[V12]

Looking to get my first Mac soon, a 12inch iBook

I will probably get teh 512mb ram upgrade and the 40gb HD upgrade.

Are there any other upgrades you reconmend?

Also i have some questions:

i currently have a wirless-B router does airport come built in the iBook or do i need to get the airport extreme?

Do i need to get the Bluetooth upgrade to use the Apple wireless mouse and keyboard?

If i buy the ibook at the mac store can they do the upgrades there, or are they going to tell me to order online?

one last question, The iBook is a 1ghz G4, what does this equate to in Pentium 4 PC ghz terms? (im guessing around 2ghz?)

Any help is apprechiated, THANKS !!!

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally posted by V12:
Looking to get my first Mac soon, a 12inch iBook

I will probably get teh 512mb ram upgrade and the 40gb HD upgrade.

Are there any other upgrades you reconmend?

Also i have some questions:

i currently have a wirless-B router does airport come built in the iBook or do i need to get the airport extreme?

Do i need to get the Bluetooth upgrade to use the Apple wireless mouse and keyboard?

If i buy the ibook at the mac store can they do the upgrades there, or are they going to tell me to order online?

one last question, The iBook is a 1ghz G4, what does this equate to in Pentium 4 PC ghz terms? (im guessing around 2ghz?)

Any help is apprechiated, THANKS !!!

If you want more RAM, don't buy it from Apple with the computer. Buy it separately from another online vender--it's much cheaper.

You would need to buy an airport extreme card for the iBook if you want wireless capability. Ditto for the Bluetooth upgrade to use the wireless mouse and keyboard.

I'm not sure about your last two questions.

[brooklyn_mac_guy]

My 12" G4 iBook is a week old and I love it.

I ordered through the online store.

I didn't upgrade the hard drive. A lot of people suggest getting a faster firewire if you really need more space.

I ordered ram from Ramjet to bring it up to 512. It runs better than my 400mhz G4 with 1.2 gig ram. But if you can afford more get it.

Also got an Airport Extreme card. It was shipped separately and I had to install it. Very easy though. But I am very disappointed with the AE range. It is half that of my W2K laptop (see my post in this forum and networking). I don't know if my card is bad or what. But I'm wondering if a USB wireless solution would have been better.

In general it seems to be a tad slower than my 1.8 Ghz P4 laptop. But still a much more pleasant experience. My Dell is a 7.5 lb beast. the iBook is a true laptop.

I use a Knesington wireless mouse that has its own receiver that plugs in to a USB port. no extra wireless needed for it.

[rastatero]

I have been using m 12" iBook for nearly a month. I purchased it directly from an Apple retail store one day, so there is no bluetooth or harddrive upgrade. But as previously mentioned, I followed the route of many others and I have an external firewire/usb2 enclosure with a 160gb drive for any additional storage. An Apple sales associate installed the AE card for me in the store, so it was all very simple and quick. I ordered 512MB Crucial memory, which arrived shortly after and it seems to do the trick. Good Luck.

[V12]

can you post a link for that firewire and usb2 enclosure

also i don't think i am confident enough to install ram on a mac, expecially a laptop

and i was looking at some external HDs

[Nodnarb]

Originally posted by V12:

also i don't think i am confident enough to install ram on a mac, expecially a laptop

When I got my iBook awhile ago, I got the ram from Apple. It was extremley expensive but I thought the same thing as you ("I don't want to screw up my iBook...better not take the risk.") When my sister got her 12 inch iBook a little less then a month ago, we bought the RAM seperatley and installing it was extremely easy, much cheaper, and the RAM will work just as well as Apple's. If you are still scared you could buy iBook with everything you want except the RAM and take it to a genius bar and they'll probably put in some 3rd party RAM for you. But there shouldn't be a reason you can't do it yourself.

[V12]

is the ram just under the keyboard, can any get me some pics?

[V12]

yea....i ended up with a powerbook 12