I own a Pro 13", but I'm not going to risk taking it to school in the case of it being stolen/getting damaged. I would primarily take it to school just for light interactions so using a PPC laptop would be good enough. What I'll require is a computer that can run an AirPort card (preferably with one built in). I was thinking that either iBook G3 (Clam or Plastic) would be good enough, but I'm also looking into some of the PowerBook G4s. Where would be the best place to find one of these? Would a G3 work enough for Office and minor web browsing? I was thinking that a ClamBook would be the best since it's cheap and has a handle (and looks really awesome).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Best G3/G4 laptop to have for school?
- Thread starter 0000757
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well I've had a white iBook G3 in the past & I currently use a PowerBook G4 Titanium as my main portable. If you have a decent budget, of say £200 ($300) I'd say get a 15" 1.67ghz PowerBook G4. They have built in Airport extreme (802.11g) and you can stick 2gb RAM in there. But if you're on a tight budget, eg. £100 ($150) I'd go for a PowerBook G4 Titanium, while looking to get the best bang-for-buck G3/G4 Mac laptop I narrowed it down to either an iBook G3 or a Titanium PowerBook G4. I went for the PowerBook for a few reasons, it has a 15" display (could be a good or a bad thing to you), it can take 1gb of RAM (the iBook G3's can only take 640mb RAM), it can run Leopard which is a huge bonus, trust me, Leopard can run so much more applications and software than Tiger, but you probably know that anyway. But the real deal breaker was the fact they were the same price near enough. I got my 800mhz Titanium PowerBook G4 with Airport, 40gb HDD, 1gb RAM, Leopard etc. for £60 ($90). And that's in the UK where EVERYTHING is more expensive.
Everything I based my answer on comes/came from eBay, I buy everything from eBay
I Say Get A PowerBook G4 Titanium, You Won't Be Disappointed!
EDIT: Just in case you don't know, the Titanium PowerBooks and the G3 iBooks (clam & 2002 ed.) take the original Airport cards (802.11b)
Everything I based my answer on comes/came from eBay, I buy everything from eBay
I Say Get A PowerBook G4 Titanium, You Won't Be Disappointed!
EDIT: Just in case you don't know, the Titanium PowerBooks and the G3 iBooks (clam & 2002 ed.) take the original Airport cards (802.11b)
The 12" certainly ain't light but it is by far one of the sturdiest PPC laptops. A tank, if you will!
A 12' G4, ibook or powerbook..what get into your budget.I prefer Powerbooks.
I had a 12' 800MHz G3 and it died on me (most of them do I guess, because a known graphic card problem that I guess all g3 have)
I had a 12' 800MHz G3 and it died on me (most of them do I guess, because a known graphic card problem that I guess all g3 have)
My iBook G3 suffered from the graphics chip too. It's extremely common in the 'plastic' ones. Bear that in mind if you're set on buying one of them.
I'm sorry that I do not have a recommendation for you but I just wanted to congratulate you on a smart move in not taking the more expensive laptop to school. SOOOO many things could go wrong, as you astutely recognize.
I recall a thread her a year or so ago about someone wanting to take his brand new 27" iMac to university (asking us how he should pack it) and what an absolutely HORRIBLE idea I thought it was, especially in a dorm situation where you have very little (or no) control over roommates or roommates friends.
I should look back for that thread. I would love to hear how that 27" iMac fared.
I recall a thread her a year or so ago about someone wanting to take his brand new 27" iMac to university (asking us how he should pack it) and what an absolutely HORRIBLE idea I thought it was, especially in a dorm situation where you have very little (or no) control over roommates or roommates friends.
I should look back for that thread. I would love to hear how that 27" iMac fared.
i have a clamshell,and it would be very heavy carrying it around all day...
i would look for...
-12" G4 powerbook...1.5 or 1.67GHz loaded with least 1 gig ram and 80-100 gig hd and osx leopard
that said if you could afford $400 (least what they go for here cdn) i would get a 2.0Ghz macbook...
i would look for...
-12" G4 powerbook...1.5 or 1.67GHz loaded with least 1 gig ram and 80-100 gig hd and osx leopard
that said if you could afford $400 (least what they go for here cdn) i would get a 2.0Ghz macbook...
True.. By the time you pay for upgraded RAM/HDD you could buy a low end MacBook for about the same price.
Just grabbed an 800MHz iBook G4 as my 'beater' to take to a course in Italy in mid-2012 (no way am I going to take my MBA over and then lug it round for the six weeks I intend to spend holidaying after the course; 1.5-ish kg is still a lot of surplus weight when travelling and there's the ever-present risk of theft too).
It was $100, and I'm in the process of sticking Leopard onto it so it'll run the latest iTunes, Office 2008 and Ten4Fox, which is all you need for a uni/school lappy for the most part.
It was $100, and I'm in the process of sticking Leopard onto it so it'll run the latest iTunes, Office 2008 and Ten4Fox, which is all you need for a uni/school lappy for the most part.
Personally I use my various PowerBook G4s as my road warriors (2*15" 1.67s - 1 High-Res, 1Lower-Res and a 12" 1.0) - All run Leopard, iWork 08, AppleWorks, MSN, iTunes 10, iLife '06, Safari, Mail and TextWrangler, which is all I need day to day as a college student. - Generally I take the 12 as its just so compact, even if it is a tad heavy compared to my MacBook Air.
