Expert: Bobbert - 8/19/2011

Question
Hi. I am 14 and currently have about $500 to my name. I want to buy a Mac because a pc does not meet my needs. I don't care if it's refurbished, but it needs to have os x snow leopard or osx lion, and no more than $500. If you are knowledgeable in this matter, I would greatly appreciate it if you would inform me of sales locations and products to fit my budget. Thank you for your time.

Answer
I would be curious what your needs specifically are. If you have specific performance requirements that cannot be met by "a PC" (and realize that, aside from all Apple products currently made fitting into the definition of "PC", there is a VERY large range of options). Perhaps you simply mean that Windows fails to meet your given requirements? If so, in what ways does Windows not satisfy your needs?

Without knowing about what you need the system to do, I'm absolutely useless to you as a resource.

Given your budget, you're likely looking at the bare-bones entry-level Apple hardware (if you're purchasing new), which will likely be bested in every way possible by equipment from competitors (Apple, while producing fairly reliable hardware, is not known for producing fairly inexpensive hardware).

-bob