[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Okay, so I just had my iBook G4 (1.2 Ghz) die on me, and I'm in the market for a laptop. But thanks to the fact that I'm a poor student, my options are limited. Anyways, I have a chance to get a G4 PowerBook 15" with a 550 Mhz processor, and I was wondering, is it going to feel like a huge stepdown from my iBook? Because I could wait and save a bit more money and instead get one with an 867 Mhz G4, but I'm just wondering if it's really worth it.

[ibook_steve]

Is it going to feel like a slowdown? Uh, yeah. You're chopping your operating speed in half and using a 2 year older graphics chip. How did your iBook "die?" I'd spend my money on resurrecting the iBook instead of such a downgrade if you can't afford another comparable machine.

Steve

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

I've explained it elsewhere, but the hard drive was starting to fail and then the unit just stopped powering on. And I really didn't feel like paying Apple yet again (had the logic board replaced back in September) for repairs, especially if they did have to remove the hard drive because the repair center kept the OS X install CD that was in the optical drive the last time I took it in, so I'd have to buy a new copy of OS X in addition to all the repairs. Not to mention in the past several months I haven't been able to get the keyboard to sit properly no matter what I did with it.

And it's not like I ever did anything mindblowing with my iBook. I used it for internet, some word processing, and I used to use it occasionally on campus for watching DVDs and some Divx encoded movies.

To be honest, I'd rather find something new than have to put up with repairs yet again. But it's not like I even have the money to buy a new system like it. I just need something of my own again for school, because having to share a craptastic PC with my sister really sucks, especially with how much she loves The Sims 2 and Myspace.

[rjt1000]

Your defunct iBook will still have some value if sold for parts on eBay. Then try to save enough additional to buy a refurb iBook or MacBook from the Apple on line store (special deals section). That would give you a reasonabley affordable recent machine with a 1 year warranty.

[tinkered]

The ti books are slow. The 550's were particularly slow, underperforming the 500 MHz pismo on some bench tests, although this was before most things were altivec enabled. For $100 and an ifixit guide you will have a working ibook, plus I am sure there is someone who can lend you a OS disk, I mean it is the least the repair shop can do after stealing yours. Also, the Tibooks don't have wireless g, only b.

On the upside, it is light and has a nice screen. Put money into maxing out the ram and you will see better performance, particularly in large word documents and running several apps at once.

[MadanKnightRyukendo]

Originally Posted by rjt1000 

Your defunct iBook will still have some value if sold for parts on eBay. Then try to save enough additional to buy a refurb iBook or MacBook from the Apple on line store (special deals section). That would give you a reasonabley affordable recent machine with a 1 year warranty.

Already sold it for $270.

And to tinkered, the bulk of my problems didn't happen until I opened it using an Ifixit guide. Before I did, my only problem was a hard drive that occasionally made a strange humming sound and things locked up on me. After I opened it is when it started crashing. I have a post in the iBook section that more thoroughly explains the problems.

EDIT: Also, after looking around some more, I found a great G4 PowerBook, 867 Mhz that I'm waiting to hear about shipping on. And waiting is not something I can really do right now. Like I said before, I'm a college student trying to share a crappy PC with a 16 year old sister. Recipe for annoyance.