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iBook G4 Lifespan

M

MLuskus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 27, 2006
3
0
I've had my iBook for close to two and a half years. Its been a fantastic computer with no problems, but as I head off to college I've been thinking about my next machine. I was initially set on an iMac since I just love the iMac and can use my iBook when I need portability (and, knowing my study habits, that won't be too frequently). However, I think that some level of portability, no matter how often I use it, is important. Can I expect my iBook to survive at least another 2 years if I use it minimally?

Thanks in advance.
 
Guess it mostly depends on how you treat it. One of the components most likely to fail is the HD, but of course that can be replaced (and if you've got a second mac on which to backup your files, you'll be fine).

I had one of the first generation white ibooks (500 Mhz G3) and I sold it to a friend over 2 and a half years ago. That puts it at about 5 years old, and it hasn't had any hardware problems at all.
 
The iBooks are solid machines in my experience.

I also had a TiBook which didn't survive 18 months, but my ibook was a real trouper. Of course, it had scratches all over it, a pad or two fell off and the firewire stopped working (that was a faulty external drive's fault however) but all in all it was great. The battery was still superb, no blemishes on the screen or anything.

You'll be fine for a couple of years. Just keep giving it Tender Loving Care!
 
One other thing, it's been my experience that the lifespan of the battery is about 2 years (this has been the case with both my old ibook and current PB), so you might want to look into replacing that at some point.
 
The iBook will last another 2 years. Naturally it will slow down over that time as software requires more speed, particularly if you upgrade to Leopard (10.5). Otherwise you'll just have to be used to not having the fastest of machines. If anything hold out until after Xmas, or until summer 2007 and see what you can do. I think summer 2007 would be a great time for buying an Intel Mac.
 
MLuskus said:
I've had my iBook for close to two and a half years. Its been a fantastic computer with no problems, but as I head off to college I've been thinking about my next machine. I was initially set on an iMac since I just love the iMac and can use my iBook when I need portability (and, knowing my study habits, that won't be too frequently). However, I think that some level of portability, no matter how often I use it, is important. Can I expect my iBook to survive at least another 2 years if I use it minimally?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I've had my iBook G4 for almost 3 years now, and haven't needed to replace a single thing. Never has it been sent in for Apple Care, or anything like that. Great machine, just loaned it to my brother while I'm off at college with my MBP. :)
 
I carry around my ibook like Bush carries a bible. The thing will keep going as long as that annoying bunny, if you treat it right...

So my advice is to weigh what you need from it; if it does everything you need, it's perfectly fine. Replace it when it's not doing what you need is my advice.
 
The iBooks are built like tanks. I read a test they did on the clamshell ones, which are less durable than the white ones, and they put this think through hell. They ran over it with a scooter, threw it onto concrete, sat on its keyboard, threw balls at it....

the only thing which killed it was pouring coffee under its keyboard :p

If you treat it well, it will probably last you the two years you need it, but i would be keeping some money in savings just in case.
 
I tend to agree with all of the other commenters. I have a TiBook; it's over four years old. I use it for both work and pleasure, so it's literally on and in use for like 16 hours a day. I have no intention to use it lightly––like a previous commenter said, mac's are built like tanks. I would use your iBook as frequently as your require it. I hope this is useful to you.
 
I have used my ibook g3 for more than 4 years and it has worked great. I think it could go on forever (hopefully). I decided to upgrade it when it was not as fast as I needed it (e.g. couldn't watch iTunes videos, movie trailers), etc. But it still works great and I have used it heavily.

So if your computer suits you needs, keep it.
 
My ibook, which I got when the G4's had just come out, seems to have good days and bad days. It will go through periods where it's super fast with no problems to periods where I will almost kill myself waiting for it to load something (particularly in the finder such as previewing a video). Lately it's been acting up where it will switch the icons around (which is a very strange problem to have). Sometimes my apps will show up as generic folders, but open up the same and work perfectly fine. I am ready for an upgrade and I will probably get a MBP by the end of this month, as I start college this fall.

I do use my iBook for everything, though. If you only used it once in a while, I'm sure it'll last a couple more years. I'm so suprised mine has actually lasted so long. The family PCs have come and gone, but my iBook stood the test of time, and quite nicely I might add.

So yeah they're pretty much invincible, save a few quirks and bad days. :eek:
 
SteveRichardson said:
Lately it's been acting up where it will switch the icons around (which is a very strange problem to have). Sometimes my apps will show up as generic folders, but open up the same and work perfectly fine. :eek:
Click to expand...

Not to sound like a Windoze nut (I'm not!) but methinks the dreaded CLEAN INSTALL would probably fix you right up. If you had your iBook for three years it probably came with 10.3.2, which you upgraded to 10.3.3, 10.3.4, 10.3.5, 10.3.6, 10.3.7, 10.3.8, 10.3.9, then you made the upgrade-install leap to Tiger with 10.4.0, then 10.4.1, 10.4.2, 10.4.3, 10.4.4, 10.4.5, 10.4.6, and now 10.4.7. There's bound to be some weird leftovers hanging around from all these early versions of OSX, not to mention inevitable disk fragmentation. So back everything up, wipe your HD clean, reinstall Tiger, then run the current 10.4.7 Combo installer. Copy all your Apps and data back over and chances are your iBook will run faster and better than ever. Oh yeah, and don't forget to Repair Permissions once in a while.
 
eRondeau said:
Not to sound like a Windoze nut (I'm not!) but methinks the dreaded CLEAN INSTALL would probably fix you right up.
Click to expand...

Whoa! Whoa! Slow down! While a clean install might help if you are having serious problems, icons displaying incorrectly is typically fixed by repairing permissions (this is one of the few issues that is usually addressed by repairing permissions).
 
telecomm said:
Whoa! Whoa! Slow down! While a clean install might help if you are having serious problems, icons displaying incorrectly is typically fixed by repairing permissions (this is one of the few issues that is usually addressed by repairing permissions).
Click to expand...

How do you repair permissions?

I've heard people say that a lot, but I never really knew how to do it or what it did.
 
Permissions can be repaired by:

Open Disk Utility, located at /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
Select your startup disk on the left of the Disk Utility window
Select First Aid from the tabs
Click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button

This was taken directly from the guide found here:

http://guides.macrumors.com/Repairing_Permissions
 
Thanks for all of the replies! I'm going to go ahead and buy an iMac since as much as I love my iBook, it is getting a bit frustrating in terms of speed. And then there is the incentive of getting a free iPod Nano since I'm a college student.

Thanks again.
 
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