thewrittengeek

There comes a time in any technophiles life when the obsessive desire to have a new computer combines with the sudden and undeniable need for one. Generally a time for rejoicing, the pending purchase of a new computer is to a geek what walking into a high-end shoe store must be for Carrie of the Sex and the City fame. Megahertz and gigabytes mixing it up with OLEDs and CPUs, it’s like opening the doors to the candy store and shouting “IT’S ON THE HOUSE!” Only for me, nothing at the apple store was on the house. As I stood amongst the isles of gleaming technology, my phone continually displayed the results of my bank account, no matter how many times I refreshed, it was still a few digits short of justifying a new Macbook. So returning home, I fired up the old XP running Toshiba laptop, forever tethered to the wall with its six minute battery and went for the second best option: Ebay.

With a budget of only around $400 I needed a computer that could be reliable, handle writing, some minor graphics and surf the net. I needed something that would just work, no fussing with system settings, no asking permission to do basic tasks. Something that could be carted around everywhere I went without the need for a mile of support cables. In other words I needed a Mac. These computers are prefect for the creative types like writers, graphic artists and casual users such as educators. Stable, intuitive and hard to break, a Mac was just what I needed to haul around on trains, planes and little cafes.

Ebay was up and running and I had filtered down to through the repertoire of available notebooks, narrowing the options to something I could use. Like buying anything else online, research is key and in the case of computers wikipedia is your friend. The product history and public opinion of pretty much every major computer manufacturer who ever existed can be found online, and arming yourself with that information helps avoid pitfalls and products with a history of failure. Macs have a fairly strong presence online and learning the differences between an eMac, and iMac and an iBook was critical as one of the bigger rules with computers is don’t buy one just because it’s pretty.

Having settled on a 3^rd generation iBook I could begin sifting through the available offerings, finally landing an 800mz model for around $275, a real steal! Now keep in mind one of the keys to good Ebay shopping is shipping. An unscrupulous seller will readily add 5-10% on top of the standard shipping cost, hoping to recoup shipping materials cost and turn a quick additional profit. Combine that with a heavy item and cross country shipping, the value of buying can be lost. When possible, buy from locations nearest your shipping address. The cost is generally less and occasionally you can arrange to pick the item up which I did with the computer, saving a $30.00 shipping cost. Keep in mind also, what upgrades might the computer need, what accessories will you have to purchase? Saving $25 on an Ipod only to have to pay $10 in shipping and $10 for the connection cable is usually a bad deal.

At the end of the day, I ended up having to purchase additional RAM and a copy of iWork, bringing the total cost up to about my $400 budget, less than half the cost of a new computer. While it may not have every feature of my Fiancée’s shiny new Macbook, and can’t stand up to the power of my mother’s Pro, the iBook is my road warrior companion and does everything I need it to. Which works out perfectly because my PC learned a new trick last night, the Blue Screen of Death.

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