I have been offered a deal for an iBook G3 500mhz, with 384mb of RAM, a 10GB
hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive (not sure if it is a writer yet, I forgot to
ask). The iBook is white, and it comes with the original box, manuals, cd's
for both os 9 and osX (and the guy told me he has the disk for an upgrade of
OSX included). I don't know the first thing about iBooks (or Macs, as I've
been a PC guy since the Mac Plus days unfortunately), but I've been wanting
a laptop for a while now and this seems like a good deal. I offered him $350
and he accepted, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon from him.

My main concern was the screen and the battery. He said he bought it new a
few years ago and has never run it off of the battery - meaning he's only
used it plugged in. While I was talking with him on the phone he had the
laptop up. He did something and said, "hold on a second, it's calculating
the battery time" and then after a couple of seconds he said that it says 3
hours and 24 minutes left. But he said he has no idea what goes into that
calculation (drives spinning, etc). As long as I can get an hour at a charge
out of it I'd be happy. As for the screen, no stuck or dead pixels. He said
he bought it and used it for maybe a total of 12 hours because he likes
FreeBSD (whatever that is - linux?) and wanted to see how it worked with the
Mac (or something to that effect).

So my questions for you guys:

- this iBook will be used for surfing the web, email, quicken, dreamweaver,
and if it can handle it, my wife would probably download her digital photos
from her camera to it. Again, I'm a PC guy, and I currently use a 1.7ghz P4
PC. How slow will the iBook be for these tasks? I expect it to be pretty
slow since it's only 500mhz and 384mb of ram, but will it be *really* slow
compared to my PC?

- the iBook comes with an airport card. I have a wireless router that I've
never used before (meaning I do use it hard-wired to my PC, but have never
connected wirelessly to it). It's a Dell wireless router. Will the airport
card/iBook be able to connect to this wireless router, or would I have to
have an apple router? The dell router is an 802.11g router.

- is it hard to increase the RAM in the iBooks? If I can get some relatively
inexpensively (I haven't looked online yet), I was thinking a boost to 512mb
of RAM might be a good idea?

- he said it comes with os9 and also osX (along with an upgrade to osX), all
the real legitimate disks and not illegal copies (I was sure to check that).
Since I haven't used a mac in so long, I think the best thing for me to do
would be probably to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS from scratch.
My questions in regards to that are:

a. Is this something that is difficult to do? Or is it pretty
straight forward? Is it advisable or should I not bother?

b. Which OS should I install? Should I install the os 9 or the
latest OSX? I'm pretty savvy with my PC, and I like a challenge (somewhat),
my main concern is which will run faster.

Lastly...I already made a verbal commitment with this guy over the phone for
the iBook, so I plan on going through with the transaction anyway, but,
based on my need for a lightweight laptop to do web surfing and email,
dreamweaver (limited) and quicken (daily - I'm on a budget big time!), will
this iBook fulfill my needs or is it better just to save up and get a newer
one?

Thanks in advance for any help with these questions,

--
mark

"mark" <Ih8SpamminScum@especiallyyours.net> wrote:

> I have been offered a deal for an iBook G3 500mhz, with 384mb of RAM, a 10GB
> hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive (not sure if it is a writer yet, I forgot to
> ask). The iBook is white, and it comes with the original box, manuals, cd's
> for both os 9 and osX (and the guy told me he has the disk for an upgrade of
> OSX included).

It sounds like an iBook (Dual USB) with an extra 256 MB RAM chip in it.


> I don't know the first thing about iBooks (or Macs, as I've
> been a PC guy since the Mac Plus days unfortunately), but I've been wanting
> a laptop for a while now and this seems like a good deal. I offered him $350
> and he accepted, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon from him.

$350 sounds about right, not a great bargain but you aren't being ripped
off either.


> My main concern was the screen and the battery. He said he bought it new a
> few years ago and has never run it off of the battery - meaning he's only
> used it plugged in. While I was talking with him on the phone he had the
> laptop up. He did something and said, "hold on a second, it's calculating
> the battery time" and then after a couple of seconds he said that it says 3
> hours and 24 minutes left. But he said he has no idea what goes into that
> calculation (drives spinning, etc). As long as I can get an hour at a charge
> out of it I'd be happy.

