Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / November 2006

quiet, quick, optical drive has tendency to fail, screen has tendency to
fail. Extremely uncomfortable to get inside for operations going deeper
than changing ram or adding airport (f.e. changing drives is a mess).
You have to keep in mind it is a low cost notebook. But good value for
money relation. It is better than a 1400 on many points, no doubt, more
responsive, no cutted video capacities, larger and lighter screen,
quicker CPU, more ram possible, larger harddisk, faster busses, quicker
optical drive, less weight, longer battery life (per session and at
all), no pcmcia, included ethernet.

How much is it?  You'd probably get a better PowerBook for similar money
(e.g. the Lombard or Pismo G3 models, which have less corners cut in the
design).  As a second hand machine the iBook's extra robustness may have
protected it from damage to some extent.

All the white iBooks (G3 *and* G4) are susceptible to a problem where
the graphics controller can un-stick from the motherboard, leaving them
with a black screen and un-bootable.  However Apple's policy differs -
the G3 models have a repair extension programme which offers a free
motherboard replacement for affected units; the G4 *might* be repaired
free (mine was) but there's no policy in place.  Check Apple's website
for details - it may mean the difference between a free repair and an
unusable machine!  Of course the machine you buy may already have been
through the repair process.

As for upgrades, iBooks are HELL to work on.  I've replaced hard drives
several times and they're the hardest computers I've worked on.  
Something always refuses to go back together the right way ... !

http://www.barefeats.com/ has a lot of speed tests.

http://www.lowendmac.com/ has info about individual models.

     Good luck!

        MK.

PS: None of them will have as nice a keyboard as the 1400.  Sorry.

The G3 iBooks are some of the quietest computers I have ever used, esp.
with the original 4200 rpm HD. The plastic casing provides for damping
the Albooks lack. The G3 iBooks also still boot into OS 9, which you may
like if you are coming from a 1400. People have commented about the
screen problems, all too true, unfortunately. I should add that the
cables through the hinge are also somewhat prone to failure and as any
modern laptop fixing such is not for the faint of heart (at least the
repair manuals are available online).

Personally I'd advise against buying a used laptop. You never know what
the thing has gone through, prices are relatively high and you almost
invariably have to buy a new battery ($100...150 extra), and they are
usually beyond economical repair if they break unless you can fix them
yourself. As much as I love my wife's iBook, it has had its share of
trouble, tolerable (economically) for a new machine at $1400 but
intolerable for a used machine at a few 100 $ (i.e. repair would be
dearer than the initial outlay).

Mac Dude