Was buying this worth it?

[FruitRocks]

Well I've got a pretty powerful laptop (running Snow Leopard and Windows Server 2008 R2, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz, 16'' HD screen). The only thing was that it was a pain to always carry it around because it weighs almost 10 lbs, so I thought I'd look into getting a netbook. I remembered those old iBooks and PowerBooks and how much I've always wanted one. New MacBooks are out of my price range so I thought I would go with a lower-end iBook because I would only be using it for word processing, emailing, etc. and needed a reliable OS. There was a listing for a old iBook G3 (128 mb, CD/DVD Drive, Airport, 12'' screen). It was in perfect condition except for the phone modem was broken (again, probably almost nobody uses those anymore). It started at $52 and I ended up paying $90, plus another $15 for shipping. Because this is the first time buying a genuine Mac, I just wondered whether or not this will do me any good. Here are a few questions I have:

1). I've heard that the official RAM that the iBook G3 supports is 512 mb, which isn't enough to run photoshop if I wanted to. Is there any unofficial way (like 3rd party RAM). I'm not afraid of taking it all apart, I'm pretty good with computers.

 

2). It came with a 20Gb HDD. Could I buy a 300GB, or even a 160GB for that matter, and use that instead?

 

3). It hasn't came yet but will I be able to use see-through menu bars and such (it comes with Tiger), and themes? If not can I upgrade my video card? Again, I don't care if its not an "official" way...

 

4). It comes with the original restore discs. Does it come with iLife 08 or whatever Tiger came with?

 

5). If I really really wanted to, could I buy a 12'' G4 logic board and upgrade to that? I wouldn't mind tearing out all of the G3's components and rebuilding the system....

 

Thanks for answering these... I'm so excited to be able to use a real Mac at last and not a hacked one

[JavaGuru]

Youre going to invest into obsolete platform and then waste time and effort to upgrade it to another obsolete platform?

I think its a swell idea

[Marclh]

First of all, I would say if you want to buy it, do NOT upgrade it. To remove the hard drive there is probably about 50 screws of different sizes and they are for basically the whole computer. The chances of putting it back together the way it was before you took it apart is highly unlikely. Trust me, I've taken two of these apart to check a defective hard drive.

[Blackbooks]

Also I'm pretty sure it uses an old HDD standard meaning the replacement will probably be quite expensive

[Marclh]

If I am correct, I think the HDD in the iBook is IDE, which may be expensive. And like I said before, if you do buy it, have fun getting the HDD out of it and replaced.

[Jerime Pope]

Sounds fun, but very difficult. I guess if you want to keep it how it is its not a bad buy. But it's pretty obsolete. I was actually looking into getting a Mac Mini off eBay sometime soon.

[Belldandy]

hey thats what i have!

i got it cheap at a garage sale and i figured it would be a nice starter computer to my friend's granddaughter that lives down the street (she would probably never be able to afford one on her own and theyre like family so i thought what the heck!).

 

outdated hardware doesnt mean its useless! i cant get on some sites (since its 10.2.8) but the majority are fine.

 

its only problem is that its dvd drive is dead. i bought a new one for it but when i went online to learn how to install it i found out you have to take the ENTIRE thing apart!! along with its umteen BILLION screws to take out and God knows what else … i thought id better not chance it and left it alone (stupid … i spent $20 on that part and now i cant use it!).

i tried buying an external drive but it didnt work on it (it did on my desktop though). Sad because i have a G4 universal install disk and i cant use it on it.

[Divine E]

90$ is never a bad price. But to be honest with you, it's not worth the trouble to upgrade. I am writing this on a Mac running on 10.4 right now, and it sucks... I can't run any good programs that I need. and as far as upgrading that Hard drive? Good luck. You'll need it.

[jblackwood]

How about finding a small laptop that is a few years old that is easy to install leopard/snow leopard on? Or even a really cheap netbook. The problem with going with an old mac would definitely be the compatibility issues with hardware/software I remember my old macbook I had in middle school was unbearably slow.

[A Nonny Moose]

OK, for any kind of RAM amount issue, grab a copy of Mactracker. Seriously this will save you time and grief.

 

Secondly, grats on scoring this one, but the iBook G3's were well known for the "logic board failure" issue. There is nothing short of using fire that will fix this once it happens. My trusty old G3 iBook died this way about three months after the cutoff point for the G3 repair program, so trust me when I say that when it dies you will be a sad panda.

[xKrNMBoYx]

In my opinion getting old technology is great..atleast for fun.

 

Dont waste your time to upgrade a computer that is no longer in production though

 

you may just screw something up and lose the small amount of money you used on it

 

i lost a old pentium mx laptop cause i let my younger brother use it when he was 4

 

but yea

 

I have a powerbook with a g4 and its pretty cool..but the battery is good as dead now..it has to be plugged in all the time

[frenchc]

I really don't think it is worth PAYING for it. I used to go around looking for old outdated equipment that people are throwing out, but yeah- not worth it. My G4 Powerbook runs fine, but many of the apps out now are built for the Intel-based macs only. You will be stuck at OSX 10.5.8. Songbird, one of my favorite music apps, dropped support for PowerPCs. We are facing an issue at work with Adobe CS5 dropping the PowerPCs, so we will have to phase those iMacs out at some point. Its a sin and a shame.