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cam80 · Apr 26, 2003, 07:28 PM

Hi there,

I've been a Mac user since our Colour Classic (Australian spelling of "Color"), then through our 7200/90, and then my very own iMac 266.

It seems that the quality of the hardware over this time frame has decreased in my humble opinion, is this a common opinion of other long-term Mac users?

I am a big Mac OS X fan, however running OS X on a 266 iMac is beginning to stretch my patience. I would like to purchase a new machine, but recently there seems to be a lot of horror stories with the whole Mac lineup- in particular the eMac and iBook lines.

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Cam

bleee · Apr 26, 2003, 08:30 PM

My first mac and laptop is my iBook 600 late 2001, and it won't be my last. I would say that the quality of iBooks and Macs is higher than the PC's with the exception of revision 1 of any product but that�s only because it's revision 1.

Apple tends to stick to components longer for example the G3/G4 cpu and their logic boards which means they are very mature.

Most of the components in Apple machines are standard parts for example hard drives, cdrom/rw/dvd drives, GPU are from companies like Toshiba, IBM, Sony, Ati, Nvidia so their failure rate should be the same. Most if not all of Apple hardware is assembled in Taiwan and that goes for PC hardware as well.

Also you here a lot of horror stories because in general people don�t rant about how great their iBooks are if they did the forum would be full of �my iBook works great today� they only rant about when it breaks down.

My personal experience is the iBook is a very reliable rugged machine. I take it almost everywhere and I use it 5 days a week for 8hrs a day if not more at work and at home. It�s been in �30+ degrees Celsius in the rain (not direct rain but enough that I worry) and it still keeps ticking.

kovacs · Apr 27, 2003, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by bleee:

My personal experience is the iBook is a very reliable rugged machine. I take it almost everywhere and I use it 5 days a week for 8hrs a day if not more at work and at home. It?s been in ?30+ degrees Celsius in the rain (not direct rain but enough that I worry) and it still keeps ticking.

I can only agree, the iBooks are rock solid, I leave it on all the time, I'm sure my iBook will continue to serve me well for the next few years, I only use it to read my mails and surf the internet, I don't need a new faster iBook or powerbook for that...

dannyillusion · Apr 27, 2003, 09:14 AM

I've got the old 800 with combo and I'm very pleased.
The only complaints I have is the combo burner issue and screen marks.
The burner issue honestly doesn't really bother me. It's kinda week that the specs that I payed for wasn't delivered but in real life I really don't burn a lot of cds. Besides, if you're planning to get a new Ibook Apple most certainly has corrected the problem in the latest revision.
The screen marks really isn't a problem either. Get a piece of thin soft leather to put between the screen and keyboard when transporting and you're home safe.

Hope this helps...

stew · Apr 27, 2003, 11:19 AM

iBooks are rock solid - they are hard to break and mine makes a much stronger impression than my (more expensive) Dell Inspiron 8100. However, iBooks have the habit of not properly aligned CD drive covers and wobbly keyboards with the key caps sometimes falling off by themselves. The first revisions also were likely to have creaky hinges.
Quality-wise, you still get good value for your money IMHO, compared to other notebooks, but for me IBM delivers better quality - at a higher price.

bleee · Apr 27, 2003, 12:42 PM

I strongly suggest Apple Care if you purchase an iBook, even the smallest of repairs such as replacing keyboards can be very costly with out Apple Care.

dampeoples · Apr 27, 2003, 01:07 PM

My iBook has been solid, it has to be, my kids play online games with it! I'd like to echo the Applecare sentiment, especially on a non user-serviceable rig such as this one.

hempcamp · Apr 27, 2003, 02:39 PM

My iBook is extremely well built and durable. I haven't had any problems with it except the battery issue which now seems to have been solved for me. There is a tad bit of screen flicker sometimes, but it is too rare to be a problem.

I take good care of my iBook -- but that doesn't mean it doesn't get its fair share of bumps, nicks, drops, etc. (as do all notebooks). Compared to my other notebooks, the polycarb case itself has held up much better than cheaper plastic cases on the others.

I think it is a machine of outstanding quality for a notebook.

