My iBook G4 800MHz

Chazam · #1 February 17th, 2005, 06:12 AM

I'm (rather) new to the mac scene and me and the wife have had this iBook a little under a year.
We've enjoyed using it which has made me recently decide to sell my PC and put it towards getting a Mac Mini. Yes we're going 100% Apple.

It all started when we were looking for a Laptop and i was un impressed with what was on offer on the x86 side of things so the wife stumpled into the Apple section of a computer store where we purchased our first Mac.

It's an:
iBook G4 800MHz
640MB's Ram (upgraded by me with the help of a Macosx.com forum member)
30GB HDD
External USB 2.0 80GB HDD
Logitech Optical Wheemouse (Salvaged from the old PC)
OSX Version 10.3.8

Since owning the iBook we've both purchased an iPod each (Me a 20GB 4th gen and the wife a 4Gb iPod mini) which are as perfect as an MP3 player can get!

We mainly use our iBook for web browsing, iTunes, iPhoto with our Kodak Digicam and updating our iPod's but i do occaisionally game on my iBook. (Quake III, UT 2003, Dungeon Siege and Sacrifice)
I also use my iBook as a little emulation machine too so i get plenty of gameplay out of it.

I'm now looking forward togetting rid of all mt PC parts and getting the Mac Mini to add to our Mac family.

That's about it!

HateEternal · #2 February 17th, 2005, 10:03 AM

Sounds just like why I got my iBook G4 800!

I wanted to get a reletively inexpensive laptop for taking notes in class. After I started looking around I realized that there were no inexpensive, lightweight PC laptops with long battery life. I hadn't had a Mac since my Performa 6400/180 but in a lot of ways I was still a Mac user on the inside, I always stuck up for them when my PC friends were bashing them and every time I went to compusa I had to play with their Macs. I decided to check out Apple and fell in love with the iBook. It certainly isn't the fastest machine out there, I still like to blame the 256kb cache out there, but it really made like OS X and I wanted sooooo badly to get a desktop and change my main computer from Mac to PC.

I originally was going to try and get a used PowerMac G4 or Cube off of eBay(idk why I just like the damn cube) but the stupid Macs retain their value too well! I was seeing 400mhz AGP G4's with 128Mb of ram going for 300-400 dollars! So, I decided to say screw it and just go out, if Macs can hold there value that long, and be still be usefull that long, it was worth it for me to invest in a badass desktop. Of course I wanted a G5, while the iMacs are badass and the monitors are sweet, I already have a LCD monitor and I feel silly having to throw a good display away when the machine becomes obsolete. I also wanted dual processors and a good video card. So convinced my Mom, really easily i might add (she likes macs too) to give me a loan to get a G5. Its so amazing, I love it more than anything else. It was soooooooooooooooo worth it getting the dual processors, OS X knows how to use them so well, I can have so much stuff going on at the same time and seriosly not even notice a difference in performance.

I wish I could drop my PC but I have to do stuff in MaxDB and SQL studio for school and they dont have a Mac or even an opensource version(of sql studio). I also will probably end up getting a job programming PC stuff but thats OK, as long as I can use my Mac at home

Chazam · #3 February 20th, 2005, 02:06 PM

Here's a quick pic of my iBook and som od the accessories we have for it.

The accessories are as follows:
iPod forth gen 20GB (mine)
iPod Mini (Wifes)
Logitech Optical Wheelmouse
i-Rocks Media Reader
N-Gage QD (iSync)
Sitecom USB Bluetooth Dongle
D-Link DWL-122 USB Wireles Adapter.

On Order:
Icy Box Firewire 3.5" HDD Caddy With 80GB IBM Deskstar 120GXP (Salvaged from an old PC.

ipoh · #4 March 7th, 2005, 05:46 PM

how to upgrade the ram on ibook myself?

is it difficult??

where can i get the ram from in uk?

please advice...i just got my new ibook 12" g4 1.2ghz

chornbe · #5 March 7th, 2005, 06:08 PM

It's super easy. The keyboard lifts out, the network adapter lifts out and there it is. One open ram slot. Takes all of 3 minutes, 1 if you do it with your eyes open.

Convert · #6 March 7th, 2005, 06:44 PM

iPoh: www.crucial.com/uk

They'll give you the best memory for your computer, I can guarantee that.

achoholica · #7 March 13th, 2005, 09:49 AM

Crucial memory is indeed best, but better to buy it from www.ebuyer.com. After using crucials own site to work out which one you need first, obviously.

I recently upgraded to 768mb on my ibook and dammit, it makes all the difference.

Decado · #8 March 13th, 2005, 04:33 PM

in you ibook manual you can find easy to follow instructions how to upgrade the memory! the only tool you need is the smallest star-shaped screwdriver you can lay your hands on (usually in a package with five different models for about 2 €)