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New to Macs, got a cheap G3 on eBay and have questions!

whitewolf1218 said:
So, my first question is: How well will Garageband run on a 600MHz G3 with 256MB RAM? I'm pondering upping it to 640MB, but I want to make sure it'll make a big difference before I purchase the extra memory. How well will the system run in general (OSX 10.3) with the G3 600MHz processor and 256MB memory?

<snip>
Next, if I want to upgrade my hard drive, is there a program that can image the OS and all of my programs like there are for Windows, or do I have to get an OSX CD and reinstall it myself?
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1. The first version of Garage Band from iLife "04 will work in 256MB of RAM and on a 600 MHz G3:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306339

iDVD will not work, and you'll need a DVD drive to install Garage Band.

2. To clone your Mac HD to an external FireWire hard drive from this computer, you'll need an earlier version of SuperDuper! The cloning capability is free in SuperDuper!. If you pay the $28, you'll get more features.:

http://www.shirtpocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

If you don't have a FireWire hard drive, you won't be able to boot from it to this computer.

3. A 512MB memory module (which will give you 640MB total) for this computer is $59 plus shipping from:

http://www.datamemorysystems.com/_apple_info/Apple_G3_iBook_600MHz_Memory_1261.asp
 
thehellobob said:
About the newest version of iMovie: you can still download iMovie HD (the previous version) from Apples website free of charge. If you do decide to go with a more current mac down the line, I would recommend that you do.
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where is that ? I looked everywhere I could but couldn't find the dl :confused:

thanks :)
 
I owned a 900mhz g3 ibook with 640 mb RAM up until a while ago, and both Jaguar and Panther ran just fine. As far as Photoshop goes, get yourself a cheap copy of either CS1 or even PS7. Depends what kind of work you do– if it's just levels and stuff, v.7 does everything you need. Some people here haven't had to use older hardware, and just buy more than they need. Trust me, I did some darn good Graphic Design schoolwork on that iBook.

Welcome, and enjoy.
 
I used to run Jaguar on a 500 MHz G3 Pismo Powerbook, and it ran just fine.

Garageband, even the first version, is a resource hog. Although your iBook fits the minimum specs, you won't be able to do much more than open the program and maybe record one or two short tracks.

But if your real goal is just to get a sense of the Mac on the cheap, I think you'll do okay.
 
Just another vote of confidence for the G3 iBook. I was using an iBook 600 with Panther until just a few months ago and I thought it was ok for all kinds of tasks. I used Photoshop the Office suite and even did audio recording and mixing with Pro Tools up until the end.
It will seem slow if you are used to more modern computer speeds, but I wasn't at the time and I thought the computer was totally acceptable. That said, I now have a new Intel iMac and I could never go back to the G3!
 
Heh, thanks for all the responses. It's good to know about your experiences. July 8th it's supposed to be in, so I'll post back and tell you how it runs. Thanks again.
 
iBook G3 - 14" - 900MHz - 384MB RAM - 40GB HDD - $350

Tiger runs flawlessly. I have MS Office 2004, Halo, Quake 3, all running smooth as silk.

I will be getting iLife '06 for it soon. I'll let you know how that runs.

You chose a good first Mac. ;)
 
Well I'm sorry to say but a G3 wont get you anywhere.. Garageband wont run. Heck iLife or iWork wont work You cant install the latest OS (Leopard) your machine has great troubles running tiger. I suggest you just load OS 9 on there and you will get best speeds and you can run internet, email, quicktime, appleworks. I'm sorry but photoshop will NOT run on that. let alone 640 mb of ram. i also suggest you put 1gb of ram into it because 256 is horrible!.
I garentee you will have some problem with it within the first year whether its logic board or screen. The battery is probably in horrible condition

I'm sorry but thats either

A)Waste of money
B)Collectors Computer

This computer will not get you anywhere.

-=|Superman|=-
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Where do I even start? iLife will run, iWork will run, GargeBand will run. (Albeit very slowly) You are right about it not running Leopard, but who needs Leopard? It runs Tiger like a champ. Photoshop won't be a speed demon, but it will function. 256 MB of RAM will work, but 640 MB is better, yes. The iBook G3's do not support 1 GB of RAM.

It's true the iBook G3's are prone to logic board and display problems. But that does not in any way mean it's "guaranteed" to have a problem with either of those. There are a lot of fully functioning iBook G3's still in use out there.

Waste of money? Yes, if you're expecting this thing to run like a MacBook. But it is still a very capable machine for many tasks, it's not a waste of money.

Collector's item? Yeah, maybe some day. Not right now though.
superman193 said:
theres a BIG difference between a g3 and a g4... a 667 mhz g4 is better then a 1.42 ghz g3.... mainly because of velocity engine.... your ibook g3 will be horrible for os x
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...That was an epic FAIL. First, G3's only run up to 900 MHz. Second, I highly doubt a 600 MHz G4 would run better then a 1.42 GHz "G3" even if that were possible.:rolleyes:.