--Chris

SupahCoolX · Apr 27, 2003, 04:35 PM

iBooks are great. Remember, when reading web forums and such you'll see people posting their problems. There are very few posts simply saying "everything's fine!"
The current iBook design has been in use for quite a while now, so you can rest assured that Apple has worked out any major kinks by now. I have 2 iBooks (an original Blueberry and a "late 2001" Dual USB model) and have not had any hardware troubles with either.

BrettOZ · Apr 27, 2003, 11:32 PM

Hey Cam

Do yourself a favour and look into the iBooks - I just bought my first portable and it is an iBook 800 combo. I must say - very well built and solid. I have not had any problems with the burning speed issue, that you hear so much about (then again not sure if i have seen many Aussies report on that problem in the Forums ??).

I am really happy with the speed under OSX - however I have added xtra RAM and I think it is worth it.

Mastrap · Apr 28, 2003, 01:15 AM

Me too. My 600/384 has been amazingly resistant to all sorts of abuse. The only real problem has been a dead drive after I dropped it onto a concrete floor - don't ask. I took the opportunity to replace the dead drive with a 40GB one so all was not lost. Shows the importance of frequent back-ups too

Get one, they are fully mature machines by now. And with the new graphics cards they even handle OS X very well.

vickster · Apr 28, 2003, 03:37 AM

I just picked up a used 700 model, 384mb RAM, with an user-upgraded 40GB 5400rpm hard drive and a 16x Sony combo - man, I am impressed with the workmanship. I haven't owned an Apple laptop since my old 5300ce (and before that a PB170!), and I've fallen in love with this computer already. Very solid construction and wonderful asthetics. You can look at pics all you want, but until you hold one in your lap (it's a laptop, right?) and use it, you don't really have a true feel for how cool these things are...

vickster

willed · Apr 28, 2003, 12:13 PM

The only probs I've had have been from Apple software, not hardware - iBook died when i set processor speed to 'lower' in energy saver under 10.2.1, and now I've been hit by the 10.2.4 battery curse.
As for the hardware, a couple of edges on my iBook aren't lined up perfectly (ie DVD drive), but as someone's mentioned, it's a first revision. Completely reliable otherwise.

smic · Apr 29, 2003, 12:04 AM

i got one of the 700 opaque in december, and before that i had the 266 imac
and the ibook is waaaay better for osx, i can actually play games that i never could before, and opening stuff, launchin apps is much better on the ibook then the imac
i use the imac once and a while and it seems soo slow now, and before i could live with it
now it seems like it takes for ever just to open the preferences

go with the ibook
i havent had any problems with it
and ive maxed out the ram, did the moniter spanning hack, take it with me to school and sometimes work, and i just took it on vacation, and nothing bad really happened
except for some reason when i shut the ibook after i disconnect the modem, it would die, or kernel panic, or freeze, but i think i was doing something wrong

cam80 · Apr 29, 2003, 02:32 PM

Thanks for all of the responses everyone! I think I will go for an iBook, and have an external monitor attached for home use.

What is 1024 * 768 like on a 17 inch monitor? I would prefer higher, but it seems that is all the iBook can do.

Cam

iamnid · Apr 29, 2003, 07:29 PM

Originally posted by cam80:
Thanks for all of the responses everyone! I think I will go for an iBook, and have an external monitor attached for home use.

What is 1024 * 768 like on a 17 inch monitor? I would prefer higher, but it seems that is all the iBook can do.

Cam

it's not too bad a resolution on a 17" monitor... if you do the monitor spanning hack I believe you can use higher resolutions on external monitors though -- might want to look into that.

tikki · Apr 29, 2003, 09:52 PM

my iBook 500 is not good quality whatsoever.

My LCD backlight flickers on and off constantly. I had it fixed once while under warranty, and it happened again.

My combo drive no longer reads or writes CDs. It can however still read DVDs. This is incredibly frustrating as well.

The keymarks on my LCD are quite annoying as well.

I won't be buying another iBook most likely. I just don't trust their quality.

rytc · Apr 30, 2003, 01:37 AM

Yes but that was the original iBook Rev. A and is always the case they tend to have more things that go wrong. The flickering screen issue only happended with the original iBooks and has since been corrected.
cheers Ry

Originally posted by tikki:
my iBook 500 is not good quality whatsoever.

