[kmarketing]

Hi,

It is unbelieveable how much the White 500mhz ibooks are still going for!

Am I missing something, or is there particularly special about this model?

Let me know,
Thanks!

[dreilly1]

For some reason, Mac hardware tends to go for much more on eBay than you would think.

As for the 500 MHz iBooks, there's nothing special about them. Their 66 MHz bus could be OC'd to 100 MHZ with a little soldering, and they didn't seem to have the manufacturing problems that more recent iBooks have, but otherwise they're pretty long in the tooth.

[wvx]

Originally posted by kmarketing:
Hi,

It is unbelieveable how much the White 500mhz ibooks are still going for!

Am I missing something, or is there particularly special about this model?

Let me know,
Thanks!

I sold my May 2001 500MHz iBook last September for $700! A month later the G4 iBooks came out and I was able to upgrade to the 800Mhz 12" model... I was stoked! I love eBay!

[NYCFarmboy]

Another reason is:

the 500 mhz white ibooks have a silver interior instead of the cheap opaque milk carton white plastic used on ibooks now.

And the exterior finish is clear instead of opaque like the new models.

The old 500 models look SO much nicer than the new ones.

(Yes I have a 500 mhz ibook)

I was on a flight just last week and the guy next to me had a brand new g4 14" ibook and I had my old 12" 500 mhz ibook and he was just floored how much nicer the older model looked compared to the new cheaper finish model.

I think with the 700 mhz g3 ibooks Apple did away with the nice finish on the ibooks because they looked too good in comparison to upcoming 12" powerbook model so they severely degraded the appearance to make the 12" powerbook look better in comparison.

[selowitch]

I wonder if one could remove the guts of a new iBook and put them inside the casing of a 500MHz iBook? Probably more trouble than it's worth, I imagine, even if it were possible.

[NYCFarmboy]

Originally posted by selowitch:
I wonder if one could remove the guts of a new iBook and put them inside the casing of a 500MHz iBook? Probably more trouble than it's worth, I imagine, even if it were possible.

The new slot loading cd/dvd drive wouldn't work in the old shell.


Or I would in a heartbeat.


But there are worse problems to have.

[bartman00]

dreilly1: Do you have like a 30sec memory or something?! The early ibooks had tons of freeken problems. I had one with every "common" problem. Do any of these ring a bell to you.

1. cd-rom that would die after a couple hours of use. Mine lasted 1 day
2. creeking hinges. Mine got so bad I though the bezel of the lcd was going to snap in half when I opened it.
3. flickering LCD backlight. Caused by bad connector.

All where covered by apple care. They did a great job, fast too.

I also overclocked mine.. and it's much harder than "moving a couple resisters"! You have to take the entire machine apart and it's the hardest machine to take apart I've ever seen! Then you have to move the smallist resisters I've ever seen let alone attempted to move. I had a friend who designs prototype boards help me move them. It's no easy task... and the risks of killing you're machine are high.

The finish was much better though.. My 900mhz ibook looks cheep.. but is oh so much faster.

Bart

[selowitch]

Originally posted by NYCFarmboy:
The new slot loading cd/dvd drive wouldn't work in the old shell.

OK, suppose you left the old optical drive in there. Would the rest of the new iBook guts make it over to the old casing, theoretically?

[ccsccs7]

The older 500 and 600 MHz iBooks also have the all-in-one AV cable. :-) Man! I'm gonna miss that when I move to a 12" Powerbook. (Fortunately, I don't use it that much.)

[rjenkinson]

Originally posted by ccsccs7:
The older 500 and 600 MHz iBooks also have the all-in-one AV cable. :-) Man! I'm gonna miss that when I move to a 12" Powerbook. (Fortunately, I don't use it that much.)

that thing was a nuisance. the machines didn't have S-video and half the time just plugging in a pair of headphones would trigger the video mirroring setting.

-r.

[dreilly1]

Originally posted by bartman00:
dreilly1: Do you have like a 30sec memory or something?! The early ibooks had tons of freeken problems. I had one with every "common" problem. Do any of these ring a bell to you.

1. cd-rom that would die after a couple hours of use. Mine lasted 1 day
2. creeking hinges. Mine got so bad I though the bezel of the lcd was going to snap in half when I opened it.
3. flickering LCD backlight. Caused by bad connector.

All where covered by apple care. They did a great job, fast too.

Actually, my 500 MHz iBook was rock-solid. The only problem was that the battery went south rather quickly, although I think the newer batteries have a higher capacity anyway. I sold it to buy an 800 MHz iBook last year, and have had to send that one back to Apple twice for logic board and display cable problems.

I also overclocked mine.. and it's much harder than "moving a couple resisters"! You have to take the entire machine apart and it's the hardest machine to take apart I've ever seen! Then you have to move the smallist resisters I've ever seen let alone attempted to move. I had a friend who designs prototype boards help me move them. It's no easy task... and the risks of killing you're machine are high.

You're right, the resistors are pretty tiny surface-mount parts. I thought about overclocking mine, but didn't.

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by selowitch:
I wonder if one could remove the guts of a new iBook and put them inside the casing of a 500MHz iBook? Probably more trouble than it's worth, I imagine, even if it were possible.

It's very possible, and quite simple.

I've done it many times (we use iBooks at work; if one machine is damaged in a way, we salvage it - I have a 900MHz iBook in an old 600 case at work. Awesome).

[scottiB]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
I have a 900MHz iBook in an old 600 case at work. Awesome).

That's really cool.