600 MHz is plenty to run Tiger at a very decent speed. 256 MB isn't that bad either, if you're a light user.



Anyway, to the OP, I have an 800 MHz iBook G3 running Tiger on 256 MB of RAM, it is used as a folding machine and backup Mac. Yes, it does have the display and logic board problems, but it's a very good machine as far as performance goes when hooked up to an external display.


You'll love yours, I bet you got a good machine for a great price.
 
Well thank you Cassie, good to see another vote of confidence for the iBook :)

So what exactly was wrong with the logic boards and screens? I saw that they had issues with them, but I went ahead and got one anyway, but I'd like to know what exactly was going wrong with the G3s.
 
whitewolf1218 said:
Well thank you Cassie, good to see another vote of confidence for the iBook :)

So what exactly was wrong with the logic boards and screens? I saw that they had issues with them, but I went ahead and got one anyway, but I'd like to know what exactly was going wrong with the G3s.
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Oh my god, you don't want to know. My iBook had that, so now it's sitting in my closet.

The graphics chip becomes loose and so the screen gets fuzzy and then the computer locks up, basically making it useless.

Hope you never see this happen, but chances are you will.
 
Sadly, yes, chances are you will have problems with your iBook G3.

There are a few things that go wrong. Number one is with the logic board. There was a defect in the soldering of the GPU to the logic board. After a period of time, the solder starts to break and the GPU starts wiggling around. This causes lines across the screen, fuzziness and sometimes nothing is displayed at all. There's a quick fix involving a shim that may solve the problem should it occur. Just Google "iBook G3 logic board fix" and you should find it.

One other, slightly less common problem is the backlight. Sometimes, the cable that gives the backlight its power becomes pinched in the hinge of the display when it opens. After a period of time, you may need to open up the iBook and splice the cable so it doesn't become pinched again.

They have also been known to have problems with the internal speakers, in which they make a "CLICK CLICK CLICK" noise repeatedly.

Mine is fairly crippled, the GPU is still a little woozy at times, and the backlight doesn't work at all, so I have it hooked up as a desktop computer with external peripherals.

But I hope yours lasts, as many of them have.
 
whitewolf1218 said:
Well thank you Cassie, good to see another vote of confidence for the iBook :)

So what exactly was wrong with the logic boards and screens? I saw that they had issues with them, but I went ahead and got one anyway, but I'd like to know what exactly was going wrong with the G3s.
Click to expand...

Here's the page from Apple about the repair extension (with a range of serial numbers). The repair extension probably expired on July 17, 2007, but you may have some rights depending upon your state of residence. I'm guessing you can contact Apple, and they may even be able to determine if your iBook has been repaired under the repair extension.

http://www.apple.com/support/ibook/faq/

Listing of older, refurbished equipment from vendors which have limited warranties can be found here:

http://www.pcprices.net/refurblaptops.shtml

Good luck!
 
I've always wanted one of those G3 ibooks, particularly the 12inch one.
Not because of the (modest) specs but because of the ability to do this to it;

http://www.applefritter.com/hacks/tronbook

I think it would be fast enough for some light tasks like email and web-surfing at least. ones that speed isn't so important.

I don't have the money for a macbook-air, so a modded 12inch ibook would be both pretty portable and cool. For 200 bucks its a steal.
 
Cassie said:


Where do I even start? iLife will run, iWork will run, GargeBand will run. (Albeit very slowly) You are right about it not running Leopard, but who needs Leopard? It runs Tiger like a champ. Photoshop won't be a speed demon, but it will function. 256 MB of RAM will work, but 640 MB is better, yes. The iBook G3's do not support 1 GB of RAM.

It's true the iBook G3's are prone to logic board and display problems. But that does not in any way mean it's "guaranteed" to have a problem with either of those. There are a lot of fully functioning iBook G3's still in use out there.

Waste of money? Yes, if you're expecting this thing to run like a MacBook. But it is still a very capable machine for many tasks, it's not a waste of money.

Collector's item? Yeah, maybe some day. Not right now though.


...That was an epic FAIL. First, G3's only run up to 900 MHz. Second, I highly doubt a 600 MHz G4 would run better then a 1.42 GHz "G3" even if that were possible.:rolleyes:.

600 MHz is plenty to run Tiger at a very decent speed. 256 MB isn't that bad either, if you're a light user.



Anyway, to the OP, I have an 800 MHz iBook G3 running Tiger on 256 MB of RAM, it is used as a folding machine and backup Mac. Yes, it does have the display and logic board problems, but it's a very good machine as far as performance goes when hooked up to an external display.


You'll love yours, I bet you got a good machine for a great price.
Click to expand...

Actaully its not a FAIL.. there was many 'upgrade' cards for g3's (B&W) and even running up to 1.42 ghz do some research before you post ;) your thinking the mhz myth or in this case the ghz myth... its all about the innards not the ghz (velocity engine , floating point, caches & what not) ghz/mhz do NOT matter.
 
