Buying old imac g4 - price?

Question

Hello there,
Wondering how I can find out how much I should pay for an iMac g4 17" ?
It has been treated well as far as I know, the owner is a friend. It has been sitting in a box a lot and I will get a chance to test it first.
Wondering what tests I might do and how to check it out and determine a value.
Thanks,
Al

Answer 1

My first iMac G4 1.25GHz 17" computer with airport extreme card, speakers,
larger pro keyboard, mouse, wires, book and OS X were bought direct from
Apple online some years ago as a Special Deals item, after the iMac G5 was
available and most stores no longer had any iMac G4s. I still have that one.
The deal from a local Craigslist seller, who coincidentally worked at a retail
authorized Mac reseller but knows almost nothing technical, sells a few he
gets from people from his rented residence in the larger town up the road.
The one computer was set up and working fine, it appeared, when I finally
connected with the person and could see the computer. It was running 10.5.
but there were no discs included with the sale at all. Offers of one, were on
a contingency of me paying more - and I have an unused 10.5 retail disc...
{Instead I wiped the hard drive and installed Tiger 10.4.11 on that, since I
could then compare the activities in the questioned yet working iMac G4
based on the one I already owned that I know has been running OK. And
I also have most upgrade files for Tiger including Java & what not, saved.
I don't have to download same repeatedly to update 2+ 10.4 systems.}
...I said no. He told me he had a box for the computer, but in order to get that,
(last November, when it was sub-zero) I had to take the computer already in
side that box. It did not function correctly. I talked him down on the price from
$450. and then put the good computer in the box where the poor one was;
so as to transport the functional one with its accessories, in the cold weather.
So, the spare computer with apparent logic board issue (won't go past white
screen with Apple icon, sometimes does briefly, then kernel panics at some
point, occasionally, then won't boot to white at all, nothing. Then if I reset the
PMU button - under bottom metal plate, hidden under plastic in there - it will
start and give me the white screen with Apple icon, sometimes a spinning
spoke wheel; then nothing, or a kernel panic until the next PMU reset. I have
not taken that computer apart to see what it has for a hard disk drive or RAM.
If you don't mind paying shipping, you can get iMac G4s from companies who
repair and resell them with a limited guarantee; however any adjustment does
require you to mail or ship the unit back. Some companies won't honor such a
guarantee if they think you live too far away; & won't let a local tech fix it under
their alleged warranty period. I see wegenermedia.com has a few listed. The
accessories cost extra, as would an OS X retail boot installer disc, I'd guess.
These can be fun, but try to find the service manual (a technical document)
not usually something a consumer would have, if you get more than two of
these computers and start messing around. They are a bit of work and do
require some detailed steps to be performed correctly to even upgrade the
internal factory-installed RAM or replace the hard drive, or optical drive.
The later USB2.0 iMac 15" computer is different than the earlier 15" iMac G4;
so to compare the specifications, see the free download database from
http://mactracker.ca and check into the iMac G4 series (among others.)
The first 17" iMac G4 was USB1.1 and a lower processor series, later
versions and different builds have other hardware options. The early 17"
was the first with a Superdrive and it had an 800MHz processor. I gave
one of these away to a friend a few months ago, and it was like new.
Have fun, even if it isn't pleasant work.
Good luck & happy computing!
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