This is a tough one. LiIon batteries only have a life span of a few
years (whether they are used or not) and if he never actually drained
it, the computer has nothing to go on when estimating battery life. I
would say that the estimate you were given is useless, but at least you
know that the battery can still hold a charge.

I would run X Resource Graph on the machine and see how many mAh the
battery can hold. As long as it's more than about 1500, it should last
an hour.

<http://www.gauchosoft.com/index.pl?t...0Resource%20Gr
aph>

> As for the screen, no stuck or dead pixels. He said
> he bought it and used it for maybe a total of 12 hours because he likes
> FreeBSD (whatever that is - linux?) and wanted to see how it worked with the
> Mac (or something to that effect).
>
> So my questions for you guys:
>
> - this iBook will be used for surfing the web, email, quicken, dreamweaver,
> and if it can handle it, my wife would probably download her digital photos
> from her camera to it. Again, I'm a PC guy, and I currently use a 1.7ghz P4
> PC. How slow will the iBook be for these tasks? I expect it to be pretty
> slow since it's only 500mhz and 384mb of ram, but will it be *really* slow
> compared to my PC?

For the web, email, quicken and downloading pictures, it will be fine.
Dreamweaver may be frustrating on occasion.

> - the iBook comes with an airport card. I have a wireless router that I've
> never used before (meaning I do use it hard-wired to my PC, but have never
> connected wirelessly to it). It's a Dell wireless router. Will the airport
> card/iBook be able to connect to this wireless router, or would I have to
> have an apple router? The dell router is an 802.11g router.

The iBook will be able to connect to your Dell router just fine.

> - is it hard to increase the RAM in the iBooks? If I can get some relatively
> inexpensively (I haven't looked online yet), I was thinking a boost to 512mb
> of RAM might be a good idea?

I think you should look toward getting a bigger HD first. 10 GB fills up
very fast when you are storing pictures on your computer. 384mb is
plenty. Besides, there is only one RAM slot on the machine, so to add
RAM, you would have to replace the 256MB chip-set it currently has with
a 512MB one.

> - he said it comes with os9 and also osX (along with an upgrade to osX), all
> the real legitimate disks and not illegal copies (I was sure to check that).
> Since I haven't used a mac in so long, I think the best thing for me to do
> would be probably to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS from scratch.
> My questions in regards to that are:
>
> a. Is this something that is difficult to do? Or is it pretty
> straight forward? Is it advisable or should I not bother?
>
> b. Which OS should I install? Should I install the os 9 or the
> latest OSX? I'm pretty savvy with my PC, and I like a challenge (somewhat),
> my main concern is which will run faster.

What version of OSX does it come with? That matters big time regarding
speed. If it is 10.0 or 10.1, you should get a newer version. I would
suggest the following:

When you get the machine, boot to an OS9 (9.2 or higher) CD.
Run Disk Utility (look in the menu bar). Erase the disk and format it
"extended", make sure there is only one partition.

Install OS 9.2 on the disk. Reboot to the HD and run software update (in
the control panels folder of the apple menu.) Keep running it until it
says there are no updates left.

Now insert an OSX disk (10.2 or higher) and install it. Then run
software update (System Preferences in the Apple menu) over and over
until is says there are no updates left.

Then install Quicken, Dreamweaver and whatever other applications he is
giving you.

Now, go into the System Preferences again. Click on "Accounts" and
create a user account. What I normally do is name the admin account
"admin" one user account "daniel". You will want a separate user account
for each person who will be using the computer.

Now exit the admin account and don't use it unless you are specifically
doing something that only an admin should do.


> Lastly...I already made a verbal commitment with this guy over the phone for
> the iBook, so I plan on going through with the transaction anyway, but,
> based on my need for a lightweight laptop to do web surfing and email,
> dreamweaver (limited) and quicken (daily - I'm on a budget big time!), will
> this iBook fulfill my needs or is it better just to save up and get a newer
> one?

I think the machine in question will be adequate for your needs. I've
been doing pretty much the same stuff on a G3 400MHz since 1999 with no
complaints at all.

