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$200 iBook

ASP272

ASP272

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Is $200 a good price for an original graphite iBook? My friend has a 366mhz graphite iBook with 192mb ram and 6gb HD. Airport card installed. I want to use OS X on it but I realize it will be slow and consume a large portion of the HD. Any advice for this possible purchase? Anyone know where I can get the 256mb ram chip cheap, as well as at least a 40 or 60gb hard drive replacement? Do you think this is worth the investment for a portable? It seems like a good deal to me.
 
That is a pretty good price. The original Airport cards are selling for $80-$100 alone. Similar iBooks go for $250-$350 on eBay. That machine will run Panther OK, but it won't be fast. And yes, the HD will fill up fast. It will make a good web/email/word processing machine.

You can find good deals on RAM at http://www.macsales.com

I don't know about the HD upgrade.
 
i heard somewhere that you can cut a panther install in half by not installing fonts but i can't remember where...
 
sigamy said:
You can find good deals on RAM at http://www.macsales.com

I don't know about the HD upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. This site had pretty good prices on HD upgrades too. I did find some better prices on HD though. But a 256mb chip for $32, that's awesome. Thanks again.
 
homerjward said:
i heard somewhere that you can cut a panther install in half by not installing fonts but i can't remember where...
Click to expand...

I know how to do this, I think. You don't install the localized files (which are all the foreign language files). It greatly cuts down on the system size. I think you can turn off the extra printer drivers too, though not quite as significant in size reduction. 🙂
 
that's what I do

ASP272 said:
I know how to do this, I think. You don't install the localized files (which are all the foreign language files). It greatly cuts down on the system size. I think you can turn off the extra printer drivers too, though not quite as significant in size reduction. 🙂
Click to expand...

I don't install any of the printer drivers, I just install them when I get the printer. There is a program that called Delocalizer, this will remove any languages you want it to. When I ran it, it removed almost 800mb of information! So it works really well.
 
Also...

I wonder how much battery life it gets, that system is pretty old and the battery might not have much of a charge left. It might be worth buying a new battery as well. I'm sure you can find one on ebay. Just a thought.
 
wwooden said:
I wonder how much battery life it gets, that system is pretty old and the battery might not have much of a charge left. It might be worth buying a new battery as well. I'm sure you can find one on ebay. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I know he has kept it on the charger most of it's life (not a big traveler), so the battery should still be pretty good. I think I've talked him into letting me give it a test drive for a week or so, then I'll know how much battery life it has.
 
ASP272 said:
I know he has kept it on the charger most of it's life (not a big traveler), so the battery should still be pretty good. I think I've talked him into letting me give it a test drive for a week or so, then I'll know how much battery life it has.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it still run off the battery when it is plugged in... it constantly trickle charges... and ends up going through the battery.
 
atomiton said:
Doesn't it still run off the battery when it is plugged in... it constantly trickle charges... and ends up going through the battery.
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Does it really? I just assumed it only used the battery when it's unplugged. Does anybody know if it actually cycles through the battery when plugged in? That would suck having to buy another battery too. 😕
 
Also, I've got Panther running on a 366 MHz indigo iBook, and I can tell you that even without the extra fonts and printer drivers and such, it still takes up a couple GB of the drive. And all the fancy Quartz Extreme effects, like Expose, essentially don't work (technically they run, but so slow as to be equivalent to not working).

Even with RAM and a larger hard drive, you're still dealing with older technology and a slower system bus and such. $200 is an excellent price for that iBook when you consider that even MacOfAllTrades still sells the 300 MHz ones for $399, but after all the upgrades you want to do (RAM, HD) you could probably snag a more modern iBook that won't need upgrading and will do Quartz Extreme.

If you don't want it, though, would your friend consider selling here? $200 is acceptable for another iBook to play with Linux on, considering I'm lending mine to my neighbor and it's the only computer she currently has....
 
ASP272 said:
Anyone know where I can get the 256mb ram chip cheap, as well as at least a 40 or 60gb hard drive replacement?
Click to expand...

