[Mallrat]

My ibook came with a CD rom drive... I would love to upgrade to a Superdrive is that possible?

My harddrive is 10GB.... how much would say a 40 GB hard drive cost?

Just wondering if I can keep this puppy going strong for another year... or I might just buy something new.

[andreas_g4]

There's a possibility to upgrade an iBook with a superdrive.

http://www.mcetech.com/sdibook.html

But I'd not consider this as an option. A 500 MHz G3 is way to slow to handle the data that is needed.

A 40 GB HD would cost about 120 $ or more, but installing this in an iBook is not advised for unexperienced users.

I'd say get a new iBook. The 500 is 2 years old, so it's a good time to upgrade.

[SupahCoolX]

You might be better off getting an external Firewire DVD burner. Check around www.dealmac.com to see what's available. Of course, it wouldn't be iDVD compatible, but you need a G4 for that anyway, so it's a moot point. You can also get a large Firewire hard drive for under $200 these days. In your case, just getting external drives has a few benefits:
1) Cheaper
2) When you do get a new mac, you can keep the drive. The iBook 500 is getting pretty old, so I imagine you're not more than a couple of years (at most) away from upgrading.
3) Having 2 disc drives (external burner + internal CD drive) makes disc duplication easy.

[Bagu]

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
A 500 MHz G3 is way to slow to handle the data that is needed.

Agreed, and too slow to handle OSX.

I'd say get a new iBook. The 500 is 2 years old, so it's a good time to upgrade.

Also being a 500 owner, I can not see how much more speed is needed to run OSX as speedy as my WinXP box. Is a new iBook enough for OSX these days?

[sniffer]

There are still clamshell users on these boards using Jaguar. So saying that the 500 iBook is absolute sounds kind of odd.
Have there been any reports on how performance is with Panther builds with this machine?
My main computer is the 12.1" 600 without QE and for everything light work (surfing, mailing, programming, etc) it's really amazing.
If the needs for Mallrat is higher than what the iBook can provide, it's absolute. If, not I would say, stick with the 500 some time longer. And perhaps wait until the iBook reach the 1+ gigahertz barrier or something. A nice thumb finger rule is to wait with upgrades until the CPU speed have at least been multiplied for the best gain for the bucks. Good luck.

[blackbird_1.0]

thats true, i'm using a 500 ibook right now,
just max out your ram to 640 by getting a 512mb ram module

you cna upgrade the hard drive, but as mentioned before, its hard, and for some ungodly reason there no one who'll switch them out for you unless you want to send it off to someplace to have it done

i'd say wait another 6 months to a year, because hope the 1ghz ibooks will be out by then

<NO OFFENSE to anyone here>
for some people, some can be running the same machine, the same config, and on one, they'll say its too slow, and on another it'll be pretty fast, it depends on what configs you have for your os and how much memory, etc.
what i'm saying is there could be two 500mhz ibooks side by side, one could be slow as molasses due to certain mods of the os, or memory, and one can be faster, if the os is in good shape and you have enough memory installed.
<NO OFFENSE to anyone here>

[SupahCoolX]

I find my iBook (600mhz, 384MB RAM) to be completely useful and rather speedy with Jaguar. Absolutely no complaint here.
I even have Jaguar installed on my Mom's 300mhz clamshell iBook. It's not great, but usable for web, email, and other light stuff. I've seen others report further speed improvements with Panther.

A 500Mhz iBook is by no means obsolete for the home user.

[blackbird_1.0]

Mallrat, for now you could just max out your RAM by getting a 512, then if you decide to get another ibook, if, then wait six months, get a new one, and then use that stick you bought and transfer it form yuor old one to new one.

[Mallrat]

Originally posted by blackbird_1.0:
Mallrat, for now you could just max out your RAM by getting a 512, then if you decide to get another ibook, if, then wait six months, get a new one, and then use that stick you bought and transfer it form yuor old one to new one.

actually I already did MAX out the RAM... i install a 512 chip and I believe it came with a 64 MB chip (this is true right? or can you remove the 64MB chip too?) for a total of 576.

