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Really enjoying my iBook recently

R

RedCroissant

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Aug 13, 2011
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I just wanted to let the place know that since I have been digging around for PPC software and hacks, I keep coming across apps that I downloaded originally when I first bought my iMac in 2009. Even though it's an intel iMac, a lot of these apps are PPC compatible and I just happened to have stored away in a folder that I thought I lost: a bunch of utilities that I just installed on my iBook G4 1.33GHz 1.5GB RAM.

This obviously won't be a surprise to many of you, but I installed: CandyBar, LiteIcon, and OnyX. It's fun messing around with these apps again and now that they're all free, I'm having a blast with the GUI.

I think a nice TRON theme will be the first and then who knows? Anyway, I am rediscovering the awesomeness of my machine and it's great.
 
eyoungren

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,772
26,839
RedCroissant said:
I just wanted to let the place know that since I have been digging around for PPC software and hacks, I keep coming across apps that I downloaded originally when I first bought my iMac in 2009. Even though it's an intel iMac, a lot of these apps are PPC compatible and I just happened to have stored away in a folder that I thought I lost: a bunch of utilities that I just installed on my iBook G4 1.33GHz 1.5GB RAM.

This obviously won't be a surprise to many of you, but I installed: CandyBar, LiteIcon, and OnyX. It's fun messing around with these apps again and now that they're all free, I'm having a blast with the GUI.

I think a nice TRON theme will be the first and then who knows? Anyway, I am rediscovering the awesomeness of my machine and it's great.
Click to expand...
CandyBar is cool. I've combined, both the ML theme you can find here on MR with a black dock, icons and a black theme using Mystique on my 1GHZ PowerBook. The result is a black-themed UI I really enjoy.

So, I hear you. There is lots of life in our old Macs still.
 
R

RedCroissant

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Aug 13, 2011
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seveej said:
Congratulations. There's nothing wrong with enjoying something which is not brand spanking new.


RGDS,
Click to expand...

I would buy another PPC laptop right now if I had the money. I found someone on CL that needed help reinstalling Leopard(which I have a copy of, sort of) on their 14.1" iBook(which I REALLY want) and then instead wanted to sell it to me. The problem was that they didn't take care of it, there was no OS on the machine, they actually removed the HDD, keys were missing, and the ethernet,1usb port, and the firewire port were not working. With all this, they were trying to sell it for what I paid for my current one. Long story short, I did not buy it.

eyoungren said:
CandyBar is cool. I've combined, both the ML theme you can find here on MR with a black dock, icons and a black theme using Mystique on my 1GHZ PowerBook. The result is a black-themed UI I really enjoy.

So, I hear you. There is lots of life in our old Macs still.
Click to expand...

That's awesome because I was messing around with it last night(sounds dirty, I know) and the first theme I came up with was a 2-D dock, a gray/blue background, then black system icons with silver application icons. It was really nice and then I realized that it was approaching 130am and I had to tear myself away from the computer.

This all started with me mostly just trying to find the .dmg(s) that I still had for other apps that were all either Intel/PPC compatible, or PPC only just to help out MisterKeeks with his PowerPC Archive site. And I kept having these " A ha" moments and then it just kept going. So I put all those apps on the iBook and had fun for a couple of hours. When I get that TRON theme finished, I'll upload a screenshot. I love TRON AND my iBook.

I'm seriously amazed sometimes when I think of what I was able to buy for $149 because the shop just suddenly could not sell their PPC stock at their regular prices.
 
R

RedCroissant

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Aug 13, 2011
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skateny said:
Congrats!

I have the same iBook and also love it. Great find.
Click to expand...

Is that the one you have in your signature line? If so, did you upgrade the HDD yourself? Do you have any opinions on installing a SSD in one? I don't know if that would increase the read/write speed that much, but I had a thought that the decreased power consumption might make the battery last longer.
 
skateny

skateny

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2012
448
0
New York, NY
RedCroissant said:
Is that the one you have in your signature line? If so, did you upgrade the HDD yourself? Do you have any opinions on installing a SSD in one? I don't know if that would increase the read/write speed that much, but I had a thought that the decreased power consumption might make the battery last longer.
Click to expand...

