Hello Lionel,
Mort's good info seems to me to have answered your specific question.
Just to be clear, my old M8817LL has the ability to close the lens off with an aperture advertised as a built in lens cover. So do all other external iSights regardless of model. As I stated in the page
Defcom(UK) linked above,
"For the user, about the only practical difference between the versions is in the mounts that were included when the iSight was new."
Note that even if the external iSight you are considering is advertised as an NOS (new, old-stock) iSight, it may not be covered by Apple Warranty. If the seller is not providing you service guarantees or warranty, you may be interested in considering Apple's
iSight Service: Frequently Asked Questions.
Regardless of where you buy an external iSight now, you may want ask whether the connectors, cables, and mounts that meet your needs are included. If some items you need are missing but you still want to buy the iSight,
this info may be of interest. (Note that Apple no longer offers the "iSight Accessory Kit, Part Number: M9314G/B" that is mentioned there.)
If you needs parts from this Kit or from those listed in the
iSight Service: Frequently Asked Questions page and cannot locate them locally, I recently found that the kind people at
http://www.synaptech.com will help users obtain those that are still available.
EZ
Jim
PowerBook 1.67 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.10) G5 DP 1.8 External iSight
