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Time to Buy an iBook
Korin Hasegawa-John - 2002.11.18
Wednesday, 11/6
I finally gave up on the 2400. It's been a great computer, but now I have to let it go. For the last few weeks it has been a luggable, since after a hard fall it no longer recognizes batteries. This negates much of its usefulness, so I have decided to part it out. Watch the swap list if you need some 2400 parts.
I ordered the new beast today. It's a stock 800 MHz iBook with a Combo drive (I can add my own RAM and AirPort card later, as well as a fast IBM hard drive), plus the handy S-video adapter and an extra battery. With the education discount I can get, the grand total is $1,457 with tax. Quite affordable.
The 800 MHz Combo was a better deal for the $100-ish premium over the old Combo 700. I liked the new Radeon 7500 graphics with 32 MB VRAM (great for games, plus Quartz Extreme) and the extra 100 MHz, plus the 16x burner on the Combo drive.
Thursday, 11/7
Well, the battery and S-video adapter shipped today. I also want to find a nice wireless mouse, but that can wait. I'm expecting a rather long wait for the iBook, since the PowerBook G4/1 GHz with SuperDrive is backordered until January. Might be a long wait.
Friday, 11/8
A pleasant surprise! My iBook shipped out today. Can't wait. It should be here by Thursday or Friday. I should really order more RAM. I'm not sure if I can afford to max it out, but I'd really like to. My current main machine has 567 MB, which is acceptable. I think I'll go with another 256 MB for a total of 384 MB to start with. If it really is too little, I can add more later.
Wednesday, 11/13
Well, the iBook arrived. A day early! Unfortunately, the massive amount of homework my teachers have loaded on me (karma?) precludes me from playing with it immediately. I satisfied myself with taking it out of the package and looking at it for 15 minutes. It's not really that interesting to look at strictly, since after all it looks identical to every iBook since the original iBook 2000 (P29). The difference is that this time it's mine.
The biggest question: How does the iBook stack up against the competition? It's by far a better value than the old iBook, but how will it fare against the likes of Dell and Gateway? In order to find out, I visited Dell's website and put together an Inspiron 2650 laptop. I attempted to match the specs to the iBook.
Dell
- 1.7 GHz P4 mobile
- 14.1" TFT Active Matrix screen
- 30 GB ATA hard drive
- 128 MB PC 100 RAM
- 24x10x40x8x CD-RW/DVD combo drive
- 32 MB VRAM GeForce2Go AGP 4x
- Extra 59Whr Lion Battery
- 1-year limited warranty with CompleteCare
- Windows XP Home
Grand total? $1,634 not counting shipping. Now for the iBook
iBook
- 800 MHz G3e
- 12.1" TFT Active Matrix screen
- 30 GB ATA hard drive
- 128 MB PC 100 RAM
- 16x10x32x8x CD-RW/DVD combo drive
- 32 MB VRAM Radeon Mobility 7500 AGP 2x
- Extra Lion Battery
- 1-year limited warranty
- Mac OS 9.2 and Mac OS X 10.2
Total: $1,457 including shipping.
These two are fairly comparable machines. The iBook has a lower price tag by approximately $200 and weighs less. The Dell has a larger screen (although is heavier) and a faster CD-RW drive. Everything else is comparable. I think Mac users (including switchers) are getting a good deal with the latest iBooks - at least on paper.
Next time: The iBook does OS X.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
Recent My Turn articles
- Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
- 'That's Not a Computer', 07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
- Upgrading a Digital Audio G4 to work better in Leopard, 06.02. In its original configuration, the dual 533 MHz Power Mac G4 was slow with Mac OS X 10.5, but add the right upgrades, and it runs Leopard quite nicely.
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- More in the My Turn index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
- Group of the Day: LisaList supports Lisa users.
- November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Quad-Core CPU Makes Sense in MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6 Causing Overheating, Overseas Power, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.06. Also Late 2009 MacBook reviewed, how to add RAM to new MacBook, 18.4in Acer notebook used Intel i7, and SanDisk SSD chosen for Sony VAIO X.
- Dumping Macs for Google Apps, SSD in iMac, Late 2009 iMac Performance Problems, and More, Mac News Review, 11.06. /newsrev/09mnr/1106.html
- WiFi Paranoia, iMac-O-Lantern, Magic Mouse Does Click, Free Clipboard Managers, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.05. Also strange time stamps, problem with ColorIt on Intel Mac, and the story behind OS X 10.5.4 install discs.
- IDE Is Dead; Long Live SATA!, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.04. SATA has displaced parallel ATA. While IDE hard drives haven't disappeared, the best deals are in SATA hard drives.
- QuickTime X in Snow Leopard Imports, Trims, and Publishes Video Quickly and Easily, Alan Zisman, Zis Mac, 11.04. The long, slow process of importing video into iMovie to edit it, then render it to another format, is history as QuickTime X does that much more quickly.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.03. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 8-core. $2,299; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.26 8-core, $2,799; 2.93, $4,999.
- Best iPhone Deals, 11.03. New 8 GB iPhone 3G, $$99; refurb 16 GB 3GS, $149; new, $199; 32 GB, $299.
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.03. Used 867 MHz SperDrive, $348; 1 GHz, $499; 1.33 Combo, $298; SD, $559; 1.5 Combo, $448; SuperDrive, $589.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; G4/366, $49; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.02. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733 MHz, $69; 933 MHz, $209; 1.25 GHz dual, $299.
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 11.02. Used 2.0 GHz, $800; 2.2, $900; 2.4, $1,000; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.66, $1,699; 2.8, $1,949; 3.06, $2,169; new 2.53, $1,579; 2.66, $1,799; more.
- Best Mac mini Deals, 10.30. Used 1.33 GHz G4 mini, $379; 1.42, $389; 1.5, $419; 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $350; Core 2, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $770; Server, $990.
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- Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 10.30. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.5 CD, $4; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
- More deals in our archive.
