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iPod iPod Classic 5G vs 6G (vs 7G) and battery life

Y

yly3

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 9, 2011
345
4
I currently own a 5G 30GB white and I overall pleased with it, although I got it second-hand and it's not in the best condition. I have been a total Nano user since the 3rd edition up untill the 5th (the 6th is a Apple sign telling "please move along to the iPod Touch" ).

I am not a touch droller due to more reasons. First and foremost, I hate worying about dropping it and having to have the extra care. 2nd would be the battery life. Let's be honest, if you are a true music listener you would stick to Classic, not a noniPhone 4 with 8 hours-like playback. 3rd would be the obvious price/GB ratio. 4th would be ergonomics. Sure, it's bulky for today but feels much better in hand overall and as I previously said I am not worying to much if I dropt it etc, besides for my uber-thinnes needs I got my 11" Air.

Ok, now back to the matter at hand, I googled all day about the classics and it seems that the 5G would still be the best. I, indeed, feel a more airy and warm/bursting sound (at least comparing to my ex Nanos), BUT music has also changed being more "precise" or crisp/minimalistic.
To be honest, if for example, I wanted to listen to the 2005 Black Eyed Peas album I'd clearly stick with the 5G. If I wanted to listen to their 2009 one, I'd go with the 6/7G.

Yesterday I got an offer I simply cannot refuse. A brand new/ sealed 160GB 6G Silver for only 150$. So I will be getting it later today. I read that these 160GB have outstanding battery life. According to CNET they managed to get to ~59 hours of music playback. That is a big improvement to my 8-10 hour 5G to say the least.

I also read that 6G initially had some problems with being slow and some crashes. Apple delivered an update witch would fix this BUT at the cost of less playback time by almost 10 hours (at least according to CNET).


So what should I expect ? I haven't been into classics for some time. Has anyone made that update and felt differences ? Thanks
 
I had a 5G but it was getting to the stage where I was having to open it every few months to repair a new fault so I got the current gen Classic. Battery really is excellent (I seem to charge the thing once a month and it gets between 3-6 hours use every day) but there's definitely some lag when it loads all the album art thumbnails and the click wheel often seems a lot less responsive. I do miss my 5G :(
 
I've got the first (fat) 160GB classic running the current firmware and can still get up to 50 hours battery life even after 3.5 years use. After using it all day at work from Monday to Friday there's still some battery life left. :cool:
 
If it's a true 6G 160 GB (the really fat one with the dual platter drive), I would pass.

Too many problems, and too slow because it has to search across two platters for data instead of one. It's kind of a black sheep of iPods.

Get the newest 160. Single platter hard drive, same thickness as yours, and lightning fast with no lag.

FTR, I'm running mine right now just to run/maintain the battery, with the volume on 100% and the equalizer on, and I'm at 24 hours playback with close to a quarter battery left. It wasn't even completely full when I started this (maybe 90-95%). Apple rates this one at 36 hours, but that's with the equalizer off, and the volume at 50%. I'm probably going to get a good 28 hours out of it with 100% volume, meaning I'd destroy that 36 hour rating if I was at half volume. In other words, the battery in these classics is absolutely awesome.

Battery indicator is accurate too, and not wonky and jumpy like the nanos always are.
 
Thanks for the spot on answers everyone !

@puma You mean the latest one (7G) is rated at 36 hours ? Correct me if I am wrong but I read here and there multiple times that the 6G is the longest-lasting one in terms of playback. I thinked about getting the 7G instead but I don't have the money right now and I am not really in a rush buying a Classic anyway.

The great deal got me in an impulsive mode, that's all and I already gave my word to the seller. We will meet in several hours. Besides, if I do have serious problems, where I live, I could resell it and get my money back in no time, if not more actually :)
I mean .. is that 6G THAT bad ? I remember my 4g Nano had a similar problem with practically "loosing my finger" and not getting commands but I lived with it..

I never used Cover Flow to be honest on my iPods and all that If you have a big collection it's a waste of time in searching. It is somehow usefull when you are bored and you don't know what you want to listen and just skipp through them.


@OllyW WOW ! That's impressive
 
Yeah the latest is rated at 36 hours. IIRC, the model you're looking at was rated at 40 (?) hours. Either way, they are both beastly in terms of battery life.

I dunno, it's up to you, I believe Apple stopped supporting the 6G fatty already too. I just am turned off by the dual platter hard drive. I actually like the fatness of it, feels great in the hand, but it's just too slow compared to the current 160.
 
Guess I will find out very soon :)

Last-question : Is it slower than the 5G ? Because I am more than pleased with that one as I said. The GUI makes it smoother I know, but how fast? To be honest, if the lag is acceptable for me I'd take the slightly better battery of the 6G. I will keep you updated and see how things turn out.
I don't know if the one I'm buying it was produced before or after the update.


Thanks
 
I think I will be buying the 7th edition after all, lol !
The one he's selling has The Killer's 2008 album as a cover. Wasn't the 6G released in 2007 and with the Nelly Furtado cover ? Was there any 6.5G made in between ? What a spin-off that would be. The seller says it's the A1238 model which points out it's the 6G.

EDIT: According to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_Classic#Sixth_generation) there was a 2008 revision of the 6G (September) which would explain the The Killers cover, but this revision doesn't have the 160GB, and either way it's still double platter.

Sorry for the double post.
 
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6G: 80 GB single platter, or 160 GB double platter. Black box with Furtado on the cover IIRC.

