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blindemboss · Oct 6, 2005, 01:13 PM

Really thinking of using this old iBook 500 (?) to surf the web more than anything.
I suppose I can use OS9, but I'd rather be in OSX... as long as it's not slow as molasses.

Pao|o · Oct 6, 2005, 01:16 PM

drop in 512MB PC133 SODIMM and you're all set. just dont expect it to conquer the known universe.

galtman · Oct 6, 2005, 02:55 PM

Yep. It'll work fine for what you need it to do.

pat++ · Oct 6, 2005, 04:10 PM

It will run fine as long as you have enough memory (read 512+)

seanc · Oct 6, 2005, 04:42 PM

I also plan on getting 512mb ram for my iBook 500, the only problem is that it's SO expensive! Even on eBay!.

jaydon34 · Oct 6, 2005, 04:45 PM

yeah i ran osx on a g3 500 Like they said get ram and dont run tiger. To me panther seemed to run quicker.

seanc · Oct 6, 2005, 04:50 PM

I'll be eager to try Tiger on it when I finally get some RAM as it is supposedly quicker.

willed · Oct 6, 2005, 05:17 PM

I've got Tiger running on this dream machine - iBook 500 with 640MB RAM. I've got an 80GB HD too but I originally had Tiger on the stock 10GB HD and it was fine. I have no issues, and I run Safari, Mail, iTunes, iCal, iPhoto, sometimes simultaneously. Startup time is much faster than 10.2. I've got no reason to get a new Mac at the moment except that games choice is limited and USB2 would be nice for an iPod Nano

jaydon34 · Oct 6, 2005, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by willed

I've got Tiger running on this dream machine - iBook 500 with 640MB RAM. I've got an 80GB HD too but I originally had Tiger on the stock 10GB HD and it was fine. I have no issues, and I run Safari, Mail, iTunes, iCal, iPhoto, sometimes simultaneously. Startup time is much faster than 10.2. I've got no reason to get a new Mac at the moment except that games choice is limited and USB2 would be nice for an iPod Nano

well when you sell that old beast part me out your hard drive lol

blindemboss · Oct 6, 2005, 06:44 PM

It's great to know it can still be a useful machine considering how old it is.
I came across an iBook last weekend at a liquidation sale at a local IT company.

Problem is that when I boot it up, I encounter a password from the previous admin owner.
I'm going to try and reinstall OSX over it...don't know if this is the best way around it. Any suggestions?

skytalon · Oct 6, 2005, 06:57 PM

Problem is that when I boot it up, I encounter a password from the previous admin owner.

Wipe it. Then do clean install

pat++ · Oct 7, 2005, 02:09 AM

Originally Posted by blindemboss

It's great to know it can still be a useful machine considering how old it is.
I came across an iBook last weekend at a liquidation sale at a local IT company.

Problem is that when I boot it up, I encounter a password from the previous admin owner.
I'm going to try and reinstall OSX over it...don't know if this is the best way around it. Any suggestions?

You can boot on the CD and reset the admin password from the installer menu.

blindemboss · Oct 7, 2005, 09:03 AM

Well, I just wiped the previous OSX and reinstalled my copy.
I'm now on OS 10.23 on my 12" G3/500/384 RAM.
It seems to run pretty well...certainly good enough for surfing...

The only bummer is that I need an airport card...and as we all know, these things are not only hard to come by, but are pretty pricey when you do find one.
The battery life is pretty weak too...anyone know where you can get older iBook accessories cheap?

mavherzog · Oct 7, 2005, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by blindemboss

The only bummer is that I need an airport card...and as we all know, these things are not only hard to come by, but are pretty pricey when you do find one.
The battery life is pretty weak too...anyone know where you can get older iBook accessories cheap?

Have you checked here?

willed · Oct 7, 2005, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by jaydon34

well when you sell that old beast part me out your hard drive lol

heh

yeah I got a bit carried away. Was going to upgrade to 40GB but then 80 wasn't that much more!

Kyros · Oct 7, 2005, 05:36 PM

macofalltrades has airport cards for 125 dollars I believe.

Macpilot · Oct 9, 2005, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by willed

I've got Tiger running on this dream machine - iBook 500 with 640MB RAM. I've got an 80GB HD too but I originally had Tiger on the stock 10GB HD and it was fine. I have no issues, and I run Safari, Mail, iTunes, iCal, iPhoto, sometimes simultaneously. Startup time is much faster than 10.2. I've got no reason to get a new Mac at the moment except that games choice is limited and USB2 would be nice for an iPod Nano

You don't need USB2 to have a Nano. You can still use the regular USB to transfer the songs, and the Firewire to charge it, or get an AC adapter to charger it. The initial transfer of music will just take a while.

Macpilot · Oct 9, 2005, 10:13 PM

Oh yeah....OS X will run fine on that iBook...just like the other folks here said. With enough RAM.