Buying and Selling

[ffutures]

Nice day - started out doing some housework then went to Pimlico for the first car boot sale of the year. I got a very basic 35mm f2.8 lens (which I'll be selling straight on) for £3 and a Macbook power supply for a fiver, but won't be able to check that until I get my Macbook Pro back from keyboard replacement. Walked back via Hyde Park, which might use up a few grams of flab from Xmas.

I've just listed the 20" iMac G4 on eBay with quite a lot of accessories and software for £225, but will accept a little less. Also selling some other stuff including some RAM and an old Airport card, and the lens once I've written the listing. As usual everything is here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/marcusrowland0/m.html

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

IT IS JANUARY! You went to a car boot sale? Wow. Impressed.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It was a really nice day, and I spent all of yesterday indoors since I had guests in the afternoon/evening and had to clean, cook etc.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I acquired a free 15" G4 iMac (very much like the one I once bought for ££££ but in much nicer condition) for nothing off a woman on Sell or Swap who said "I've lost the power lead so it might not work and I can't in all conscience even take a bottle of wine off you".

Luckily the power lead from one of my old Mac Minis is the same. It is in lovely order (though it does have a small bruise on the screen, very common with these I think) and I've put Leopard on it. But before it goes to its forever home I'll need to track down a spare Apple Pro keyboard and mouse, and a power lead of its own. They're not as desirable as the 20" model by a long chalk, and this one doesn't have Airport (which, can you believe it, was an optional extra then).

I guess I can get a power lead (aftermarket) for about £6, original mouse and airport for about £6 each, but I'm going to have to work hard to find the keyboard for less than a tenner (except that I'm not 100% convinced there's not one in the house somewhere). I guess the question is "will someone want it for £50 or more"? I have no idea.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Trouble with the original Airport card is that it only does 11b and doesn't support the encryption used by most networks these days, so there isn't much point. I've got one on ebay currently listed at 99p if you want to bid, but I really wouldn't bother!

I got the power lead for the one I'm selling on ebay, they're around £3 black and £4 white. This is the one I actually got, there may be cheaper. I paid £4.13 but it's gone up:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331468581311

Try CEX for the keyboard, they list them at £8 when they have them.

I'll be honest, I see a lot of people trying to sell 15" G4s around the £50 mark and up, but not a lot of evidence they're succeeding unless they have the external speakers, the original keyboard, etc. and are prepared to post them - lots of people say buyer collect only then seem surprised that nobody wants to know.

I got £90 for the 17" one but I think I was very lucky. I suspect that £225 is pushing it for the 20" model, but given the upgrades and all the software etc. and the camera I'm going to give it a shot.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

The 20" one *is* collectable in that nobody's made a computer that's as divinely comfortable to use ever since the G4 iMac, and the 20" is big enough to function as a real screen even now. I have stopped missing the anglepoise screen every day in the way that I used to, but I do still have a little bit of grief every time I try to get the angle on this computer *just right*). Looking at completed listings, I think £225 is a fair price point. Good luck!

I don't think I'm going to post this one in fact, but being in London that's not normally as much of a problem as if you were in, say, Penrith. Most of the ones that haven't sold haven't had their accessories.

I need Airport Extreme not Airport so it's going to cost a bit more (it's a 1Ghz machine). I did check yesterday because I saw you had that one for sale. CeX will sell me the keyboard and mouse for a fiver each.

So, yes, a project.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

OK, if it's the 1ghz model you can only use Airport Extreme. Good luck anyway!