need quick advice on clamshell ibook g3 purchase

[nickXedge]

The only thing I know about clamshell iBooks is that I want one real bad and they look awesome. I'm about to buy one from a guy who lives locally but before I do I have some questions:

It doesn't have any OS on it, so which should I choose? I've read that it shipped with 8.6 but with the correct upgrades it can run 10.3.9. Does anyone have experience with this? I would prefer to run 10.3.9 if it will work well, but I would certainly rather use an older OS if it will run considerably smoother.

It has a 300MHz G3 processor, 64MB memory, 6GB hard drive, CD-ROM drive.
The upgrades I'm going to do is the memory and hard drive, obviously. I saw on macsales.com that I can put 512MB of RAM in it and a 120GB hdd, which I will do instantly. Is there any way to upgrade the optical drive?

Also, back to the OS, when I decide on one, how do I acquire it? Is there somewhere I can buy old versions of Mac OS?

I know I can handle the upgrading itself, it's just a matter of making sure I can secure an OS on it when I'm done. Thanks for any information you have.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

The question to ask is how much are you buying this thing for? Cause dude, 300 MHz is not going to do much for you if you run any version of OS X. Stick with OS 9. You should not be paying more than $30 - 50. Go find an White iBook G3 or G4. Not really sure where to get a real copy of OS 9 these days.

Not that I expect you to listen, but I would say to pass on buying this thing.

 

[nickXedge]

The question to ask is how much are you buying this thing for? Cause dude, 300 MHz is not going to do much for you if you run any version of OS X. Stick with OS 9. You should not be paying more than $30 - 50. Go find an White iBook G3 or G4. Not really sure where to get a real copy of OS 9 these days.

Not that I expect you to listen, but I would say to pass on buying this thing.

Haha, well the main purpose is to buy it because it looks cool, not for computing power. The extent of its use would be to carry to class to take notes and then thats about it. The price is only $50 which is what attracted me to the sale because I've been wanting one for awhile. A small price to pay for novelty. I think that's the expression.

 

[rick3000]

I wouldn't pay more than $75 for the regular clamshell iBook, maybe $100 with an airport card and more RAM. I used to have a Graphite iBook SE (DVD, FW, and 466MHz), which I got for $300 then added an 80GB HD, and maxed out the RAM. I would recommend the SE over the regular if you can find one cheap.

It ran Tiger just fine, except for a few little quirks due to the low screen resolution, like the System Preference window being too large for the screen and not being able to adjust the window size. I would run Panther, Jaguar, or OS9 because it will be quicker without all the extra visuals Tiger has. It won't even run Leopard.

 

[molala]

I've run 10.3.9 on a 333MHz Powerbook with 320MB RAM, so it should work. It's the same age as your iBook G3.

I think it's a good deal, I've seen similar iBooks sell on Ebay for £50 ($75) or more. It has become a collector's item, not about performance.