What I hope to accomplish with this is to help and inform viewers on MACs and help them decide which MAC is best for them. PC users making the switch or considering a purchase should also find this useful as well as die-hard MAC enthusiasts.

WHAT WILL YOU USE IT FOR? By far the most important decision comes with the first question. Will you browse the web and do e-mail, chats? Or do you want to play 3D games and edit movies? Certain things to take into cosideration with MAC's start with what you intend to use it for. As an example: My wife is BIG on cooking and has several cook books most of which have ear marks, highlighted areas and notes or additions pened in. She also cruises the web for receipes, prints them out and folds them up and into her books. Quite a mess really, especially when she's trying to cook 3 different items using 4 different books. So I purchased her an iMac G3. It's an All-in-one model and it fits perfectly on her countertop near the stove but tucked away in the corner. Now she has iTunes, DVD's and a custom piece of software that was written by me with all 8 genre's of her receipes in it. It's on-line so she doesn't have to run far to look something up and everything is right at hand, it's almost an essential piece of her kitchen puzzle now and completely unable to live without. I recearched the Mac's extensively when we switched formats from Developing for Windows PC's to Macs. And I'll share this with you and hope you not only see the light of a MAC in your future but save greif and frustration of trying to figure out which one is what you need. Mac Pack Software Compilations

First Things First: If you plan to use any particular software application ALWAYS check it's system requirements. Base your purchase on getting something a little bit better than what's required so your good for future updates. Any MAC without a PowerPC G series proccesor is worthless in today's high paced world... For most of us. They are still very good computers with TONS of use left, in fact I still have a Mac Classic II in my garage running OS 7.0.5 that does work on the net but is mainly for calculating angles and designing components that I build for my other hobby, Jeeps and rock crawling... Another topic for another day... Check our software kits to find what your looking for.

Let's start with the Popular Formats: The All-In-One models consist of the iMac label in either G3, G4, G5 and the new Dual Core intel. Check the Bottom for Operating Systems and Devices.

iMac G3 (GOOD BUY): Good for surfing the net, database work, e-mail, iTunes, viewing/editing pictures and sending them off to family and friends, and even watching DVD's. Not so good for graphic intense apps because they only have 8mb or 16mb in 500mhz+ models of Video Ram. Also note SLOT loading iMac's tend to have firewire and use SDRAM PC100 memory which is more common and less expensive than SODIMM's of the Tray loaders. So we'll give these MAC's a GOOD BUY rating but mostly because they can be bought on e-bay for less than $50 each, WATCH THE SHIPPING CHARGES, and come complete with Monitor built into a SILENT case with an excellent design and eye catching colors. Best Bets are iMac G3 500mhz+ with 256mb ram and a min 20gb drive. Expect to pay $60 shipped for a decent model and be sure to at least get a keyboard. Colors range from Teal to orange to grape but the most popular are Graphite and Indigo. Excellent buys would be the G3 600+ mhz models. Also note these all-in-one machines are now upgradeable to a G4 550mhz models but will still lack the video ram... Models with DVD Drives are rare and to be honest are not worth the extra money demanded by sellers. Your better off with an external FireWire superdrive.

We would have to start recommending the purchase of the later models with 16mb of Video Ram. These started as 500mhz and go up, but the only way to tell the difference is based on the sellers ability to show you or tell you the video ram specs from the System Pofiler. Simply ask them to click on the Apple Logo -> About this Mac -> More Information -> then select video. Not that the older models are an issue but the more Flash based web graphics come into web sites the slower and less likely 8mb of video ram is going to keep up with it. Also our recomended upgrades would be #1) A 7200rpm hard drive (The G3 Editions now come with software to clone your existing internal drive to an external through USB or Firewire) and #2) 512mb Ram or more. Since 10.4.8 Tiger has begun to use more and more Ram for various extensions. Lastly we would recommend using Opera and Safari for web, refrain from using FireFox 2.x on these older machines as it tends to run at 1/4 the speed of the other two.

G3 Towers (Decent): Same as G3 iMac's... Good for surfing the web, e-mail, running NeoOffice (bit slow but it runs well), basic mac apps. They are more expandable than the iMac with more memory slots and PCI only expansion slots but lack any real power. Upgrades for these include a G4 proccesor up to 1.1ghz. Uses USB keyboard and mouse and regular SVGA monitor (same as a PC). Best buys on these models would be G3 350+ with 512mb ram and a 10gb drive. Pay no more than $60+shipping.

NOTE: G4 Macs were the fist and ONLY computers to be regulated by the U.S. Government on exports due to their microprocessing power. They were the first "Supercomputers" at the time and are still considered by many "Super Computers".

eMac G4 (Excellent): Once you get into G4 proccesor range your stepping up to some serious power. In fact our entire development here is on G4's, we app test on G3's and G4's. The E-mac gives you a 17" Flat Screen Studio Display monitor with TRUE FLAT Diamontron tube (excellent) along with enough graphics power to edit home movies and run a number of applications. Built in DVD or DVD/CDRW drives expand there usefullness. Just a touch bigger than the iMac G3 model and with prices on Ebay only hitting lows of $100 we make this an Excellent Buy Rating.

