I'm looking at a Graphite iBook being offered online at €40ish and I was wondering about buying this and using it as an iTunes player, I realise I may have to make a few upgrades.
Does anyone have any experience of this, what kind of results I might get - wheteher its worthwhile or a waste of time, what kind of upgrades I might have to make, I don't mind making upgrades and learning how to do these (as long as cost doesn't go crazy)
iBook
Hello,
There are two types of iBook Clamshell Graphics. The 366Mhz model which doesn't come with FireWire and the Special Edition 366/466Mhz model which does have FireWire.
Having FireWire does make a difference. The most a 366Mhz model without FireWire can be updated to is Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther. The most a Special Edition model with FireWire can be upgraded to is Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger. Indeed this will effect what version of iTunes you can have installed.
None of these model can have the latest version of iTunes, the iTunes would be out of date.
If holding music is what your after doing with this iTunes, be warned. The Hard drives are not very big, with the hightest being 10GB in size.
Indeed you can upgrade the hard drive to something bigger, but it's not a simple job with these iBooks.
You have to remove most of the iBook's inners to get access to the drive.
Best of luck
Hello,
There are two types of iBook Clamshell Graphics. The 366Mhz model which doesn't come with FireWire and the Special Edition 366/466Mhz model which does have FireWire.
Having FireWire does make a difference. The most a 366Mhz model without FireWire can be updated to is Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther. The most a Special Edition model with FireWire can be upgraded to is Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger. Indeed this will effect what version of iTunes you can have installed.
None of these model can have the latest version of iTunes, the iTunes would be out of date.
If holding music is what your after doing with this iTunes, be warned. The Hard drives are not very big, with the hightest being 10GB in size.
Indeed you can upgrade the hard drive to something bigger, but it's not a simple job with these iBooks.
You have to remove most of the iBook's inners to get access to the drive.
Best of luck
Hmm that is helpful, I figure upgrading the hard drive is a must its a Graphite model which I think is a later one possibly Special Edition.
It would be my first Apple computer so I'm hoping it will be a good learning experience
Hello,
They are great little machine to learn about Apple and highly collectable.
Not the most easiest to upgrade and the most these until will take memory, is a 512 Meg muddle (256mhz for the 300Mhz version) They do come with 32 or 64 Meg built-in
The other thing worth me telling you. The screen resolutions will only go to 800 X 600.
There are many web site which don't like being displayed in 800 x 600.
Hope this helps. 🙂
any version of itunes will play music. you don't need the latest. for example, when i am upstairs i play music on my imac g3 in os9 using itunes 2. if you plan on importing cd's the processor speed of these clamshells will cause the importing to be painfully slow. if you plan on using an ipod with it you will want the 466mhz version with firewire and an ipod photo or older. new ipods require usb 2.0 which the clamshell doesn't have. i just sold a 466mhz graphite running 10.3 and i could've upgraded the memory, hard drive and operating system on it but it really didn't seem like it was worth the trouble and expense. my needs changed and i no longer needed a laptop so i sold it along with two other laptops i had. they're rock solid little machines, extremely interesting looking but like knuckles said, they're not much use for today's internet.
A iBook Jukebox is a very nice project and it is still fun to use:
You will need hardware upgrades for additional 100$ if you want to store and play a lot of songs
a 160GB ATA HD, 128GB available (Samsung HM160HC) for 65$
a 512MB RAM Stick for 20$
a USB Remote i.E. Griffin Airclick USB 15$
Extra costs if you need a wireless connection or a new battery
More information abot the iBook Clamshell series at www.iBook-Clamshell.com
Clamshell iBook
