12" iBook G4 vs 12" PowerBook G4

Good Morning!

Both computers will run Leopard so take that out of the equation. The PowerBook has better video hardware.

Both have the same Max RAM limit--1.25Ghz you'd need to add RAM to the iBook to be happy with Leopard, plus you have to find expensive retail install disks on the open market. Apple does not sell Leopard any more. Don;t buy a gray system install/restore disk. If that disk is not the exact version that shipped with the computer, it will likely not work. A real Leopard install disk looks like this:

Before going farther, I'd like to know if you understand the limitations of any G-series Mac with the Internet? Browsers are limited and even the best give slow performance; web video is very difficult to use.

If you need the computer for checking e-mail and using a productivity suite, either will work but the Power book is the better deal. It already has Leopard so that saves you a lot, and the RAM is already maxed out. You'd need to invest additional money in the iBook to give it any semblance of parity with the PowerBook.

LSRV wrote:

I haven't used one since 2008 when I traded in my G3 tower for an Intel iMac. I don't ever remember having problems viewing YouTube videos on it but I have heard that there are issues with online video and PowerPC so perhaps things have changed since then?

I think in 2008 there was still workable Flash support for PowerPC Macs. Today just about every video codec seems optimized only for Intel.

Also, you seem very much to be suggesting that I would have to upgrade the iBook to Leopard anyway...

That wasn't my intention. I was suggesting that, were Leopard important to you, you'd have to spend money on the iBook whereas the PBG4 already has Leo. I, too. still like Tiger. I still have a "triple-boot" G4 MDD minitower that can boot OS9, 10.4, or 10.5 and I find myself seldom using 10.5---10.4 was a workhorse.

Neither of the notebooks you list will boot into OS9. However, as you say, with Tiger you still have the Classic environment. It won;t run every OS9 app properly but should handle the simpler stuff.

The fact that the PB might not come with the original system disks wouldn't be a concern to you at all?

Ah, didn't pick that up. The new forum layout with the tiny default font is getting to me. The lack of orig disks is always a concern. I have full install disks going way back so it would not affect me but I can see how that might be a deal-breaker. After all, even the full retail install disk allow you to boot from the CD/DVD and run Disk Utility when there is a problem.

The G4 MDD is a 1.25gHz single-processor with 1.75GB RAM and the ATI Radeon 9000 64MB video card. Video tends to look like a slide show. I've moved to using TenFourFox for the browser and it does better than the old versions of Safari. I have found a number of FireFox add-ons for 10-4-Fox that prevent sites like Twitter, Google and other from tracking. Those functions are also optimized for Intel and are transparent on an Intel Mac but, left in place, are a major drag on a PPC Mac browser.

The problem with TenFour Fox is that the current version does not allow plug-ins so getting any version of Flash to work will exercise your futility.

The only PPC Mac we have that almost tolerates web video is a last-model eMac 1.42gHz with 2MB RAM and the ATI Radeon 9600 chipset (64MB VRAM). That video chipset is better than the 9000 in the MDD so that may be helping.

The 1.5ghz PowerBook has the best shot at almost playing web video.

Check out TenFour Fox here:

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

You can use plug-ins with their version 17, available here:

http://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/downloads/list

Sorry to be late responding. These forum changes have left me and a lot of the other upper-level contributors punch-drunk. Terrible stuff!

The add-ons I used to stop the outside linking have Disconnect" in the name; ex.: "Twitter Disconnect". One that is titled only "Disconnect" may cover all bases. I can't run TenFourFox on teh intel Imac I'm on now but finding the extensionsin TFF is about the same:

1) Go to Tools > Add-ons

2) Click the "Get Add-ons" option:

3) There is a search window to the right of the area I captured. Search for "Disconnect."

I have the anti-Twitter version on the Intel iMac for some reason:

The specs for the last model (mid-2005 12" iBook, 1.33GHz and 14" 1.42GHz) both

state a 1.5GB total RAM capacity, because there is a 512MB RAM soldered on-board

and the upgrade slot accepts up to 1024MB PC2700 SODIMM RAM. So if you are

being told the iBook G4 is a last model (mid-2005) the numbers are in error and do

not match the specifications.

You posted a duplicate.

12" iBook G4 vs 12" PowerBook G4

Had I known, before attempting a reply given the navigational issues of this 'recently

revised' ASC discussions site, I would have asked a Host to delete it -- but I didn't.

Since I have both of these computers (one well-researched PB 12" G4, dysfunctional;

and one as-new owned since 2005 iBook G4 12" mid-2005. I have more than a passing

understanding of these and their respective issues. Also first-edition dual USB iBook G3.

I've had mostly PPC Mac with exception first-edition MacBook 13" coreduo 1.83GHz.

Was the MacSafe Board determined to be a partial defect in your MacBook? It is on

the logic board but is a repair that isn't very expensive to restore charging. Or DIY

using http://iFixit.com site with links to their repair guide for portable mac computers.

Good luck & happy computing! 😐

If you have an older iBook G4 (2004?) those have 256MB RAM on-board (soldered)

and the upgrade path is to add any chip that is correct & supported up to 1024MB.

The last iBook G4 (mid-2005 series) has 512MB soldered on-board so if it has no

upgrade chip in the RAM slot under the keyboard, it would show 512MB installed.

With a total 768MB in the iBook G4 12" 1.33, that may imply a 256MB upgrade chip

in the slot under the keyboard and a 512MB soldered on the logic board. Or, it may

be that the logic board has 256MB and a 512MB upgrade chip was installed.

Also, the older iBook G4 12/14" has a PC2100 upgrade RAM chip instead of PC2700.

The older one that shipped with that spec for upgrade slot (and soldered-in RAM) can

use a PC2700 SO-DIMM but instead of being seen as that higher spec it would be at

the lower speed spec of PC2100.

So it is possible the upgrade chip is 256MB RAM. The System Profiler will show what

occupies the upgrade slot and also the spec of the on-board RAM. There are at least

two paths to open System Profiler (in Utilities folder) as one is via "About this Mac"

and another is from GO in Finder (choose Utilities folder) to look for System Profiler.

Other ways include using Find or Spotlight to search the hard drive boot partition.

By correctly identifying the PowerBook G4, you could hope to find the correct original

grey-label install restore DVD software kit; that should have a Hardware Test, a disc

with included Applications (such as iLife suite, AppleWorks, and so on) though the

iBook G4 (last model, mid-2005) original software kit has a fair selection included with

the Tiger 10.4 system.

With OS X 10.5.8 installed, you could use some later software; a few browser options

exist where the custom build only works in Leopard 10.5.x. There is a patch to help

the very obsolete Flash player plugin appear as a less obsolete 11.5. version; but it

still lags behind anything current. Web pages that support HTML5 can be seen in

TenFourFox, some YouTube content can be seen in version 24+ of that browser. By

default the plugin for Flash does not work. A few users here have suggested to go

and workaround that, to turn it on (old version -- whatever its compromised issues)

is possible. You can be careful what you choose to view or pages you visit, to some

extent, to avoid some kinds of problems. I use TenFourFox and SeaMonkey for PPC.

Older versions of FireFox can run in 10.4 & 10.5, but lack some fair upgrades.

I also have iCab, the last version supported by PPC hardware in either 10.4/10.5.

Anyway, thought I'd say Hi and hope things work out for you! 🙂

Great news!

hopefully I won't be posting again then

Don't be a stranger!