These models have a flaw in the 1.0,1.25,1.42ghz models. It's NOT Apple's flaw rather it's a manufacturing flaw that was encountered throughout the computer industry. Capacitors jut under the memory door with a "+" on them tend to go bad. They'll have a buldged appearance or you'll notice dried yellow gum around them (leaking issue). Once this happens the video on these models will not work internally and in most cases external monitors will be disabled as well. Apple had an extended recall on these models to fix the problem but by August of 2008 this warranty extension will be null and void for ALL models. Your best bet is to stay away from units that are bad, and get a serial # for the units prior to purchasing. Contact Apple and see if the repair has been performed or not. This would take you only 15mins but can save you HUNDREDS of dollars in the long run. The serial # is located on the optical drive door. Either pull it down or simply eject the CD tray and take a look.

G4 Towers (Excellent): The best bargains in the G4 towers (733,800,867) you'll find are the QuickSilver models. These models can be upgraded to G4 1.8ghz proccesors for less than the price of similar equipped G4/G5's. Giving them Ferrari like performance. Cases are Clear/Silver and quite stylish. Pay no more than $350 for a basic equipped model, options like updated SuperDrives, More than 512mb Ram,
HD's larger than 120gb mean this model was upgraded and is worth a bit more.

AGP and PCI graphics models are becoming a little long in the tooth for a tower based computer. We'll give them the go-ahead still but don't pay more than $100. Ram for these is getting pricey (1gb=$90) and they can only handle HD's smaller than 128gb total (Although 2 of them).

Gigabit models, so named because they have a 1000mb ethernet port (still compatible with 10/100). These models are ADC compatible so you can use an ADC equipped Studio display with them. These models used the same case as the AGP but ran from G4 450 all the way up to 733mhz. They also came in Dual Proccesor configuration which when running OS X makes these machines SCREAM! Think double the power! Best bets in these models are to get Dual Proccesors with lots of ram. Expect to pay $150 on up for a Dual, $100-200 for a single. From here we move to Digital Audio versions. Think Gigabit models but with a new audio chip. Priced and performance the same of the Gigabit models. If your into Music production, go with this model or better.

From here up we end up with QuickSilver, QuickSilver 2002, Mirror Doors, etc... Anything here on up could very well be deamed VERY DESIREABLE! But again please note any software app you plan to run these MAC's meet the requirements. Our Developers in house run QuickSilver and Mirror Door models, some with Proccesor upgrades some without but none with less than 1gb of Ram. HIGHLY RECOMEND. Expect to pay no less than $300 for a decent machine and don't buy without at least 512mb ram and a 40gb drive. Also these models may have come standard with Super Drives (burn DVD's) and Combo Drives (read DVD's, Burn CD-Roms only). Note the cases have silver or mirror fronts and the apple logo is grey not graphite.

G4 Cube: Far and above the most innovative and coolest design for a standalone computer. This design is just now getting copied by the PC market and even then there still twice the size. While bigger than the Mac Mini (MSRP $599) they tend to retain there value and hover around $150-250. So for economic sake we'll pass on the cube. There small, quite, cool, and fast but for twice the money you can get a Mac Mini that has A LOT more power, smaller, and just as quiet. Still there are those that think the Cube is COOL, and it is but from a $$$ standpoint there too pricey.

iMac G4: (Desirable-Good Buy) These models originally came in 700/800mhz models with 15" LCD displays. By far and even today are the most stylish and artistic Macs. Even at a glance you know it's a Mac and it looks great in any room/office! These machines used a different type of memory system for RAM. I would ask that you check apple's website for more information on these models as they changed quite a bit. Problem areas are in the 15" models. These were the first and had issues with the Drives, Drive doors (aesthetic only) and Screens. The biggest and expensive problem was the 15" screens. They develop brownouts or black spots and shadows. Once the screen is dead... You don't have much. Sure you can hook up an external monitor but then why did you buy it? Later models came with 17"/20" Wide screens and we'll give them an Excellent Buy rating. Find a good G4 iMac and expect to pay $250-$1400 depending on how it's equipped.

