Upgrading an iBook G4 is cheaper at the Apple Store

Zut alors, voldenuit! I think you are confusing your anger at some of the anti-French comments to the post with the post itself. There's nothing wrong with fbz noting that it would cost less to buy a new one with upgrades than to upgrade an old one. I don't think anything she notes in the post constitutes slander. Chill out a bit, mon frere. You're coming off as being slightly rude. I hope you don't want to reinforce our American readership's negative French stereotypes! ;-)

Thanks for bothering to answer and well, nice try. Even as of today, your headline is still plain wrong and maxing out an iBook ࠬa MacBidouille is cheaper: baseline 12" ibook@AppleStore.fr: 1.049 1,5 GB RAM, 100 GB HD ibook@AppleStore: 1.599 1,5 GB RAM, 100 GB HD ibook ࠬa MacBidouille: 1.049 + 160 + 166 = 1375 (pricing based on macway.com) 1,5 GB RAM, 100 GB HD 7200 rpm, SuperDrive ibook ࠬa MacBidouille: 1.049 + 160 + 244 + 160 = 1613 Of course, you need to take the effort of "bidouillage" into account, but now, you don't even have the option to get a Superdrive for the 12" iBook from Apple anymore and if you prefer that form factor, the non-Apple way or a PowerBook are your only options. Your conclusion "...but it would be cheaper to just upgrade the SuperDrive and leave the rest to an official Apple tech." does not make much sense neither. Once you've got the iBook open (which, admittedly, is not exactly a walk in the park), you may just as well upgrade everything on the list. As a "a bit of a hardware hacker" yourself, you should know that. And, as demonstrated, the AppleStore was and still is significantly more expensive, even if their RAM upgrade pricing got slightly less obscene over time. Your implied message "macbidouille.fr is a cute bunch of hardware-hax0rs, but there's no point doing that any longer" is insulting both the people who put in the effort to publish, then translate the how-to and the intelligence of your readers here. Comparing prices half a year old to those of today (which will, given the speed of hardware price-drops, immediately strike as intellectually dishonest even to the most well-meaning bystander) is the only way to make macbidouilles upgrading look economically pointless and support your catchy title. So, your headline was and still is plain wrong and instead of dealing with it by some charming denial, admitting that you screwed up (and fixing the article) might actually be the easier way out. Especially if you look at the comments such why-would-I-bother-to-get-my-facts-right writing does to the patriotic feelings of some select individuals of your american readership... Bien cordialement voldenuit

voldenuit: Thank you for your comments. I did enjoy the MacBidouille article (which is why i finished my post with: "Therefore, MacBidouille, we love your How-To"). Also, I'm a bit of a hardware hacker myself, mostly by necessity just like this iBook replacement how-to. And yes, I read the french article before the english version. However, since it's no longer necessary to replace the bluetooth and the ram is up to 512 standard, I felt it would be nice to point out to readers that perhaps Apple was listening to MacBidouille and other DIY upgraders. Cheers, fbz

As the research prior to writing your cheap slander should have brought to the light, the original, french article was written in early july while the english translation -without updated prices- came out only these days. The article explicitly mentions the prices that served to assess the economic viability of the whole operation, I quote from the first page of the article you dissed: "All parts including the iBook have been purchased for 1,598 euros VAT included. To compare, the same iBook 80GB 5400rpm without the SuperDrive costs : 1,677.99 euros VAT included and the PB 12" Superdrive 1.2 GB with 80 GB 5400rpm : 2,168 euros VAT included." As your bio states, you're fluent in french and it looks live you live in Paris, France, so not checking your facts and not being in touch with the people running one of the most relevant french-language online publications does certainly tell a lot more about your qualification than about their extremely sensible iBook upgrade. I suggest to make better use of the ability to read in the future. An apology to macbidouille and your readers here would certainly not hurt either.

On my 12" PB 1GHz, I upgraded the HD from 40GB/4200rpm to Seagate 100GB/5400rpm. It was a detail-oriented process, with the only irritant being this magnetic slug covering one of the screws. I *do* enjoy the extra space, and the speed difference is noticeable, especially with regular doses of iDefrag to the active OSX partitions. I also noticed that my installation of Windows 98, 2000Pro, and 2000AdvServer on VPC partition ran faster. I believe defrag along with faster HD joined to make the difference. I took the money for upgrading the SuperDrive and spent it on a robust external SuperMultiDLDrive because of the intricacy of mucking with internal SuperDrive and matching it to the slot opening. After my own "under the hood" experience, I *really* have respect for those who do this type of thing, and take the time to document and share their experiences - their efforts serve to inspire and inform those who wonder about such an undertaking, in the face of salespeople and other hands-off "professionals" interested in other, more profitable ventures. Thanks to all of you DIY Geeks!:-) Cheers, CBS

Wow Frank, way to bring that element of redneck ignorance to the table. We were all about to say that, so thanks for stepping up and "gettin those frenchies" for America. There are not huge architechtural differences to speak of actually. Aside from a 20 Mhz difference in system bus speed and a different video card, the rest actually IS all drives (and the 1.5 versus 1.33 processor). For the money, it's an excellent solution for those who already have an ibook, as the 12" powerbooks don't even have the option of a 7200 rpm drive. Perhaps some people are just upset that they paid $1500 for a silver ibook ;-)

This is nothing more than a ghetto crack-head version of a Powerbook. It is certainly no "upgrade". There is more to a Powerbook than a mere difference in size of drive and ram. The Powerbook has some major architectual differences that this "upgrade" does not take into consideration. The only thing this does is "upgrade" your iBook. It will still be an iBook. If you want a Powerbook, sorry kids, you gotta fork out the cash for the real thing. Tell those Frenchies to stick to making wine and french bread, IT is certainly not their expertise. Somebody get me an order of Freedom fries on the double....

Most have heard about this, but this is a free way to match the powerbook's functionality with the iBook in regards to monitor spanning. This makes them very close in abilities: http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html

Thanks BC, I had just assumed it was a 5400rpm, but I just checked it and you are right... it is a 4200rpm. I think I will be making this upgrade as soon as I can.

Apple's iBook drives are all 4200rpm, not 5400rpm. And some 7200rpm drives don't necessarily use signifcantly more power than 4200rpm drives-- compared to 4200rpm drives a couple generations back (if you're upgrading an older iBook more than a year old), they may use less.