It came with an 80GB ATA. I don't really experience lag time with the drive, so I never considered upgrading. It's fast enough for me as is.

I also get pretty good battery life, ~80 minutes on the original with 190 cycles, and ~3 hours on a new one. I don't rely too much on the battery, and will use the AC adapter when I'm not at home whenever possible.

All in all, it's a great little machine.
 
rjcalifornia

rjcalifornia

macrumors 6502a
Oct 4, 2012
668
7
El Salvador
RedCroissant said:
Is that the one you have in your signature line? If so, did you upgrade the HDD yourself? Do you have any opinions on installing a SSD in one? I don't know if that would increase the read/write speed that much, but I had a thought that the decreased power consumption might make the battery last longer.
Click to expand...

How long does your battery last on full charge? Mine 3 hours and 20 minutes.
 
skateny

skateny

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2012
448
0
New York, NY
That's great battery life. As I wrote, I don't rely on the battery much, but I recall that my replacement battery is on the good side of three hours.

The RAM is already maxed out, so that's great. It made it difference for me.

I also use Onyx and Xslimmer, which also make a difference. It's a snappy little machine, and my primary rig.
 
R

RedCroissant

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rjcalifornia said:
How long does your battery last on full charge? Mine 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Click to expand...

Ha! Not even 2 hours. Yeah, I know I need a new battery most likely, but really can't afford it.

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skateny said:
That's great battery life. As I wrote, I don't rely on the battery much, but I recall that my replacement battery is on the good side of three hours.

The RAM is already maxed out, so that's great. It made it difference for me.

I also use Onyx and Xslimmer, which also make a difference. It's a snappy little machine, and my primary rig.
Click to expand...

It really is. So much so that I'm looking to replace it with the 14.1" version with the slightly faster cpu. I know the 14.1" display isn't too much of a gain and the 1.42GHz vs. the 1.33GHZ is also not much, but I could really benefit from a larger display, even if it is only 2".
 
R

RedCroissant

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MisterKeeks said:
Though it only is two, since screens are measured diagonally, there is a significant amount of additional space.
Click to expand...

And I know that, but it's just difficult to justify an expenditure for what is almost the same machine for the size of the display when things are already tight.
 
skateny

skateny

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2012
448
0
New York, NY
RedCroissant said:
And I know that, but it's just difficult to justify an expenditure for what is almost the same machine for the size of the display when things are already tight.
Click to expand...

Not telling you anything you don't already know, but just see how it plays out with this one first. A bird in hand and all that.

I got lucky with my iBook. Gently used with 10.5.8 installed and a larger-than-stock HDD. I upped the RAM, replaced the DC-in board, and started using a USB WiFi signal booster after AirPort Extreme crapped out. (Each problem emerged over time; the iBook was near pristine when I got it.) Otherwise, all systems go.
 
R

RedCroissant

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Aug 13, 2011
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skateny said:
Not telling you anything you don't already know, but just see how it plays out with this one first. A bird in hand and all that.

I got lucky with my iBook. Gently used with 10.5.8 installed and a larger-than-stock HDD. I upped the RAM, replaced the DC-in board, and started using a USB WiFi signal booster after AirPort Extreme crapped out. (Each problem emerged over time; the iBook was near pristine when I got it.) Otherwise, all systems go.
Click to expand...

How does the usb WiFi signal booster work for you? I thought about buying a wireless n adapter from OWC, but wasn't sure about the pros/cons of the device.

I think I got lucky with mine too. I bought it from a Mac reseller that gave up trying to sell it for the regular price and instead I got an iMac and the iBook for about $300. Everything works great and I even cloned the OS from the iMac onto the iBook. No issues.
 
skateny

skateny

macrumors 6502
Jul 19, 2012
448
0
New York, NY
skateny said:
Not telling you anything you don't already know, but just see how it plays out with this one first. A bird in hand and all that.

I got lucky with my iBook. Gently used with 10.5.8 installed and a larger-than-stock HDD. I upped the RAM, replaced the DC-in board, and started using a USB WiFi signal booster after AirPort Extreme crapped out. (Each problem emerged over time; the iBook was near pristine when I got it.) Otherwise, all systems go.
Click to expand...

