[Hidden-tech] Advice on used Mac buying

[Annamarie Pluhar]

Hi all,

I think that some of you on this list might have some useful help for 
me.

I offered to help my nephew find a mac to replace his 7 year-old MacBook 
Pro.  He's got a limited budget - about $700. He's making a film, in 
fact the only thing he really does with a computer is make films. He has 
Final Cut Pro 7 and wants to stick with it.
I found the specs for that software (below).  Obviously we're looking at 
used machines with older operating systems.

I'm thinking he'd get a whole lot more out of a iMac than a Macbook Pro  
- but I could be wrong. He doesn't have a keyboard, mouse or monitor.  
He can't have a mini as they have the wrong graphics processor at least 
that's what I'm understanding. He's also dealing with temporary housing 
(like so many kids these days) so his first thought was a laptop.

Comments? Thoughts? Thanks for all help.


Specs:
Mac computer with an Intel processor
	•	1GB of RAM (2GB of RAM recommended when working with compressed HD 
and uncompressed SD sources; 4GB of RAM recommended when working with 
uncompressed HD sources)
	•	ATI or NVIDIA graphics processor. Integrated Intel graphics 
processors are not supported except the Intel HD Graphics 3000.
	•	128MB of VRAM
	•	Display with 1280-by-800 resolution or higher
	•	Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later
	•	QuickTime 7.6 or later
	•	DVD drive for installation
	•	For burning Blu-ray discs: a Blu-ray recorder



Annamarie Pluhar

Pluhar Consulting
http://www.pluharconsulting.com
802.451.1941
802.579.5975 (cell)