I used to have an iMac G3, 700 Mhz, 640 MB Ram, and it ran 10.4.11 fairly decently. The only issue it had was with flash player (youtube, ect) and any video over 640x480 resolution, but this was due to the 7 year old video card.
 
windowpain said:
I've always wanted one of those G3 ibooks, particularly the 12inch one.
Not because of the (modest) specs but because of the ability to do this to it;

http://www.applefritter.com/hacks/tronbook

I think it would be fast enough for some light tasks like email and web-surfing at least. ones that speed isn't so important.

I don't have the money for a macbook-air, so a modded 12inch ibook would be both pretty portable and cool. For 200 bucks its a steal.
Click to expand...

That looks really freakin' cool. I'd so try that, but I just know I'd do something to break it, so I'll probably hold off on that.
 
Screw the G3 Haters

Kudos man! I did the same thing in HS, I got a G3 B&W Powermac, it had 10.2 and like 128MB of RAM, but thats all it took, $50 off eBay got me into the mac world. Since then I've had 10-15 macs, right now I have none but I'm ordering a new Blackbook or MBP next Saturday!

I'd just make sure you get 10.3.9 up and running and just play around with it, you'll fall in love with it and for $200 its worth it just to have a cool older mac, it'll be able to do any of the basic stuff fine, Office, internet, etc.

Good Luck!
 
The Hard drive upgrade that you mentioned isn't particularly pleasant. It's hard to imagine that they could have put it in a more inconvenient place. You might
want to try http://www.ifixit.com/ for some help.

Did you get the 12 inch or the 14? How are your first impressions?
 
"Screw the G3 Haters" <-- my thoughts exactly :D

I got the 12'' iBook. Unfortunately, the seller did not ship it on Monday, he waited till last Tuesday, so it was caught up by the 4th of July weekend.... Should be here Tuesday.
 
windowpain said:
The Hard drive upgrade that you mentioned isn't particularly pleasant. It's hard to imagine that they could have put it in a more inconvenient place. You might
want to try http://www.ifixit.com/ for some help.

Did you get the 12 inch or the 14? How are your first impressions?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link btw. Got my AirPort card today! Only paid $25 (eBay again, I swear that's the way to go) Muahahaha I'm getting really excited. I'm not doing anything tomorrow, so I'm going to be bouncing off the walls until UPS gets here with me "new" iBook. Unfortunately, we're near the end of the normal route, so I probably won't see it till 5 or so. Maybe I'll luck out tomorrow and it'll be here around 11am or so.

Just wanted to thank everyone for all of the replies and advice, good and bad. I know a few people are watching this post to see how this little guy runs, and you can bet I'll be posting back tomorrow night, or at the latest Wednesday night. I know how it feels to be thanked, I'm part of a Vista Forum (The Vista Forums, if anybody has any Windows-related questions), and I know it feels good to know that I helped, and I just wanted to return the favor :D
 
It's here!

Alrighty, finally! It came in yesterday, and I've only been able to play around with it, but here's what I found out:

Photoshop, Garageband, and everything else runs FINE. Kudos to those who said it would run, shame on those that said it won't.

The battery is amazing. I have it on power saver and dimmed down the screen, and it's getting well over 5 hours. That's AMAZING.

Physically, it's alright. A bit scratched up, and the lid isn't flush, but nothing that detracts from the performance. There was one blemish I was able to cover up with a couple Apple stickers that came with my iPod Classic :D

Still tinkering around with it, but overall, I'm very happy. Thanks again for everyone's imput!
 
Mine is ancient..lol Blue and white G3 clamshell ibook with 366mhz 192mb. it runs OS X 10.3.9 and i even managed to get it on my sky network with an airport update.

I bought mine cheap just so i could chat in bed at night.

Mine came with word on it but its never been used as i dont have printer connected. I have Desktop PC that has printer and scanner attached, office, photoshop etc.

It depends what you need it for. I'm now looking into more powerful Mac's and deciding whether to go for desktop mac when my pc needs replacing. Though i'm not sure if id also need to buy new scanner and printer (current ones are HP).

For me a big deciding factor is disability software, as I have difficulties with my co-ordination and currently use extra large trackball and large keys keyboard connected via USB. I know this iBook wont have the power to run scanning software so I'll definitely need to upgrade to something more powerful in the future, as those kind of programs tend to use a huge amount of memory and hard drive.

If it does what you want it to for now stick with it and use it to learn the setup. Anyway I think the older ones have more character the new ones are either all white or all silver like PC's!
 
Y'all just had to say something, didn't you...

Lol yup, it worked for one day. I've been doing some research, and it looks like the inverter board has gone bad. Picked up one on ebay for $15, but it'll be a pain in the butt to get to it to replace it... hopefully it works, it'll be a shame to have to scrap all that software. I'll salvage it for parts, but I'd prefer not to. Oh well.

I really really liked using it too :(
 
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