I got my 40 gig HD upgrade for the clamshell on eBay. Just make sure it's one of the 9.5mm ones, any thicker won't fit. And have fun installing it. 😀

And yes, that's a reasonable deal!
 
ASP272 said:
Is $200 a good price for an original graphite iBook? My friend has a 366mhz graphite iBook with 192mb ram and 6gb HD. Airport card installed. I want to use OS X on it but I realize it will be slow and consume a large portion of the HD. Any advice for this possible purchase? Anyone know where I can get the 256mb ram chip cheap, as well as at least a 40 or 60gb hard drive replacement? Do you think this is worth the investment for a portable? It seems like a good deal to me.
Click to expand...

I installed OS X on a G3 iMac and it ran pretty good. You'll want more RAM, and I would consider a bigger HD a must regardless of how much you shrink the OS system files.

If you don't buy it, I would love to myself. Although based on feedback here, it seems you might end up getting it. The main problem would be if you don't want to install the HD (looks difficult from that other thread.)

Anyway, my email is my Macrumors user name at yahoo.com. Please email me if your friend would like to sell the computer to me. I'd pay extra for the shipping. I'm assuming OS X isn't included, as that is $100 itself.

Thanks,
 
For those who would like this deal yourself, it's a personal deal. He's only letting it go for $200 because I'm a friend. Otherwise, he's not selling. Thanks so much for the tip on the difficulty of replacing the HD. Looks like fun to me. 🙂 I like to tinker with my Macs. I have found good prices on all the upgrades for it and will likely end up spending about $325 when it's all said and done. I couldn't find anything out there at that price with 320mb ram and a 60gb hard drive (after upgrades). I don't really care for using the OS X effects like Exposé, though I do think they are cool - so that's not a big deal. This won't be my main machine anyway, since I have a nice G4 with all the trimmings for my work and play. This iBook will be all play (and portability of files between home and work).

I did find something strange though. On www.macsales.com they are selling 512mb chips for this iBook and they say they are compatible. When I check Apple's spec page it only shows a 256mb chip as the max (320 with the built in 64mb). Does anyone know if the 512mb will read as 512 in the original iBook, or is macsales.com selling more than the machine can handle? 😕
 
ASP272 said:
I did find something strange though. On www.macsales.com they are selling 512mb chips for this iBook and they say they are compatible. When I check Apple's spec page it only shows a 256mb chip as the max (320 with the built in 64mb). Does anyone know if the 512mb will read as 512 in the original iBook, or is macsales.com selling more than the machine can handle? 😕
Click to expand...

Well I can't speak to this specific instance, usually the modules listed at Other World Computing (macsales.com) are correct. When they have a 512mb module listed an Apple does not is usually due to the simple fact that 512mb modules were not available when the particular model was released. The largest module available to Apple was a 256mb, so that is what is listed in the specs as the largest. Apple doesn't go back and update the specs.

All that being said, I have seen where older Powerbooks, like the Wallstreet, won't recoginize RAM over 256mb under OS X.

You should look for some more info, or call OWC and ask someone directly. They have good customer service so even if you buy it you should be able to return it.
 
I installed a 512mb chip in my iBook 366Mhz and Panther on its 6GB HD. It's all dooable and leaves you with a system that can let you surf around your house without the fear of dropping a vast investment on the kitchen floor. Only thing I hate is the 800 x 600 resolution that is standard on these machines.
 
iRez said:
I installed a 512mb chip in my iBook 366Mhz and Panther on its 6GB HD. It's all dooable and leaves you with a system that can let you surf around your house without the fear of dropping a vast investment on the kitchen floor. Only thing I hate is the 800 x 600 resolution that is standard on these machines.
Click to expand...

Awesome! With a 30gb hard drive or more and the 512mb chip it should be a pretty nice web surfing, iTunes playing machine. Thanks!
 
sigamy said:
You should look for some more info, or call OWC and ask someone directly. They have good customer service so even if you buy it you should be able to return it.
Click to expand...

I contacted OWC customer service and they QUICKLY responded and let me know that the 512mb chip does work in the original iBook. I think that you were right about the spec page being too old to reflect the fact that 512mb chips existed for this machine. Thanks for the tip. 🙂
 
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