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macswitcha2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 18, 2008
1,255
8
iBooks seemed very affordable nowadays so would you recommend it for simple word processing and internet browsing and email?
 

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
I don't know that I would say it's perfect, but it would be suitable to basic use. You would want to get one of the later model G4s though, maybe a 1.33GHz
 

cocacolakid

macrumors 65816
Dec 18, 2010
1,108
20
Chicago
I bought an iBook 1.33ghz with 512mb of ram for a friend's daughter. It was her first computer that was her own.

I started in Mac's myself with a Hackintosh and moved on to a 2010 Mac Mini, so seeing how the iBook ran was a mixed experience. The biggest problem was simply flash videos. Without tinkering, changing a setting here and there or using an app to play youtube through quicktime, flash videos are damn near impossible to enjoy playing. They'll play, but constantly buffering. But there are fixes for that. Download Mactubes or one of it's competitors, or search for "flash" in the Power PC thread here for tips. You should also download a G4 optimized Firefox 3.6.3 or Camino, they're specifically tuned to work faster on a G4.

I'd also say that the usual rule of the more ram, the better the performance.

But other than flash, the iBook plays DVD's fine on only 512mb, works great for surfing the web and word processing, etc.

If you're looking for a laptop and you're on a tight budget, an iBook is still a good choice. Just remember that there are many newer programs that will not run on a PPC cpu, but if you just want a basic setup, it's fine.
 

tom vilsack

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,880
63
ladner cdn
i use a ibook G3...(used to have a ibook 1.42 GHz 14.1")

-get at least 1.33 or 1.42 ghz (can also max ram with these to 1.5 gig) also they have the ATI Mobility Radeon 9550
-try and find one with 80-100 gb harddrive
-super drive will let you write to dvd (combo wont)...bring a dvd to test drive ...make sure it works good
-do you have latest ipod touch/nano? if so you will want one that comes with osx leopard (itunes 9.2.1 for tiger wont work with these devices)...if you dont have one of these,or older ipod then i would suggest tiger osx
-tweaks help turning off dashboard and spotlight
-camino 2.0.6 is a nice fast browser...and for flash use lastest
(as cocaco said) flash can be pain...and camino lets you turn off flash and ads in pref and you pick if you want to play
-mactubes is great for utube and nice to download vids...i also use elmediaplayer to playback saved .flv videos
-you will want to get vlc player for videos


summary...a ibook should be just fine for what you want
 

old-wiz

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2008
8,331
228
West Suburban Boston Ma
I don't know that I would say it's perfect, but it would be suitable to basic use. You would want to get one of the later model G4s though, maybe a 1.33GHz

My wife uses my old iBook G4, 1.33GHZ with 1.25 gb ram. She uses it for the internet via in-house wifi, mail, and word processing and she is quite happy with it.
 
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