iBook G3 or G4?

I am still running my iBook G3 600 and have only ever had one problem with it (touches wood). After about 2 yrs the HDD failed but with patience and ifixit's excellent instructions, replaced it with 80 gb drive no problem. Other than that it has been fine. Battery needs replacing so maybe something you need to take into account. Perhaps only other issue is web browser - Safari 1.3.2 which came with 10.3.x seems to crash relatively frequency but not sure whether it is actually a browser issue or site issue. May need to consider therefore 10.4.x or alternative browser. I have not encountered the odour issue - it rings faint bells so might be worth a search on this site. The machine struggles playing streaming video files from the net but other than that is still a capable work machine running Office 2004 and playing DVD at same time is fine.

i'd go for the g4, it's worth it for the specs above the g3, and it'll probably last a little longer too

G4 definitely.

beerbum said:

How long do you think i would get out of a g4? If i was to buy it within a month or so? At least a couple of years?

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It all depends on what you are looking to use the machine for.

My girlfriend has an iBook G4 upgraded to Leopard that she using for basic things: email, web, word processing, listening to music, watching movies. It works well for her and she's not looking to upgrade anytime soon.

beerbum said:

I'm looking to do the same things. I kind of wanted to have a smaller laptop than the one i have now (15.4" screen) to take to school. It does not seem to heavy on its on but added to two books and a couple of binders, i have a really heavy backpack.

Like i said, i'm still new to the hardware so i think an iBook g4 would be great to further my knowledge about them and then probably upgrade from there.

Also, on average on how long does a fully charged batter last for the iBook g4? I know if i buy one it could possibly have a bad or soon to be bad battery, but i just want to know how they do on average.

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Depends how good the battery is could be a hour depends mine lasts like 4 and a half to 5 hours but its my macbook one, And if u get a crappy battery buy a new one but try to find one with a bigger harddrive because there are ALOT of screws to upgrade the harddrive in a ibook, otherwise ram is easy.

my ibook g4 battery can last between 3-5 hours depending on the settings / what i'm using it for. i would go for the G4, it has served me well for the past 3 years.

you can probably get one for 300-400 pretty easily.

Go for the G4.

My second system is a G3/900 MHz. Kicks ass for web surfing, email and light tasks. No BO smell from mine.

I had a 12" iBook G3 that gave me major problems, including a logic board replacement, and finally died altogether. I replaced it with a 14" 1.42GHz iBook G4 (the last model before the switch to Intel) that has been rock solid for two and a half years.

i have had both a ibook g3 and g4, and i can say that both are good. I have had the logic board problem but dont worry about it its an easy fix with online how to guides. If you are getting a G3, get a 800MHz or above. and dont pay more than 230$-----if you get a G4, get a 1GHz and dont pay more than 300. you'd really like it

I just bought a G4. It will not be a my main machine, so I expect maybe 3 years from it?

I can't image why anyone would buy a G3 until it was $50 or less.

well not to contradict alpha there but I disagree, my G3 800MHz was incredible. it could do anything hte internet threw at it and was uite speedy on tiger. the G3 in the ibok is different than the imacs were....at least for me

I love how these old threads always seem to bring out the old-machine brigade.

These machines were piss slow a year or two after their release, they're going to be useful for nothing but the most basic tasks now. At the very least get a G4.

If you need a laptop under the $500 mark, as much as it pains for me to say get a windows based one. Sites like newegg.com occasionally have normal (not netbook) sized laptops around the 13" size that go for $500. You're going to get vastly more performance out of these.

If you can at the least get an older Intel Macbook, that'll remain relevant much much longer.

Aea said:

I love how these old threads always seem to bring out the old-machine brigade.

These machines were piss slow a year or two after their release, they're going to be useful for nothing but the most basic tasks now. At the very least get a G4.

If you need a laptop under the $500 mark, as much as it pains for me to say get a windows based one. Sites like newegg.com occasionally have normal (not netbook) sized laptops around the 13" size that go for $500. You're going to get vastly more performance out of these.

If you can at the least get an older Intel Macbook, that'll remain relevant much much longer.

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Perfect.

Exactly my thoughts.

G4.

The G4 is my favorite portable, its light and runs like a charm.

G4.

Aea said:

I love how these old threads always seem to bring out the old-machine brigade.

These machines were piss slow a year or two after their release, they're going to be useful for nothing but the most basic tasks now. At the very least get a G4.

If you need a laptop under the $500 mark, as much as it pains for me to say get a windows based one. Sites like newegg.com occasionally have normal (not netbook) sized laptops around the 13" size that go for $500. You're going to get vastly more performance out of these.

If you can at the least get an older Intel Macbook, that'll remain relevant much much longer.

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You sure u belong here , a g4 can do many things still it can run photoshop cs3, prefer cs2 on older, leopard can do manythings alot of people think there useless my friend uses a imac g3 400 40gb tiger 1gb, and runs flash 8, photoshop cs, and like ilife well since its all he really has its really good, i kinda just hate how everyone thinks old machines are useless.

You need a G4 867Mhz or higher to run Leopard.

Buy a PowerBook G4, they'll be under the $500 mark, and you could get a 1.0 or 1.33Ghz one.

If you get an ibook G4, get the last version. It has built in blue tooth, scrolling trackpad and sudden motion sensor and usb 2.0. They also take 1.5gigs of memory.

The 12" ibook 1.33ghz and 14" 1.42ghz ibook are the last and best iBooks ever made.

Typically I have souped up an iBook 12" 1.33ghz with a fast hard drive and a dvd burning superdrive, effectively outmatching most of the specs of the last revision 12" Powerbook g4.

dual64bit said:

You need a G4 867Mhz or higher to run Leopard.

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Actually not true. The installer checks for 867MHz or higher but there are ways to get around that, and performance of Leopard on lower-speed G4s is about the same as Tiger.

Get a G4. The G3 ibooks had numerous logic board issues. I think those are a risky gamble you should avoid.

Definitely the g4. My wife and I still use our ibooks as our main computers. And we plan to do so for the foreseeable future. At least she does - as soon as there's a 10-inch or smaller macbook, I'm there.