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iBook usefulness?

Q

Quad 2.5 G5 =)

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 29, 2009
319
0
I have a brother who is going to be turning 10 in around 3 weeks and he has been wanting a mac laptop. He most certainly doesn't need anything fancy, just something to fool around on (iTunes and other little tasks like that). He currently has an 8 year old HP laptop with a 14" screen and a 1ghz processor and it is slowly dying. He also may get an iPod nano for his birthday, so what would be best for him? A late model 900Mhz G3 iBook, or a early G4 iBook? For this mac, I have a limited budget, around $170. The screen size doesn't matter, just something comparable to what he already has. Also, what would be the best OS for it 10.3 or 10.4 or (for the G4, 10.5)?
In a pinch, would a Titanium PB 15" be a good choice?
 
Get the newest technology you can afford for him - it will have the longest life in terms of usability.
 
The iBook should be fine. The OS should be at least 10.4 to run the latest iTunes (ver 8), which you mentioned. Other than that, the computer will be "slower" than newer computers.
 
jpyc7 said:
The iBook should be fine. The OS should be at least 10.4 to run the latest iTunes (ver 8), which you mentioned. Other than that, the computer will be "slower" than newer computers.
Click to expand...

Ok, 10.4 seems good, so I will probably get a G4 or a high end G3.
 
If you can, get a PowerBook G4. Not a titanium one. The PB has a widescreen display, whereas the iBook has a standard one.
 
An increasing amount of applications are G4 only. I would recommend at minimum a 1 GHz G4 for even casual use. Yes, a Titanium PowerBook is an excellent choice (sig, probably biased) and is reasonably upgradable, although you are capped at 1 GB of RAM. If you can afford an Aluminum PowerBook, you can get up to 2 GB of DDR RAM, except maybe some 12" models. I would highly recommend you stick with 10.4 or 10.5 if you can. The footprint is much bigger than an average 12-14" computer, though.

For $170, I'm not sure what you can find. This PowerBook in it's stock configuration (60 GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, Superdrive) costed me $250 on eBay in November, but the screen has pretty bad white spots, so it was cheaper than most. Total, I've invested about $400 in modernizing it including the initial cost.
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
If you can, get a PowerBook G4. Not a titanium one. The PB has a widescreen display, whereas the iBook has a standard one.
Click to expand...

I do have a PB G4. In fact, I have had all 3 sizes, 12" 15" and 17". I only have a 12" right now, and I use it a lot. This iBook is for my 10 year-old brother who wants a mac laptop, and he doesn't use the Internet or anything, he just messes around on his dying hp laptop. He is getting an iPod, so he will just need something that can work with it.
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
I do have a PB G4. In fact, I have had all 3 sizes, 12" 15" and 17". I only have a 12" right now, and I use it a lot. This iBook is for my 10 year-old brother who wants a mac laptop, and he doesn't use the Internet or anything, he just messes around on his dying hp laptop. He is getting an iPod, so he will just need something that can work with it.
Click to expand...

It won't be long before he starts asking for an airport card, an email address, a faster computer for iLife/games etc. Trust me I would know. Its the story of me, and currently my little sister :p She uses my G4 macmini, but whenever she gets the chance she uses our brand new iMac.

It sounds like you don't want to give up your PB g4 but I think that would be a much better option.

Does he need a laptop... Desktops may be faster/cheaper. iMac G4 or eMac perhaps.

-Omi
 
yoyo5280 said:
It won't be long before he starts asking for an airport card, an email address, a faster computer for iLife/games etc. Trust me I would know. Its the story of me, and currently my little sister :p She uses my G4 macmini, but whenever she gets the chance she uses our brand new iMac.

It sounds like you don't want to give up your PB g4 but I think that would be a much better option.

Does he need a laptop... Desktops may be faster/cheaper. iMac G4 or eMac perhaps.

-Omi
Click to expand...

A desktop is not possible because of space reasons. I have my powermac in my room, and I hook up either my Powerbook or my MB to my 23" Apple Aluminum LCD, but maybe a mac mini is a thought, what speed of mini do you have? I do sometimes let my brother use my PM (when it isn't ripping movies with handbrake). I'll have to think about this some more.
 
For a ten year old, a G3 or G4 iBook should be just fine. Even an old 500MHz icebook would be fine if he's not using the internet.
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
A desktop is not possible because of space reasons. I have my powermac in my room, and I hook up either my Powerbook or my MB to my 23" Apple Aluminum LCD, but maybe a mac mini is a thought, what speed of mini do you have? I do sometimes let my brother use my PM (when it isn't ripping movies with handbrake). I'll have to think about this some more.
Click to expand...

1.25GHz G4 with 1gb ram and 40gb hard drive. Sturdy little thing, but starting to show its age. Apps are starting to freeze, and it has this lagginess. But if need be I can still use it for basic video editing and stuff! :) Still I wouldn't go for a lappy lower spec than my mini. It will be painfully slow after a couple months of usage, and is more likely to die at any time, therefor its a waste of money. And sooner or later he will be doing more and more on that computer, for fun and for school and an uber slow computer would hardly be ideal.

a 17" iMac G4 shouldn't take up much space at all...

