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New iBook Clamshell FW SE

C

cmstuber

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2015
17
7
I just picked up my first iBook Clamshell. I've been wanting one for a while and I'm loving it!

It's the 466mhz FW SE model. 576mb ram, 20gig HD. The hard drive is a bit noisy, but I plan to upgrade it eventually with a SSD.

It's running 10.4.11 right now. It's fine, but lags a little bit. I want to experiment with linux, os9, panther and tiger and see which I like best. It's possible that I might eventually set this up to boot all 4.
 
Very nice!

I have a FW model, but not the 466mhz "SE."

I too have noticed that the hard drive on mine is very noisy. Replacing it is on my "to do" list. Provided that you're not using the optical drive, the HDD is the only thing on it that makes any noise-as you probably know, this was Apple's last fanless laptop until the recent Macbook.

Mine dual-boots 10.4.11 and OS 9.2.2, although it has been a very long time since it was booted into Tiger. IMO, these are great OS 9 laptops but not so great at OS X.

I like mine for playing older games. Many old "full screen" games were only designed for 640x480 or so, and the 800x600 display on these minimizes the "windowing" effect when playing these games. For games that require inserting the CD to play, try imaging the CD and then mount it before playing rather than physically inserting the CD. It saves you having to carry disks around with you, and is also much faster than reading off the optical disks. Plus, for games that require more than one disk, you can go ahead and mount all the disks before launching, which saves having to change disks in the middle.
 
There was some Clamshell iBooks advertised on another site that I visit and I toyed with the idea of buying one. I didn't, of course, but now they've been sold and I'm regretting not buying one. Oh well.
 
Cool man! I've been browsing craigslist for a cheap one, since I've never had the pleasure of seeing one in real life. How big is it compared to a macbook pro?
 
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128keaton said:
How big is it compared to a macbook pro?
Click to expand...

Big...

Here are a few quick iPhone photos of my Clamshell next to my 13"(classic, non-Retina) MBP. The Clamshell is similar in weight to a non-Unibody 15" or 15" AlBook.

BTW, as far as laptops go, I've been mostly using a DLSD Powerbook for the past week in accordance with the "challenge" but have been grabbing an early '08 15" non-Unibody for the times when I needed an Intel computer(work stuff primarily). Even before that, I used the non-Unibody pretty heavily for two weeks to finish up writing my thesis(I think the last time I used the 13" was last Thursday, when I had the iFixit guide on the 15" pulled up so that I could repaste it).

When I picked up the 13" Unibody today for this comparison-and then to post the photos I took(Intel makes getting iPhone photos so much easier, thanks to iPhoto) the battery was completely dead. I suppose I'd forgotten just how light and slim this computer is. I also keep trying to use my left thumb to click the trackpad(as I'm in the habit of doing on Macs with a discreet button) :) . I always get a good laugh when people talk about how "heavy" the 13" Classic is-with it sitting on my lap now, I feel like I'm not holding anything!
 

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bunnspecial said:
Big...



Here are a few quick iPhone photos of my Clamshell next to my 13"(classic, non-Retina) MBP. The Clamshell is similar in weight to a non-Unibody 15" or 15" AlBook.



BTW, as far as laptops go, I've been mostly using a DLSD Powerbook for the past week in accordance with the "challenge" but have been grabbing an early '08 15" non-Unibody for the times when I needed an Intel computer(work stuff primarily). Even before that, I used the non-Unibody pretty heavily for two weeks to finish up writing my thesis.



When I picked up the 13" Unibody today for this comparison-and then to post the photos I took(Intel makes getting iPhone photos so much easier, thanks to iPhoto) the battery was completely dead. I suppose I'd forgotten just how light and slim this computer is. I also keep trying to use my left thumb to click the trackpad(as I'm in the habit of doing on Macs with a discreet button) :) . I always get a good laugh when people talk about how "heavy" the 13" Classic is-with it sitting on my lap now, I feel like I'm not holding anything!
Click to expand...


