Meet Jennifer, my new iBook G4

[128keaton]

Hello forums. I got my trackpad worn hands on an original 2003 iBook G4 14". It has 640 MB of RAM and the 40 GB HDD. Her name is Jennifer and she is almost spotless. Very clean and nice for an iBook of this age (trust me, I've seen her twin )
Overall View:

Clean Keyboard (I didn't clean it!)

No sneeze marks on the screen or bezel

No wear on the worst places

The latch works marvelously well.

Warmer shot of a period correct Apple.com

Well, the next thing would obviously be some upgrades.


I've been looking at this on OWC along with this.

Since it doesn't have a battery, I've also wanted to get one of these.

But, before I buy any of these things, I just want to make sure none of you guys have these parts lying in a bin, unused. If so, contact me. If not, enjoy the photos!

 

[tom vilsack]

Looks real nice shape...if your gonna upgrade the harddrive (use ifixit web site) and at least go with a 5400rpm ide harddrive.

example

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Travelstar-5K160-HTS541680J9AT00-5400RPM/dp/B0010494TS/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1394855161&sr=1-2

 

[128keaton]

Looks real nice shape...if your gonna upgrade the harddrive (use ifixit web site) and at least go with a 5400rpm ide harddrive.

example

http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Travelstar-5K160-HTS541680J9AT00-5400RPM/dp/B0010494TS/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1394855161&sr=1-2

Thanks! I usually go to OWC, just because it seems to be the Mac Bible around here.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Damn that's in good shape. Eventually I'll own one

 

[128keaton]

Damn that's in good shape. Eventually I'll own one

Yes, I feel lucky. I bought a charger years ago, and I used it on a now broken and disposed of PBG4 Titanium. Now it is being used again! I am typing this reply on it.

 

[jbarley]

I still have my very first Apple computer, a 12" iBook G4 manufactured in 2004 and purchased by me in early 2005.
One odd thing I notice is that although mine is at least a year newer, the HDD is only 30GB whereas yours, as stated is 40GB.
And BTW, my unit is still in pristine condition, never been out of the house.
Also I have to admit, sadly for the last few years it has served no useful purpose, I do try try to remember to cycle the battery now and then though.

 

[jrsx]

Da-ang she's sure in good shape. I remember when I got my second 12" G4 not too long ago, I was really proud because it was in beautiful condition, all except those two little plastic nubs on the top of the screen. I plan to get another G4 over the next few months, preferably a 14", to see how it compares with my 1.33 12". Great buy! Also, is that website you had a the screen the clone of an old Apple page? Where might it be?
EDIT: found the website link: http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083933/http://apple.com/ibook

 

[stiligFox]

Beautiful! Reminds me of my old G4, but she was in a lot worse shape, had to let her go because of the issues >~<

As far as upgrades, I have a PowerBook G3 that I added an OWC SSD to -- and I have to say I love how quite it's made her! Just putting that out there if you might wanna try that route ^^

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Da-ang she's sure in good shape. I remember when I got my second 12" G4 not too long ago, I was really proud because it was in beautiful condition, all except those two little plastic nubs on the top of the screen. I plan to get another G4 over the next few months, preferably a 14", to see how it compares with my 1.33 12". Great buy! Also, is that website you had a the screen the clone of an old Apple page? Where might it be?
EDIT: found the website link: http://web.archive.org/web/20030801083933/http://apple.com/ibook

Is this going to be a 15" PowerBook G4

 

[128keaton]

Beautiful! Reminds me of my old G4, but she was in a lot worse shape, had to let her go because of the issues >~<

As far as upgrades, I have a PowerBook G3 that I added an OWC SSD to -- and I have to say I love how quite it's made her! Just putting that out there if you might wanna try that route ^^

If I had money and enough reason, I might do just that. But I have neither. Sad, ain't it?

 

[jrsx]

Is this going to be a 15" PowerBook G4

I'm confused... What G4 I plan to buy next? Probably an iBook.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

I'm confused... What G4 I plan to buy next? Probably an iBook.

:facepalm:

 

[Cox Orange]

Thanks! I usually go to OWC, just because it seems to be the Mac Bible around here.

If I had money and enough reason, I might do just that. But I have neither. Sad, ain't it?

If no money, why do you then get to OWC, where you only pay for that they say it is for Macs. You can put in every 2,5" IDE Hard Drive, forget about HDD with apple firmware or advertised as "genuine". Just my view.
I find the advantages of an SSD are very few, the only being quietness. The throughput is not much higher (which is obvoius, but one would think, that the throuput is at least more constant, but it is not so. Compared to a WD 320GB and WD 160GB, both 5400rpm.) If you use very huge applications, you save about 2/3 of the starting time. One should know for himself, if one can not wait that long.

I still have my very first Apple computer, a 12" iBook G4 manufactured in 2004 and purchased by me in early 2005.
One odd thing I notice is that although mine is at least a year newer, the HDD is only 30GB whereas yours, as stated is 40GB.

Your's is either an:
- a October2003-April2004 with 800MHz and 30GB HDD, (1,128GB RAM) or
- "early 2004" model with 1GHz and 30GB 4200rpm HDDl (1,256MB RAM)or
- a "late2004" with 1,2GHz and 30GB 4200rpm HDD (1,256GB RAM).
All with a ATI 9200

His is an April-October2003 model with 900MHz and a 40GB (spindle rpm not mentioned) he can have a max of 640MB RAM and has an ATI 7500.

