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RMD68

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 7, 2007
283
10
I have a 2003 iBook G4. After ten minutes of use it locks up and I have to restart. I took it down to the Apple Store and they said after hooking up an external HDD to it that the HDD would need replacing. The cost is supposed to be at least $350 and if there is anything else that's non-mechanical the price will go up even more for repairs.

There were three things I was wondering:

1. Is it easy to replace the HDD on an iBook and how cheap is it to do that route.

2. If its even worth fixing and to just junk it and get a new one (which I was planning on doing anyway in a few weeks).

3. To get it fixed and just have it as a backup no matter the cost.

I'm looking foward to everyone's input and for taking your time to read this.
 

Yoursh

macrumors 6502
May 28, 2006
326
0
MN
1. I haven't done it myself, but I have heard that the ibooks hard drives are not easy to get to. You have to dismantle most of the lower part of the ibook to get to it. This involves a lot of tiny screws that have to go back in the same location they came out of. Also, I've heard it is very easy to damage something in the dismantle/reassemble process. Tearing a ribbon cable or something.

If your comfortable with doing it, you can snag a new hdd for less then $100 online. This is a lot cheaper then having Apple do it, but you have to know what your doing. I've rebuilt a few ipods myself and can tell you Apple really packs things in tightly. You have to be very careful. Here is a disassembly guide from ifixit. (This is an example, make sure you have the right guide for your model)

2. If it's worth it really comes down to how important the ibook is to you. For the age of the laptop, $350 is little on the steep side. If the hdd is the only problem it might be worth having them do it. If your planning on getting a new laptop like you posted, you may just want skip fixing it.

3. One idea you didn't mention is that if the hdd is the only problem, you could just run the ibook off of a external firewire drive. You would lose some of the portability, but it would work as a backup system.
 

heySparky

macrumors regular
Mar 8, 2007
224
0
Oregon
I have a 2003 iBook G4. After ten minutes of use it locks up and I have to restart. I took it down to the Apple Store and they said after hooking up an external HDD to it that the HDD would need replacing. The cost is supposed to be at least $350 and if there is anything else that's non-mechanical the price will go up even more for repairs.

There were three things I was wondering:

1. Is it easy to replace the HDD on an iBook and how cheap is it to do that route.
Easy? Nope. I have replaced the DC in board in my iBook and the guide from iFixit was very helpful. I wouldn't try it without an illustrated guide. Cheap? Certainly less than $350 if you do it yourself. A new 100 gig Seagate HD from newegg costs about $90 shipped. A 60 gig HD would be $55. That would be all it cost if you did the work yourself.

2. If its even worth fixing and to just junk it and get a new one (which I was planning on doing anyway in a few weeks).
What would your iBook be worth if it had a new HD in it? Probably more than the price of the 60 gig HD. Then you could sell it to offset the cost of a new Macbook. Obviously, it would be worth the most if it worked. If you screw it up trying to fix it, you can still part it out on ebay.

3. To get it fixed and just have it as a backup no matter the cost.
I wouldn't pay $350 to have it fixed, but I would risk $90 to try to do it myself.
 

Kodex

macrumors member
Jan 30, 2003
75
0
Hire an apple certified tech to do it for you, should be able to get it done for $70-90 plus the hard drive cost. The repair itself if in the hands of a skilled tech takes only about 30 minutes.
 

Block

macrumors 6502a
Jun 28, 2007
843
1
Just get a new macbook and sell your old ibook on ebay (if it doesn't sell well as a whole, breaking it into its component parts might make it sell for a lot more).
 

masse

macrumors 6502a
May 4, 2007
840
0
MA/GA
I replaced the hard drive on my G4 powerbook with no instruction whatsoever. Just keep track of the screws etc.
 

one1

macrumors 65816
Jun 17, 2007
1,165
27
Chattanooga, TN
The repair itself if in the hands of a skilled tech takes only about 30 minutes.

I must be a wizard because I swapped the HD's in both my Ibooks in 25 minutes each. ;)

It's not "simple", but I can say after you have been in the book once, you'll be able to crack it apart in under ten minutes the next time you go in. There are several tutorials in a google search with pics. Some bring up the older Ibook (clam) and some bring up the new one.

edit: here is one http://www.sterpin.net/uk/ddibookg4uk.htm
 
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