I some need hands-on impressions

[Cheap-Chopstix]

I am probably/will be goin to get a new 12 inch Ibook g4....so I juss want to know some impressions people have of it specifically from people that own the 12inch g4 model.
Mainly concerned with speed with general apps and games. It's mostly gonna be for skool but juss want to know how it performs on games in general.
What accessories are a must get and should I think about upgrading the int. HD or save for an external or even an Ipod later? I'm already upping the ram 512mb.

 

[whocares]

I don't actually have a G4 but I can still give you my experience.

Speed is fine for day to day tasks (Word, Mail, Safari) and some light graphics (PS & Illustrator) and web development. This is with a 800 MHz G3 with 640 MB RAM. So I guess a G4 will be more than adequate.

Gaming wise, the G3 is a bit limited. It'll play games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein comfortably, but anything new like Halo or UT2003 is out of the question. Again a G4 as a better processor and graphics board. But Macs are not in general "good gamers" when compared to PCs, and iBooks are the least good at it

The accessories are all about what you need. If you just need storage and not portability, go for an ext. 3.5 FW HD. Much faster than an internal, more space and cheaper. If you need portability, consider a portable FW drive (powered by FW). Only go for an iPod if you're gonna use it as an iPod (they're pretty expensive).

Also, shop around for RAM, you may find a better deal than at Apple.

 

[rdowns]

Re: I some need hands-on impressions

Originally posted by Cheap-Chopstix
I am probably/will be goin to get a new 12 inch Ibook g4....so I juss want to know some impressions people have of it specifically from people that own the 12inch g4 model.
Mainly concerned with speed with general apps and games. It's mostly gonna be for skool but juss want to know how it performs on games in general.
What accessories are a must get and should I think about upgrading the int. HD or save for an external or even an Ipod later? I'm already upping the ram 512mb.

A spell checker and grammar editor.

 

[whocares]

Re: Re: I some need hands-on impressions

Originally posted by rdowns
A spell checker and grammar editor.

That's helpful

 

[SilentPanda]

Well I do have an iBook G4 800 12" and have had it since Thanksgiving (Nov 24thish, 2003). I've not had any problems with it. I have all the options and whizbang gadgets that come with it. Airport Extreme, 60 GB HD, 640 MB RAM, Internal bluetooth, etc etc.

I normally use it for web browsing but have used it with iMovie and iDVD both of which run fine (not as fast as my dad's G5 but hey... ) You can always let movies render over night right?

I normally get 5-6 hours on battery except when I have airport extreme turned on. Then it plummets to 3 or so. Which is fine I guess.

I play Warcraft III on it without much hassle. It's a little lacking here and there but not anywhere near enough to make me not want to play it. Same with Dungeon Siege.

Yup. I guess if you want to know anything more specific then just reply away. If you're using your .EDU discount I'd just get the RAM from Apple. It costs like $30 more but... I'm lazy...

 

[ou_phidelt]

I would say to go ahead and max out the HD and get bluetooth if you want it. The HD is cheap to do and very hard to upgrade later. Bluetooth is a now or never option.(internal anyways) I went with the upped HD and no bluetooth. Definately max the RAM. I am still chugging along with the 256 and cannot wait until I can get the money to max it out.

 

[Cheap-Chopstix]

whocares

The accessories are all about what you need. If you just need storage and not portability, go for an ext. 3.5 FW HD. Much faster than an internal, more space and cheaper. If you need portability, consider a portable FW drive (powered by FW). Only go for an iPod if you're gonna use it as an iPod (they're pretty expensive).

I'm thinkin about adding storage at a later date either by buying an external enclosure and putting an HD inside or getting an IPOD 15 gig or up since i hear u can use it as a storage device as well. I'm not gonna buy it right away. Probably in a year, so I can see how much space I will be using.

Is it possible to share a HD with a windows machine if I partition it right or is it ill advised to do so?


SilentPanda

Yup. I guess if you want to know anything more specific then just reply away. If you're using your .EDU discount I'd just get the RAM from Apple. It costs like $30 more but... I'm lazy...

I'm gonna get my ram from else where its about a 50 to 60 dollar canadian diff. for me even with edu disco.

So you've had it for a some months now?...how is the unit physically? Do u notice a lot of wear and tear like scratches or loose keys?

Thanks for all the replies....

 

[mactastic]

That G4 iBook is a great choice. I have a 1Ghz TiBook, and my wife uses the 800 Mhz G4 12" iBook. While I love my TiBook, the durability and overall toughness of the iBook is very impressive. It has excellent mobility, the battery lasts for hours etc etc, all the good things people have been saying about it are true. The only things I don't like are it's lack of monitor support for anything over 1024X768 externally, and the thumping you have to give the trackpad to make it recognize your taps as clicks. Otherwise it is an excellent value and a solid machine. Definetly max the RAM out at 640Mb (I wouldn't worry about getting a 1Gig RAM module yet, nor about limping along with 256 until the 1Gig module is cheaper) for good performance, unless you are really pushing PShop or something 640Mb will be fine for at least the first 2 years. Above all, enjoy your new iBook!

 

[whocares]

Originally posted by Cheap-Chopstix
I'm thinkin about adding storage at a later date either by buying an external enclosure and putting an HD inside or getting an IPOD 15 gig or up since i hear u can use it as a storage device as well. I'm not gonna buy it right away. Probably in a year, so I can see how much space I will be using.

Is it possible to share a HD with a windows machine if I partition it right or is it ill advised to do so?

It isn't physically possible to have an HD mounted on 2 different machine (someone correct me if I'm wrong - but I'm pretty sure you can't). You can however share the HD through filesharing in the 2 comps are networked, or format the HD in a Windows friendly FS or get a program to use HFS+ drives in Windows.

As for the iPod, yes it works as an external storage, but my point was, if you're not going to use itprimarly as an iPod, go for a standard drive (much cheaper).

Enjoy your iBook!

 

[Cheap-Chopstix]

It isn't physically possible to have an HD mounted on 2 different machine (someone correct me if I'm wrong - but I'm pretty sure you can't). You can however share the HD through filesharing in the 2 comps are networked, or format the HD in a Windows friendly FS or get a program to use HFS+ drives in Windows.

Sorry I was just referring to having a windows partition and then a mac partition but using them at different times not at the same time. Like hooking up my mac to the external drive to dump some stuff on then go on the road and leave it hookt up to my PC and have some of my PC stuff stored on there.