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iBook G3 Or eMac G4?

Goftrey

Goftrey

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 20, 2011
1,853
75
Wales, UK
I'm in a dilemma, the eMac is a lot more powerful and it runs leopard, but it's a big, heavy desktop, whereas the iBook is a lot less powerful, only capable of web surfing, eMails, iTunes etc. but it's a much nicer, modern looking machine that is 5x lighter and smaller...

eMac Specs :

1ghz G4
512mb RAM
60gb HDD
USB 2.0 Model (2004)
Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard
£55 ($85)


iBook G3 Specs :

700mhz G3
256mb RAM (Would upgrade to 640mb)
20gb HDD
USB 1.1
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger
£50 ($80)

Suggestions? No Intel ass-lickers saying that PowerPC G3's and G4's are ******, I'm a teenage kid with a budget coming out of his paper round money, all I need it for is web surfing, emails, YouTube, syncing my iPhone and light video editing :p

Cheers guys :cool:
 
The eMac is much better. But ask the seller if it has had problems in the past or if Apple fixed it. eMacs are known to get bad capacitors that can cause problems.
 
Depending on what iphone and what version of iOS, you might NEED the emac with leopard, also, forget about watching youtube videos without a work around.
 
The performance difference will be so much lower that the looks and size you like better in the iBook will become almost irrelevant.

When considering any PowerPC system G4 is always the way to go in my mind. G3 are almost useless for anything reasonably modern and G5 systems are not nearly as reliable as G4. G4 systems offer the perfect balance of power and reliability.

eMac's are very solid systems and built very well so unless you 100% need portability I would get the eMac. When it comes to running altivec optimized stuff like OSX and the thousands of optimized apps the G4 1GHz would be equivalent to a G3 1.5GHz or higher if one existed.

The bottom line is that even though your needs are basic you still need a G4 at least to meet all your listed needs. There are ways to make youtube work well on a G4 1GHz but no chance on a G3 of any speed other than the G3 1GHz upgrades that were made years ago and those were only in towers.

Edit:
I forgot to add that the 700-900MHz iBook G3's are known for logic board issues.
 
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zen.state said:
The performance difference will be so much lower that the looks and size you like better in the iBook will become almost irrelevant.

When considering any PowerPC system G4 is always the way to go in my mind. G3 are almost useless for anything reasonably modern and G5 systems are not nearly as reliable as G4. G4 systems offer the perfect balance of power and reliability.

eMac's are very solid systems and built very well so unless you 100% need portability I would get the eMac. When it comes to running altivec optimized stuff like OSX and the thousands of optimized apps the G4 1GHz would be equivalent to a G3 1.5GHz or higher if one existed.

The bottom line is that even though your needs are basic you still need a G4 at least to meet all your listed needs. There are ways to make youtube work well on a G4 1GHz but no chance on a G3 of any speed other than the G3 1GHz upgrades that were made years ago and those were only in towers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, really puts things into perspective...

@intell ...On top of that, I know that some of the eMacs suffered from that capacitor issue and have contacted the seller and he said it is in full working order, has never been repaired by apple and/or suffered from that issue

@Des zac ...Mactubes seems like a pretty good workaround for watching youtube videos on a PPC machine ;)

Thanks guys... eMac IT IS!
 
Goftrey said:
Thanks for this, really puts things into perspective...

@intell ...On top of that, I know that some of the eMacs suffered from that capacitor issue and have contacted the seller and he said it is in full working order, has never been repaired by apple and/or suffered from that issue

@Des zac ...Mactubes seems like a pretty good workaround for watching youtube videos on a PPC machine ;)

Thanks guys... eMac IT IS!
Click to expand...

Enjoy your new Mac g4. Perahps get a larger/better HD or a ssd
 
Re: Mactubes

It makes Youtube playable on even a G4 500. A G3 on the other hand struggles bad with even that workaround. h.264 only plays well on G4/G5 and thats the codec Mactubes uses rather than flash. Virtually all youtube videos are h.264 with a flash wrapper. Keep MT updated and it will play 99.9% of the video perfectly well.