Hi Daniel,

First off - thanks for the reply. I inserted my responses below. As I type
this I now realize that the next thing I need to do is update my iBook so I
can access newsgroups via it instead of this windows desktop machine I have
sitting next to it : )

"Daniel T." <postmaster@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:postmaster-37F49E.10451303102004@news5.east.earthlink.net...
> "mark" <Ih8SpamminScum@especiallyyours.net> wrote:
>
>> I have been offered a deal for an iBook G3 500mhz, with 384mb of RAM, a
>> 10GB
>> hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive (not sure if it is a writer yet, I forgot
>> to
>> ask). The iBook is white, and it comes with the original box, manuals,
>> cd's
>> for both os 9 and osX (and the guy told me he has the disk for an upgrade
>> of
>> OSX included).
>
> It sounds like an iBook (Dual USB) with an extra 256 MB RAM chip in it.
>

I picked it up from the guy today. Great guy. He totally hooked me up - it
came with the original box and all manuals/CDs, plus a retail box of OS X
10.2 Jaguar, and the retail box of Office: Mac for OS X. Way cool,
especially considering that the MS Office software wasn't discussed prior to
us striking the deal.

Turns out you were right on - it is the dual USB ibook with an extra 256mb
in it. I got it home and within about 5 minutes of fiddling with it I had
the airport card (it came included) connected to my home network (that
includes the time it took to enable wireless via my dell router). I can't
believe how fast this ibook is, and how fast the internet connection is on
it (particularly wireless!). This ibook is awesome!

>
>> I don't know the first thing about iBooks (or Macs, as I've
>> been a PC guy since the Mac Plus days unfortunately), but I've been
>> wanting
>> a laptop for a while now and this seems like a good deal. I offered him
>> $350
>> and he accepted, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon from him.
>
> $350 sounds about right, not a great bargain but you aren't being ripped
> off either.
>

For the price it would have cost me for something bigger and clunkier and
not as elegant, and without all the extras, I'm thrilled I got it at that
price.

>
>> My main concern was the screen and the battery. He said he bought it new
>> a
>> few years ago and has never run it off of the battery - meaning he's only
>> used it plugged in. While I was talking with him on the phone he had the
>> laptop up. He did something and said, "hold on a second, it's calculating
>> the battery time" and then after a couple of seconds he said that it says
>> 3
>> hours and 24 minutes left. But he said he has no idea what goes into that
>> calculation (drives spinning, etc). As long as I can get an hour at a
>> charge
>> out of it I'd be happy.
>
> This is a tough one. LiIon batteries only have a life span of a few
> years (whether they are used or not) and if he never actually drained
> it, the computer has nothing to go on when estimating battery life. I
> would say that the estimate you were given is useless, but at least you
> know that the battery can still hold a charge.
>
> I would run X Resource Graph on the machine and see how many mAh the
> battery can hold. As long as it's more than about 1500, it should last
> an hour.
>
> <http://www.gauchosoft.com/index.pl?t...0Resource%20Gr
> aph>
>

Thanks for the link - I downloaded it and it says that the voltage is
11.355V and amperage is 1.052A (Cur = 2879mAh and Max = 3744mAh). I assume
that means I can get at least two hours of battery time out of it? At the
time I wrote this, I had been using it connected wirelessly and downloading
music via the web for about 30 minutes already.

>> As for the screen, no stuck or dead pixels. He said
>> he bought it and used it for maybe a total of 12 hours because he likes
>> FreeBSD (whatever that is - linux?) and wanted to see how it worked with
>> the
>> Mac (or something to that effect).
>>
>> So my questions for you guys:
>>
>> - this iBook will be used for surfing the web, email, quicken,
>> dreamweaver,
>> and if it can handle it, my wife would probably download her digital
>> photos
>> from her camera to it. Again, I'm a PC guy, and I currently use a 1.7ghz
>> P4
>> PC. How slow will the iBook be for these tasks? I expect it to be pretty
>> slow since it's only 500mhz and 384mb of ram, but will it be *really*
>> slow
>> compared to my PC?
>
> For the web, email, quicken and downloading pictures, it will be fine.
> Dreamweaver may be frustrating on occasion.
>

So far the web is just as fast as my 1.7ghz win4 PC (and that PC is
hard-wired to the router, not wireless!), so I have no doubt that email will
be fine. I only have a license for quicken for the PC so I'll have to wait
on getting it for Mac, but I think it would probably be fine. I can't wait
to try out dreamweaver on this thing - I think it could handle it.