My LCD backlight flickers on and off constantly. I had it fixed once while under warranty, and it happened again.

My combo drive no longer reads or writes CDs. It can however still read DVDs. This is incredibly frustrating as well.

The keymarks on my LCD are quite annoying as well.

I won't be buying another iBook most likely. I just don't trust their quality.

rytc · Apr 30, 2003, 01:39 AM

Oh and that Maori bone/wood carving that you appear to have as your signature is called a "Tiki" by the way not "Tikki"

Cheers Ry

tikki · Apr 30, 2003, 06:40 PM

Originally posted by rytc:
Oh and that Maori bone/wood carving that you appear to have as your signature is called a "Tiki" by the way not "Tikki"

Cheers Ry

Yes, I know, but long story short when I got my name it was on aol and tiki was taken. tikki wasnt

radarbob · May 1, 2003, 01:18 PM

From my experience, and reading forums such as MacNN, it's possible you may experience battery problems - beyond normal wear/reduced charging capacity over time.

I've had batteries go bad prematurely on both my RevA iBook and 700MHz iBook. No problem if within warranty time. Get Applecare. My quess is changes are fair that you'll use it at least once in 3 years.

BigDaddy · May 1, 2003, 07:27 PM

I am typing this on an original 300 ibook with 160 ram running 10.2.5. It is not fast but still working.

radarbob · May 1, 2003, 09:49 PM

I've owned apple computers (and until recently, only apple computers) since 1980. Very few problems. Right now I have a RevA iBook and 700MHz iBook. Batteries have been the only problem.

All that said. Get applecare. Out of warranty repairs can be very expensive!

radarbob · May 1, 2003, 10:01 PM

am typing this on an original 300 ibook with 160 ram running 10.2.5. It is not fast but still working.

My 300MHz blueberry iBook is running OS 10.2 also. Did you know the RevA can accept a 512MB RAM simm?

BigDaddy · May 2, 2003, 07:17 PM

No man I had no idea. Do I have to do anything special or just put it in? I also noticed you have a bigger hard drive did you do it yourself?

hempcamp · May 6, 2003, 02:16 AM

Originally posted by hempcamp:
My iBook is extremely well built and durable. I haven't had any problems with it except the battery issue which now seems to have been solved for me. There is a tad bit of screen flicker sometimes, but it is too rare to be a problem.

I take good care of my iBook -- but that doesn't mean it doesn't get its fair share of bumps, nicks, drops, etc. (as do all notebooks). Compared to my other notebooks, the polycarb case itself has held up much better than cheaper plastic cases on the others.

I think it is a machine of outstanding quality for a notebook.

--Chris

I spoke too soon! AHHH!

Just this evening, I started having the most frightening problem one can have with a portable computer -- if I move the screen too quickly or set the computer down with even the slightest bump, the goddamned backlight of the LCD goes out and I have to put her to sleep and wake her back up to get it on again. Not to mention this is happening right in the middle of several important papers I have to write!

I hope it makes it another several days, then I can send her back to Apple for repairs I guess. My hunch is that the cable is being pinched in the hinge or something to that effect.

AHHH!

--Chris

tikki · May 6, 2003, 02:25 AM

the backlight cable isnt protected, so it does get pinched. If you push on the screen to the left of the hinge, you can get it to come back on most likely.

Good ole' Apple defects.

radarbob · May 6, 2003, 07:46 AM

Originally posted by BigDaddy:
No man I had no idea. Do I have to do anything special or just put it in? I also noticed you have a bigger hard drive did you do it yourself?

Read the MacDebate thread http://www.macdebate.com/6/ubb.x?a=t...amp;m=68960147

All your questions are answered, except:

I did nothing special regarding the memory. However, a few years ago Apple came out with a firmware update that allowed the early iBooks to utilize 256MB RAM chips. I installed that update when I put in 256MB chip. I went to a 512MB chip only because I was going to install OS X. But I did nothing beyond physically replacing the 256MB chip.

I'm pretty certain that the firmware update is still available at apple.com.