[discotronic]

I have an opportunity to purchase a G4 14" iBook 1.42GHz. It is the last version with superdrive, bluetooth, airport extreme, 512MB RAM, 60GB HD, and etc. It is still under warranty for about 5 months.

The price is $700 with all accessories, disks, box and etc. from when it was new. It is in perfect condition with zero scratches, dead pixels or discoloration. In other words, it is basically brand new. Apple sells them for $1049 refurbished and for $1199 with education discount. This is without tax of course.

Do you guys think this is a good deal? I really think it is but I'm not 100% sure right now. The new MacBook is nice but it doesn't provide me with anything I need that the G4 doesn't. Well, except it isn't black

All I need is a portable Mac for surfing on the go and other non-power hungry apps. I am using a clamshell iBook 300MHz right now but it is getting too slow for my needs. My main system is a 1.8GHz G5 PowerMac and it does everything I need when at home.

Any advice is appreciated.

[Dave N]

Sounds like a great deal to me, if you want a 14" iBook. The university where I work put the iBooks on discount a few weeks back: $749 for a 12" and $999 for a 14". I've been waiting for the MacBook to come out for many months, but bought one of the close-out iBooks because I don't want to deal with the MB heat.

[icruise]

Well, I really think that the MacBook would be a better deal overall. It's a lot faster, it's new, and has a better screen. Plus it's smaller. You'd lose the superdrive in comparison with the machine you're thinking about, but you don't sound like you'd use it anyway. $1099 (or $999 if you get it from Amazon with their rebate) isn't really all that much more, and you'd have a machine that would last you a lot longer. That said, if you've been using an original clamshell iBook all this time, you'll probably get a lot of use out of either one of them.

[Dr. DDS]

I have the same machine. I bought in october 2005 and for me its great! For surfing and minor photoshop editing its just fine.. When i use imovie it's slow though. Yes, the macbook is really a lot faster, but you have to know your needs... you said you have a G5 machine that does all the heavy work...

[Mojo]

Considering the reported problems with the first generation MacBooks, I would stick with your current portable Mac, go for a G4 iBook or wait and see if Apple addresses the various MacBook issues...

[discotronic]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I think I am going to go ahead and get the iBook. While the MacBook would be faster, lighter and having a widescreen display would be great, I can't see the extra cost right now. If I where to get a MacBook it would have to be the Superdrive model so the price over this one would be $600 plus.

It won't be my main machine so it doesn't have to do any heavy lifting. My clamshell has been doing almost everything I need for a few years now so this thing will most definitely handle anything I throw at it while on the road. Another important factor is it will be used on my lap. From what I have read, this is one of the advantages of the G4 iBook over the MacBook

The extra savings over the MacBook will go towards a new PowerMac/MacPro or whatever the heck they will be called.

[Dr. DDS]

good choice