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1.2Ghz iBook - Will it last me 2 good years of computing

I

iBunny

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 15, 2004
1,254
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I see many of you had your macs for years ( I update my PC about ever 4 months and get a new one every year)

So if i get a top of the line iBook, will it last 2 years? Thats how long i want to take a loan for.

Last as in useability, performance, apps and such, not durability cuz i know they are durable
 
my oldest mac is a 500 mhz iBook. there are others here who have even older macs. my oldest mac is like... 4 years old?

see to it that if you plan to use the machine longer (at least 2 years) get the maximum RAM you can afford.

i guess as long as you do not use processor-hungry apps during the machine's tenure, then you would be alright with it.
 
How come I hear so many people say that processor intensive apps will hurt a computer that is not built for it. My beige, which is from '98 i beleive, i use photoshop and studio 2004 on it and yet it still goes. One of my friends with a old 600 mhz ibook uses photoshop on it nearly every day and it still works fine.
 
My wife and kids use our 466 MHz iBook all day long. Now, they're not rendering animation or Photoshoping huge files. I think your iBook will last much longer that 2 years.
 
Really the only reason most PC users upgrade their machines reguarily is because advertising convinces them that they desparately need to or to keep up with gaming trends.

Thankfully the mac community tends to have its head strapped on better and doesn't panic every time Ram goes up in speed or there is a processor upgrade... thats not to say that there aren't people who eagerly await new products, its just the old products are so nice you'll be happy to use them longer.
 
Will it last 2 years> Probably. But it all depends on what you are trying to do with it and how long you might be willing to wait for the computer to finish whatever you told it to do.

If you can afford it, go for the biggest harddrive and as much memory as you can afford. Both of these will help the machine handle your needs.
 
I think it will last two whole years, but let me ask my beige G3-233 what it thinks. Interesting--it gave me a dirty look at said to ask the PowerMac 7600. The 7600 said that 2 years is easy.

In 2 years, except for the dirty wrist rests, you won't even know the computer is 2 years old.
 
as long as you aren't running newer games (on the PC side) that require faster and faster processors, you could get away it using something for a LONG time..

i used my 603e Powerbase 200 (with 2x CD-R) up until 2002 when I got my Quicksilver... that was well past 2 years. It all depends on your POV, i had no reason to upgrade, it was running PS 4/5 just fine.. albeit a tad slow, but it did the job.
 
Prolly 3-4 years, as my Tibook is now practically the same spec as the iBook and I'm looking to get 3 more years out of mine.
 
Danrose1977 said:
Really the only reason most PC users upgrade their machines reguarily is because advertising convinces them that they desparately need to or to keep up with gaming trends.

Thankfully the mac community tends to have its head strapped on better and doesn't panic every time Ram goes up in speed or there is a processor upgrade... thats not to say that there aren't people who eagerly await new products, its just the old products are so nice you'll be happy to use them longer.
Click to expand...

That's odd. I have never seen commercials for Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, Athlon64, or any video cards on TV, ever. Where are you getting the idea that advertising is the motivating force to "desperately" upgrade?

When you find a commercial that shows EXACTLY that, tell me. I'm waiting to see some proof behind your generalization.

*You need to realize that there are many kinds of customers out there in the computer market. Just because the way you use your computer is not the SAME as the way many other PC users do (predominantly gaming), does not give you to right to put them down just b/c they aren't the same as you. This is discrimination and bigotry in its purest form.
 
Danrose1977 said:
Thankfully the mac community tends to have its head strapped on better and doesn't panic every time Ram goes up in speed or there is a processor upgrade...
Click to expand...


Its more of the fact that Macs aren't for playing games nor or they real speed demons as far as computers go. Basically, me and a few of the people I talk to think of apple as a company for computer illiterate people.(no offense to you folks, thats just how we view ya :p )

Personally, I wouldn't be getting one if the 12 inch didn't fit the form factor/price I am looking for.
 
Danrose1977 said:
Really the only reason most PC users upgrade their machines reguarily is because advertising convinces them that they desparately need to or to keep up with gaming trends.
Click to expand...


I still use my Compaq that has a 266Mhz AMD K6-2 (I don't exactly remember the name but I know it's 266Mhz), and only 64MB of RAM. It runs Windows 2000, and it does Word, e-mail, and surfing just fine.

I couldn't run TurboTax on it this year because it was too slow, but simple things are no problem. Also, I have to use AOL 8 on it because it won't run AOL 9.

And it is over 5 years old!
 
Whom do you work for?

Mav451 said:
That's odd. I have never seen commercials for Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, Athlon64, or any video cards on TV, ever. Where are you getting the idea that advertising is the motivating force to "desperately" upgrade?

When you find a commercial that shows EXACTLY that, tell me. I'm waiting to see some proof behind your generalization.

*You need to realize that there are many kinds of customers out there in the computer market. Just because the way you use your computer is not the SAME as the way many other PC users do (predominantly gaming), does not give you to right to put them down just b/c they aren't the same as you. This is discrimination and bigotry in its purest form.
Click to expand...

Seriously, buddy, what are you doing on this site? All you seem to do is defend PCs at every opportunity blah blah....it's a MACRUMORS site.
And no, the advertising may not DIRECTLY convince people to upgrade their PCs, but the ever more complex games require the newest processors in order to fulfill all the graphic and framerate promises...
 
Yep, that's the business model for the gaming industry. If you said that at the beginning it would have been a little bit clearer.

-edit-
I see you are an employee for Apple. I seriously hope that if you are going to get switchers that you are more selective with your word choice and tone. To get people to switch you would be better off doing a Pro/Pro approach--this would not offend potential PC-using customers in the store (and prevent an "elitest" tone from leaking out).

Pro/Pro means you compare the pros of each. The supposed "Cons" are sometime simply opinions, but I can tell you that a Pro approach would certainly convince me alot easier. "Cons" can lead to a slippery slope where you just end up putting down the PC platform and end up offending the potential switcher.
 
I'd worry about design and build quality

I don't know if the latest iBooks have some of the design flaws fixed or not, but you might want to think about the longevity of your choice.

I bought a 600Mhz iBook about two and a half year ago and have used it almost every day, mainly for internet access, but also as a photo storage for digital pictures on holiday.

On the morning of going on holiday 4 weeks ago I started up the iBook to a blank screen, which ended up being the same fault a lot of iBook users find. There is a design flaw with the iBooks which can result in the screen display cable being broken/damaged, meaning your iBook may be perfectly fine, ie memory/disk/keyboard/screen etc, but because your cable linking the screen and system is broken/damaged your iBook becomes less than portable or even useless. Of course, you can send it back to Apple to fix, which they charge an arm and a leg for ( you would think they would be humble or at least generous about fixing a design fault in their product ) it, or you could try to fix it yourself, which is complex.

I've enjoyed my time with my iBook, but now it becomes an open laptop that I don't want to close in case it stops working altogether, the experience has soured slightly.

Just my two cents worth....
 
I don't see why a 1.2 G4 won't last two years. I'm on a G3 400 which is 4 1/2 years old and it still works fine. Sure I don't use it for power apps, just netscape/appleworks/older games but it does me fine. So to me, a 1.2 G4 sounds like a decent chip compared to what I have. A friend of mine has a quicksilver PM and that has a mhz G4 chip, but every time I use it I am amazed at how fast it is.

Just reckon that it depends on what you want to do with it, but for non power apps it should do fine.
 
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