iBook?

[mike dunx]

Hi everyone.

I've decided to take a break from lurking and actually post a bit.

I recently bought a iBook G3 off ebay with the following specs:

• 800 MHz Power PC G3 Processor
• 512 level 2 Cache
• 640MB of SDRAM
• 30 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• 12.1-inch (viewable) TFT active-matrix XGA color display
• 32 MB of video memory
• Mac OSX Tiger

This being my first mac, I'm not exactly sure how it will perform. I usually just do web browsing, itunes, and a little bit of photo and video editing. I don't think it will have any problems with these tasks but I was wondering if any of you could give some input on to what to expect performance-wise.

Also, does this version of ibooks have a slot loading drive or not?

 

[Warbrain]

Hi everyone.

I've decided to take a break from lurking and actually post a bit.

I recently bought a iBook G3 off ebay with the following specs:

• 800 MHz Power PC G3 Processor
• 512 level 2 Cache
• 640MB of SDRAM
• 30 GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
• Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• 12.1-inch (viewable) TFT active-matrix XGA color display
• 32 MB of video memory
• Mac OSX Tiger

This being my first mac, I'm not exactly sure how it will perform. I usually just do web browsing, itunes, and a little bit of photo and video editing. I don't think it will have any problems with these tasks but I was wondering if any of you could give some input on to what to expect performance-wise.

Also, does this version of ibooks have a slot loading drive or not?

The computer might have a slot-loading drive. Did you see a picture of it when you bought it? If you can tell us what color it was, it might help...

It should do fine for what you want to do. The G3 was a great processor and can still handle some tough tasks from time to time, but don't expect to be as fast as a G4 or G5.

 

[mike dunx]

I love how great macs look. I'm so excited.

 

[wal9000]

This being my first mac, I'm not exactly sure how it will perform. I usually just do web browsing, itunes, and a little bit of photo and video editing. I don't think it will have any problems with these tasks but I was wondering if any of you could give some input on to what to expect performance-wise.

Also, does this version of ibooks have a slot loading drive or not?

I have the 700 MHz iBook G3, and it does not have a slot loading drive. IIRC the slot loader was introduced to iBooks when they moved to G4. The web browsing shouldn't be a problem, but since the iTunes 7 update it's been sucking down 30-40 percent of my processor when I turn on coverflow, which is ridiculous. When coverflow was a separate app from steelskies it used less than that and was more responsive. For photo editing you should be fine. Video will work, but you may spend quite a bit of time sitting around waiting for things to render.

 

[maxrobertson]

You should be really happy with it. My current Mac is a iMac G3 that's a lot slower, with much less RAM, and I find it a lot better than any PC. Speed-wise, it can be on par in a lot of cases. One thing: If you feel it's too slow, you can try using Panther instead of Tiger. I've heard it runs a lot better on G3 computers. Personally, I'd use Tiger, though, because it has a lot of cool features . Video could be a problem, but you might not notice too much.

 

[mike dunx]

Based on what you guys have said so far it looks like using the iBook will be very enjoyable. I think that being used to this PC with dial-up and switching to an iBook with wifi will be a huge difference. My current computer is an HP with 2.29 Ghz and 256 Mbs of memory. So I don't think I'll see much of a difference when using the iBook. Hopefully a large improvement. I'm a bit bummed about no slot loading drive, but that's no big deal.