Advice on first buy with G3 Ibook

[the next reviva]

I just purchased a 700mhz G3 iBook from Techrestore, with 30gb hdd, 256mb ram, and combo drive. I have around $100 to put into the ibook for now, And can always upgrade later. I was wondering what you think the first upgrade should be. I was hovering between

Airport card ($80, they install)
512mb Ram ($85, newegg, I Install)
New battery(100ish, anywhere online) : Techrestore guarentees the Batterylife of the machine for at least an hour, and says that often the battery will last a lot longer.

The machine will mainly be used for itunes and surfing, and I plan on upgrading it to panther (from jaguar) as soon as it lands on my door?

Thanks for the help

 

[tobefirst]

All would be a pretty "essential" buy, but I'd say the most essential of all three is the memory. You can surf the web without an airport card, and you can use the computer using the powercord, but if you don't have enough memory, you can't use the computer even if you have both of the other things. Upgrade the RAM.

 

[Leareth]

I have the same machine

get the ram first
then airport card
thirdly a good carrying case
then get new battery
and if you plan on taking it out of the house get one of those secutiry cable locks , buy the cheapest you can find since all don't work anyway but act more as a visual deterent
oh and get lapcop too...

 

[nagromme]

RAM, RAM, RAM

Also consider Tiger instead of Panther: it's supposedly faster even on older hardware (if you have the RAM), and it's certainly better. But Panther's a big step up from Jaguar too.

If you can't get a student/edu discount on Tiger, shop at Amazon.com: you can get it for under $100 with a rebate often.

 

[MacHarne]

RAM. My iBook does impressively well with the max 640MB of RAM. Check out http://dealram.com for the best prices though.

However, if I didn't have an Airport Card, personally, I would be dead in the water.

 

[mkrishnan]

It'd be a toss-up between the AP card and the RAM for me too.... I don't quite understand the battery issue. It sounds like you haven't used the battery yet, and so you don't know whether you need a new one or not. So I'd wait on that.

So I'd say, if you have wireless network(s) available, then I'd go with the AP card, and otherwise with the RAM. Also check dealram, if you haven't already, to make sure you're getting the best memory price. I'd do it myself, but it doesn't seem to be loading at the moment.

 

[mkrishnan]

It'd be a toss-up between the AP card and the RAM for me too.... I don't quite understand the battery issue. It sounds like you haven't used the battery yet, and so you don't know whether you need a new one or not. So I'd wait on that.

So I'd say, if you have wireless network(s) available, then I'd go with the AP card, and otherwise with the RAM.

EDIT: $81 sounds like a great price for the RAM.

 

[tuartboy]

Techrestore guarentees the Batterylife of the machine for at least an hour, and says that often the battery will last a lot longer.

Wow, an hour? Apple guarantees their equipment for a year.

 

[tuartboy]

Wow, an hour? Apple guarantees their equipment for a year.

oh come on!

that was funny.

Someone?...

 

[slooksterPSV]

I just purchased a 700mhz G3 iBook from Techrestore, with 30gb hdd, 256mb ram, and combo drive. I have around $100 to put into the ibook for now, And can always upgrade later. I was wondering what you think the first upgrade should be. I was hovering between

Airport card ($80, they install)
512mb Ram ($85, newegg, I Install)
New battery(100ish, anywhere online) : Techrestore guarentees the Batterylife of the machine for at least an hour, and says that often the battery will last a lot longer.

The machine will mainly be used for itunes and surfing, and I plan on upgrading it to panther (from jaguar) as soon as it lands on my door?

Thanks for the help

Congrats on the purchase. I say wait for it and see how long the battery holds. If you can suffice with it, I say go for the RAM first, then battery, then the extra's (e.g. Airport).

My iBook (see siggy) comes tomorrow =D, and I'm going to see if I should get a new battery or upgrade the RAM first. Leaning more towards battery though. Mobility is a strong issue for me this summer. As I've been spending a lot of time with my niece upstairs. So I've only be able to get on the PMG5 in my room for a few days.