Deal: Apple 12" iBook G4 for $349
There's a great deal going on now at Geeks.com. They are selling refurbished 12" iBooks (G4 @ 1.07GHz, 30GB Hard Drive, 256MB and a 30GB hard drive) for $349. Enter coupon code "IBOOKDEAL" for the $30 bucks off.
Those specs aren't great shakes, we know, but there's a surprising number of people still holding onto their old iBooks for dear life : it's the smallest laptop Apple's ever produced, as close to an OSX-running netbook as you're likely to get short of some incredible September surprise. I was surprised how many hacker types carried around iBooks at Chaos Congress in December. I'm pretty tempted.
Apple iBook G4 [Geeks.com via, image Crunchgear]
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mine died just a few weeks ago, not bad for a 5 year old little machine. (hint: when the keys start to go, shes got a month or two left)
I'm still happily using mine. I feel I should point out to prospective buyers, though, that the iBook G4 won't run any version of OSX later than 10.3.9, and increasing numbers of software packages are becoming unusable for me as their makers issue updates. Among the common applications I can't run are Firefox 3 and the version of iTunes that's required to interface with the iPhone -- that's right, no iPhone or iPod Touch with the G4.
Mine's still going too, but has a one-pixel wide stripe down the right side of the screen. It's also a screaming 1.2 ghz, with 512M memory. It might be worth mentioning that this model has a built-in modem unlike the newer 'books.
If you can find 10.4 on CD (it shipped on DVD but there was an option to exchange the disc for a set of 640s), I think you can upgrade that far. I'm pretty sure iTunes 7 runs on that.
Is that a dual-hard drive model? ;)
the g4 i referenced in comment one ran leopard perfectly, if a little on the colorwheel side, it was the 15 inch g4 though
I've seen similar prices for used 12" Powerbooks on eBay. Subject to availability, of course.
That can't be correct. I appreciate that it's your iBook G4... unless you're actually talking about a G3. But I've used iBook G4 laptops running 10.4, and as long as the G4 is >1 GHz, it'll run 10.5 Leopard too. Seriously, you can upgrade to 10.4 at least.Mine is an iceBook G3, and "netbook" is about right--it definitely won't run the latest OSX, and even if I was willing to settle for 10.3.9 or whatever, I'd have to spend so much to upgrade the RAM and hard drive that I might as well start saving for a new one. It's fine for what I use it for: sitting in coffeehouses and browsing. So far, anyway.
Beware. they have known to fail logic boards, which amusingly cost about $250+labor to replace
I've have this exact machine with 768 MB of ram running Tiger with no problems, aside from a little slowness. It's been my go-to home computer since I got it in late 2004 -- so much so that I've worn the silk-screen lettering off some of the keys.
A question though: does it really come with a CD-ROM, instead of a CD/DVD combo drive? I thought the combo drive was standard.
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative gave every middle school in the state the option to buy the iBooks the 7th and 8th graders were given or to sell them to the public. Some schools were selling their laptops at about $50 a piece, all iBook G3s.
My district kept their laptops and hired me to repair and maintain them so the sixth graders and high school students could use them. The 7th and 8th graders got new ones from the state. I managed to get enough broken parts that the school couldn't use to make a couple headless or damaged models for myself. I'm expecting to see the iBook G4s that replaced the G3s to be cycled out in the next couple years.
That is a great deal, better than I usually find on Craigslist; I tend to buy, refurb, resell those because I'm pretty used to taking them apart and putting them back together. BUT...
"...it's the smallest laptop Apple's ever produced..." incorrect. Its brother, the Powerbook G4 12" was the ur-G3-netbook. Slightly smaller, aluminum, somewhat faster, slightly easier to disasseble and work on.
And, the G4 iBooks run 10.4 just fine; my Powerbook 12" runs 10.5.
The G3 iBooks are somewhat more prone to logic board failure, especially display chip desoldering.
Some things you should know:
0) These are "USED" and will show wear and tear.
1) They will run 10.5. Slowly.
2) As soon as you get one, get another 1 GB card to max out the memory at 1.25 GB. Memory is easy to install.
3) iPhone syncing with G4 processors is unreliable. Don't plan on using this with an iPhone.
4) Yes, Apple did make CD-ROM only configs for educational markets.
