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Has anyone seen any problems with G4 iBooks?

A

AppleStrudle

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 30, 2004
10
0
I am thinking of buying a 12" G4 iBook. I've heard lots of stories about failing logic boards on iBooks and I'm a little concerned. Has anyone actually come accross any systematic failures with G4 iBooks? Or have all the problems been with G3 iBooks made in early 2003 as Apple claim?

Many thanks
AppleStrudle
 
I bought my girlfriend a G4 iBook for xmas. It works wonderfully. Not a single issue with it. You do not need to worry about the g4 iBooks.

Hickman
 
The logic board issue does not concern the G4 iBooks, it only affected the G3 ones. In any case, that is now being fixed. From what I've heard, the iBook G4s are good machines.

Enjoy the new iBook!
 
I wish I could say that my iBook G4 800 works perfectly. But I can't. I bought it January 3rd, and that night it froze, with horizontal lines across the screen, when playing Warcraft 3. It rebooted fine and worked pretty well, with occasional crashes, which I attributed to low memory (only had 256MB). Last weekend it froze and acted though it was repeatedly quitting an application. I rebooted and it showed me a black screen with code....the dreaded kernel panic. After several attempts to restart with no, luck (not even able to start from a CD), I tried zapping the PRAM and it booted up and ran well. Unfortunately, it no longer recognized the 128MB RAM chip in the expansion slot. So it's in the shop, currently. It's either a RAM problem or a problem with the expansion slot. I'm very sad...otherwise it's a great computer. Maybe just a 1 in a million lemon, but I had to be honest. At least it's under warranty. Best of luck with yours=-=
 
On the subject of memory. Is 256MB enough? Or is it worth getting more?

Thanks
AppleStrudle
 
I would recommend you get as much ram as you can afford. You can max out at 640MB for a little over $100 USD, so the investment seems worth it to decripple the machine.

My plan is to go that route once I get mine up and running again... probably will buy from Other World Computing (macsales.com) as I have had good experiences with them in the past, with memory as well as a processor.
 
I have seen 2 of the G4 iBooks, both stock, one a 12" 800 and one a 14" 933 that exhibit a problem waking from sleep, in 10.3, and 10.3.2. They work fine, but if allowed to sleep, about 1 time in 5 they will simply not wake up. Have to pull the battery to shut them down, and then they are fine for another go-round. No problems when they are shut down instead of put to sleep, and it doesn't matter if you sleep them by timing out, closing the lid, or choosing Sleep from the Apple menu. The guys at the local Apple store have hinted that this is not unknown, but of course aren't allowed to say that something is a known issue until Apple acknowledges it.
 
Originally posted by keysersoze
I would recommend you get as much ram as you can afford. You can max out at 640MB for a little over $100 USD, so the investment seems worth it to decripple the machine.
Click to expand...
While the specs say that 640M is the max, there are companies selling 1 gig SODIMMs for the iBook G4, just as they do for the PowerBook G4, and guarenteeing them to work. I cannot recall the company, though.. might be TransIntl
 
hmm

1 GB stick

That's true... 1GB of RAM from Transitl... it costs $375. Lots of debate on the subject in another forum...as to its stability and whatnot. Proponents say it is acceptable and Apple does not make that size to differentiate the iBook G4 from the PB G4. Opponents say it is unstable, because the iBook was never designed to use it. Not sure as to what the verdict was. Anyone got a clue?




:confused:
 
Just got a 933 and love it. I bought it to replace my old wallstreet - and as an interim machine until the new G5 get here - next week, next month or next quarter.
I thoguht this review was good:
http://www.powerbookcentral.com/columns/kravitz/24nov03.shtml and points to the 933 ebig the sweet spot in terms of price/performance - I would agree -
I recommend adding 512M ram and also installing the patch that allows the video card to do spanning in addition to mirroring. see details here: http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

Very easy to install, works great and the external monitor now has a higher resolution than just mirroring(which can still be enabled).
UI've thought of upgrading the hard drive to 7200 RPM, but's expensive - net $100 for th edrive and $150 labor for a tech to install - and you WANT a certified tech to do it - keeps the warranty valid. - but right now not worth it, IMHO
 
I have had a 12 inch since mid-december, and it is a wonderful machine. The only time I have had to restart it is when I have updated OS X. Otehr than that, it runs wonderfully. Very good build quality as well; keyboard is leaps and bounds above the old G3 iBook.
As for your reliability concerns: Although it looks the same as the G3, the G4 iBook is entirely new hardware (save for the screen and hard drive), so all of the logic board/power supply issues of the G3 iBooks should be a thing of the past. Besides, if there turns out to be issues, at least we know Apple will take care of us (sure, they drug thier feet a little, but they are re-imbursting people for the out-of-warrenty repairs that involved the logic board problem in addition to making free repairs to all affected machines).
 
My 12" iBook hasn't acted up at all since I got it around Thanksgiving. I haven't been able to get VPC 5 to load on it for some reason (but I also have had the same problem on my previous Mac). I've got pretty much every extra that you can get put in it and they all work great. I ordered a bluetooth mouse yesterday and hopefully that will make it seem more compelte... the trackpad doesn't bother me it's just for playing games... well... the trackpad lacks precision for FPS'ers... :)
 
The build quailty is of a level higher than that of the G3 iBooks.

For example, the magnesium (metallic) top casing and bezel on the G3 iBooks used to get dirty and scratch easily. Apple's replaced this with slightly textured plastic in the top casing and bezel... thereby eliminating the scratching problem and all but removing the dirtiness problem.

For a change, the keyboard is much much stiffer than the iBook G3's.

I suspect that because the logic board design is different, the G4 iBooks won't suffer from the same logic board issues that plagued the G3s.
 
my expereience is also been good..i have had two g4 ibooks since december..I gave the first one to my uncle..Although the first one had a slight issue, its trackpad went crazy evry now and then, the pointer kept running in some corner.
Now my current one doesnt have that problem, but I know from other threads that i was not the only one with the trackpad problem.
Anyways, regarding memory, as many guys said - go for the max you can afford. OS X uses up a lot of ram. You should get atleast 256 +128. But then you would waste the 256 module when you upgrade to 512. SO better, get the 512 stratight away.
cheers
 
i was in your shoes at about november when they first came out. I was going to get a g3 ibook because they have gotten as low as 800 with edu discount. Then i heard about all the problems that people were having and i changed my mind to the G4. I ended up getting a 12" because i need to lugg it around and now that i look at it, the 14" is huge in comparison. I havent had any problems with it except for the battery is slightly off of the bottom. nothing really big, but it only started to happen when i took the battery out to install the airport. So if you dont need to, dont take the battery out...:) Other than that, it is a great notebook and i am sure you will be happy if you purchase
 
Generally good, but one problem

Mine has been through the ringer since I've had it - I have it hooked up to an external monitor and bluetooth every day at work, and carry it every day - often through some tough business travel, popping it out on trains, planes and busses. In short, I've beaten the crap out of it.

The only two things that have started to be flaky are:

1) The feet. I've lost one, and one seems like it might fall out soon.

2) The combo drive. Mine has just started this behavior wherein sometimes when you eject a disc (either a CD or DVD), it sounds like it tries to eject, then "reloads" without popping out. I can work around it by sliding a business card into the slot and "helping" the CD out, but the drive is clearly flaky.

While it's still under warranty, I can't deal with being without it for even a few days right now. Hopefully a G5 powerbook will come out b/f the warranty runs out on my iBook G4. If that happens, I'll move, then get it fixed, then sell it on eBay.

Oh, and max out the RAM. You'll be glad you did.
 
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