Apple made an unusual decision when it designed the original iBook, the one with the handle. Unlike most Macs before and since, iBooks do not have a PRAM battery. Neither does the 12″ PowerBook G4, which is based on the iBook G4. Instead, the parameter RAM (PRAM for short) is maintained by using the charge […]
Tag Archives: clamshell iBook
I take the fantastic coloured Clamshell iBook and strip it back making it transparent.
If you wanted an external drive for booting a PowerPC Mac, you officially needed a FireWire one. But it seems some PowerPC Macs can boot from USB.
Changing the hard drive in a Clamshell iBook G3 requires a complete strip down. I look at modding it to make it easier.
I very much enjoyed reading Carl Nygren’s 2008 column, Graphite Clamshell iMac Still a Real Eye Catcher and Useful Tool about his Graphite clamshell iBook SE. Wow! A cherry clamshell complete with built-in DVD drive, manuals, and CD for fifty bucks. I’m envious.
The Clamshell iBook has to be one of Apple’s most debated products. Some say it’s gorgeous, some say it’s hideous, and it’s described in some of the most bizarre ways – Barbie’s handbag and the toilet seat to name a few.
Thought I was done after Part 4? Well, so did I, but there are a few discoveries I made I felt I had to report.
Back in 2007, my 300 MHz 1999 Clamshell iBook’s usefulness was questionable, but that’s definitely not the case now, thanks to the CompactFlash-IDE drive I installed. Almost every application in OS X 10.3 Panther loads within 20 seconds (most within five or ten seconds), and in Mac OS 9, everything loads even faster.
On one fateful December day in 2007, my original 300 MHz Clamshell iBook suddenly stopped running on battery power. For four years, I spent hundreds of dollars on my iBook, replacing several internal components, including the logic board and the charger board. Why I didn’t think to replace the battery is beyond me, but I eventually […]
In Part 1, I reported that my Clamshell iBook was running Mac OS 9.2.2 on its old 6 GB IBM hard drive. Well, now I have my Addonics CF-IDE adapter (see Silence Is Golden: Running Your Existing Notebook Using Flash Memory), and I just have one thing to say: Meep meep!
There’s nothing like the original iBook, even twelve years after it was first made. The unique styling, the tough case, and the optional built-in AirPort 802.11b WiFi all make it a very functional notebook computer. Add to that the incredible battery life for its day, and you’ve got the makings of a great road warrior […]
2009 – Others have published their thoughts on the Best Mac Ever, the 10 Best Macs, and the 25 Best Macs, but I’m taking a different approach. I want to identify the 25 most important Macs ever, clones included. (In some cases, I’ll lump together two or more models that were introduced simultaneously.)
Yesterday (October 22, 2007) Oobject published a list of the 16 worst Apple products ever (since updated to 18) – and we just have to disagree with some of them.
2006 – Over the past few years, I’ve been cutting back on some of the old Macs lying around the house. At one point I had an example of just about every Mac made until the late 1990s. As software is updated and time goes on, most of these computers become less and less useful […]
Ten years ago this month I started graduate school, and I was determined not to wait in line at the computer center or rely on the kindness of friends who had their own computers. I needed my own machine. I had used PCs at work, but a friend let me use his Mac Plus to […]
2000: The new iBook SE has a new feature called processor speed-stepping. Working similarly to the technology that prevents Mobile Pentium IIIs from running down notebook PC batteries too quickly, it allows you to slow down the G3 processor from 466 to 366 MHz, the same speed as the base model.
The second-generation iBook Special Edition (SE) adds key lime as an alternative to graphite. It replaces the 366 MHz G3 processor of the earlier iBook SE with the new G3e running at 466 MHz. The G3e includes an on-chip L2 cache that runs at full CPU speed for improved processor efficiency (the larger backside cache […]
The second-generation iBook replaces the bright blueberry and tangerine of the original iBook with a more sophisticated indigo blue and a bright key lime. New features include FireWire and video output.
The iBook has been the best selling portable computer since it began shipping in late September 1999. It’s also been picked on for having too little memory, too small a hard drive, and garish (some say “girlie”) colors.
The iBook has been dubbed by Apple as “an iMac to go,” but the iBook has a lot of new features in addition to its portability. This is a guide to help you know the big and small differences between the iMac and the iBook.
July 1999: The suspense is over! In one of what has to be the longest-anticipated and one of the most eagerly awaited product introductions in its history, Apple computer unveiled its new compact iBook consumer notebook on Wednesday at Macworld Expo New York.
1999: Admit it, Mac fans, you’d love one. Sure, it may not be the right Mac for you, but the iBook (like the iMac) calls out to be embraced. Buy me. Use me. Show the world your colors.
1999: I’ll admit it right up front: I was expecting the iBook to come in at about $1,400, not $1,600. But then, I was expecting a different computer. A lot of us were expecting something smaller and lighter than the Lombard PowerBook G3.
1999 – Many people have tried to copy Apple’s idea of a cool translucent plastic space age looking computer. Well, now Apple’s done it themselves. Enter the iBook.
Apple’s first consumer portable since the PowerBook 150 was discontinued at under US$1,000 in late 1995, the $1,599 iBook was available in blueberry and tangerine. Apple billed it as the world’s second fastest portable computer – only the Lombard PowerBook G3 outperforms it.
