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iBook G4 question....

B

bgbird

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2009
16
0
Looking for an inexpensive trial run on a Mac and I think I found it. What do you think?:

"Apple iBook G4 for sale. Barely used at all, in very good condition. Used this unit to get acquainted to Mac OS and switched to a pricier model shortly thereafter.
14 inch LCD
1.33 GHz PowerPC
60 GB HDD
512 MB RAM (expandable)
CR-RW/DVD-ROM 8123
Airport Extreme (Wireless)
Ethernet / 56 k Modem
Mac OS X 10.3.9 installed & on Install Discs
PowerAdapter "

Not sure how old it is...they are asking $222, which I thought was a little odd. Locally owned and I'll be able to look at it first. This would be used for surfing, emailing, pics and the kids watching streaming PBS videos.

Thanks in advance.
 
bgbird said:
Looking for an inexpensive trial run on a Mac and I think I found it. What do you think?:

"Apple iBook G4 for sale. Barely used at all, in very good condition. Used this unit to get acquainted to Mac OS and switched to a pricier model shortly thereafter.
14 inch LCD
1.33 GHz PowerPC
60 GB HDD
512 MB RAM (expandable)
CR-RW/DVD-ROM 8123
Airport Extreme (Wireless)
Ethernet / 56 k Modem
Mac OS X 10.3.9 installed & on Install Discs
PowerAdapter "

Not sure how old it is...they are asking $222, which I thought was a little odd. Locally owned and I'll be able to look at it first. This would be used for surfing, emailing, pics and the kids watching streaming PBS videos.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I would be willing to bet it's a scam. All those scammers come up with some crazy amount. Soon they ask you to wire them money through some bogus online escrow company. Hopefully not, but price is too good to be true....
 
txnoob said:
I would be willing to bet it's a scam. All those scammers come up with some crazy amount. Soon they ask you to wire them money through some bogus online escrow company. Hopefully not, but price is too good to be true....
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not sure about the scam part. This is in the same town we are and the ad said the unit could be looked at.

What about my question about use. Would this be a good unit?
 
G4 is several generations ago, so the price point isn't completely unreasonable. My concern would be the $222. Why not $200 or $250? It seems a little on the joke side.
 
mcavjame said:
G4 is several generations ago, so the price point isn't completely unreasonable. My concern would be the $222. Why not $200 or $250? It seems a little on the joke side.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a number to "start" with - and can be argued down. BTW, the 1.33 iBook has been great for me! Mine still runs perfectly when I use it. You will probably want to add RAM...
 
I use the same system when I travel and it works fine. Just make sure you get the install disks and also actually make sure it works; go see it in person at a safe place. You could also install Leopard on it if you buy the retail disks. I run Leopard on mine.
 
I use a 1.33GHz iBook, it's a fantastic computer but I'd also say up the ram if you really want to enjoy using it (mine used to beachball ALOT). I'm running Leopard.
 
I used an earlier, slower iBook G4 as my only computer for five years and loved it. And BTW, when I tried to trade it in to a local Mac dealer to get a new Aluminum MacBook they offered me about $150 for it, so $222 is not at all unreasonable. As other posters have said, you'll need to buy more RAM (1GB minimum, 1.5GB is better) and you'll want to upgrade the operating system to the current OS X 10.5 Leopard. It won't amaze you with its speed, but it will easily do everything you are planning to do -- and lots more. But realize that compatibility with future operating systems and software is not guaranteed, now that the machine is 5+ years out of date. :apple:
 
instaxgirl said:
I use a 1.33GHz iBook, it's a fantastic computer but I'd also say up the ram if you really want to enjoy using it (mine used to beachball ALOT). I'm running Leopard.
Click to expand...

Yep same here, I've an old G4 for about 5 yrs now, added an extra 1GB of RAM to it and installed leopard, still a very good machine today!
 
Why upgrade to Leopard? It's a RAM hog and gives very few features over top of Tiger for a computer you're just going to be doing basic tasks on. Just stick with Tiger if it's already on there, and if Leopard's on it, I'd even consider downgrading. I'll be doing that soon on my new old 12" PB. Leopard + Word '08 makes the fans scream on this thing. It gets hot.
 
I was just going to say you don't need Leopard. I just upgraded last night, mainly because I want to run a few apps where the newest versions are Leopard only. I wouldn't say it's been killing my RAM though. I have 1.5GB and I still haven't seen usage (in Leopard or Tiger) go above 1GB
 
the iBook is a nice starter machine, but you might start feeling it's limitations very quickly. But it should serve nicely as a secondary (or even tertiary) machine
 
cleanup said:
Why upgrade to Leopard? It's a RAM hog and gives very few features over top of Tiger for a computer you're just going to be doing basic tasks on. Just stick with Tiger if it's already on there, and if Leopard's on it, I'd even consider downgrading. I'll be doing that soon on my new old 12" PB. Leopard + Word '08 makes the fans scream on this thing. It gets hot.
Click to expand...

ahh! but the way leopard handles documents is soooo nice! no hunting! easy access! :D
 
txnoob said:
I would be willing to bet it's a scam. All those scammers come up with some crazy amount. Soon they ask you to wire them money through some bogus online escrow company. Hopefully not, but price is too good to be true....
Click to expand...

I was hoping this wasn't the case.....but after 2 emails with no response, it looks like you're right.

Oh well.
 
If it's local, if you can see it and kick the tires before you look at it, how could it be a scam?

Just make danged sure you can meet them in a public place, pay them with cash, and take the unit with you.

For the price, it sounds like a great little starter machine. I'm using a 1.5 ghz powerbook with 1.25 gigs of ram for browsing, emails, word processing, etc., and it works great! My dad got a slightly older ibook for his first mac, and his only problem is that his grandson is always on the machine! It should be fine for your purposes, just don't think that you're going to be encoding a lot of video or anything with the machine.

Good luck.
 
clyde2801 said:
If it's local, if you can see it and kick the tires before you look at it, how could it be a scam?

Just make danged sure you can meet them in a public place, pay them with cash, and take the unit with you.

For the price, it sounds like a great little starter machine. I'm using a 1.5 ghz powerbook with 1.25 gigs of ram for browsing, emails, word processing, etc., and it works great! My dad got a slightly older ibook for his first mac, and his only problem is that his grandson is always on the machine! It should be fine for your purposes, just don't think that you're going to be encoding a lot of video or anything with the machine.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks Clyde. Unfortunately, I've yet to receive a response in the last 3 days. I'm kind of bummed, I was really looking forward to checking this out.
 
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