>> - the iBook comes with an airport card. I have a wireless router that
>> I've
>> never used before (meaning I do use it hard-wired to my PC, but have
>> never
>> connected wirelessly to it). It's a Dell wireless router. Will the
>> airport
>> card/iBook be able to connect to this wireless router, or would I have to
>> have an apple router? The dell router is an 802.11g router.
>
> The iBook will be able to connect to your Dell router just fine.
>

You weren't kidding. It's running great so far and was fairly painless to
hook it up.

>> - is it hard to increase the RAM in the iBooks? If I can get some
>> relatively
>> inexpensively (I haven't looked online yet), I was thinking a boost to
>> 512mb
>> of RAM might be a good idea?
>
> I think you should look toward getting a bigger HD first. 10 GB fills up
> very fast when you are storing pictures on your computer. 384mb is
> plenty. Besides, there is only one RAM slot on the machine, so to add
> RAM, you would have to replace the 256MB chip-set it currently has with
> a 512MB one.
>

The guy I bought the iBook from said that the problem with this model iBook
is that the 10gb hard drive is pretty much what I'll be stuck with forever
in it because it is very very hard to replace apparently. I am pretty handy
(I've built and repaired many PCs), so I may take a shot at it if I run out
of space quickly.

>> - he said it comes with os9 and also osX (along with an upgrade to osX),
>> all
>> the real legitimate disks and not illegal copies (I was sure to check
>> that).
>> Since I haven't used a mac in so long, I think the best thing for me to
>> do
>> would be probably to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS from
>> scratch.
>> My questions in regards to that are:
>>
>> a. Is this something that is difficult to do? Or is it pretty
>> straight forward? Is it advisable or should I not bother?
>>
>> b. Which OS should I install? Should I install the os 9 or the
>> latest OSX? I'm pretty savvy with my PC, and I like a challenge
>> (somewhat),
>> my main concern is which will run faster.
>
> What version of OSX does it come with? That matters big time regarding
> speed. If it is 10.0 or 10.1, you should get a newer version. I would
> suggest the following:
>

Thanks for what follows here - I am checking out all of the stuff that's on
the iBook as I got it and
am considering whether to restart it from scratch. I probably will tomorrow
and will follow your directions. again, thanks so much for the help!

> When you get the machine, boot to an OS9 (9.2 or higher) CD.
> Run Disk Utility (look in the menu bar). Erase the disk and format it
> "extended", make sure there is only one partition.
>
> Install OS 9.2 on the disk. Reboot to the HD and run software update (in
> the control panels folder of the apple menu.) Keep running it until it
> says there are no updates left.
>
> Now insert an OSX disk (10.2 or higher) and install it. Then run
> software update (System Preferences in the Apple menu) over and over
> until is says there are no updates left.
>
> Then install Quicken, Dreamweaver and whatever other applications he is
> giving you.
>
> Now, go into the System Preferences again. Click on "Accounts" and
> create a user account. What I normally do is name the admin account
> "admin" one user account "daniel". You will want a separate user account
> for each person who will be using the computer.
>
> Now exit the admin account and don't use it unless you are specifically
> doing something that only an admin should do.
>
>
>> Lastly...I already made a verbal commitment with this guy over the phone
>> for
>> the iBook, so I plan on going through with the transaction anyway, but,
>> based on my need for a lightweight laptop to do web surfing and email,
>> dreamweaver (limited) and quicken (daily - I'm on a budget big time!),
>> will
>> this iBook fulfill my needs or is it better just to save up and get a
>> newer
>> one?
>
> I think the machine in question will be adequate for your needs. I've
> been doing pretty much the same stuff on a G3 400MHz since 1999 with no
> complaints at all.

"mark" <Ih8SpamminScum@especiallyyours.net> wrote:

> Hi Daniel,
>
> First off - thanks for the reply. I inserted my responses below. As I type
> this I now realize that the next thing I need to do is update my iBook so I
> can access newsgroups via it instead of this windows desktop machine I have
> sitting next to it : )

No problem. Don't erase that HD yet! See below...