 

[jbarley]

Your's is either an:
- a October2003-April2004 with 800MHz and 30GB HDD, (1,128GB RAM) or
- "early 2004" model with 1GHz and 30GB 4200rpm HDDl (1,256MB RAM)or
- a "late2004" with 1,2GHz and 30GB 4200rpm HDD (1,256GB RAM).
All with a ATI 9200

His is an April-October2003 model with 900MHz and a 40GB (spindle rpm not mentioned) he can have a max of 640MB RAM and has an ATI 7500.

Thanks for that, but I already knew that is was 2004, as mentioned in my original post.

 

[Cox Orange]

Thanks for that, but I already knew that is was 2004, as mentioned in my original post.

Yes, but his is the top model of his production period and your's is the lower model of the production period.

One would think, Apple would just increase the HDD space 2gens later, but it goes that way.

Every production period has 3 models:
1. low specs, small display
2. low specs, big display
3. high specs, big display.

Also you did not say, which processor it has, so if you just got a late 2004 ibook, it could as well be the one with the higher CPU speed and the 40GB HDD.

Only exception would be, if in on of you two's ibooks, the pre-owner had swapped the original HDD with a drive with other capacity.

 

[stiligFox]

If I had money and enough reason, I might do just that. But I have neither. Sad, ain't it?

Nah $120 is a bit much to spend for making a Mac silent.

To be honest I'm regretting it a bit, only because her circuit boards are starting to fail, and I'm questioning putting more money into her

EDIT: on the flip side, if you feel like it (and I should've done this) you can get IDE to SD drives.
http://www.amazon.com/Secure-Digita..._sim_pc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GN48XEK1M1ZG3G0JHY3 the speed should still be plenty fast if you have a generally fast SD card.

But I have a feeling you want a real HDD

Good luck, and again, she's quite the catch you have there!

 

[musika]

This is just too weird.

 

[128keaton]

This is just too weird.

How? Don't post vaguely.

 

[California]

If no money, why do you then get to OWC, where you only pay for that they say it is for Macs. You can put in every 2,5" IDE Hard Drive, forget about HDD with apple firmware or advertised as "genuine". Just my view.
I find the advantages of an SSD are very few, the only being quietness. The throughput is not much higher (which is obvoius, but one would think, that the throuput is at least more constant, but it is not so. Compared to a WD 320GB and WD 160GB, both 5400rpm.) If you use very huge applications, you save about 2/3 of the starting time. One should know for himself, if one can not wait that long.

Your's is either an:
- a October2003-April2004 with 800MHz and 30GB HDD, (1,128GB RAM) or
- "early 2004" model with 1GHz and 30GB 4200rpm HDDl (1,256MB RAM)or
- a "late2004" with 1,2GHz and 30GB 4200rpm HDD (1,256GB RAM).
All with a ATI 9200

His is an April-October2003 model with 900MHz and a 40GB (spindle rpm not mentioned) he can have a max of 640MB RAM and has an ATI 7500.

the 14" iBooks always had a larger hard drive than their 12" siblings, though the 2005 12" iBooks BTO came with a 60gig HD and the BTO 14" was 80 gig -- seemed absolutely huge back then.

That said, the 30gb iBook OEM hard drives always failed, no matter what manufacturer, while the Fujistu 40gb OEM iBook drives also seemed to have a high failure rate. Back in the PPC day, I would return a powerbook or ibook if it had a Fujistu drive for a Toshiba drive with a larger cache and better longevity even if it was the same size in terms of gbs. Not kidding.

 

[musika]

How? Don't post vaguely.

Hahaha yes, sorry. I was referring to naming your computer Jennifer. I'm enamored with my iBook and all of the Apple products I own, but I never once considered naming any of them.

To each his/her own, though!

 

[128keaton]

the 14" iBooks always had a larger hard drive than their 12" siblings, though the 2005 12" iBooks BTO came with a 60gig HD and the BTO 14" was 80 gig -- seemed absolutely huge back then.

That said, the 30gb iBook OEM hard drives always failed, no matter what manufacturer, while the Fujistu 40gb OEM iBook drives also seemed to have a high failure rate. Back in the PPC day, I would return a powerbook or ibook if it had a Fujistu drive for a Toshiba drive with a larger cache and better longevity even if it was the same size in terms of gbs. Not kidding.

I still have a fully working 30GB iBook HDD. LOL. Knock on wood right?

 

[numlock]

my sister had a 2005 version and since her broke down and she dosent really use it for anything i was looking for a replacement and from looking at lots of ads i can say yours looks in great shape.

i actually got a 2007 macbook for her though.

maybe its just me but i find this era of ibooks and powerbooks absolutely gorgeous. im still upset my sister didnt spend a bit more to get the powerbook all those years ago.

 

[128keaton]

my sister had a 2005 version and since her broke down and she dosent really use it for anything i was looking for a replacement and from looking at lots of ads i can say yours looks in great shape.

i actually got a 2007 macbook for her though.

maybe its just me but i find this era of ibooks and powerbooks absolutely gorgeous. im still upset my sister didnt spend a bit more to get the powerbook all those years ago.

Yeah, the PowerBooks were great, sexy and powerful. While the iBooks hold a special place in my heart, I will always love PowerBooks more, just don't tell Jennifer.

 

[jrsx]

Yeah, the PowerBooks were great, sexy and powerful. While the iBooks hold a special place in my heart, I will always love PowerBooks more, just don't tell Jennifer.

Me too. Although I've never personally owned a PowerBook, I've got to say, using one is an awesome experience. For the 1.33 GHz PB, Apple basically put the innards in the 2005 iBook G4, though.

 

[California]

I still have a fully working 30GB iBook HDD. LOL. Knock on wood right?

That's miraculous. Those old 4200rpm drives were lousy!