Mac Mini G4 edition: Released in 2005 these machines made a big impact on the computer world. So much power and capability in such a small and EXTREMELY efficient package. Apple released these as a two model lineup. 1.25/1.42 ghz models released first. 32mb of Video ram and standard 256mb of system ram. A 40gb 4200rpm drive was installed as default using an ATA133 interface. While OK for most it really tends to hamper the speed of these machines. 2nd revision of the Mini G4's came in at 1.33 and 1.5ghz (non-Intel 1.5 here). These upgraded the video to 64mb and the hard drives were upped a little (capacity only). Some of these later models shipped with 5200rpm hard drives for a slight speed increase (superdrive equipped 1.5's with a build to order 5400rpm drive option). Combo's were standard and superdrives on the higher end models were optional if not standard on the 1.5 model. Superdrives were only 6x burn however and neither was Dual Layer compatible. Downsides are the 1 ram slot and lack of Core Image capability. They consume about 5watts of power when idle, 25watts during normal operation, and max out at 85. DVI video output and they came with a DVI To VGA adapter to use any VGA monitor. Silent desktop with a SMALL form factor. Look for G4 Mini's with at least 512mb of ram and a superdrive. But also note Keyboards and mice were never shipped with any Mac Mini as they were designed for Mac owners who already have these units. Starting at $200 for a decent upgradeable model to $450 for a maxed out Mini with 1gb and a Superdrive 1.5ghz model. Don't pay anymore because Intel mini's which are twice as fast and can handle twice the memory tend to start in this area. Upgrade the 2.5" IDE hard drive to a 5400.3 (seagate) or 7200rpm model for speed otherwise it will feel doggy with 1gb of ram.

G5's.... Here we get into something that the PC market will see in a couple years since they tend to follow Apple by 5 years... A REAL SUPERCOMPUTER!  The G4 is technically the first Supercomputer but by today's standard this is POWER. Expect to pay a premium for these machines and better believe you'll get your money's worth. 64 Bit microprocessing, 8 gigabit bandwidth on the bus, multi channel pipelines that are short on the cpu's... It doesn't get any better than this! Single CPU models are bargains on Ebay ranging from $450-1200. Duals still sell in the $750-1500 range and Quads are well worth the $1500+ they fetch.

Mhz and Speed and how PowerPC proccessors in a Mac compare to Intels: Think G3=Pentium 3, and up, except there's no Pentium 5? Well there we'll compare it to Itanium... But even then any G5 is gonna be twice as fast as an Itanium (retail over $1000 per proccessor only!). Speedwise take a Mac speed and triple it, that's about what they compare to in the Intel world. (yes a G3 was available before a PIII and yes the G5 is available before Intels new 64bit multichannel proccessors... See the future? Get a Mac).

Mac Pro - Still pretty new to end up on Ebay. I would suggest checking Apple's on-line store and their refurbished section, then compare prices to what your looking at here on Ebay. Alot of sellers are buying up the refurbished models, sticking them in "NEW" boxes and selling them here.

CoreDuo or Core2Duo - What's the difference? Both have 2 CPU's on one chip (that's dual proccessors) however the "2" represents these cpu's run at 64bits, not 32. Double the channels the cpu can cycle through. Performace is about 20-40% faster with these chips compared to the CoreDuo models. CoreDuo's have a max 2gb Ram, Core2Duo's can handle 4gb.

Intel iMac's - Similar to their G5 couterparts HOWEVER 17" base models used On-Board graphics Intel GMA 950 chipset with 64mb of dedicated ram. Why is this important? Well some of the Quartz and Core image graphics systems Apple uses are NOT compatible with this chipset. So you may not have the wiz-bang graphics that other Mac's get. Still OS X compensates and understands this and turns parts of off as now to upset the system.

Operating Systems: Always go with the latest OS! OS X 10.4 (Tiger) is the latest, at the time of this article with 10.5 due out this summer/fall. That being said the oldest OS I would recomend is 10.3 and updating it (free) to 10.3.9. 10.3 is also half the price on ebay as 10.4. MAC's run faster progressively starting with OS X 10.0 so if you decide on an iMac G3 model and want it to be as fast as it can run 10.4 but note OS X requires 128mb ram up to 10.4 which requires 256... 1gb is recommended for OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Devices and RAM: All Mac's run USB keyboards and Mice. I would recommend shopping ebay for used mouse/keyboard combo if your unit does not come with one. However keep tabs on the cost as a USB keyboard and mouse can be purchased at most office stores together for less than $35. New Apple keyboards on their site run about $36 shipped and any USB mouse will do (go with at least a 2 button model or else you'll need to press "Control" and click to get a the equivalent of a right click).
MAC's also respond faster and work faster to more ram. Double your Ram, triple your speed seems to be the case so always get more and watch the costs and specs as a 256mb PC100 CL 3 (case latency) stick has been selling on ebay for as little as $19 shipped so that bargain MAC with 64mb may not be such a bargain once your paying another $50 for memory... Well that's it for now, as time goes on we'll upgrade the guide and add more. But this should give you a bit of a lesson on buying a used MAC and which model is best suited to you and your budget.

Intel Macs: We will have to create a whole NEW guide for this one... It can get long and intensive so please bear with us as we compile all our data together and write a nice, short informative buyers guide for these. But note, you can't go wrong with any. But always check Apple's store before purchasing on Ebay as you may find them not only cheaper but you'll get the updated model with free shipping.

Good luck and Happy Bidding!

    -Simplistik Software