I recommend POWER MAX because the staff people (especially Heidi) look out for the customer. Heidi anticipated a problem that I did not expect. (Unsolicited and Spontaneous testimonial)

Here is the letter that Heidi sent me. If you click on the links, you will learn what I learned:  It's complicated to buy an older Mac.

Heidi protected me from wasting money on a "bargain" --  I'm going to get what I pay for.

Thank you, Heidi!   When it comes to buying a Mac, I'm going through Power Max in the future.

Thank you for your order and it was a pleasure chatting with you regarding your needs and hopefully we can get you what you need using iMovie, PhotoBooth, and the other things your students use the computer for. A couple of things, I checked with my warehouse team and the older Macs (pre 10.7) should come with an older version of iMovie. I checked iMovie's current system requirements and found this https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202139

Something else while we are on the topic, Apple announced a new OS that will come out in the Fall, it will be called MacOS Sierra.  http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/06/psa-macos-sierra-drops-support-for-many-macs-from-2007-2008-and-2009/. A computer like this will be supported now…and is upgradeable http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/POW-T61292. 

A computer like this http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/C-NMM-MGEM2LL-A is new and can use an existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor (you may need an adapter) and will have the latest OS. Being that is is new the ram is soldered on and cannot be upgraded so I would recommend the one that comes with 8GB http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/C-NMM-Z0R6-8. Let me know if you have any questions about this one.

Closer to your budget is this one http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/POW-T61393 So, what that means is you can get an older computer…they will still run but older computers will not be upgradeable to the current OS, which may, or may not, be a deal breaker.

At any rate, I thought this would open the conversation and save you shipping costs a computer that will not work for you. Either way, I would be happy to send a revised quote if needed and/or if you are ready to proceed, or would like to discuss these on the phone, feel free to give me a call at 800-844-3599 after 9am pst.  Either way, I look forward to hearing back from you!

Best regards,
Heidi Wheeler

 Apple Product Professional

heidi@powermax.com
888-769-7629
Monday – Friday 7:30 – 4:30 PST
PowerMax – the home of the Mac experts!

I highly recommend a used Mac from PowerMax.com