It's a totally different end user experience than the web interface but once you adapt to it and learn how to utilize all it's great features you may like using it better that way. I do.
 
you made right choice picking emac...i have owned both.

ps: if you could try and find a emac with either a 1.25 or 1.42GHz...you would get better video (ati 9200/9600) ver 1GHz emacs ati 7500....and also unoffically max the ram to 2gig on those models
 
Hi man,
I'm a niner myself and I had some cash saved up. I wanted a Mac for quite some time, so I ended up looking at iBooks all over eBay (if you want to filter s****y search results, use macbooty.com and search from there. Trust me -- it works great). I was originally going for the iBook G4 (I would recommend the G4 over G3 so, if you want an iBook I'ds say go for the G4 model... also make sure they are selling a G4, I found one advertised as a G4 but you could see in the pix it was clearly a G3). Then I checkout out some PowerBooks, but they're way too expensive for what they offer by today's standards, and they are easier to scratch, bend or wvr. So, I did look at desktops. I was leaning towards a 70 GBP eMac or an iMac Gx (can't remember now), but remember that eMacs have CRT screens which juice your eyeballs and even wash out over time. I did buy something. You know what I bought? PowerMac G5. Yup, from iBook G4 to PowerMac G5. Long journey, but the PowerMacs are way better! I got one for 180 GBP (still waiting for it to arrive here). This is quite cheap for what I got I think (PowerMac G5s go for around 150-400 GBPs), so I'd say weigh your options first.

Also, do you need a laptop? If not, the choice is obviously an eMac.
Summary: Portability? iBook (I'd say go for the G4, not G3). Desktop? See if you can grab a cheap PowerMac G5, if not, go for the eMac. I've used them for basic stuff and they're great machines.

---------------------------------------

One final note: well done for actually EARNING your ca$h. There are some kids on here who are just so incredibly spoiled and childish. :eek:

Cheers and good luck (srry for the looooooooooong post! :D)
 
macintoshbg said:
Hi man,
I'm a niner myself and I had some cash saved up. I wanted a Mac for quite some time, so I ended up looking at iBooks all over eBay (if you want to filter s****y search results, use macbooty.com and search from there. Trust me -- it works great). I was originally going for the iBook G4 (I would recommend the G4 over G3 so, if you want an iBook I'ds say go for the G4 model... also make sure they are selling a G4, I found one advertised as a G4 but you could see in the pix it was clearly a G3). Then I checkout out some PowerBooks, but they're way too expensive for what they offer by today's standards, and they are easier to scratch, bend or wvr. So, I did look at desktops. I was leaning towards a 70 GBP eMac or an iMac Gx (can't remember now), but remember that eMacs have CRT screens which juice your eyeballs and even wash out over time. I did buy something. You know what I bought? PowerMac G5. Yup, from iBook G4 to PowerMac G5. Long journey, but the PowerMacs are way better! I got one for 180 GBP (still waiting for it to arrive here). This is quite cheap for what I got I think (PowerMac G5s go for around 150-400 GBPs), so I'd say weigh your options first.

Also, do you need a laptop? If not, the choice is obviously an eMac.
Summary: Portability? iBook (I'd say go for the G4, not G3). Desktop? See if you can grab a cheap PowerMac G5, if not, go for the eMac. I've used them for basic stuff and they're great machines.

---------------------------------------

One final note: well done for actually EARNING your ca$h. There are some kids on here who are just so incredibly spoiled and childish. :eek:

Cheers and good luck (srry for the looooooooooong post! :D)
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I have looked into iBook G4's and they look pretty damn nice, I'd have to save up for an extra month though as oppose to the eMac... Is it worth the wait? And don't worry about the long post, I like rooting around seeing people opinions on stuff I can relate to :p
 
Goftrey said:
Thanks man, I have looked into iBook G4's and they look pretty damn nice, I'd have to save up for an extra month though as oppose to the eMac... Is it worth the wait? And don't worry about the long post, I like rooting around seeing people opinions on stuff I can relate to :p
Click to expand...