Wow, I always thought it was this tiny little laptop. That's pretty large
 
128keaton said:
Wow, I always thought it was this tiny little laptop. That's pretty large
Click to expand...

I hadn't seen one in person before I bought mine. I was amazed when I unboxed it.

I have the original box, and it's bigger than what a lot of desktops come in these days. You could stack three or four Macbook Pro boxes in it.
 
Hey,

Have you upgraded it with a ssd? I bought a key lime recently, I also want to do a similar project.

Photos will be appreciated;)

-Chip

cmstuber said:
I just picked up my first iBook Clamshell. I've been wanting one for a while and I'm loving it!

It's the 466mhz FW SE model. 576mb ram, 20gig HD. The hard drive is a bit noisy, but I plan to upgrade it eventually with a SSD.

It's running 10.4.11 right now. It's fine, but lags a little bit. I want to experiment with linux, os9, panther and tiger and see which I like best. It's possible that I might eventually set this up to boot all 4.
Click to expand...
,
 
chip1 said:
Hey,

Have you upgraded it with a ssd? I bought a key lime recently, I also want to do a similar project.

Photos will be appreciated;)

-Chip


,
Click to expand...

I did get a KingSpec PATA SSD from Amazon. After ordering it, I found out that people were having trouble with it on G3 Macs. I decided to have a go at it anyway. Sure enough, that particular SSD doesn't work with OSX. I think it has something to do with their 'updated' controller which makes it incompatable.

I had a couple other issues arise since then. I had a bad LCD, and currently, my new NiMH battery went bad. I replaced the screen but the battery thing is bugging me still.

It's been living on the shelf for about a week since it's no longer portable (the whole point of a laptop).

I did get a triple boot set up for a while with mintPPC, OS9, and Tiger or Panther. Although I like linux, it felt extremely unnatural on the clamshell. I have to give it up to OS9 and OSX for all the little nice touches that make the computer feel right. I think that's part of the reason I love these PPC macs, a lot of the enjoyment is in the interaction with the machine.

So, after all that, I settled with OS9 and Tiger on one partition. It's the most flexible for me. I'm mostly in Tiger. Nearly all the other computers I have are running Tiger as well.

For the most part, I mostly watch movies and shows on it. You may laugh, but it handles up to 640p in mpeg format just fine. And since most of my old shows are in 480, it looks really great on the clamshell. 480 looks terrible on a higher resolution screen.

I'm gonna try a couple other SSDs for it soon, and get a Lithium battery.
 
128keaton said:
Cool man! I've been browsing craigslist for a cheap one, since I've never had the pleasure of seeing one in real life. How big is it compared to a macbook pro?
Click to expand...

Ive never seen them in person either. Only in a few movies such as "Big fat liar" haha. I really wanted to buy one from the Ibook guy. Specifically the fastest model of the indigo. Their amazing little machines. There is a guy from china, who will make one into a Macbook Air mod, remapping the keyboard and such to make it look original but run El cap. Its costly. He wants over $3000 CAD and that does not include the Macbook Air.
 
They're way bigger than you expect for a 12" laptop. Roughly the same width as a classic 15" MBP, a couple of inches deeper and twice the thickness. For the time they were a reasonable size. The similarly priced Toshiba laptops were thicker and heavier.

The carry handle gets cool points though.
 
I dont think I'd want El Cap, or anything intel in there. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a vintage mac.

Vintage vs Retro.

For me personally, I will always want the real vintage thing, despite the work arounds and break downs. That's why I like old vehicles, that's why I like old computers. I dont want the body of an old car or old computer unless it's got original stuff under the hood. The simplicity of the machine is half of it's beauty.
 
I've read some articles in other forum. The result of SSD replacement is mixed. If you were succeeded eventually, please share with me a tutorial. Many thanks!

-Chip

cmstuber said:
I did get a KingSpec PATA SSD from Amazon. After ordering it, I found out that people were having trouble with it on G3 Macs. I decided to have a go at it anyway. Sure enough, that particular SSD doesn't work with OSX. I think it has something to do with their 'updated' controller which makes it incompatable...
Click to expand...
 
