Is buying a used iBook G3 a good idea?

Hi, Ellie.

It kind of depends on the size of the hard drive. If you get a 900 MHz iBook, it will have a 40 GB hard drive, and Tiger may work okay with it, but just barely. You really won't see what Tiger can do until you step up to a G4.

I left my 800 MHz G3 iBook with its 30 GB hard drive in Panther and upgraded to a G4 iBook to get Tiger. Others are comfortably using Tiger on their G3's, but I decided I didn't want to push mine with it.

You can keep an eye on the Apple Store's Special Deals page for a fairly good deal on an iBook G4, but you're not likely to see a G3 there. Apple pretty much considers them obsolete.

The iBook G3 (Dual USB) has been rather notorious for logic board problems, so that's one more reason to step up to a G4. My 800 MHz iBook G3 has been back three times for the logic board repair. On the other hand, there are many G3 owners out there happily iBooking away, oblivious to the fact that others have had problems.

I've bought four iBooks on eBay, but there are a lot of clunkers there, and you really have to know what you're doing. Don't buy any iBook anywhere that does not include the original software discs that came with it. This leaves out a lot of online stores that sell used iBooks, because the software Install and Restore discs are usually not included with them. You need those discs for hard drive maintenance and to reinstall and/or restore your software if you have problems with the hard drive. If you buy one without those discs, you can plan on having trouble getting them when you need them. Sometimes Apple has them available for a fee, but you can't depend on that.

If you live close to a college, you may find a student selling his/her iBook on a college bulletin board or in your local newspaper in order to get the money to buy a new computer. Students are rather notorious for abusing iBooks, though, so make sure you get a good look at it. Often the fact that a person has kept track of the software discs is a good indication of how well they've taken care of the iBook, too.

If you do decide to buy on eBay, make sure that your seller has only one iBook for sale (scammers often have half a dozen up at once), that it includes the original software discs that came with the iBook, that he/she has a feedback rating of 30 or greater with 100% positive feedback (or very close to 100%). Check out the feedback comments. Only buy from someone who accepts PayPal, and use your credit card to buy it through PayPal so that you can dispute the charge if the iBook is not as advertised.

Check out the specs on all iBooks at EveryMac.com to see what is the oldest system you think you'd be satisfied with.

Good luck.

Is buying a used iBook G3 a good idea? If it's cheap and your expectations, maybe.

First of all: Tiger. Tiger will run on a G3, but it's going to be pretty painful. Also, note that Tiger won't run at all on the original iBook - you'll need to get one of the (slightly) newer white ones.

If you do get the machine, you will probably have to upgrade the memory significantly to get reasonable performance. Some of the G3 iBooks shipped with as little as 64 MB of RAM, which isn't enough to run Tiger at all. Anything under 256-512 MB is going to be extremely slow. Also, take into account that the battery may need replacement.

You're probably better off looking for a used or refurbished iBook G4. The extra price will probably be worth the reduced frustration.

No, you need the system discs that came with the iBook as well as any upgrade discs. If you ever need to Erase and Install, if you only use a Tiger Installation disc, you will lose all the applications that came standard on the iBook and be left with the bare OS.

Don't buy one without those discs. If someone hasn't kept track of the system discs, how well have they cared for the iBook? It doesn't make a person feel very confident in how responsibly they've maintained the computer.

Your copy of Tiger is licensed for just one computer.

Unless you need to boot in OS 9 (G4's can't do that, although they support Classic emulation within OS X), it is well worth the extra money to get the iBook G4 (in my opinion).

Unless you want to be able to boot natively into OS 9.1, one should probably get at least an iBook G4, because they are going to have a much longer useful life. I believe it is the 600mH g3 iBooks listed in the specs as 14" even though there is also a 12" model is the last dual boot iBook. All the later iBooks boot only into OS X and run OS 9 in Classic.

The reason for the dual boot desirability is only if you have a lot of old prer-OS X Mac software programs which you still find useful to run.

All G3 iBooks have the capability to boot into OS 9 (assuming it's installed), right up through the 900 MHz models.

None of the iBook G4's will boot into OS 9, but Classic is supported in OS X, assuming the drivers are installed.

With the Intel-based Macs (iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro), Classic support was officially abandoned by Apple, although there are some third-party developers working to make Classic emulation possible in the newer Macs.

First of all: Tiger. Tiger will run on a G3, but it's
going to be pretty painful.

That's not correct in my experience. I have a G3 iBook 800 with 384Mb of ram. Tiger works brilliantly on this system, with most software running as fast (or faster) than Panther. The only disappointment is spotlight which is a little sluggish but can still be used.

Even so, I wouldn't recommend buying a G3 iBook because of the logic board issue. I've just had mine fixed twice in one month!

Bob