Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

metallic · May 30, 2004, 08:36 AM

i was playing with the ibook g4's at the local applecentre the other day and noticed that the plastic inside was horrid and thin and bendy.
is that how ALL of the ibooks are?

when you put your hand on the palm rest it made creaking noises and if you pressed on the plastic you could see it go down.
and you could literally press the trackpads button by pressing the plastic AROUND it.

i was considoring a 12" ibook but after seeing the flimsy plastic im gunna get a 12"pb.

ive always been a pro end user,and everything ive ever had from apple has always been built flawlessly.
they either dont pay much attention to the consumer products, or they need to re design the ibook imo.

ghporter · May 30, 2004, 11:09 AM

In my experience the demo units in stores are horribly abused, and thus not a good example of the quality of the machine.

Our iBook is not "rugged," as a Panasonic Toughbook is (magnesium case, more dangerous to what's around it than the environment is to the computer...), but it is not flimsy, and it does not exhibit the problems you described.

The quality problems you saw are almost certainly because the poor machine you looked at has been tortured while on the store shelf.

Randman · May 30, 2004, 11:29 AM

While they don't have the rugged feel of the clamshell models, the iBooks are durable if taken care of properly. About the worst thing is the slight discoloration from gripping it near the trackpad.
I guess if one wanted to be critical enough, one could knock any laptop, even a PowerBook.
But feeling one up in a store is akin to kicking a car's tires and proclaiming that it won't have a soft ride.

The Placid Casual · May 30, 2004, 11:38 AM

I don't think they are that sturdy, waayyy less sturdy than the clamshells and even the powerbooks. However they are still far from 'fragile'.

For me, the finish looks horible after a few months as it really shows up marks and scratches. (My iBook 500 looked awful after 6 months of 'pro' usage...)

cold aspiration · May 31, 2004, 02:10 AM

Ok, it is not the most fragile thing in the world but I get a lot of creaking and bending and fankly, it scares me to rough it even a little bit.

antisonne · May 31, 2004, 11:08 AM

Actually, they arent that flimsy, well I dont know about the G4s, but the G3s had different casing between bottom end and top end models... My 800 iBook has the silver top, translucent keys, and hing is silver, the cheap model (Bottom end 900/700) had white hinge, white top, solid white keys and the top had more of a texture. The problem with powerbooks is that if you were a watch or something you will get dents in the casing (I have a friend who in first month of owning a his 12' aluminum put his hand down gently to type and the watch left a dent that is big enough to be seen from a distance).

I also dont like how the 12' PBs hinges feel... When your closing the screen it feels like it will jam up and cause you to crack your screen in half.

Leonard · May 31, 2004, 03:00 PM

Why are people always worried about creaking? Even my G3 Powerbook (pismo) does this and has been working for over 3 years without major problems. Creaking is NOT a problem. Anything built of plastic will creak. I can get my telephone to creak, my PC's case to creak, a keyboard to creak, a mouse to creak. It doesn't mean it's going to break.

metallic · Jun 1, 2004, 03:00 AM

leonard....its not if it can, and on occasion does creak.
its how often and how easy it is to make it do so.

i am well aware of the fact that plastics do this, but no where near as much as those ibooks i was playing with.

the thing that concerned me most was the fact that i could press the trackpads button by pressing the plastic AROUND the trackpad.

that is what compleately turned me off the ibook.

Randman · Jun 1, 2004, 03:51 AM

I have a G4 iBook, 14-inch, 1Ghz, and I can't move the trackpad by touching around it. In fact, it feels very solid around it, much more so than say around the speakers area.

motti · Jun 1, 2004, 07:54 AM

I always get positive remarks for how solid my ibook is built and how it looks good after more than 2 years. After looking at various other ibooks, I think my dual-usb 600 is one of the best ibooks Apple has built. The following iceBooks have a less solid casing and get quickly dirty.

metallic · Jun 1, 2004, 08:58 AM

randman > i didnt say you could move the trackpad by pressing around it.
i said you could click the trackpads button by pressing the plastic around it.

Randman · Jun 1, 2004, 09:02 AM

Well, that's what I meant. It's quite solid on my iBook. About the only problem is some slight discoloration on the palmrest.

gkrykewy · Jun 2, 2004, 05:16 PM

My 1GHZ iBook feels very solid. No creaking. I'm under the impression that the creaking of the left palmrest was an issue with the last iBook revision (the 800 MHZ 12 inch, for example) that has been corrected in the latest revision.

cold aspiration · Jun 2, 2004, 07:40 PM

Originally posted by gkrykewy:
My 1GHZ iBook feels very solid. No creaking. I'm under the impression that the creaking of the left palmrest was an issue with the last iBook revision (the 800 MHZ 12 inch, for example) that has been corrected in the latest revision.

Even right after you close the ibbok and grab it by the hinge? What about the entire piece that has the usb, phone, firewire ports? Try pushing them.

jon l. dawson · Jun 2, 2004, 09:19 PM

You're worried about *creaking* ? Yeah, I guess I can get my iBook to creak. I never noticed it, and can't figure out why it should bother me.

Klay2122 · Jun 6, 2004, 12:59 PM

I got my iBook G4 1Ghz when they frist came out. I have taken this thing everywhere with me, from friends places to work. Now its in the land of sand with me(military TDY) and I have never had an issue. It runs great even with all the dirt and sand everywhere. The palm rests are dirty, even the track pad is looking ugly too (its hard to try and wash everytime I want to change and itune track or something) but with all this not a sound that shouldn't be there or a software hangup has ever happend. Oh, the outside is getting scatches like crazy but I expected that and it doesn't bother me. The screen still looks great and thats what matters. In my opinion, its built tough enough for a lot of different use(maybe abuse never intentional) and I'm happy with it.

The Placid Casual · Jun 6, 2004, 03:54 PM

Originally posted by Klay2122:
I got my iBook G4 1Ghz when they frist came out. I have taken this thing everywhere with me, from friends places to work. Now its in the land of sand with me(military TDY) and I have never had an issue. It runs great even with all the dirt and sand everywhere. The palm rests are dirty, even the track pad is looking ugly too (its hard to try and wash everytime I want to change and itune track or something) but with all this not a sound that shouldn't be there or a software hangup has ever happend. Oh, the outside is getting scatches like crazy but I expected that and it doesn't bother me. The screen still looks great and thats what matters. In my opinion, its built tough enough for a lot of different use(maybe abuse never intentional) and I'm happy with it.

Interesting input. Great post.

Good to hear the g4 is holding up will in extreme conditions.