I have never heard of this, it seems impossible.
comda said:
Ive never seen them in person either. Only in a few movies such as "Big fat liar" haha. I really wanted to buy one from the Ibook guy. Specifically the fastest model of the indigo. Their amazing little machines. There is a guy from china, who will make one into a Macbook Air mod, remapping the keyboard and such to make it look original but run El cap. Its costly. He wants over $3000 CAD and that does not include the Macbook Air.
Click to expand...
 
comda said:
Ive never seen them in person either. Only in a few movies such as "Big fat liar" haha. I really wanted to buy one from the Ibook guy. Specifically the fastest model of the indigo. Their amazing little machines. There is a guy from china, who will make one into a Macbook Air mod, remapping the keyboard and such to make it look original but run El cap. Its costly. He wants over $3000 CAD and that does not include the Macbook Air.
Click to expand...
I remember that, in "Big Fat Liar" he was editing a Hollywood movie :O. The "Master of Disguise" has an Tangerine iBook along with a Strawberry iMac G3, and a Mirrored Drive Door. Lastly, in "Princess Diaries" there is a Blueberry iBook within the first 15 minutes of the movie (outside the school, sitting on someones lap)
 
128keaton said:
I remember that, in "Big Fat Liar" he was editing a Hollywood movie :O. The "Master of Disguise" has an Tangerine iBook along with a Strawberry iMac G3, and a Mirrored Drive Door. Lastly, in "Princess Diaries" there is a Blueberry iBook within the first 15 minutes of the movie (outside the school, sitting on someones lap)
Click to expand...
Later versions of the Drew Carey show have an iBook behind the couch in Drews living room.
 
true story. years ago i saw hillary duff use one in a movie and it inspired me to go out and get one. used it for years and sold it a couple of years ago when i needed some money. can't remember what the movie was.
 
I had a clamshell iBook for a very short time. I actually bought it at an Apple retailer store from a kid that came into the store with it, wanting to sell it for a very low price. I suspected it might be hot but I bit.

I got it home and found enough pictures and information on it to be able to ascertain it indeed was stolen from a dorm room at a local college. I immediately put a stop on my check but it went through anyway. It wasn't worth fighting the bank about it. I returned the iBook to the student who really seemed only concerned about getting his hundreds of pirated MP3s off of it. It made me wonder who this computer actually belonged to. Probably the students parents.

I do have some consolation in the fact that the store where I bought it eventually went broke.:p
 
cmstuber said:
I dont think I'd want El Cap, or anything intel in there. It sort of defeats the purpose of having a vintage mac.
Vintage vs Retro.
For me personally, I will always want the real vintage thing, despite the work arounds and break downs. That's why I like old vehicles, that's why I like old computers. I dont want the body of an old car or old computer unless it's got original stuff under the hood. The simplicity of the machine is half of it's beauty.
Click to expand...

Totally agree...
I've also got a Clamshell Graphite 466Mhz a few weeks ago.
Instantly made a mSata-IDE-adapter upgrade. It's really worth the effort - makes the Clamshell run fast and silent! Granite's iBook G3 Clamshells
It is running on Tiger and that fits all my needs:
- Office '04
- Skim PDF-editor
- email
- Safari with webkit4tiger, iCloud
- webDAV / VNC / RDP/ FileSharing
- Music-Machine (unfortunately with iTunes 8 no connection to my iTunes music library on my MacBook with OS10.11 :( )
- FirstClass Client
- Fax-machine
- eyeTV
Yeah - feels like true old stuff and it's still part of my current workflow...
Have fun!
 
Last edited:
bobesch said:
- Music-Machine (unfortunately with iTunes 8 no connection to my iTunes music library on my MacBook with OS10.11 :( )
Click to expand...
iTunes 9.1.1 works on G3s with Tiger (unofficially - you'll probably need to download it manually rather than get it through Software Update), not sure if that helps or not though.
 
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