I know everyone thinks I'm being a troll but my wife's iBook hangs in OS 9. Sometimes you're just sitting there looking at it waiting for it come to life. I've checked all the usual. Something's not right with it.
Other than that it's great to use. Scren is great, keyboard feels good, mouse pad is as good as those can be, hinge is great. It's just "slowy".
If all you came here for was good news why bother posting at all? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
Scott, I understand completely. Right now mine has only 128 MB and it is very slow. Without more RAM it's not worth getting, you MUST get at least 384 MB, preferably 640 MB.
I know how you feel... I said how my dock was kinda slow and choppy on mine, and my friend (over AIM) just told me it wasn't because his wasn't (he has the 700/Combo with 640 MB of RAM). Of course, he wasn't here, he couldn't see that my dock was in fact moving slowly.
In the meantime I have my dock set to no magnification. I kinda like it that way more anyway. Stuff doesn't move away this way.
Hopefully everything will speed up once I get my extra 512. Even the 800 MHz with 256 MB in the store was much faster. I also need to get an Airport card sometime in the next month - my dorm just got a kiosk installed, and all the kiosks have wireless access points installed. So I think I'll get wireless internet in my room.
Oh BTW the ram is 128+256. It came with an "old" for the time version of OS X 10.0.4 I think. Which we don't use. My wife has no interest in X. Maybe I need to remove the apple talk extensions?
<strong>No, I didn't just come here for "good news"...remember, I specifically asked people to "spill it", the good AND the not-so-good. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Some minor bitching about the iBook...
Mainly, soldering 128 MB to the motherboard: what were they thinking?! Why couldn't they have just soldered 256 MB instead...
Also, it'd be nice to see an AirPort card preinstalled on the high end 14" model, like how the high end TiBook has one.
<strong>in fact, after using mine for a few days, I have to wonder why Apple doesn't make a smaller notebook with a 10.3" screen, like the 2400c.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Goodness do I miss my trusty Comet (aka PowerBook 2400c)! I love my iBook/500 dearly and it runs Jaguar just fine for me. But I still find myself wishing it was even lighter. An Apple sub-PowerBook would rule my world even more than the iBook does. Only reason that I didn't stick with the lighter 2400c is that it could run OS X without US$1000 in upgrades.
pscates: I have no doubt that you will do just fine with the iBook/800. As everyone's said above, you just need to max out the RAM.
Scott: A good rule of thumb is to disable any extensions you aren't using. If you'll be switching between modem and ethernet access, you can even create multiple sets. Of course, disabling too many extensions can create as many problems as leaving too many on.
I also think that upgrading to 10.1 or 10.2 would help a lot. I haven't used 10.1 but I heard that it's much faster than 10.0, and it's a free upgrade from 10.0. Generally though you want a computer with at least a 100 MHz bus and a 400 or 500 MHz processor to run OS X well. An original white iBook won't be that great.
Hopefully Apple will get past the current low of 128 MB. That's how much is included in all their lowest end machines - the iMac, the eMac, the CRT iMac, and the iBooks. Basically it's 128/256 for the consumer products, and 256/512 for the pro machines. Hopefully it'll go to 256/512 for consumer and 512/768 for the pro... that's really what's necessary for now. The current level of 128 is barely even enough to run basic apps. 256 is fine for basic stuff but you want more if you'll be doing anything heavier than Mail, browsing, or iChat, or if you'll be running multiple things at once. It really wouldn't cost them much more considering how cheap RAM is, and people getting new Macs would be much more satisfied with performance. As long as their processors are lagging, they may as well work on all the other areas where they have more control. It already looks like they're doing that with the iBooks and PowerBooks, bringing the graphics up to some pretty nice levels.
By the way, I don't think waiting until MWSF will be beneficial... the iBooks and PowerBooks have been updated recently, MWSF will be about desktops.
I got a 600mHz iBook about four months ago (just before the bump to 32MB VRAM). I love it. I think it's the perfect computer for what I do, which, with the substiution of crunching microarray data for creating on Illustrator, sounds similar to what you do.
When I was shopping around I played with a 700mHz iBook running 10.1 in CompUSA and found it adequate; when I installed 10.2 on my brand-new 600, it felt phenomenal. Yeah, there's a slight delay when opening the control panels, and the first app launch is kinda slow. But when you reboot once a month, all you notice is the lightning-fast relaunches. The interface itself is perfectly responsive. Like others, I find it slows a bit when I do too many things at once, but I have no problems listening to iTunes while I d/l large files and play with Excel. I'd need another brain to multitask much more.
Things I didn't expect but love:
1. Battery life: 3 hours if I use it like I'm plugged in, 5.5 hours if I turn the brightness down. For real. It's incredible. You need to leave the continent to run out of battery life on a plane. Civ3 from coast to coast.
