iBook G3 - Fast enough for surfing?

My wife had a similar iBook with less RAM. Eventually it ended up just collecting dust. It was too slow for her tastes, and the lack of battery life and no AirPort card made it nearly useless. That computer will meet the basic system requirements for Tiger, but don't blow them out of the water or anything. You'll notice some lag due to RAM and the slower processor.

In my opinion, you'd be better served by waiting for one with better specs.

Hmmm...

Well, we used one of those at school running tiger. It just died, going down after 7 years of glory. I understand that price is a problem, but have you considered a netbook (hackintosh? I hear the Dell 10v is doing well)? Those aren't too expensive, can run leopard, and are certainly MUCH more powerful and likely to last than an at least 5 or so year old ibook. The ibook is okay, not great, for your needs. I fear that it will last not much longer than it already has, though.

My 900mhz G3 was good enough for youtube and other flash sites. It also had 640mb(max) memory and a fast 7,200rpm hard drive.

500mhz is the slowest G3 Dual USB iBook. Is it the one with 64mb or 128mb soldered? Either way, it will be OK for just basic web browsing and email or just a throw-around laptop you can carry around the house. Try finding a G4 though as those can be found for $200(probably the same price for that G3), otherwise I wouldn't purchase it for more than $100USD.

Probably a wise move, unless you're buying them as some sort of collectors piece, or merely for their aesthetics (especially the G3 clamshells), they aren't too useful besides typing.

Good decision to give it a miss. That's a Rev. A of the white iBook G3. As others have said, it's probably OK for surfing, but it would be slow. If you can find an iBook G4 or at least 700MHz iBook G3 it would be a lot faster, should not be much more expensive.

Whatever you do, if you buy a white iBook G3 make sure it is the 500 MHz version. The later versions all had horrible issues. (This one had a few, but not nearly as many.)

A G4 would be best.

Cassie said:

Whatever you do, if you buy a white iBook G3 make sure it is the 500 MHz version. The later versions all had horrible issues. (This one had a few, but not nearly as many.)

A G4 would be best.

Click to expand...

For surfing, I'd take my chances with a 900mhz G3 rather than the 500mhz just for usability. Chances are the price would be about the same given the age of the platform.

With that said, if you need a cheap internet machine, the minimum I'd look at is a 1ghz G4.

Cassie said:

Whatever you do, if you buy a white iBook G3 make sure it is the 500 MHz version. The later versions all had horrible issues. (This one had a few, but not nearly as many.)

A G4 would be best.

Click to expand...

I forgot about the logic board/display issue! Yes, avoid the 600MHz to 800MHz G3, it would be a gamble. I think the 900MHz should be fine.

I've had all the 600-900mhz 12" and 14" and they all had the graphics chip issue. I only had one 500mhz and that didn't have it ... yet.