Filed under: Multimedia, Odds and ends, iBook
This Old Mac: Icebooks
Remember when Apple ditched the clamshell iBooks and created the sleeker "icebook" form factor? My wife calls them Chiclets. Well we have 3 of them: a 500 MHz G3 from 2001 with a 10GB drive, a 800MHz G4 with a 60GB drive but a busted optical drive, and a 1.2GHz G4 with a 30GB drive but working CDR/DVD drive. The 800MHz machine is still my old personal machine, although between hacks and apps and data overload it is very slow. The other two have found new life.The oldest iBook actually has the best build quality, I think. The keyboard feels good, and none of the keys have rubbed off. It is fast and solid. However, since it is so old, I decided to use OS 9 as the primary OS. We inherited a bunch of old educational CD's from the 90's and the iBook plays almost all of them better than the PPC-based Mac mini in the den. Perhaps the biggest drawback? The smell of burning plastic that is emitted from the possibly-not-covered-by-recall motherboard. Oops.
The newest iBook is zippy enough to handle video from apps like VLC (for the playlists) without a hitch, so we're using it as a video jukebox of sorts. Connected to the network I can either stream or move videos to it for the kids, plus it runs all the OS X educational software we've got. Oh, and TuxPaint, which also runs on my personal machine in case they both want to draw at the same time. The working optical drive on the 1.2GHz came in handy at the beach recently, when the TV in the kids room didn't work. So we used the iBook as a DVD player.
Of course, if you work in primary education this is probably a snoozefest to you. Apple sold quite a few (though not nearly enough) iBooks to the educational markets back in the day. So it should come as no surprise that my wife and I recycle our old work machines as kid machines. What makes the iBook so special is the ability to run OS 9 natively and the form factor. Sure, iMacs are great, but you can't take them on vacation. The old clamshells are OK as well, but a little bulky. Then again, maybe I just can't bear to throw anything away.
UPDATE: Added a gallery.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eli Hodapp said 12:11PM on 6-01-2007
Slow news day.
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ThunkDifferent.com said 1:11PM on 6-01-2007
i used to have one of these so-called, "chicklets" and really liked it too. The logic board failed though and Apple ended up replacing it for free. The clamshell design is fun and wish they would bring it back, it could be a a beach computer.
http://ThunkDifferent.com
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Ben Englert said 12:27PM on 6-01-2007
Sigh, I'm still on the 1.33GHz "icebook" G4 as my primary machine - and yes, it's full of hacks and slowing down under data overload. That said, it goes everywhere with me and lets me do everything I need to do, so it's difficult to justiy replacing it just yet. They're solid, cute little machines that are smaller than Macbooks.
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Dr. Dave said 12:33PM on 6-01-2007
I have an onld 900 MHz G3 iBook that I use for some of the same things. I also leave it open in the guestroom (connected to the wireless network) as a "hospitality" computer of sorts for houseguests to check their email or surf the web.
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James Whited said 12:35PM on 6-01-2007
I had an old iBook SE Clamshell, indigo blue, my first mac ever. I gave that to a local youth center of mine when I got my new 17" MBP. And now I have second mac that bests all of them in age, A Macintosh Plus. I am going to gut it, put a Mini in it and a screen to fill that gaping hole. It shall be one neat Apple mod.
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Mitch said 12:39PM on 6-01-2007
I want a "kids" iBook. lemme know where to find one of these used, I can never seem to find one
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Pete said 12:59PM on 6-01-2007
I'm posting this from a 500Mhz G3 icebook. She's my primary web surfer, and travel partner. Even after I get my macbook she'll stick around as guest computer.
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Billy K said 1:19PM on 6-01-2007
This is the kind of story that should have maybe....a photo? You've got 9 links in this journal entry, but not one of them to a photo or info about the subject.
???
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Gilgamesh said 1:30PM on 6-01-2007
I bought my first Mac in fall 2001 -- the original G3 500 mhz dual USB "icebook" iBook -- which I chose because of the great, compact form factor and battery life. It came running OS 9 -- you had to choose to switch to OS X, which I soon did.