2. The screen: I was as worried about the 12" screen as I was about the G3, but it's remarkably comfortable to work in front of. Almost restful to my eyes, far more so than any CRT. Much of that is Quartz, but the screen itself is very bright and sharp. Even at the lowest brightness, it's perfectly readable (convenient for getting those 5.5 hours).
3. Airport range: I can surf through four laboratory-grade walls. Never tried it in the open, but I suspect you'd need a big yard to outrange it.
4. Battery, battery, battery.
Caveats:
1. Get as much RAM as you can. I find 384MB adequate, but will bump to 640 when I can.
2. Put something between the keyboard and screen. Grime on the keys rubs off on the screen when it's closed, leaving ugly spots that need to be cleaned off.
Performance on my iBook 700 640ram is silky, 16mb grfx version. It's a sweet little machine with great battery life and it's tough as nails, I've dropped/banged it up a fair share and I've never had a problem. I can only imagine the 800 would be much smoother, and I'd really like those 16mb more vid ram. However I play ghost recon no problems, grfx throttle back of course. For your work you won't even feel the difference. I love this thing, best machine I've ever owned, and I've owned a ton; both pc and mac. What I do...
1. 'light' gaming, though i consider myself a heavy gamer, especially online, i'll say 'light' because the hardware, and especially the mac os, restricts my gaming possibilities- but ghost recon keeps me busy
2. writing writing writing, poli sci major, minor history and art hist, this means tons of writing. thank you office x
3. general media stuff... light movie encoding, photoshop elements work, mp4/divx encoding, dvd ripping, lots'o cd burning (though i usually fall back on my tower for this) and dvd watchin' (thanks tv out)
4. network 'exploration' thank you kismac and the amazing range of the ibook
<strong>It is not clear if they void the warranty though...</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm quite certain an Authorized Apple Service Provider HDD upgrade won't void your warranty. I brought my iBook to the local Apple Store for a screen repair two weeks ago. I figured I'd ask them to swap in a larger HDD while they had the 'Book open. The Apple Genius said that Apple didn't do that, but any AASP could.
If you have any doubts about voiding your warranty, call Apple or e-mail MCE, they're straight shooters and won't tell you lies to get your business.
<strong>I know everyone thinks I'm being a troll but my wife's iBook hangs in OS 9. Sometimes you're just sitting there looking at it waiting for it come to life. I've checked all the usual. Something's not right with it. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Have you tried a Clean Install of OS 9, or removing Preferences from the current System Folder?
AppleTalk, MacOS, Finder, and Energy Saver preferences can get mucked up and cause such behavior.
No computer is immune from problems, unfortunately. You're going to have to do a little trouble shooting with any computer you buy, eventually. No different with Macs. (although I'm sure a Mac freak will tell me otherwise here...)
Comments
Other than that it's great to use. Scren is great, keyboard feels good, mouse pad is as good as those can be, hinge is great. It's just "slowy".
If all you came here for was good news why bother posting at all? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
I know how you feel... I said how my dock was kinda slow and choppy on mine, and my friend (over AIM) just told me it wasn't because his wasn't (he has the 700/Combo with 640 MB of RAM). Of course, he wasn't here, he couldn't see that my dock was in fact moving slowly.
In the meantime I have my dock set to no magnification. I kinda like it that way more anyway. Stuff doesn't move away this way.
Hopefully everything will speed up once I get my extra 512. Even the 800 MHz with 256 MB in the store was much faster. I also need to get an Airport card sometime in the next month - my dorm just got a kiosk installed, and all the kiosks have wireless access points installed. So I think I'll get wireless internet in my room.
I don't want (or need) to be shined on or gladhanded...particularly with a $1000-plus purchase!
I trust you guys more than some anonymous reviewer in a magazine. Plus, I can pump you all for specific info and real life scenarios.
All the posts have been great, by the way.
Appreciate the informative, honest feedback.
I'll wait until after MWSF, for sure (you just never know), but maybe after that...
I MIGHT even wait unti...no, wait. There IS no Tokyo Expo this year!
Wow...
Hmmm...
By the way, I'm at my friend's house right now, tapped in to her DSL with my iMac while she's galavanting around Ireland for the next two weeks.
I HATED lugging it (the keyboard, cables, )speakers, etc.) all over here. BUT now that it's all here and set up, I'm glad I did it.
Her apartment rocks.
Just wish I could've strolled in with a little iBook and post to AI while sitting on her couch...
<strong>No, I didn't just come here for "good news"...remember, I specifically asked people to "spill it", the good AND the not-so-good. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Some minor bitching about the iBook...
Mainly, soldering 128 MB to the motherboard: what were they thinking?! Why couldn't they have just soldered 256 MB instead...
Also, it'd be nice to see an AirPort card preinstalled on the high end 14" model, like how the high end TiBook has one.
