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NYK Ace · May 19, 2004, 01:08 AM

hey guys
you think its worth it to pick up an indigo ibook 366 with 198mb RAM and 10gb HD as a secondary machine for 370? I dont think it has airport (awaiting response from seller to make sure) and the battery they say holds a good charge, in addition, i always wanted a laptop to complement my 1 ghz/superdrive emac, but simply put, do you think its a good buy? any information would be helpful

thanks!

EdipisReks · May 19, 2004, 12:24 PM

personally, i think that $370 is too much. i might get it for $300, but not more. however, if you want to run OS X i would probably just skip it.

discotronic · May 19, 2004, 12:37 PM

I agree. Even though I love the clamshell iBook, they are just not worth the price. $370 would be a good price if it had firewire, 320MB RAM, full charging battery and Airport. Make sure to find out about the screen brightness. In my experience the screens degrade quickly. Also, make sure that the "rubber" trim isn't coming off.

kdixey · May 19, 2004, 01:51 PM

I love the clamshell ibook, but it is getting pretty long in the tooth to running OS X (it will do it if you max out the RAM). Also the 800x600 screen is pretty limited. I'd say that $370 sounds too pricey.

teknopimp · May 19, 2004, 07:07 PM

i agree with the last 2 posters. only get it if it's something you really lust and don't need to rely on for productivity. it's basically a toy or collectors item and not very useful.

axlepin · May 19, 2004, 08:49 PM

I personally never think that it's wise to buy into older technology, which that iBook represents.

Not that there's anything wrong with the G3 itself, but there are places selling G3 Snow iBooks that would plaster the clamshell iBook, and for right around $699, new!

Granted, that's a higher price range than you mention, but you'd end up with a superior machine with faster everything, and a better form factor, in my opinion.

If it were me, I'd go no higher than $150 for that machine, simply because of it's age and lack of horsepower.

You're that much closer to being unsupported by a future version of X, or handing it off to your kid sister...or to your cat!

Much better to go for one of those recently-discontinued G3 Snow iBooks.

axle

rytc · May 20, 2004, 02:27 AM

Originally posted by teknopimp:
i agree with the last 2 posters. only get it if it's something you really lust and don't need to rely on for productivity. it's basically a toy or collectors item and not very useful.

Well it all depends on what you use it for though isn't it. I'm very productive on my clamshell 466, however productive for me is writing, light photoshop work, email, web, iTunes etc. For all these things the 800x600 screen is fine and so too is the speed, however, a 366 with only 196 of Ram would be a bit of dog on OS X. I've been using an old iMac 400 with Panther and it was actually pretty usable once the RAM was increased to >256 MBs, anything below that and it was just too slow.

Cheers Ry

NYCFarmboy · May 20, 2004, 11:38 AM

my 2 cents:

pros:
The clamshells are ultra rugged, and the handle makes them so easy to carry around.

Incredible airport reception.

The LCD screens are very nice on them...although only 800x600 resolution.

cons:
no firewire on the first generation ibooks...check on that for your model.

slow g3 processor

limited hard drive space (but can be changed out of course)

I have a orange clamshell ibook. 300 mhz I think. I have it recently upgraded with a 40 gig hard drive, but its more for just use out of curiosity and fun than for actually using it for work. I WISH it had a firewire port.

I paid 320 bucks for it on ebay a year ago..came with a 3 gig drive...so it was pretty useless..but with the 40 gig its a sweet machine...and very fun to show off the orange color.

I've been watching ebay for a keylime (green) clamshell ibook..they are very expensive...they run from 600-900 dollars on ebay for the keylime because they are allegedly rare, and because they are collectors items...but also because they have a firewire port and will play dvd's.

The Placid Casual · May 20, 2004, 04:33 PM

I have an iBook 466 SE (380MB RAM, DVD, Firewire) that runs OS X 10.3 very well...

Looks as good as new and gives 5+ hours battery life.

A clamshell? Well worth a few hundred bucks.

P.S. I'm selling if anyone is interested!

NYK Ace · May 20, 2004, 06:00 PM

hey what color is your ibook (key lime?

) and what are you asking $$$? maybe we could work out a deal? im looking to spend 200-300 but that might be too low for you?

kdixey · May 20, 2004, 06:20 PM

I used a 466 clamshell for school for the past 2 years until I upgraded to a 1ghz 14" ibook. I would agree that if you max out the RAM (576mb on a clamshell) you can be productive. I found the 800x600 screen to be very limiting but that is probably more a matter of tatse than anything else.

Would I pay $370 for a 366mhz clamshell? Probably not. You could pick up a later model of the white ibooks for not much more and it would be an infintely better machine (faster, more VRAM, firewire etc.).

Randman · May 23, 2004, 02:00 PM

$300 with Airport and if the battery is in good shape. Be sure to check that, clamshells have notoriously bad batteries.
My backup Mac is a graphite clamshell, 366 mhz, Airport and 384 of ram. Only 6 gb hard drive but I have an external and iPod along with my G4 iBook. The clamshell runs great on Panther but I needed to get a new battery at Christmastime.
The screen is still great, the keyboard is one of the best in an Apple laptop and it still looks good. My g/f uses it for her e-mail/surfing and it suits her just perfect (and I don't have to give up my IceBook).
If you're aware of the limitations, they are still solid machines.

RadarBob2 · May 24, 2004, 07:54 AM

I'm still happily using my 300MHz Blueberry iBook. The only things I can't do that I wish I could is iPod - no firewire on the original iBook. But I live with it. If I *really* need to burn a CD (one should backup important files once in a while), I transfer files to my wife's 700MHz iBook. Otherwise external CD burners are availble - I admit it would be slow, but so what? I don't have to sit there and watch it.

One post said it is "older technology." Well, that's a bit of a misnomer - it's older, yes but the same technology. If it were older technology in every sense of the word then I could not have (a) installed a new hard drive (b) installed 512MB memory module (c) use new printers (d) run OSX. Now the Macintosh PowerPC - that's older technology.

Is my precious slower than y'alls new G4 iBooks? Sure. But it more than keeps up with my typing. I'm running the software I need - OSX saves my investment in OS9 software (classic mode) and allows me to still do my taxes every year - i.e. OSX version of TurboTax.

cube-dude · May 24, 2004, 11:03 AM

Most clamshell 'Books are rare and outrageously priced here in NYC. Some asking prices are as high as $600

which makes one in the $300 range seem like a good deal to me. Everything's relative.

scaught · May 24, 2004, 11:59 AM

Originally posted by cube-dude:
Most clamshell 'Books are rare and outrageously priced here in NYC. Some asking prices are as high as $600 which makes one in the $300 range seem like a good deal to me. Everything's relative.

ya. $370 doesnt seem like THAT much to me. the main issue is that 800x600 screen.

but i have a soft spot for clamshell ibooks. i used to own a blueberry and a graphite. i remember them like lost pets or something.