[kmarketing]

Hi,

Okay here's the situation.

I have an ibook that i bought pretty cheap - it is a basic machine the snow white ibook 500mhz. It is in beautiful condition, but I just happened to open it up for fun.

I was able to get a 40gb 5400 Hard Drive for $60, and a DVD Burner for $75. I have not yet installed them.

I was wondering if this would be a good machine to keep, or should I just sell everything. Since this would not be my main computer, I would just want to be able to surf the web (I have airport also), a little photoshop, listen to music, watch movies, burn cd's and burn dvd's.

Also, would the processor (G3 500) limit the ability to burn DVD's? I wouldn't be using iDVD, but I would like to be able to backup movies (with mactheripper, etc.)

I also have a powerbook 17" 1ghz. And if you think that this laptop would be a good enough portable, then I would consider selling my powerbook (I got a good offer for it), and then get myself a g5.

The total cost of the ibook would be about $500, and with the sale of my powerbook, I would be able to have over $1500 to play with.

Let me know what you think. Tell me if this is a good idea, or not even worth considering. Also tell me how limited the ibook would be.

Thanks!!

[NYCFarmboy]

Everything but the DVD burner.

the ibook is a perfect laptop for web/email/light photoshop/chat/downloading.

I had a 40 gig hard drive installed on my 500 mhz ibook which came with a 10 gig. The new 40 gig drive is much quieter, and faster than the old 10.

Panther (10.3) makes a huge difference on ibooks...really makes the machine fun to use again.

I myself can't imagine coding and burning DVD's using just a 500 mhz processor though.... would take forever in my opinion.

But except for that you have a sweet machine and will enjoy it. (provided you can get the new drive in..which is very difficult to install ....I had mine done professionaly as it looked just too daunting to do myself.

good luck!

[kmarketing]

Hi,

So would you say having the dvd burner in there would be pointless?

Also, do you think that this would be a good enough portable, and that I should sell the powerbook? Maybe go for that g5?

In terms of doing it myself, the thing is already opened up (I did this several times already), and I'm ready to go. I just didn't know if I should just leave the original parts in and then sell it.

Thanks!!

[pptiger]

How much you pay for the hard drive and how did you install it? Thanks.

Originally posted by NYCFarmboy:
Everything but the DVD burner.

the ibook is a perfect laptop for web/email/light photoshop/chat/downloading.

I had a 40 gig hard drive installed on my 500 mhz ibook which came with a 10 gig. The new 40 gig drive is much quieter, and faster than the old 10.

Panther (10.3) makes a huge difference on ibooks...really makes the machine fun to use again.

I myself can't imagine coding and burning DVD's using just a 500 mhz processor though.... would take forever in my opinion.

But except for that you have a sweet machine and will enjoy it. (provided you can get the new drive in..which is very difficult to install ....I had mine done professionaly as it looked just too daunting to do myself.

good luck!

[kmarketing]

Hi,

I paid $60 for the hard drive. The install is pretty easy. You just have to keep track of the parts/screws.

Thanks!

[NYCFarmboy]

I paid around $110. for a 40 gig hard drive from newegg.com and then paid Tekserver here in New York City which is a local apple repair/retailer which installed the hard drive for me for another 100 bucks...so the total was 210.

[NYCFarmboy]

Originally posted by kmarketing:
Hi,

So would you say having the dvd burner in there would be pointless?

Also, do you think that this would be a good enough portable, and that I should sell the powerbook? Maybe go for that g5?

In terms of doing it myself, the thing is already opened up (I did this several times already), and I'm ready to go. I just didn't know if I should just leave the original parts in and then sell it.

Thanks!!

why don't you put the dvd burner in your G4 powerbook instead and just keep it? oh wait..its a 17"...so doesn't it have a DVD burner anyhow?

I used a 17" for a month and decided it was too big to carry around as a portable.

I'm not the expert on the DVD thing...maybe someone in here knows about that?

[kmarketing]

Hi,

You're right about the 17". It has a dvd burner in there already.

How about backing up a DVD onto the Ibook. Is that possible? Does it take longer because of the processor speed?

Please someone let me know if the burning dvd's would be possible on an Ibook 500mhz. Otherwise I would just sell the burner. You may say just try it, but the whole thing is that I don't want to close it up, and then have to opent it again.

I guess though for the price, I could just keep it there as a cd burner.

Dilemma!!

Thanks!!

[kmarketing]

NYC Farmboy,

How do you like your 500mhz? Does it do all the things that you want. I know certain programs probably won't work too well, but I guess if I can save some money, I can sacrifice a little.

Are there applications that maybe necessities to you that I will not be able to run?

Thanks!

[NYCFarmboy]

I run illustrator and photoshop on it... just fine.

imovie is agonizingly slow...so I don't use it for that anymore.
(I have a 1.42 dual g4 tower I use for my video and most photoshop work).

I used to use imovie on this 500 mhz ibook all the time though when I just had a 400 mhz g4 tower...but the 1.42 dual is like cutting thru butter with a hot knife in comparison.

just about every web browser/word program....anything that is not processor intensive. iphoto on it is ok.

All said though except for video work this 500 mhz g3 ibook has been my very favorite Mac I have ever owned. I've had it going on 3 years now.

I understand there are some applications which won't run on the 500 processor..I think maybe Final Cut Pro will not work on the 500 for some reason, but will work on a 600.