The original Apple battery was also in great shape when I got it. Held a charge for ~3 hours on 60 cycles. Only got a new battery after Hurricane Sandy when it was difficult to use the AC adapter.
 
A

archtopshop

macrumors regular
Dec 13, 2011
206
1
RedCroissant said:
Ha! Not even 2 hours. Yeah, I know I need a new battery most likely, but really can't afford it.

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It really is. So much so that I'm looking to replace it with the 14.1" version with the slightly faster cpu. I know the 14.1" display isn't too much of a gain and the 1.42GHz vs. the 1.33GHZ is also not much, but I could really benefit from a larger display, even if it is only 2".
Click to expand...

There's a "catch 22" with the 14.1" display. Even though it is physically larger, the resolution of the screen is the same as the 12.1", so you don't get any additional data on the display, just a bigger image because the pixels are bigger. That also means it's a little less sharp.

The original 40GB and 60GB hard drives that these laptops came with are only 4200 rpm drives. I would think an SSD would be noticeably faster, but expensive. A 5400 rpm drive would be noticeable, too, I would think, and much more affordable.

I purchased my iBook for Christmas 2006 when the online retailers were blowing them out for $649. The Intel MacBooks were coming out and the stores were getting rid of the PowerPC's. It's been a good laptop that I've thoroughly enjoyed. I never expected it would last as long as it has.
 
R

RedCroissant

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Aug 13, 2011
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archtopshop said:
There's a "catch 22" with the 14.1" display. Even though it is physically larger, the resolution of the screen is the same as the 12.1", so you don't get any additional data on the display, just a bigger image because the pixels are bigger. That also means it's a little less sharp.

The original 40GB and 60GB hard drives that these laptops came with are only 4200 rpm drives. I would think an SSD would be noticeably faster, but expensive. A 5400 rpm drive would be noticeable, too, I would think, and much more affordable.

I purchased my iBook for Christmas 2006 when the online retailers were blowing them out for $649. The Intel MacBooks were coming out and the stores were getting rid of the PowerPC's. It's been a good laptop that I've thoroughly enjoyed. I never expected it would last as long as it has.
Click to expand...

I didn't even realize that about the 14.1" display model. Thanks for changing my mind and saving me money! The reason I'm not sure about the SSD is because I'm not sure if the hardware limits the transfer rate to the point where a SSD would be pointless.

And I am right there with you with the surprise at the machine's longevity. I bought it originally because it was a machine that I could use in the living room while my kids were running around, and I am very happy to say that it is one of my primary devices.
 
J

jchase2057

macrumors regular
Dec 6, 2010
234
2
Detroit
An SSD would make a huge difference. I had one in an old G4 800mhz iBook running leopard. It was night and day over the stock drive.
 
R

RedCroissant

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jchase2057 said:
An SSD would make a huge difference. I had one in an old G4 800mhz iBook running leopard. It was night and day over the stock drive.
Click to expand...

Really? So I guess there isn't some hardware limitation on read/write speeds then. That's good to know.
 
C

CptSky

macrumors regular
Feb 1, 2013
147
29
jchase2057 said:
An SSD would make a huge difference. I had one in an old G4 800mhz iBook running leopard. It was night and day over the stock drive.
Click to expand...

The G4 had an ATA connector for the hard drive. Using a SSD would be useless as anyway the connector is limited to 133 MB/s. (100 MB/s with the version used by the G4) A SATA1 socket is around 187 MB/s. Most 7200 RPM HDD can go around 200 MB/s for the platter-to-buffer, so a bit more than the SATA1 max speed. So well, a SSD is just overkill for an ATA connector... A modern 5400 RPM ATA disk will just do the job.

Also, using a SSD without the support of the TRIM command is really bad for the drive... OS X implemented the TRIM command since 10.6.8. I wouldn't really suggest SSD on PPC Macs... Anyway, the best connection is using SATA1 (PowerMac G5 Late 2005), so a good 7200 RPM drive will have a real speed higher than the max speed of the buffer-to-host connection...
 
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