6.5G: 120 GB single platter only, white box, maybe Jack Johnson on the cover? I think I remember some sea green on the album art.

7G: 160 GB single platter only, white box, Killers on the front.

My 7G is model number MC293J/A (Japan). America's should be MC293LL/A.

The only double platter is the fat 160.

If it's a white box, and it's 160 gigs, it's the newest one. 160 gig is the only way it's made.
 
So I finally got it. Judging by your classification I should have the 7G, but it seems to be the 6G. The GUI in the cover flow is not too polished and seems a bit pixelated and it's loading a bit slow (comparing to my 4th gen 16GB Nano) and scrooling also seems to lag. The only thing I'm really missing right now from 5G is the wheel. Man that one is fantastic ! Similar (if not better) to the trackpad from a MBP/MBA. So sensible and precise. 6G's one seems like ceramics.. If the battery life is as good as they say, then I absolutely have no reason to complain for this money.

Oh and the irony is that the 160GB 6G is lighter than the 30GB 5G.
 
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yly3 said:
So I finally got it. Judging by your classification I should have the 7G, but it seems to be the 6G. The GUI in the cover flow is not too polished and seems a bit pixelated and it's loading a bit slow (comparing to my 4th gen 16GB Nano) and scrooling also seems to lag. The only thing I'm really missing right now from 5G is the wheel. Man that one is fantastic ! Similar (if not better) to the trackpad from a MBP/MBA. So sensible and precise. 6G's one seems like ceramics.. If the battery life is as good as they say, then I absolutely have no reason to complain for this money.

Oh and the irony is that the 160GB 6G is lighter than the 30GB 5G.
Click to expand...

Post pics of the iPod and the box.
 
Regarding the 5th Gen battery life - I bought an 80gb model in 2007, originally used for music and video. Now I just use it for video but it gets between 20-60 minutes use a night and the battery is still around 4-5 hours. In all this time I believe it has only dropped an hours worth of playtime.
 
puma1552 said:
Post pics of the iPod and the box.
Click to expand...

Here they are. Sorry about the quality. Did them with my phone. It's the same material and color as the 2010 MBA (although the pic doesn't show it). For what it's worth, they do make a nice couple lol
Oh, and it came already updated ! 2.0.4 firmware. I believe the original was 2.0.2







I didn't have time to properly test the battery life yet. Been busy with studies and I kept connecting my iPod for syncing (aka also charging).
 
Is that a Canada/Quebec model?

If you can show me a pic of the thickness I can tell you for sure that it's the 7G 160. If it is, which I'm quite sure it is, it shouldn't lag at all.
 
puma1552 said:
Is that a Canada/Quebec model?

If you can show me a pic of the thickness I can tell you for sure that it's the 7G 160. If it is, which I'm quite sure it is, it shouldn't lag at all.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I left my 5G at my other place. It IS lagging, not utterly disturbing, but you can feel it.I am also hearing a noise everytime it needs to load some "heavy data" (when I open it, when loading many covers), I mean it is loud enough to hear it, but it's not like a cooler, more like turning on/off your vacuum cleaner. Like I said, it felt lighter than the 5G and also thinner. Anyway here is a hands-on pic and a comparison with a CD case. Btw, I am a 6-feet guy and my hands may seem bigger.



 
Damn, I picked a booklet type of CD which is considerably thicker than a normal plastic one. So the iPod may be just slightly thinner than the plastic one. I don't know what to say, I am not saying you are wrong, but all things seem to lead to a 6G. The lag, the vacuum-sound which it's more probably to exist to a double platter HDD than a single one.

Plus, The A1238 model links only to 6G on Google, AND the other code is MC293QB/A which may suggest being double-release generation which also happened only to 6G. The 7G (at least according to that wiki page) had only one version, 160GB.

What do you think ? Thanks for all the help so far.
 
My 7G is A1238 as well, and has the same 293 model number (albeit MC293J/A, the J being for Japan).

It doesn't look like the thick fatty to me, though I'll admit it's a little difficult to tell.

But what I see is the 7G box, with 7G model and part numbers. If it was truly sealed, then it has to be a 7G.

OP, if you google "Mac Serial Number" or something similar, you can get a website that lets you put in the serial and it will tell you all the information about it.
 
According to chipmunk.nl, puma is right ! :confused: Then, what's up with those "symptoms" ? The iPod was unsealed by me, it was fully sealed. (sorry a bit tired)

Name: iPod Classic (Generation 3 / Late 20009)
Model: ipod_classic_late_09
Group1: iPod
Group2: Classic
Generation: 3
ModelCode: ipod_classic_late_09
Model introduced: 2009
Production year: 2010
Production week: 23 (June)
Production number: 9889 (within this week)
introduced test: 2009 (9) 2
introduced test: GOED
Family name: Become a pro user to see this information. (sorry)
Colour: Silver
Capacity: 160GB
Factory: 8K (China)


LOL ! Other site (powerbookmedic.com) states it's 6G but it surely missed the production year :)


Model Family: iPod 6th Gen
Display: 2.5"
Storage Size: 160GB
Processor Type:
Model Number: A1238
Color: Silver
Factory: China
Production Year: 2000
Production Week: 23 (June)
Production Number: 9889


Now what ..
 
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Mines a 7g. I looked it up on (powerbookmedic.com) and it told me everything even that it come off the line nov. of 2011 thanks to all the great info. on this thread this has been buging me sence I got it last week you always want to buy the newest one and THANKS again
 
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