iBook Questions.

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Greetings,





I have a few questions about the 1GHz 12" iBook with the combo drive.



If I add RAM myself, will it void the 1 yr warranty and/or the Apple Care warranty?



The specifications say "up to 6 hour" battery life, and that is from Apple. What is a more realistic estimate?



How durable and reliable is an iBook? Will it last 4+ years of hauling it around, perhaps getting a little banged up in the process?



Thank you in advance.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    If I add RAM myself, will it void the 1 yr warranty and/or the Apple Care warranty?



    Nope, your warranty will not be voided. According to Apple, memory is a user-installable part.





    The specifications say "up to 6 hour" battery life, and that is from Apple. What is a more realistic estimate?



    That depends on what you're doing. You'll probably get ~4.5-5hrs if you turn the brightness down and are only doing light duty work (word processing, etc)



    If you use Airport, etc, play games, watch DVD's, you may only get 3-3.5hrs



    How durable and reliable is an iBook? Will it last 4+ years of hauling it around, perhaps getting a little banged up in the process?



    There's no reason it can't last 4 years if you get a good case for it. The iBook is a tough little rig.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    reddingoreddingo Posts: 21member
    By case do you mean like a laptop bag, or some actual material that fits around the iBook exactly?



    Also, could you post a link to a good one? Thanks.
  • Reply 3 of 15
    cakecake Posts: 1,010member
    I just bought a 12" combo iBook last weekend as a temporary replacement for my dead 12" PowerBook.



    Battery life just for general email/web browsing/Im'ing is about four hours (without changing the brightness).

    It's easy to scratch the white surface of this thing - I'm not talking big scratches from misuse, just tiny very fine scratches from everyday use. It's no big deal, kinda like how easy it is to scratch an iPod.



    It's very solid, so it should hold up well during your travels.

    I use the Kensington Saddleback Pro for my PowerBook and now my iBook. It's a backpack style computer bag which is perfect for me since I ride my bike to and from work (but it also has a handle and removable strap, so you don't have to carry it strictly as a backpack).

    It's also got a very cool, semi-hidden drawer in the bottom of it where you can store the AC adapter and other stuff (cellphone, keys, sunglasses, etc.)







    The iBook is great, but I really miss my PowerBook!
  • Reply 4 of 15
    reddingoreddingo Posts: 21member
    Thanks, I'll look into the case.



  • Reply 5 of 15
    rlindemanrlindeman Posts: 39member
    Macskinz makes covers for a lot of the Apple product line, www.macskinz.com. They currently don't have anything in stock for the 12" iBook, but I managed to pick one up on eBay that has worked great. My iBook is about 6 months old and doesn't have a scratch.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    Well, I went with the 14" iBook G4 with 768 RAM. I ordered the HP 5150 with it for 89 bucks, and then you get an 89 dollar rebate. Just found out today that it had been upgraded to a 5740 for the same price, but I am not sure if the rebate is still applicable. The FedEx guy came by during work, so I missed getting the printer.



    As far as mice go, I'd like to get one but the Apple mice seem rather expensive for one button. The MS mouse I got is optical and has three buttons and a scroll wheel, and that was only $20 and still works great. Are there any other mice manufacturers who make them in a style similar to Apples?



    I was surprised how quickly it shipped, seeing as how I ordered it on Thursday night and it arrived early Monday morning, and the estimated shipping date was today.



    Being that this is the first laptop I've owned, and I've never really used a flatpanel monitor or anything, I've noticed a lot of pictures on websites and such, especially of people, seem to have some jumbling of pixels and whatnot around edges of objects within the pictures. Is there an option I'm missing somewhere to correct this, or is it a common problem with laptops?



    Thanks for any and all help -- I'm really liking the iBook so far.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    matveimatvei Posts: 193member
    keep your mouse. It'll work fine on the mac.
  • Reply 8 of 15
    inkheadinkhead Posts: 155member
    I currently own a 12' powerbook (6 months old) and just this week I bought a brand new 12' ibook.



    I actually like the ibook better!



    *Better airport reception

    *I prefer the keyboard style of the ibook (an adjustment but easier to type on)

    *Easy applescript to enable dual displays at an resolutions fixes the ibooks "mirror only feature. AND no it's NOT a firmware hack. just an option apple disabled in a configuration file. (shh All the ibooks on apple campus have dual display out of the box ;-)

    *Superdrive, the 12' ibook isn't supposed to have a superdrive, but there is a company selling them for $300 or you can put one in yourself for $200 So Now my iBook has an 8x dvd burner

    * Add ram, I added the full 1.25 GB

    *much more durable than my powerbook (in for repairs) the iBooks are tougher, the white doesn't show scatches as easily as a powerbook, and can take more abuse.

    *BTO bluetooth built in



    If you're going with a 12' notebook get the ibook. The only really difference to me is more ram on the video card (if you do gaming or such) or need a direct connect to adc or dvi. (I don't since i use a 22' dell LCD which supports VGA, as well as DVI)



    Also all 1.07 ghz 12' ibooks are actually 1.2ghz processors underclocked (to add value to the powerbook line. The newier ones can't be changed in the software but I can show you how to put your iBook 12' (latest model) at 1.2ghz safely. (same as apple campus ibooks ;-)
  • Reply 9 of 15
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by inkhead



    Also all 1.07 ghz 12' ibooks are actually 1.2ghz processors underclocked (to add value to the powerbook line. The newier ones can't be changed in the software but I can show you how to put your iBook 12' (latest model) at 1.2ghz safely. (same as apple campus ibooks ;-)




    Ok, so how is this done?
  • Reply 10 of 15
    inkheadinkhead Posts: 155member
    I'll have to post some information about this.... Let me confirm with someone if it is okay if I go ahead and share since it wasn't me who figured it out :-)
  • Reply 11 of 15
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by inkhead

    I'll have to post some information about this.... Let me confirm with someone if it is okay if I go ahead and share since it wasn't me who figured it out :-)



    inkhead- I sent you a private message about it, you could private message me information too, or I guess I could pay for the information as well if it is that secretive.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    or a link to the Dual display Applescript (without firmware hack)
  • Reply 14 of 15
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    inkhead - Still no news on if you can say how to make 1GHZ 1.2GHZ? I won't tell anyone. I'm just curious, and I might not even do it depending on what's involved. You could PM me information.



    I hadn't read this anywhere else.
  • Reply 15 of 15
    Quote:



    That one I knew about already (home of the firmware hack for the last 2 years).



    Thought he had an Apple-internal version beyond the obvious one.
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