> >> I don't know the first thing about iBooks (or Macs, as I've
> >> been a PC guy since the Mac Plus days unfortunately), but I've been
> >> wanting
> >> a laptop for a while now and this seems like a good deal. I offered him
> >> $350
> >> and he accepted, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon from him.
> >
> > $350 sounds about right, not a great bargain but you aren't being ripped
> > off either.
> >
>
> For the price it would have cost me for something bigger and clunkier and
> not as elegant, and without all the extras, I'm thrilled I got it at that
> price.

Yes, given that it came with MSOffice. Personally, I don't allow
anything made by MS on any of my machines.


> >> My main concern was the screen and the battery. He said he bought it new
> >> a
> >> few years ago and has never run it off of the battery - meaning he's only
> >> used it plugged in. While I was talking with him on the phone he had the
> >> laptop up. He did something and said, "hold on a second, it's calculating
> >> the battery time" and then after a couple of seconds he said that it says
> >> 3
> >> hours and 24 minutes left. But he said he has no idea what goes into that
> >> calculation (drives spinning, etc). As long as I can get an hour at a
> >> charge
> >> out of it I'd be happy.
> >
> > This is a tough one. LiIon batteries only have a life span of a few
> > years (whether they are used or not) and if he never actually drained
> > it, the computer has nothing to go on when estimating battery life. I
> > would say that the estimate you were given is useless, but at least you
> > know that the battery can still hold a charge.
> >
> > I would run X Resource Graph on the machine and see how many mAh the
> > battery can hold. As long as it's more than about 1500, it should last
> > an hour.
> >
> > <http://www.gauchosoft.com/index.pl?t...0Resource%20Gr
> > aph>
> >
>
> Thanks for the link - I downloaded it and it says that the voltage is
> 11.355V and amperage is 1.052A (Cur = 2879mAh and Max = 3744mAh). I assume
> that means I can get at least two hours of battery time out of it? At the
> time I wrote this, I had been using it connected wirelessly and downloading
> music via the web for about 30 minutes already.

I don't have a wireless card yet so that might shave some time off. But
yes, you can expect about 2 hours of operation per charge. To calabrate
the computer; charge the battery up all the way and run it down while
using the computer a couple of times.


> >> As for the screen, no stuck or dead pixels. He said
> >> he bought it and used it for maybe a total of 12 hours because he likes
> >> FreeBSD (whatever that is - linux?) and wanted to see how it worked with
> >> the
> >> Mac (or something to that effect).
> >>
> >> So my questions for you guys:
> >>
> >> - this iBook will be used for surfing the web, email, quicken,
> >> dreamweaver,
> >> and if it can handle it, my wife would probably download her digital
> >> photos
> >> from her camera to it. Again, I'm a PC guy, and I currently use a 1.7ghz
> >> P4
> >> PC. How slow will the iBook be for these tasks? I expect it to be pretty
> >> slow since it's only 500mhz and 384mb of ram, but will it be *really*
> >> slow
> >> compared to my PC?
> >
> > For the web, email, quicken and downloading pictures, it will be fine.
> > Dreamweaver may be frustrating on occasion.
> >
>
> So far the web is just as fast as my 1.7ghz win4 PC (and that PC is
> hard-wired to the router, not wireless!), so I have no doubt that email will
> be fine. I only have a license for quicken for the PC so I'll have to wait
> on getting it for Mac, but I think it would probably be fine. I can't wait
> to try out dreamweaver on this thing - I think it could handle it.

I don't think Quicken would mind much if you ran the Mac version while
you are waiting for the license to come through. You should be able to
export your windows data and import it into Mac Quicken without too much
trouble (there are export and inport commands in the file menu.)


> >> - he said it comes with os9 and also osX (along with an upgrade to osX),
> >> all
> >> the real legitimate disks and not illegal copies (I was sure to check
> >> that).
> >> Since I haven't used a mac in so long, I think the best thing for me to
> >> do
> >> would be probably to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS from
> >> scratch.
> >> My questions in regards to that are:
> >>
> >> a. Is this something that is difficult to do? Or is it pretty
> >> straight forward? Is it advisable or should I not bother?
> >>
> >> b. Which OS should I install? Should I install the os 9 or the
> >> latest OSX? I'm pretty savvy with my PC, and I like a challenge
> >> (somewhat),
> >> my main concern is which will run faster.
> >
> > What version of OSX does it come with? That matters big time regarding
> > speed. If it is 10.0 or 10.1, you should get a newer version. I would
> > suggest the following:
> >
>
> Thanks for what follows here - I am checking out all of the stuff that's on
> the iBook as I got it and
> am considering whether to restart it from scratch. I probably will tomorrow
> and will follow your directions. again, thanks so much for the help!

