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g4baker · Nov 11, 2003, 08:00 PM

Ok long story short, I had an iBook G3 800 MHz...thing was slow as dirt, so I sold it and went back to the PC side with my Dell laptop (keep in mind that it has a combo drive). I was pondering getting the eMac 800 or the eMac 1 GHz. They're both at great prices, but is the 200 MHz a huge speed increase? I could live without the Combo drive (as I already have one on my laptop). I could max out the RAM and stuff with the 800 MHz (well, I guess I could with the 1 GHz too). Any ideas? Or should I go with a refurb 800 MHz iMac?

Thanks,

Aaron Baker

palmberg · Nov 12, 2003, 07:10 AM

Originally posted by g4baker:
I was pondering getting the eMac 800 or the eMac 1 GHz.

Get the 1GHz eMac. For sure. *ALWAYS* get as much speed and RAM as you can afford.

rytc · Nov 13, 2003, 12:19 AM

You'd also be going from a G3 which is in the iBook (well was they're now G4s) to the G4 in the eMac/iMac, along with the faster bus, ram and so forth in the desktops will mean these machines will be a lot faster. Make sure you max out the ram, OS X needs alot of RAM to run optimally.

Cheers Ry

Frumpy · Nov 13, 2003, 07:31 AM

Not sure if i understand why you thought your iBook was so slow. What the hell were you doing with it...Final Cut Pro? Photoshop? UT2003? Maybe then i could see why the speed would be a bit of a problem. But yes, go with the most speed and more memory right off the bat.

palmberg · Nov 13, 2003, 08:32 AM

Originally posted by Frumpy:
Not sure if i understand why you thought your iBook was so slow.

I wondered at this as well. My mom has an 800MHz iBook, and it's a damn nice little machine. I've never run PShop on it, but I've never seen it operating anywhere near "slow as dirt." Of course, impressions vary....

sniffer · Nov 13, 2003, 09:34 PM

If it was an 800 g3 ibook with stock ram, then it probably was slow as dirt.
My ram died recently on my three y.o. iBook and running it with only 128 mb ram was a nightmare (I've maxed it out now with good quality ram btw). Apple should ship every iBook with atleast 384 built in IMHO.

olePigeon · Nov 13, 2003, 09:38 PM

Don't always knock off Apple refurbished products.

Remember, Apple treast refurbs like new computers. You can get full warranties and everything with a refurb. I would suggest checking those out too.

James L · Nov 15, 2003, 04:52 AM

I use an iBook G3 600, and I Photoshop daily. it is definitely doable, but I must say the difference between 128megs of ram and 640 megs of ram was night and day!

Incidently, I also game on this thing a bit. Medal of Honour ran o.k., as did Undying. not spectacular, but o.k.

Get lots of ram!

nredman · Nov 15, 2003, 08:49 AM

i have the 1ghz emac with a gig of ram and it flys. if you have the money get the 1ghz

Big Fat Octopus · Nov 18, 2003, 08:52 AM

Price is excellent on the new iBook G4 933Mhz with 14" screen! Played with one yesterday and with 256mb RAM it was great!

Work just got a new 1Ghz eMac and it is also excellent but we have upped the RAM to 640Mb. The stock standard 128 is not enough!

At current Pricing the eMac is a compelling choice over an iMac too! Although having made my choice to get the 17" iMac I cannot imagine swapping it for an eMac.

Hmmm, sell the Dell and get a new eMac and 933 iBook! What a nice combination that would make.