What happened to the Clamshell g3?

I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder...

I thought the clamshell ibooks were disgusting.

I know a lot of people who still like the clamshell iBooks, me included. Hell, I have a 3' promotional poster on my wall.

Ever since I sold mine, I've wanted to pick up a shell and mod it with the guts of an icebook, it's just too expensive right now. They hold their value for this very reason.

I guess, though, the cons outweighed the pros for Apple, alongside the adoption of white to match the G4 iMac. The clamshell was too big, and too heavy; add that to the fact it was seen as underpowered, and you've got a damn good set of reasons to axe it.

Though I'm still on the look out for a key lime 'book... mmm, pretty!

I think the real problem is it's a terribly inefficient design. With rounded corners and curves the clamshell iBook was a lot larger than the current design with no gain other than style (and a handle)

11.6" x 13.5" x 1.8" (282 cubic inches)

vrs

11.2" x 9.06" x 1.35" (137 cubic inches, less than half the size)

also 6.6 lbs vrs 4.9 lbs.

As someone who used to lug the smaller one around, I definitely would not have wanted to try to lug the bigger one around.

There's always ColorMyPc if you want a new iBook that isn't white. But I think it's a little more than $100.

solvs said:

There's always ColorMyPc if you want a new iBook that isn't white. But I think it's a little more than $100.

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It's roughly $500

Ouch.

I just sold my clamshell last week, it was actually orange, sold it for $250

I LOVED my tangerine iBook!

I got it when they where released in '99, and kept it all the way till Sept of '03 when the 12" Powerbook went to 1Ghz (my current laptop).

I had modified it pretty heavily. I swapped the whole bottom half with a graphite 466 Mhz w/ DVD-ROM and firewire, the upper trackpad section was blue, and the Apple logo would glow around the perimeter. Man I loved that machine. By far my favorite Mac! The handle made it a pleasure to carry around securely. Too bad they don't have handles on the portables anymore...

Hurray for the Clamshells! They will be missed.

still using my tangerine iBook everyday.

The handle was definitely cool. But the amount of useless plastic was immense, however stylish one might find it as well. There is so much area around the screen just doing nothing. And it maxes out at 800x600.

My wife is still using her Indigo iBook, every day. HD is full, battery is toast, it's damn slow, but all fine for the basics.

I initially hated the design of the titanium PB after intro'd past the Wallstreet models. Those curvaceous designs were beautiful. Now with the boxy utilitarian look of the aluminum PBs, it renders both wallstreet and tangerine iBooks are relics of a fashion museum.

Since retro is the "IT" thing right now with everything from clothes to cars to electronics. I'm suprised Apple hasn't done something. That's be awesome to offer a retro iBook w/ current specs. Offer the colors of the iMac G3's for the eMac.

Just yesterday my sister, that only remembers Mac from elementary, asked me what happened to the colored iMacs as she was flipping through a Mac magazine. She said she remembered when they were "all the rage". I want a clamshell iBook after I buy a new PB. I want to give the iBook to my kids in a few years to use for school.

acedickson said:

Since retro is the "IT" thing right now with everything from clothes to cars to electronics. I'm suprised Apple hasn't done something.

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Well, they have, sort of. Look at the new box designs for iLife and whatnot. Very retro looking.

I never really liked the colorful design of the first "I" Macs. I thought they looked kiddish and stupid - like something that belongs in an elementary school classroom.

It didn't make a different at the time anyway - I was a Mac hater. I still hate OS 9 to this day in fact. So glad Apple moved away from that POS.

Raven VII said:

I never really liked the colorful design of the first "I" Macs. I thought they looked kiddish and stupid - like something that belongs in an elementary school classroom.

It didn't make a different at the time anyway - I was a Mac hater. I still hate OS 9 to this day in fact. So glad Apple moved away from that POS.

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ditto. When i first got my ibook 2 years ago, before there were all that many apps for os x, I would delete anything that needed to open the "classic" environment. It just looked so terrible

Raven VII said:

I never really liked the colorful design of the first "I" Macs. I thought they looked kiddish and stupid - like something that belongs in an elementary school classroom.

It didn't make a different at the time anyway - I was a Mac hater. I still hate OS 9 to this day in fact. So glad Apple moved away from that POS.

Click to expand...

I agree OS9 had it's flaws, but I can tell you it's such a simple OS it can go forever. I have 3 iMac DV's (From '99 or '2000) at work and 2 of them are still running the OS that was on them when we opened the boxes! They're workhorses too! I simply ran software update on OS9 till no more where available and update the Apps we use if available. (The other I upgraded the HD and went to OSX.)

As much as you try it's almost impossible to run the same Windows OS on the same machine for 5 years.

But yes, OS9 is ugly and quirky in comparison to it's GQ brother X.

I miss the Clamshells too - but in truth a used late-model Clamshell (DVD, FireWire, etc.) costs almost as much as a new Mini (if not more in some cases). The colors made Apple so distinctive in a time when it was suffering from the Beige Box syndrome.

I hope Apple brings color back some day. The steel and white motif is certianly attractive, but imagine how cool a new Mini might look with the same color scheme as the first "Five Flavors" iMacs. Same for the iBook. It's cool to own an Apple, but the colors brought so much fun to them too...

I guess standardizing on white saves money though - I could see a customer like the comic store guy in The Simpsons ordering a Mini: "No, I want the 1.42 GHz and extra RAM in a Grape case, not Strawberry!" There's just a lot of color/configuration possibilities that would add an extra step to the manufacturing process.

*wistful sigh*

As much as I love Clamshell iBooks, both they, and the G3 iMacs became a nightmare for retailers, just as the iPod minis can be at times. Not only does one have to take guesses at which ones to order, but also, one may be unable to sell current stock, while ordering others. That is, you might have 4 of 5 colours in plentiful stock, but have a customer want to buy that other colour. So, you have to put orders in, and be unable to sell the stock you do have. Luckily, the iBooks had far fewer colours at a time than the iMacs.

Apple has only sent us pink and green iPod minis. Take a wild guess as to how many people have passed them by waiting for a blue or silver one....

I liked the clamshells for one reason...they were built like tanks. They were the toughest laptops I've ever seen. They were perfect in the education market because besides the screen you could throw them around without causing any damage. Compared to the clamshells, I felt like I was going to break the white iBooks. I definatily wouldn't mind having one just as a basic word processor that I didn't need to worry about droping.

Norouzi said:

I liked the clamshells for one reason...they were built like tanks. They were the toughest laptops I've ever seen. They were perfect in the education market because besides the screen you could throw them around without causing any damage. Compared to the clamshells, I felt like I was going to break the white iBooks. I definatily wouldn't mind having one just as a basic word processor that I didn't need to worry about droping.

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YOUR RIGHT ON THAT! My firend who is a really big guy (280lbs) landed ontop of his his iBook with the yo-yo power adptor between the two! I'm talking full blown 280lbs on an iBook with an odd object in the middle.

I now have his iBook with a cracked sceen, but it still works! That's tough.

I used to play football with him, and I can tell you the iBook faired much better than I usually did.

I also fell with my Clamshell a couple of times and it never missed a beat.