If you choose not to erase the HD, then:

1) Boot from the OSX CD and run Disk Utility. Use it to "repair disk
permissions" and "repair disk."

2) Boot from the HD and run Software Update to make sure you have all
the patches.

3) Select "Classic" from the System Preferences (in the Apple menu.)
Click on the "Advanced" tab and hit the "Rebuild Desktop" button.

The above should take care of any odd problems the HD may have latent in
it.

You will still probably want to set up the accounts like I explained
before though.

Hi Daniel,

I'm not clear - so, are you recommending I not do a clean install of OS X?
I'm thinking that I'd like to just start fresh, as if I just got the iBook
new from the store. The guy who had it before me must have been a webmaster
or something as he's got about 5 different browsers on the thing, and it
keeps asking me for a "keychain" when I use Safari (which of all of the
browsers I've tried I like the best by far so far). So my thinking is it
would be best to clear the thing off and start from scratch setting up
accounts. Thoughts?

mark

"Daniel T." <postmaster@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:postmaster-664735.20162503102004@news6.east.earthlink.net...
> "mark" <Ih8SpamminScum@especiallyyours.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi Daniel,
>>
>> First off - thanks for the reply. I inserted my responses below. As I
>> type
>> this I now realize that the next thing I need to do is update my iBook so
>> I
>> can access newsgroups via it instead of this windows desktop machine I
>> have
>> sitting next to it : )
>
> No problem. Don't erase that HD yet! See below...
>
>
>> >> I don't know the first thing about iBooks (or Macs, as I've
>> >> been a PC guy since the Mac Plus days unfortunately), but I've been
>> >> wanting
>> >> a laptop for a while now and this seems like a good deal. I offered
>> >> him
>> >> $350
>> >> and he accepted, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow afternoon from
>> >> him.
>> >
>> > $350 sounds about right, not a great bargain but you aren't being
>> > ripped
>> > off either.
>> >
>>
>> For the price it would have cost me for something bigger and clunkier and
>> not as elegant, and without all the extras, I'm thrilled I got it at that
>> price.
>
> Yes, given that it came with MSOffice. Personally, I don't allow
> anything made by MS on any of my machines.
>
>
>> >> My main concern was the screen and the battery. He said he bought it
>> >> new
>> >> a
>> >> few years ago and has never run it off of the battery - meaning he's
>> >> only
>> >> used it plugged in. While I was talking with him on the phone he had
>> >> the
>> >> laptop up. He did something and said, "hold on a second, it's
>> >> calculating
>> >> the battery time" and then after a couple of seconds he said that it
>> >> says
>> >> 3
>> >> hours and 24 minutes left. But he said he has no idea what goes into
>> >> that
>> >> calculation (drives spinning, etc). As long as I can get an hour at a
>> >> charge
>> >> out of it I'd be happy.
>> >
>> > This is a tough one. LiIon batteries only have a life span of a few
>> > years (whether they are used or not) and if he never actually drained
>> > it, the computer has nothing to go on when estimating battery life. I
>> > would say that the estimate you were given is useless, but at least you
>> > know that the battery can still hold a charge.
>> >
>> > I would run X Resource Graph on the machine and see how many mAh the
>> > battery can hold. As long as it's more than about 1500, it should last
>> > an hour.
>> >
>> > <http://www.gauchosoft.com/index.pl?t...0Resource%20Gr
>> > aph>
>> >
>>
>> Thanks for the link - I downloaded it and it says that the voltage is
>> 11.355V and amperage is 1.052A (Cur = 2879mAh and Max = 3744mAh). I
>> assume
>> that means I can get at least two hours of battery time out of it? At the
>> time I wrote this, I had been using it connected wirelessly and
>> downloading
>> music via the web for about 30 minutes already.
>
> I don't have a wireless card yet so that might shave some time off. But
> yes, you can expect about 2 hours of operation per charge. To calabrate
> the computer; charge the battery up all the way and run it down while
> using the computer a couple of times.