5) Replacing the hard drive or CD drive is NON-TRIVIAL. Seriously. It takes over an hour, and you HAVE to be SUPER meticulous and CAREFULLY label every single one of the FORTY screws.
6) They specifically say the battery is unlikely to hold a full charge. Cheap replacements are $50, name brands are $90.
My 12" iBook 1.33 GHz is happily running 10.4.11. Definitely could do with an upgrade from 512MB memory though. And a new hard drive, 40Mb is just barely enough. An hour's work to replace? I could manage that. Or destroy my iBook forever, of course, but apparently it's not worth so much any more.
Here's the step-by-step guide to replacing the 2.5" PATA hard drive in an iBook G4. Looks about as annoying as replacing the optical drive in the 12" Powerbook. The 250GB 2.5" PATA Western Digital hard drive is only $100 now though.
You could trade the optical drive for another 250GB hard drive too, if you wanted. RAID-0 500GB would be nice.
I need to keep the optical drive for running my Alpha Centauri disc (won't run on my Intel Mac).
Oh, my, do you think I could retrofit a Mac Air solid-state drive instead of my hard-drive? Do those things have SATA connections, or something more exotic?
I have an old G3 iBook (500Mhz!) and it is running 10.4 just fine.
both the 12" PowerBook and the PowerBook 2400 were smaller. My 12" powerbooks runs 10.5, but I had to boot the DVD off another machine on target disk mode.
splurge for a powerbook 12", leopard will thank you. Plus line in jack is a plus.
Also, there isn't a No-CD patch for this? Really?
Wow, I had no idea my old Powerbook G4 was actually worth a few benjamins still. I wonder if it'd be worth taking Ubuntu off and getting it rigged up with Leopard and then selling it...
The logic boards can fail, but they're relatively easy to fix. The failure often occurs on the same chip, which can be resoldered yourself if you're handy with a small-tipped iron. Mine suffered a failure but works fine after the fix (going on 6 months).
I will weep bitter tears when my 12" Powerbook G4 finally dies. It's slow sometimes (867 Mhz), burns my thighs and has a broken latch, but it's an unbelievably sturdy, lightweight and versatile little Netbook That Could.
I dropped it out of a helicopter in Baghdad -- it fell 40 feet (inside my bag) onto gravel, received some terrible looking dents and the aforementioned broken latch, but continued to work just fine.
I keep mine set up in the kitchen. I use it as a recipe finder, and I have my Amazon Fresh account bookmarked and always up in the browser, so I can add to my shopping list whenever I want to. Click "order" and I've got in-kitchen grocery shopping with free delivery. Ahh, modern conveniences.
I used to have an 800MHz G4 iBook. So far, it was the second-best computer I have ever owned, the only brand new computer I have ever owned and it seriously converted me to Mac laptops.
A couple years after I bought it, I got a deal on a 1.33 GHz G4 12" PowerBook ($100. Believe it or not) and a year later I sold the iBook to a friend's kid who used it to play WoW for another couple of years.
I just bought a refurbished MacBook Pro but I'm holding on to the PowerBook for dear life. There is no way I'll haul a 15" laptop with me to strange cities or foreign countries, and after the iBook and the PowerBook there is just not much that will meet my standards.
Second hand mac sales are a bit absurd... at auction I saw G5 towers going for AU$1000 +
As for G4's and Leopard..as long as you've got 1ghz+ and 512mb RAM, you're good to go. And if you don't, Tiger will suit you fine. In fact, Tiger runs much better on my G4 eMac than Panther. Go figure.
My ibook G4 runs leopard perfectly. It a 12" notebook with 1.2 Ghz PpowerPC Processor, 1.2 GB RAM and 30 GB HD.
"the iBook G4 won't run any version of OSX later than 10.3.9";"Among the common applications I can't run are Firefox 3 and the version of iTunes that's required to interface with the iPhone -- that's right, no iPhone or iPod Touch with the G4."
Not true. My iBook G4 w/ 1.07 GHz processor,133 MHz bus speed, 1.25 GB memory, & 30 GB Fujitsu HD runs Firefox v3.03, iTunes 8.0.1 (12), NeoOffice v2.2.5 Patch 2, and numerous other updated apps.
I got a G3 800 iBook with 640 ram runs 10.4.11 great better than panther, I just instated combo drive and a 100 gb HD it took about 45 minutes. they are kinda a pain to take apart