I have to say i never used a g4 ibook (only a g3 ibook once) but if it is any thing like the powerbook g4 12in 1.5GHZ you can not go wrong going with the ibook:). i am on a emac usb 2.0 1.25 GHz right now (Not home right now at a family members) and the emac is nice as well and the radeon 9200 in the emac plays games just fine at 1024x768. only thing wrong with a emac is if the CRT screen goes the computer is useless:(
 
Get the eMac its the 1 ghz model but you stated with USB 2.0 which means it has the faster system bus of 167mhz , can take 2 GB ram ,and comes then with the ATI radeon 9200 .
it is basically just a underclocked 1.25ghz model , and was only sold to the education market , speak to schools and universities and such , and if it did survive that long and still working then no worries about the capacitors it will likely last the next decades to come .only thing to remeber is that those education eMac's often came without or only cd drives , but easy to change for a dvd/rw for really cheap

another Positive side is the display , despite some would say antique CRT technology , i find the picture quality is more then great and better then most lcd's of that time , and you dont need to worry about dead pixels or pressure marks or yellow tints :D
 
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tom vilsack said:
you made right choice picking emac...i have owned both.

ps: if you could try and find a emac with either a 1.25 or 1.42GHz...you would get better video (ati 9200/9600) ver 1GHz emacs ati 7500....and also unoffically max the ram to 2gig on those models
Click to expand...
I'm gonna 2nd this. I own a 1GHz eMac with the 7500 and older PC133 RAM and it is MUCH slower than the later models which a friend of mine had. USB 2.0 doesn't hurt either. By now, the prices should be pretty close on all eMacs anyways. For an extra $20 or so, the 1.25 or 1.42 is VERY much worth it.
 
the eMac 1.0 usb 2.0 !!!! can like the 1.25 and 1.42 be safely overclocked up to 1.5 ghz +



here a post from some guy called 666sheep

666sheep said:
I got some update for this fantastic thread.

Recently I bought 1.42GHz eMac to overclock it. Thanks to Leo's great research I was able to do some new experiments.
First, I confirmed that 1.42 uses 7447B CPU (not A, like is stated in all sources). This is printed on die, as usual. Then came OC time :D

Started with 1.67 GHz and it was walk in the park. It went without troubles to 1.75 GHz. All with stock Vcore which is set to 1.325V. Stable as rock.
And finally, it came time for 1.92GHz. I've reminded that Daystar was offering 1.92 GHz upgrades based on 7447A, so I was sure that it's possible to reproduce with 7447B CPU. Bumped Vcore to 1.350 and it booted with 1.92 GHz. It was little unstable (some software unexpectly quit). So I made next step up with Vcore - to 1.375 - and it was enough for CPU to stay stable. I didn't test 1.83 GHz but if it runs at 1.92 why it would not run with lower clock.
Now I have 1.92 GHz eMac USB 2.0 :D

Obviously, I reapplied thermal paste on CPU and GPU. I used IC Diamond Carat 7.

I've expanded Leo's multiplier table with 2 additional columns.


Code: 
                         1.25  1.33  1.42  1.50  1.58  1.67  1.75  1.83 1.92GHz
R658 (reverse side)        +     -     +     +     +     -     -     -     +
R270 (J11 side)            +     -     -     -     -     +     +     +     +
R673 (reverse side)        +     +     -     -     -     -     +     +     +
R275 (J11 side)            -     +     +     -     -     +     +     -     +
R689 (reverse side)        +     +     +     -     +     -     -     -     +

Here are screenshots:

ImageImage

Great thanks to lbodnar and other MR members, who posted in this thread, for sharing their knowledge here.

Now it's time for LCD mod :D and RAID 0 (or SSD) maybe.

Update:
It went to 2.0 GHz but wasn't stable, even at 1.425V. So I'm back to 1.92 GHz. That's max stable freq what I was able to reach with this computer.
Click to expand...


and i got a eMac 1.42 ghz with ati 9200 :confused :, which i bought for next to nothing and the owner said it was a 1.25 ghz model but he did overclock it and the 1.25ghz is absolute identical to the 1ghz usb 2.0 model


but i agree with Hrududu the eMac's are so cheap now even in the UK you get the top 1.42 models for under £80 ...considering people still pay double that to get a G4 mini 1.25 here in the UK ,the eMacs are bargains not to be missed and worth every pence, cent or whatever currency you got.