And I just reinstalled all my software and it almost feels like a new computer.

By the way Mac OS X, at least 10. 2, runs great on my ibook. The first versions seemed a little slow, but it's not any slower than 9. I feel lit's the same.

It runs great, just need the extra RAM.

People get too stuck on numbers and can't do anything.

My biggest reason for wanted to upgrade is a bigger screen and the ability to burn DVD's and to use Final Cut Pro 4

[SupahCoolX]

The built-in 64MB RAM is soldered into the motherboard, and can't be upgraded/replaced.

If you want a big screen, DVD burning, and Final Cut Pro, you most definitely need a G4 system. The consumer/entry-level iBook just isn't meant for those pro functions. Depending on how intensive your needs are, an iMac/eMac may be enough, but a PowerMac is recommended. Of course, a Powerbook would also fit the bill if you need portability.

[dreilly1]

I upgraded my iBook 500 by selling it and buying an iBook 800.

[arnette]

The 900 ibook runs pretty snappy. The only delays I see on it are with Preview for some PDFs and maybe big Word files. Just your typical slowdown to let you know you're not welding the fastest processor in the land.

I can't wait to see a G5 in an Apple notebook, though. WOW.
(the last part doesn't relate to anything said, I just like thinking of the future)

[GeorgeC97]

Originally posted by dreilly1:
I upgraded my iBook 500 by selling it and buying an iBook 800.

i am thinking about selling my 700 -- but i wasn't sure what i could expect for it...

thanks

-George

[NYCFarmboy]

Don't bother with a superdrive on a 500 mhz ibook, its just WAY TOO slow, very slow, I bet it would take like 8 hours to encode a movie to burn onto a DVD. or more.

I have a 500 mhz ibook and had a 40 gig hard drive installed. This was over a year ago, the price then was around 220 bucks, plus I paid Tekserve here in NYC to install that and an airport card..which was like 80 bucks or so.

I would NOT attempt to upgrade the hard drive yourself unless you are a very skilled computer technician. My brother builds computers from scratch, but looked at installing the hard drive on my ibook and said take it to Tekserve. I guess its really an ordeal to change the drive.

I love my white ibook, dont' get me wrong, but its definatley the wrong processor for a DVD burner.

[engaged]

Originally posted by Bagu:
Agreed, and too slow to handle OSX.

I take issue with that statement; I've got a 600Mhz late 2001 iBook and I run OSX on it. Whilst I don't use Photoshop much, I've never had a problem with any other apps.

What I will say is that it has got much, much faster since I recently upgraded the original 15MB 4200rpm hard drive to an 40MB IBM Travelstar which runs at 5400rpm and has an 8MB cache. It's like a whole new computer.

[GORDYmac]

Originally posted by Bagu:
Agreed, and too slow to handle OSX. [...] Also being a 500 owner, I can not see how much more speed is needed to run OSX as speedy as my WinXP box. Is a new iBook enough for OSX these days?

I don't know, but I'm not taking the risk. My iBook 500 seemed extremely sluggish over the weekend (I used it on vacation for Photoshop Elements, Image Capture, and Preview). Even loading photos seem arduous.

I wouldn't upgrade mine. I'm saving for the next 12" PowerBook. Surely it will be 1GHz by the time I'm ready to buy.

[andreas_g4]

Originally posted by engaged:
What I will say is that it has got much, much faster since I recently upgraded the original 15MB 4200rpm hard drive to an 40MB IBM Travelstar which runs at 5400rpm and has an 8MB cache. It's like a whole new computer.

Wow, that's a pretty good space/cache ratio!

40MB/8MB


Just kidding...

[engaged]

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
Wow, that's a pretty good space/cache ratio!

40MB/8MB


Just kidding...

Oops - make that a 40GB IBM Travelstar..!

[SupahCoolX]

Originally posted by engaged:
Oops - make that a 40GB IBM Travelstar..!

With 8GB cache, too?

[engaged]

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
With 8GB cache, too?

Nah, an 8GB cache would just be plain greedy...