>
>
>> >> As for the screen, no stuck or dead pixels. He said
>> >> he bought it and used it for maybe a total of 12 hours because he
>> >> likes
>> >> FreeBSD (whatever that is - linux?) and wanted to see how it worked
>> >> with
>> >> the
>> >> Mac (or something to that effect).
>> >>
>> >> So my questions for you guys:
>> >>
>> >> - this iBook will be used for surfing the web, email, quicken,
>> >> dreamweaver,
>> >> and if it can handle it, my wife would probably download her digital
>> >> photos
>> >> from her camera to it. Again, I'm a PC guy, and I currently use a
>> >> 1.7ghz
>> >> P4
>> >> PC. How slow will the iBook be for these tasks? I expect it to be
>> >> pretty
>> >> slow since it's only 500mhz and 384mb of ram, but will it be *really*
>> >> slow
>> >> compared to my PC?
>> >
>> > For the web, email, quicken and downloading pictures, it will be fine.
>> > Dreamweaver may be frustrating on occasion.
>> >
>>
>> So far the web is just as fast as my 1.7ghz win4 PC (and that PC is
>> hard-wired to the router, not wireless!), so I have no doubt that email
>> will
>> be fine. I only have a license for quicken for the PC so I'll have to
>> wait
>> on getting it for Mac, but I think it would probably be fine. I can't
>> wait
>> to try out dreamweaver on this thing - I think it could handle it.
>
> I don't think Quicken would mind much if you ran the Mac version while
> you are waiting for the license to come through. You should be able to
> export your windows data and import it into Mac Quicken without too much
> trouble (there are export and inport commands in the file menu.)
>
>
>> >> - he said it comes with os9 and also osX (along with an upgrade to
>> >> osX),
>> >> all
>> >> the real legitimate disks and not illegal copies (I was sure to check
>> >> that).
>> >> Since I haven't used a mac in so long, I think the best thing for me
>> >> to
>> >> do
>> >> would be probably to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS from
>> >> scratch.
>> >> My questions in regards to that are:
>> >>
>> >> a. Is this something that is difficult to do? Or is it pretty
>> >> straight forward? Is it advisable or should I not bother?
>> >>
>> >> b. Which OS should I install? Should I install the os 9 or the
>> >> latest OSX? I'm pretty savvy with my PC, and I like a challenge
>> >> (somewhat),
>> >> my main concern is which will run faster.
>> >
>> > What version of OSX does it come with? That matters big time regarding
>> > speed. If it is 10.0 or 10.1, you should get a newer version. I would
>> > suggest the following:
>> >
>>
>> Thanks for what follows here - I am checking out all of the stuff that's
>> on
>> the iBook as I got it and
>> am considering whether to restart it from scratch. I probably will
>> tomorrow
>> and will follow your directions. again, thanks so much for the help!
>
> If you choose not to erase the HD, then:
>
> 1) Boot from the OSX CD and run Disk Utility. Use it to "repair disk
> permissions" and "repair disk."
>
> 2) Boot from the HD and run Software Update to make sure you have all
> the patches.
>
> 3) Select "Classic" from the System Preferences (in the Apple menu.)
> Click on the "Advanced" tab and hit the "Rebuild Desktop" button.
>
> The above should take care of any odd problems the HD may have latent in
> it.
>
> You will still probably want to set up the accounts like I explained
> before though.

"mark" <Ih8SpamminScum@especiallyyours.net> wrote:

> I'm not clear - so, are you recommending I not do a clean install of OS X?

No, I was saying that you don't have to if you don't want.


> I'm thinking that I'd like to just start fresh, as if I just got the iBook
> new from the store. The guy who had it before me must have been a webmaster
> or something as he's got about 5 different browsers on the thing, and it
> keeps asking me for a "keychain" when I use Safari (which of all of the
> browsers I've tried I like the best by far so far). So my thinking is it
> would be best to clear the thing off and start from scratch setting up
> accounts. Thoughts?

By all means, wipe the HD. The only reason you might not want to do it
is if there are programs on it that you want, but won't be able to
re-install after the wipe.

I wipe my HD about once a year or so...