sound or isn't transferring data painfully slow, otherwise you might be upgrading the HDD relatively soon.

 

As for updates, I believe that Apple still supports any 64bit hardware, but the more recent, the better.

 

[vSyNd1c4t3]

2 minutes ago, Goodman2265 said:

build a hackintosh, I can help you with it

Thanks for the input, but no Hackintosh will be discussed on this thread.

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

Okay, quad core is preferable over a dual core if clocks are the same or similar, and you should check the CPU's specs on Intel ARK, for iGPU information.

 

Also, look into whether or not problems with things like USB, Thunderbolt, and Thermal Throttling with the models that really catch your eye.

I doubt that there are going to be many older Macs running SSDs. don't worry about that too much. Just make sure that the HDD isn't making a ticking sound or isn't transferring data painfully slow, otherwise you might be upgrading the HDD relatively soon.

 

As for updates, I believe that Apple still supports any 64bit hardware, but the more recent, the better.

 

Thanks. I have a pretty good idea of what is considered good hardware.

 

I'm seeing mainly Duo Cores within the price range I set. (Not too big of a surprise.) Also 4gb of ram... with small hard drives.

 

Probably gonna need at least 250gb of space. 120gb might be pushing it, guess I could use some flash drives I have lying around for storage.

 

Gonna be using it to edit, record, and share some music in Garage Band.

 

Nothing too serious for the time being, just feel like having some fun with it.

 

( Garage Band is the must use program, because a friend of mine and I are going to share songs with each other and play with them for fun, so just trying to get compatible stuff. While suggestions are fine, I will not be using this thread to try and find out other ways to achieve what we are trying to do. )

 

Here's something I found, bit over budget, and looks like a store so I probably can't talk them down...

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/sys/5988468237.html

[vSyNd1c4t3]

Here is something else I found, might be sketchy trying to test to make sure it works though.

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/sys/6039802526.html

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, vSyNd1c4t3 said:

Thanks for the input, but no Hackintosh will be discussed on this thread.

Thanks. I have a pretty good idea of what is considered good hardware.

 

I'm seeing mainly Duo Cores within the price range I set. (Not too big of a surprise.) Also 4gb of ram... with small hard drives.

 

Probably gonna need at least 250gb of space. 120gb might be pushing it, guess I could use some flash drives I have lying around for storage.

 

Gonna be using it to edit, record, and share some music in Garage Band.

 

Nothing too serious for the time being, just feel like having some fun with it.

 

( Garage Band is the must use program, because a friend of mine and I are going to share songs with each other and play with them for fun, so just trying to get compatible stuff. While suggestions are fine, I will not be using this thread to try and find out other ways to achieve what we are trying to do. )

 

Here's something I found, bit over budget, and looks like a store so I probably can't talk them down...

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/sys/5988468237.html

Looks like they mis-listed some specs there. The 2011 11.6" MacBook Air laptops sold with dual core i5 and i7's, with the i5 being clocked at 1.6GHz, not 3.2. It's not likely that they're trying to rip someone off, it's likely that the person writing the ad is a bit tech illiterate and doesn't understand the difference between logical processors/threads and physical cores.

 

2 minutes ago, vSyNd1c4t3 said:

Here is something else I found, might be sketchy trying to test to make sure it works though.

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/sys/6039802526.html

They admit that it's busted, with the laptop's keyboard, trackpad, and screen not working, but they're also selling a desktop keyboard and mouse with it. You'd have to have a display, as they sold the one in the picture. It's worth checking out.

[vSyNd1c4t3]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

Looks like they mis-listed some specs there. The 2011 11.6" MacBook Air laptops sold with dual core i5 and i7's, with the i5 being clocked at 1.6GHz, not 3.2. It's not likely that they're trying to rip someone off, it's likely that the person writing the ad is a bit tech illiterate and doesn't understand the difference between logical processors/threads and physical cores.

 

They admit that it's busted, with the laptop's keyboard, trackpad, and screen not working, but they're also selling a desktop keyboard and mouse with it. You'd have to have a display, as they sold the one in the picture. It's worth checking out.

A lot of listings are adding the cores together. 2.0 dual core, they are listing as 4.0.

 

Busted is fine, I have monitors, I might check it out. Shop around a bit more to narrow down my options.

 

Found these 2.

 

This one seems like it might be too slow. only 1gb ram. D:

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/sys/6048529611.html

 

This one I like, duo core hopefully wouldnt be too weak. Price is a bit high, I'd have to haggle pretty hard.

https://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/sys/6047415644.html

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, vSyNd1c4t3 said:

A lot of listings are adding the cores together. 2.0 dual core, they are listing as 4.0.

 

Busted is fine, I have monitors, I might check it out. Shop around a bit more to narrow down my options.

 

Found these 2.

 

This one seems like it might be too slow. only 1gb ram. D:

https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/sys/6048529611.html

 

This one I like, duo core hopefully wouldnt be too weak. Price is a bit high, I'd have to haggle pretty hard.

https://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/sys/6047415644.html

I would gravitate towards the MBP with the broken screen, the MB Air is probably the second best option.

[Bootskii]

Dave Lee did a good video for Macbooks.