As far as my actual travel time is concerned, this was a bigger hassle than I expected. It started with major road construction on an interstate forcing me onto a crowded state road for about 30 miles. What I thought would be an hour and 40 minutes took 2 hours, which is not too big of a deal. However, the return trip added an additional 40 minute minutes because of a big wreck on the interstate in Cincinnati.
I have driven in many large cities, but I found the traffic in Cincinnati to be a little more intimidating than most. I am used to Indianapolis, which can be a challenge for me, but Cincinnati seemed worse.
The purchase of the computer went without a hitch. We met at a Starbucks. The seller was nice and set the computer up. I tested several things on the computer, all of which worked fine. The entire process took ten minutes.
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---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 1:10 AM
Subject: iMac purchase/Forest Fair Village
To:
From: John Coffey <john2001plus@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 1:10 AM
Subject: iMac purchase/Forest Fair Village
To:
I'm going to Cincinnati tomorrow to buy a used iMac. I am driving 100 minutes and meeting a guy in a Starbucks north of Cincinnati. I called the Starbucks store to ask if it is okay to do our transaction there.
It is out of my way, but I heavily researched the market and this appears to be one of the best deals I can get. I'm paying $1150 for a 2017 27" iMac. The same thing "refurbished" from Apple with a warranty is about $300 more. I was originally looking at a 2015 model in Louisville that I negotiated $750 on, but I decided that the 2017 model was not only newer but a significant upgrade.
If I wanted a better processor and better graphics card, I'm looking at $1700 and 150-minute drive. If money were no object I would consider this, but what I am getting is a big step up from what I already have. (My current late-2009 iMac is dying rapidly and is too expensive to repair.) So it is a compromise between price and performance. I consider the model I'm getting "good enough".
All the computers I looked at appear to be in good shape. Almost everybody told me that the computer was low use. Almost everybody wanted something else after buying an iMac. The model I'm buying is one that the guy purchased for his "ex" last year and he wants to get rid of it.
I would not buy a Mac at all except for my desire to write iPhone apps. The following videos illustrate how horrible they are to repair.
What I would rather do is build a new computer using the powerful chips that AMD is releasing in July.
I noticed a "classic" videogame arcade on the map in Cincinnati. I was curious about what games they have and if they have Donkey Kong. I play this game up to once a day on my PC using emulation, but I wanted to see if they had the real thing. They don't. I called them.
This arcade is in a mostly abandoned mall, which has an apocalyptic feel to it. I am considering stopping by since it is on my way, but I'll probably skip it.
