Has anyone seen these specials in the flesh, or work for Compnow? I'm looking to purchase one of the G5 towers, but live on the other side of the continent. Do they ship interstate? Are they good value?

which one inparticular are you looking at ?
most of the items they have on special are great deals

They will ship at your cost

The Dual 2.0Ghz demo or the used models. $2349 seems to me seems like a good price. Any issues with those models?

the 2.0 is an ok deal
the dual 2.5 for 2999 is a much better deal if you have the cash

G5 towers have never had too many issues.

I was looking hard at the dual 2.5, but the dual-core 2.3 is look very very tempting at $4k. If I finally get the job I'm going for this week I'll be picking one up.

Cash is a bit of an issue :-) I'd be happy with the Dual 2Gig, but also depends what they have left. I'm in no hurry, so it might be a case of seeing what pops up in Perth.

I bought a dual 2GHz machine from Computers Now a few months ago. Not a serious issue with it. Just that the serial number wasn't populated when you selected 'About this Mac' from the Apple menu, but that's on the physical machine anyway.

My two notes for buying from them:
1. Don't piss about. The machines sell really quick, so you may need to get your money sorted and just wait for the day that a new clearance list is released.
2. If you want to buy warranty, you need to buy it at the same time as buying the computer.

That means it had a logic board replacement.
They are refurbs(well most of them)

lavo,

I've bought several this way that are ex-demo, in all cases the box was a bit beaten up, the case needed a bit of spit-and-polish, or there were a few CDs or accessories missing (nothing essential). In the case of two eMacs I got for work and my parents, each came with a 3-year AppleCare, and was still a good 20-30% below RRP.

BTW: beamso is right - don't piss about. You can call them back literally hours later and the machine's gone.

Cheers

I ended up biting the bullet (and scraping up extra finance!) and going for a new Dual Core 2Ghz instead. Saves mucking around with refurbed machines, plus I have a whole year to buy Applecare for it. And I don't have to worry about shipping :-)