-Omi
 
Hrududu said:
For a ten year old, a G3 or G4 iBook should be just fine. Even an old 500MHz icebook would be fine if he's not using the internet.
Click to expand...

I think a 12" 900Mhz icebook will do nicely, thx. How is your 12" PowerBook working 4 u, I love mine and I use it a lot. I have upgraded mine to max ram and a 320GB HDD.
 
yoyo5280 said:
1.25GHz G4 with 1gb ram and 40gb hard drive. Sturdy little thing, but starting to show its age. Apps are starting to freeze, and it has this lagginess. But if need be I can still use it for basic video editing and stuff! :) Still I wouldn't go for a lappy lower spec than my mini. It will be painfully slow after a couple months of usage, and is more likely to die at any time, therefor its a waste of money. And sooner or later he will be doing more and more on that computer, for fun and for school and an uber slow computer would hardly be ideal.

a 17" iMac G4 shouldn't take up much space at all...

-Omi
Click to expand...

I think mac minis are nice, and I wouldn't mind a G4 mini. The only reason I have a big fast G5 tower is because my dad had it, then got a new 24" iMac. It has way more power than I use normally, but for encoding movies, it really helps. I think that a basic 1.6 PowerMac would be a good step up for you, if you wanted it. Maybe a 15" G4 iMac would be a good choice, or a base 17" G5
(for my brother).
 
Its my opinion that spending $170 on an iBook G3 is like throwing the money away. This is a situation where you need to either up your budget or postpone the purchase. Early revision aluminum powerbooks can be had for very modest prices, anything less then that is really going to be almost use-less, and simply and utter waste of money.

-A.I.R.
 
yoyo5280 said:
To be honest, any iBook may perform slower than his current HP for things like youtube and stuff...
Click to expand...

I don't believe that. A G3 iBook maybe, but I can vouch for the last rev G4s. Mine outperforms our 8 year old PC (with 2GHz processor) in everything.

I think a G4 would be much better value for money (it can run Leopard for one thing, which is now necessary for the lastest versions of some programs, eg Handbrake). My 1.33GHz 12" with 1.5gb of RAM runs Leopard just as well as it ran Tiger.
 
instaxgirl said:
I don't believe that. A G3 iBook maybe, but I can vouch for the last rev G4s. Mine outperforms our 8 year old PC (with 2GHz processor) in everything.

I think a G4 would be much better value for money (it can run Leopard for one thing, which is now necessary for the lastest versions of some programs, eg Handbrake). My 1.33GHz 12" with 1.5gb of RAM runs Leopard just as well as it ran Tiger.
Click to expand...

My g4 1.25Ghz macmini also outperforms many PCs of the same generation. Just not in flash.
 
How about a Hackint0sh?

Dell Mini 10 would be perfect for him, no? And brand new, it's at about the price of your budget, and it's a lot faster than any of the iBook/Powerbooks.
 
fireshot91 said:
How about a Hackint0sh?

Dell Mini 10 would be perfect for him, no? And brand new, it's at about the price of your budget, and it's a lot faster than any of the iBook/Powerbooks.
Click to expand...
I believe you cannot actually put OS X on a Mini 10, a Mini 9 yes, but those are running for about $300.

I think practically anything will work fine for him, he's 10 years old, he just wants to play around with iTunes, he's not doing anything serious, nor will he really until he's a couple of years older, and if he wants to get on the internet, he'd be much safer using a family computer where your parents can lightly monitor him every now and then to make sure he's not meeting any odd people or anything.

Anything that can support 10.4 sounds about right for him. Let him try OS X before getting him anything serious. You might be able to find a high end G3 for cheap. If he really likes it then your family can always decide whether or not to get him something a little better when he's older.
 
fireshot91 said:
How about a Hackint0sh?

Dell Mini 10 would be perfect for him, no? And brand new, it's at about the price of your budget, and it's a lot faster than any of the iBook/Powerbooks.
Click to expand...

But he wanted a mac and that would defeat the point also it costs like 250 dollars without leopard and external DVD reader
 
Harmless Abuse said:
I believe you cannot actually put OS X on a Mini 10, a Mini 9 yes, but those are running for about $300.

I think practically anything will work fine for him, he's 10 years old, he just wants to play around with iTunes, he's not doing anything serious, nor will he really until he's a couple of years older, and if he wants to get on the internet, he'd be much safer using a family computer where your parents can lightly monitor him every now and then to make sure he's not meeting any odd people or anything.

Anything that can support 10.4 sounds about right for him. Let him try OS X before getting him anything serious. You might be able to find a high end G3 for cheap. If he really likes it then your family can always decide whether or not to get him something a little better when he's older.
Click to expand...

Good, somebody knows exactly what I am talking about, I will probably get a high end iBook G3 or a lower end G4, just to start him out.
(His first bite by the Apple bug, then he will be addicted macs)
 
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