Six years (and several Mac desktops later for me and the kids) that little iBook is still my only laptop, traveling everywhere with me. Only changes: maxed-out RAM and a new battery. I find it runs Tiger quite reasonably well (Keynote, too, though not the latest version), that its screen seems brighter than later model iBooks, and yes, the build-quality, case and keyboard are clearly superior to the later G4 iBooks. The OS 9 feature is really quite useful, as it makes docking to my Newton via WiFi a snap.
But what's up with that old, sweaty athletic socks smell that comes from it now and then? Anyone else get that pungent aroma? It smells like my iBook has B.O. sometimes....
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Jeff Beck said 1:35PM on 6-01-2007
Now my computer is old but not antiquated enough to be included in with the likes of the others in here. I'm still using the iBook G4 1.2 everyday. With this thing maxed out at 1.25 gb RAM i find it performing every task i so desire it to do. Only soon will i need to upgrade to a C2D because I am required to have a Windows capable machine for my major courses.
The G3 processor is a thing of antiques now, not the G4 though, this thing still kicks ass.
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Scott said 2:28PM on 6-01-2007
I bought an iBook G3 off of eBay a few months back as a travel computer (I have an iMac at home). It's my first laptop, and I'm thrilled. With the Airport card, it does Wi-Fi perfectly well, and with the DVD-ROM, it hooks up to hotel TVs and plays DVDs just great! I'm running OS X 10.3.9 on it, and I've cleared out 10GB of its 15GB hard disk for data. Everyone I've shown it to has been impressed (none are Powerbook/MacBook owners), and can't believe it's a 6-year-old machine.
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Brian said 2:45PM on 6-01-2007
I have a g3 800 mhz PPC 'Icebook', and I'll tell you this. It runs coverflow in iTunes smoother than my Core 2 duo XP box at work. No Joke.
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Victor Agreda Jr said 2:50PM on 6-01-2007
Billy K, good question. Photos pending. Not including my wife.
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Matt Rissling said 2:58PM on 6-01-2007
On the subject of kids computers, we have our first Mac, a 1.25 Ghz eMac running stripped down as a kids computer. Since Apple was kind enough to repace the broken motherboard for free, it works flawlessly. These units still sell for $500-$800. Can you believe that? The adults in the house use a G5 iMac and a brand new MacBook, and with wireless networking we have become full on Mac Addicts. ;)
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Tom said 3:25PM on 6-01-2007
Victor -- that smell isn't coming from the logic board.
It's coming from the keyboard, and I've heard it attributed adhesives decaying due to the heat.
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James Looker said 4:06PM on 6-01-2007
I bought two of these off ebay - a 500mhz 10gig G3 and a 600mhz 30gig G3. The 600mhz is great - i mxed out the RAM and added an Airport card. It runs Tiger fine and is great for email and internet. The 500mhz is a bit slow and is running Panther. But the hdd is very slow - I made my wife use it!
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Joe said 11:34PM on 6-01-2007
I have a 500mhz g3 ibook with 10gig hd and dvd player. Its my every day machine. I use Tiger with some things turned off for performance (text anti-aliasing, HD indexing). I use Webkit nightly builds as my web browser and its speedy enough.
The thing chokes on you tube vids and can't play itunes video content, but I have a quicksilver from the same time for viewing that kinda stuff.
The portability is what makes it for me. Totally got my moneys worth outa this thing.
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Doug said 5:12PM on 6-01-2007
Posting from a 1.07 GHz iBook G4 (I've named him Aldo). My first Mac, and still my only Mac until I replace it with a MB or MBP after the annual October updates. It only has 512 MB of RAM, so it's a little slow (very slow when using Adobe Lightroom), but I make do. I've grown quite attached to my "chiclet".
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Michael Rose said 6:05PM on 6-01-2007
*sigh* I miss my SE/30. Most reliable, bulletproof computer I ever used.
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Allan Drake said 7:00PM on 6-01-2007
if only Apple could make macs as good as the SE/30 again.
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