<strong>in fact, after using mine for a few days, I have to wonder why Apple doesn't make a smaller notebook with a 10.3" screen, like the 2400c.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Goodness do I miss my trusty Comet (aka PowerBook 2400c)! I love my iBook/500 dearly and it runs Jaguar just fine for me. But I still find myself wishing it was even lighter. An Apple sub-PowerBook would rule my world even more than the iBook does. Only reason that I didn't stick with the lighter 2400c is that it could run OS X without US$1000 in upgrades.
pscates: I have no doubt that you will do just fine with the iBook/800. As everyone's said above, you just need to max out the RAM.
Escher
<strong>BTW: Can we get it upgraded at an apple specialist, without voiding the warranty?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes. <a href="http://www.mcetech.com/"; target="_blank">MCE</a> does a great job of upgrading 'Books, for example.
Escher
I also think that upgrading to 10.1 or 10.2 would help a lot. I haven't used 10.1 but I heard that it's much faster than 10.0, and it's a free upgrade from 10.0. Generally though you want a computer with at least a 100 MHz bus and a 400 or 500 MHz processor to run OS X well. An original white iBook won't be that great.
Hopefully Apple will get past the current low of 128 MB. That's how much is included in all their lowest end machines - the iMac, the eMac, the CRT iMac, and the iBooks. Basically it's 128/256 for the consumer products, and 256/512 for the pro machines. Hopefully it'll go to 256/512 for consumer and 512/768 for the pro... that's really what's necessary for now. The current level of 128 is barely even enough to run basic apps. 256 is fine for basic stuff but you want more if you'll be doing anything heavier than Mail, browsing, or iChat, or if you'll be running multiple things at once. It really wouldn't cost them much more considering how cheap RAM is, and people getting new Macs would be much more satisfied with performance. As long as their processors are lagging, they may as well work on all the other areas where they have more control. It already looks like they're doing that with the iBooks and PowerBooks, bringing the graphics up to some pretty nice levels.
By the way, I don't think waiting until MWSF will be beneficial... the iBooks and PowerBooks have been updated recently, MWSF will be about desktops.
When I was shopping around I played with a 700mHz iBook running 10.1 in CompUSA and found it adequate; when I installed 10.2 on my brand-new 600, it felt phenomenal. Yeah, there's a slight delay when opening the control panels, and the first app launch is kinda slow. But when you reboot once a month, all you notice is the lightning-fast relaunches. The interface itself is perfectly responsive. Like others, I find it slows a bit when I do too many things at once, but I have no problems listening to iTunes while I d/l large files and play with Excel. I'd need another brain to multitask much more.
Things I didn't expect but love:
1. Battery life: 3 hours if I use it like I'm plugged in, 5.5 hours if I turn the brightness down. For real. It's incredible. You need to leave the continent to run out of battery life on a plane. Civ3 from coast to coast.
2. The screen: I was as worried about the 12" screen as I was about the G3, but it's remarkably comfortable to work in front of. Almost restful to my eyes, far more so than any CRT. Much of that is Quartz, but the screen itself is very bright and sharp. Even at the lowest brightness, it's perfectly readable (convenient for getting those 5.5 hours).
3. Airport range: I can surf through four laboratory-grade walls. Never tried it in the open, but I suspect you'd need a big yard to outrange it.
4. Battery, battery, battery.
Caveats:
1. Get as much RAM as you can. I find 384MB adequate, but will bump to 640 when I can.
2. Put something between the keyboard and screen. Grime on the keys rubs off on the screen when it's closed, leaving ugly spots that need to be cleaned off.
<strong>
Yes. <a href="http://www.mcetech.com/"; target="_blank">MCE</a> does a great job of upgrading 'Books, for example.
Escher</strong><hr></blockquote>
It is not clear if they void the warranty though...
1. 'light' gaming, though i consider myself a heavy gamer, especially online, i'll say 'light' because the hardware, and especially the mac os, restricts my gaming possibilities- but ghost recon keeps me busy
2. writing writing writing, poli sci major, minor history and art hist, this means tons of writing. thank you office x
3. general media stuff... light movie encoding, photoshop elements work, mp4/divx encoding, dvd ripping, lots'o cd burning (though i usually fall back on my tower for this) and dvd watchin' (thanks tv out)
4. network 'exploration'
[ 12-18-2002: Message edited by: serrano ]</p>
<strong>It is not clear if they void the warranty though...</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm quite certain an Authorized Apple Service Provider HDD upgrade won't void your warranty. I brought my iBook to the local Apple Store for a screen repair two weeks ago. I figured I'd ask them to swap in a larger HDD while they had the 'Book open. The Apple Genius said that Apple didn't do that, but any AASP could.
If you have any doubts about voiding your warranty, call Apple or e-mail MCE, they're straight shooters and won't tell you lies to get your business.
Escher
<strong>I know everyone thinks I'm being a troll but my wife's iBook hangs in OS 9. Sometimes you're just sitting there looking at it waiting for it come to life. I've checked all the usual. Something's not right with it. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Have you tried a Clean Install of OS 9, or removing Preferences from the current System Folder?
AppleTalk, MacOS, Finder, and Energy Saver preferences can get mucked up and cause such behavior.