The eMac is the most underrated Mac of all times and i say it does not deserve to stand in the shadow of the iMac and mini's
 
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666sheep said:
It isn't USB 2.0 if it has 7500. So it wasn't worth it, sorry. -> https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1265281/
Click to expand...

I contacted the seller before I bought and said that the USB2 model has a 167mhz bus

He had stated in the listing it had USB2 and the the 7500 chipset...

When he got back to me he said that it actually had USB 1.1 and the 7500 chipset, so I offered him £25 as it is the USB 1.1 model as oppose to the £50 he was originally asking for his alleged USB2 model.

He accepted this and apologized for the confusion

So the eMac I ACTUALLY bought was the 1ghz USB 1.1 model from 2003 for £25 + £15 P+P

Was the USB 1.1 worth £25 + £15 P+P or should I have got the USB 2.0 model for an extra £25?

Thanks again guys and I hope this clears everything up :p
 
definitely a good price ,and a good eMac too , if you can live with USB 1.1 (you still got firewire to use a external harddrive which is faster then USB 2.0 anyway ) there is nothing to regret really
for just the basic's(surfing and emailing and such) you wont notice the difference , only when it comes to more demanding stuff like gaming the difference depending on the game might become noticeable , but i know a good thing too unlike the later eMac's yours still has the great speakers from Harman Kardon

like i always say , dont think about what you cant do with your old Mac , think about what you still can do and enjoy the eMac , the little bugger is still way faster then the iBook G3

and maybe you get hooked and start like i did a eMac collection (6 so far) they are like the old Volkswagen Beetle , they run and run and run ......
 
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Goftrey said:
When he got back to me he said that it actually had USB 1.1 and the 7500 chipset, so I offered him £25 as it is the USB 1.1 model as oppose to the £50 he was originally asking for his alleged USB2 model.

He accepted this and apologized for the confusion
Click to expand...

Not that bad for final price :)

If soldering doesn't scare you, you can overclock it to 1.33 GHz. Should be a little snappier after that.

http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/eMac/eMac-upgrade.html
or
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/53733/
 
The 7500 is still a very decent GPU for the era it came out. It's much much better than the 7000. I used to have a 7500 AGP card in my Sawtooth before I got the Geforce 6200. It actually not far from the 8500 in performance. The 9000 and 9200 are also variants of the 8500 and all 4 GPU are reasonably similar in performance.
 
666sheep said:
Not that bad for final price :)

If soldering doesn't scare you, you can overclock it to 1.33 GHz. Should be a little snappier after that.

http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/eMac/eMac-upgrade.html
or
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/53733/
Click to expand...

I've done a bit of soldering in my Systems class I'm taking at GCSE. Is the risk worth the extra 333mhz?

----------
zen.state said:
The 7500 is still a very decent GPU for the era it came out. It's much much better than the 7000. I used to have a 7500 AGP card in my Sawtooth before I got the Geforce 6200. It actually not far from the 8500 in performance. The 9000 and 9200 are also variants of the 8500 and all 4 GPU are reasonably similar in performance.
Click to expand...

I'm extremely glad to hear that :p

Does the genie effect work with this card, also does it support quartz extreme, core animation? Cheers man
 
None of those 4 GPU's I mentioned support core image or core animation. Only quartz extreme. The genie effect will work but it will make an older slower computer seem even slower. Things like that are best to turn off for better performance. Use the scale effect instead.
 
zen.state said:
None of those 4 GPU's I mentioned support core image or core animation. Only quartz extreme. The genie effect will work but it will make an older slower computer seem even slower. Things like that are best to turn off for better performance. Use the scale effect instead.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks
 
Just to make things simple as far as core image/core animation/core video and the eMac go only the final model with the Radeon 9600 can support those. All of the eMac models support quartz extreme though which also helps speed up the GUI a bit. It's better to have 1 out of 4 acceleration components than 0 of 4 right?

You need a Radeon 9550+ or Geforce 5200+ for core image etc. but only any Radeon or any Geforce 2+ for quartz extreme.
 
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