[j1001n]

I was thinking of getting a 500mhz ibook from ebay. What do you guys think? I don't need to do much. All I need to do is surf the web and type up some papers on it. Would this be a good laptop for those kinds of things? Is it Extremely slow?
Also, will using it be hard, I am currently a windows user, the only other experience I have with apple computers are the iMacs at school.
Thanks

[mduell]

Originally Posted by j1001n

I was thinking of getting a 500mhz ibook from ebay. What do you guys think?

On a more serious note, it will work for reading web pages (unless you're a tab whore like me) and writing papers, but it will be slow.

[j1001n]

I am willing to overlook that.
I doubt it will be that slow, I mean, I am not exactly making movies on it.
Just simple web browsing and a couple of papers.
Plus it looks cool. I can't help but loving that bright apple logo on the case and its sleek professional look.

[Steve]

It should work perfectly for what you want to do. You may want to max out the RAM (640mb) so it's bearable.

[bartman00]

I had one of the verry first 500mhz ibooks and all the problems that went along with it. (hinges, lcd reed switch, cd-rom that lasted 2 uses). The hardware problems where fixed on later production moddles.

But asside from that the damn thing worked fine for web and stuff. I alwasys thought I needed a fast computer.. I'm a tab whore and when I'm just playing on the web I'm doing 2-3 other things in the background inbetween clicking on pages. I'm Mr. Computer ADD. Where was I going with this.. any way I got activated for 9 months a while ago and spent my entire time living in an hotel with wifi! Lucky!! I had my lil 500mhz ibook and I found even though it wasn't the fastest it did everything I needed to do just fine. I didn't need anything more. Only thing I wished for after having to use it for months was a larger display. That 12" gets smaller and smaller every day you use it. Get more ram, 256mb will not cut it.

But please consider what your paying for that ibook could be used to save up for a newer refurb one on at the apple store, and they come with a 1 year warrenty. Not to mention a G4 at 2x the clock speed and a way faster video card, larger HD....

But then again... I got a deal on a 900mhz ibook and sort of wish I'd just kept the 500, even though it was a deal it dosn't really do anything more for what I use my laptop for.

Just checked the Apple refurb store
$799
iBook 12-inch 1.33GHz Combo Drive
512MB memory (DDR333 SDRAM)
40GB

But.. then again.. if you get a 500 for a good price on ebay, have a nut. They seem to be selling for $300-400 on ebay.

I think I've point and counter pointed myself enough. The choice is in your hands now.


EDIT:
I forgot you said this is your first mac. If you get the 500 just keep in mind that it is a "slower" computer to be running X on. It'll be fine but you'll just have to keep it perspective. OSX is not hard to use. That 500mhz ibook was my first mac. It was sort of an experiment for me. I wanted a laptop and was getting into linux and was intristed in OSX. I figured even if I don't really like OSX it was a cheeper laptop and it'd work for what I need. Now I love OSX and only use Windows to play some games.

[Dork.]

You definitely need to max out the RAM. It will be slow, but it will work for what you want it to do. The memory bus on these models runs at 66 MHz, even though all the hardware is able to run at 100 MHz. Apple intentionally crippled these machines because the PB's at the time only had 100 MHz buses. When Apple raised the PB's to 133 a few months later, the iBooks got un-crippled.

I used to have a 1st-gen 500 MHz G3 iBook, but sold it years ago to get a 800 MHz G3. The 800 MHz was over twice as fast as the 500 MHz, and the additional speed increase (beyond the CPU increase) was directly due to the faster bus.

If you're adventurous, you can un-cripple these iBooks by moving some teeny surface-mount resistors on the motherboard. I would not recommend doing this yourself unless you have some experience doing this sort of thing. Google for the info if you like.

Also, keep in mind that these iBooks use the old AirPort cards, which are hard to come by now. Expect to pay over the original $100 list price if you need to get one on eBay.

The HD in these models are very small, also. Tiger may not even fit on it! You may want to look for older versions of OS X or applications if you don't have a bigger drive available to swap in. (PC IDE laptop drives are fine, I don't remember precisely what the size specs are)

My conclusion: If you have some parts lying around to put into it or can get them cheap, it could meet your needs very well. Otherwise, you're better off investing a little more and getting a more recent model.

[j1001n]

There are some good notebooks on ebay with 700 and 800mhz. I think I will just get those. I wish I could get a new one but I don't have enough money and don't have a job. I don't want to smooch off my parents either. I just need something that will help me do basic things at school when I am away from my desktop. aka Surf the net when doing nothing in class. I was planning on using it on the school wifi network. But if I can't find an Airport card then won't a usb wifi adapter work?

[Mojo]

There have recently been some excellent deals on previous-generation brand new iBooks at college bookstores. I have seen prices between $600 and $649; last December I got my 1.2 GHz iBook at the University of Oregon Bookstore for $649. So if you are a student you might be eligible for a good deal...

I would be wary of iBooks that are as old as a 500GHz. My 600 GHz drive died just shy of its third birthday and the repairman told me that they see a LOT of bad drives in iBooks between 2-3 years old. It also had to go back to Apple for the stiff-hinge problem. Three years old is getting on in years for an iBook.

Having said all that, Tiger is quite fast on the 600 GHz. Speed Is Relative. For normal use, anything 500 GHz or faster is plenty fast.

[j1001n]

I can't get the college discount because I am a junior in high school.

[pat++]

Originally Posted by j1001n

I can't get the college discount because I am a junior in high school.

I used to have a 500mhz iBook. It's a pretty good machine, but it starts to get a bit old now. I would recommend getting at least a 700mhz iBook (they have better video card, support Quartz Extreme) and and MUCH faster than the 500mhz ones which have very slow bus (66mhz).
I suppose they are not much more expensive than 500/600mhz models, but the 700mhz models are way faster/more appropriate to use OS X.
(700mhz models have larger L2 cache as well, which makes a huge difference)

[Gamoe]

j1001n, I have a 500 Mhz. G3 iBook I bought from another member on this board.-- This is another option, you could always try the marketplace here-- It does everything I need it to. It was great on vacation, as I just dumped all my photos in it and cleared my camera's CF card for use the next day. It's great for school-- I used it to give presentations (made with Keynote) in two of my classes in college.

But, as has been pointed out, understand that it will not be as glorious a Mac-experience as using one of the newer iBooks. Consider your budget and look at all your options carefully (Apple Store refurbs., marketplace, eBay, stores, etc.). Sometimes it pays off to save for something better later. Sometimes it doesn't, really.

In any case, wait for January 10th, at least, to see what will come of MacWorld. It may cause prices of current and older iBooks to drop some more.

[Gamoe]

Oh, I have to agree with Dork.'s ( ) comment on HDD sizes. I removed my iBook's tiny 10 GB HDD and upgraded it myself to a new 80 GB HDD. If I hadn't it wouldn't be nearly as useful or usable for me. For your first Mac, I suggest you don't go this route. Maybe you're better off getting a newer iBook instead.

[brickcam]

Originally Posted by j1001n

I can't get the college discount because I am a junior in high school.

Apple has education discounts for K-12 *and* college, I thought. I'm not even in school, but work for a university, and I get one...