iBook 300 G3
 

I am looking to buy a used iBook and I don't know the first thing about laptops. Can I run OSX on this mac and also, if I want to use the wireless network at school, would I need to buy an airport card or will a regular wireless card work?

The 300 iBook can run OS X, but you should upgrade the memory. There is only one memory slot, and you can add as much as 512 MB. You cannot use a standard wireless card as there are no PC card slots in any iBook. There is a slot for an older Airport card underneath the keyboard (same area to add memory) The hard drive is probably the biggest issue with this model. It's probably only 3 GB capacity, which is not much room for OS X.

All good advice from DeltaMac above. I'll just make one addition: the teeny hard drive (3 GB or 6 GB depending on which iBook 300 you're looking at) CAN be replaced with a larger one. You just need a 2.5", 9.5 mm tall drive and a friend who is handy with taking apart delicate electronics.

Trevor

If I get a new iBook or powerbook, do they only use airport cards or can I use a regular wireless card?

The new iBooks and Powerbooks come with an Airport card already installed (included as standard).

the older ones will only take the apple airport cards (not the extreme). my brother has the original clamshell 300mhz ibook with panther on it. I would highly suggest to put as much ram as you can in it though. i have used his ibook some with panther on it and it runs it just fine, for a while it was his main machine.

Ive got a clamshell iBook - 366MHz, with 320MB RAM and it runs Panther well. My machine has a 6GB drive and its got plenty enough room for panther with the use of a simple tip. when installing panther, do a custom installation and deselect the following:
- the asian fonts (about 100MB)
- all of the printer drivers (about 500MB)

This keeps the basic system installation down to about 2GB... I have MS office X installed and all the other apps i need (Toast, Photoshop elements etc) and it all takes up 2.45 GB... that leaves just over 3GB free....

BUT, if you have the money, it would be better to grab yourself a new iBook, since the prices have come down recently and they come with airport built-in. They will require extra memory putting in (get it from crucial.com, not from apple to save yourself 50%)

Thanks for the info.

The ibook I was looking at only had a 3GB HD, so that won't leave me with much free room, but is it worthwhile to put a bigger HD in?

when you've thought about putting in a bigger hard disk and more memory (and maybe an airport card), you have almost spent 1/3 the price of a new 12" ibook. It would probably be worth getting a more recent iBook than a clamshell G3 if you are spending the extra money to upgrade it....
...and be careful that you dont end up spending enough to buy you a new machine....

dunno if you have hook ups or not, but the going price for a legacy Airport card is ~US$200 :eek:

dude, i don't know where you are getting your card from but they were only (US)100 bucks when they were first introduced and now the last price i saw was 80(US). wwwcavs, if you are in toronto and the cards are that expensive in toronto it would be worth it to drive down to buffalo to get the card at the apple store in the walden galleria mall, or if the ferry was operational come to good old rochester for the card.

yeah, I remember they were $100. I told someone in my office that was the cost also and they couldn't find one for less than $200. As far as I knew the Apple Store only sells AirPort Extreme cards :confused: not first generation cards.

While they last, if you are looking for a source for Apple Airport (not extreme) cards, check out
http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi....cgi?group=air
http://www.expercom.com/product_deta...DUCT_ID=290654

Trevor

damn she gotted ripped off, there are two local Mac shops I suggested to her and they both quoted the same price. I know the owners are friends, but that's kind of strange. Guess I'll have to use the internet to shop more often *gasp*

I checked around and I can get a new airport for card for $100 Canadian or a used one for less, but I'm starting to think chris_on_hints had some very good advice. Most laptops are going for more than half the price of new one. I might just wait until next year when I've saved some more money and just get a new one.

Apples refurb store and the ADC student program are two options you might want to look at in your quest for a recent and cheaper ibook.

Does anyone knowwhere I can find a Apple refurbished store in Toronto or online, and what is the ADC student program?

The refurb online store might very well be european only, I have only been able to find british, french and german versions.

To give you a pointer, here's the UK link:

http://promo.euro.apple.com/promo/refurb/uk/

omt:
I was thinking about the ADC student program with higher discounts than the education program, it's your call to compare.

If you could give me more info or a link about the ADC student program I would very much appreciate it

Here you are:

http://developer.apple.com/students/sthardware.html

And make a note of it someplace your brother can't junk it :)

Thank you voldenuit. This sounds like the best thing ever. Does anyone know exactly what the discounts are? The website only says i will be eligable for significant discounts.