This is the powerpc forum, but i say that it would be a much better choice to simply get the cheapest netbook. It'll be hardier, faster and newer than a powerbook. (Of course it would would be butt ugly and not be as cool)
Additionally I find the notion of bringing a buffer laptop to school similar to that of people putting plastic covers over their couches. How bad can school get and isn't a MBP hardy enough?
Additionally I find the notion of bringing a buffer laptop to school similar to that of people putting plastic covers over their couches. How bad can school get and isn't a MBP hardy enough?
Lippyt makes a lot of sense. Very good points. Unless you're dangerously allergic to Windows, it's not a bad idea to pick up a new netbook. But also, I agree that it's a bit silly to worry yourself so much about losing your MacBook. Didn't you buy it to use it? It's like buying a car that you never take out of the garage because it might get scratched.
I was too lazy to read all the posts, but I did the same thing: my MBP stayed at home, and the 12" iBook G4 went to class with me. They can be had here for $100 - $150. I was able to run Adobe CS3, office 2004, and access my school shares, blackboard, etc. All the same software ran on my MBP running Snow without a hitch. No Lion though, as both those programs require Rosetta.
My school is one of the top in my state (if not the nation
) but I just don't feel comfortable taking a 1000$ laptop to my school. The reason I want an older PowerPC is because I absolutely just love the older Pre-Intel Apple computers. I could get a Netbook if I wanted to but I don't want a Netbook. This is lame, but I've actually ALWAYS wanted to open a Mac and get to watch the Setup video first hand, so that's another reason why I want one.
Plus, kids in my school have probably never seen the PowerBook G4 or even the Clamshell iBook G3 (Probably don't even know they exist). Can you imagine how cool it would be to come to school and everyone is on either a MacBook or some generic laptop, and I show up with a computer encased in colors (iBook G3) from the late 90s/early 2000s?! I think that would catch some people off guard.
Last edited:
My school is one of the top in my state (if not the nation
This is lame, but I've actually ALWAYS wanted to open a Mac and get to watch the Setup video first hand, so that's another reason why I want one.
Plus, kids in my school have probably never seen the PowerBook G4 or even the Clamshell iBook G3 (Probably don't even know they exist). Can you imagine how cool it would be to come to school and everyone is on either a MacBook or some generic laptop, and I show up with a computer encased in rubber (iBook G3) from the late 90s/early 2000s?! I think that would catch some people off guard.
I agree. I love the design of the older macs.. But if you want a white MacBook here is a nice one for 400$
http://www.macofalltrades.com/Apple_MacBook_13_inch_2_0GHz_Intel_Core_Duo_p/mb 13 20 e06a.htm
OK, but "encased in rubber"? To my recollection, the iBook G3 was plastic. Not sure what you mean about the rubber.
Anyway, you've given some good reasons for your choice. I hope you find a machine that you like.
My school is one of the top in my state (if not the nation
This is lame, but I've actually ALWAYS wanted to open a Mac and get to watch the Setup video first hand, so that's another reason why I want one.
Plus, kids in my school have probably never seen the PowerBook G4 or even the Clamshell iBook G3 (Probably don't even know they exist). Can you imagine how cool it would be to come to school and everyone is on either a MacBook or some generic laptop, and I show up with a computer encased in colors (iBook G3) from the late 90s/early 2000s?! I think that would catch some people off guard.
I totally get you on this. Back in 2007 when apple laptops were getting really popular all I wanted was a powerbook titanium, something that spoke of a past time and classic good looks. It couldn't be the aluminum one, because that just looked like the current gen of MBPs back then. I had no need to baby or protect my macbook then, but the thought of using an alternative machine crafted in that era proved alluring.
Well the main thing now is to find out what's best within your budget constraints and choice parameters. I would believe that even the non-unibody macbooks will not hit a cool note with you, those should still be pretty common. But I fancy that the clamshell G3s do have a shock factor, but their shocking colors (tangerine and lime green at least) may end up giving a different effect - being clownish.
Back then, these were my thoughts on the old PBs/ ibooks:
Powerbook Titanium: Really elegant, the speaker grills, white trimming and contrast with the titanium body made it seem like something carefully handcrafted (though one must have had pretty accurate hands to do that!)
White iBook G3: This was another of my desires. The fact that it was white paint under transparent plastic instead of just being solid white plastic (macbooks) really got me into it.
I personally used a 15" 1.33 GHz PowerBook G4 for the first 2 years of Engineering School, and I loved every minute of it.
It ran Leopard, had 2GB RAM, and I actually miss it. Such a good computer. I have a broken 1.5 GHz PB that I'm trying to fix to eventually fill that role again for me. PowerPC machines have a special place in my heart, and I love explaining to people that "yeah, my MacBook Pro doesn't have a camera".
I'm actually using a TiBook to type this now, but sadly my campus dropped support for the original Airport card (the entire campus is secured by WPA2 Enterprise). I would use this, but not being able to use WiFi kills it for me. Thus, I want to get my 1.5 GHz G4 back up and running ASAP!
Go for a PowerBook G4. 12 or 15". You'll love it!
It ran Leopard, had 2GB RAM, and I actually miss it. Such a good computer. I have a broken 1.5 GHz PB that I'm trying to fix to eventually fill that role again for me. PowerPC machines have a special place in my heart, and I love explaining to people that "yeah, my MacBook Pro doesn't have a camera".
I'm actually using a TiBook to type this now, but sadly my campus dropped support for the original Airport card (the entire campus is secured by WPA2 Enterprise). I would use this, but not being able to use WiFi kills it for me. Thus, I want to get my 1.5 GHz G4 back up and running ASAP!
Go for a PowerBook G4. 12 or 15". You'll love it!