i still think the ibook g3 laptops are a great deal!

[supernova777]

i see alot of them on ebay... for basically free!!!
does anyone use an ibook g3? (the white ones not the clamshells)

seriously considering buying one off ebay just because they are so small + portable + CHEAP! basically free...

apart from not being able to use pci hardware with it. i cant think
of any serious negative things about it..

in fact for portability + retro use of old apps in combination with firewire hardware.. it probably kicks a huge ammount of ass..
its not a g4 ti book. but its way cheaper + easier to find then an g4 ti book..

a g3 ibook 800-900mhz laptop + a cheap firewire small portable interface might be a good combo?
edirol fa-101..   digi 002.. a tascam fw-1884 or fw-1804..
probably want to skip on the presonus firestation..firewire 410
audiophile firewire for those who only need 1 stereo in + out

most people who have g4s arent used to being able to take mac os 9 to the couch.. or on the road.. its a novel idea to those of us who have only had mac os on a desktop machine

its a real shame noone was able to crack the ibook g4's for mac os 9 use

[theNathanBaker]

A few weeks ago I purchased a huge collection of vintages Macs. Included was a ti G4 PowerBook and a white iBook G3.

My wife loves the G3. Sadly I can't get the ti G4 to see any hard drives. (Heartbreaking)

[Unknown_k]

I snagged a bunch of Wallstreet G3's a few years ago. Recently started getting G3 and G4 ibooks since they are cheap on ebay (same with G4 powerbooks).

A G3 iBook 900mhz is pretty fast under OS 9 with 640MB RAM.

[supernova777]

A G3 iBook 900mhz is pretty fast under OS 9 with 640MB RAM.

exactly my point!!!!!
apparently it scores 442 on geekbench2 score (obviously, under osx as geekbench doesnt run on os9)
but compare if u will that number to the other geekbench2 scores of the other g4 models
http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=578.msg9862#msg9862
and u can see that its just slightly slower then a quicksilver 867mhz
and onpar / equal to a dual processor gigabit 450mhz g4!!!!

The iBook G3/900 (Early 2003 - Opaque White), features a 900 MHz PowerPC 750fx (G3) processor with a 512k "on chip" level 2 cache, 128 MB of RAM, a 40.0 GB Ultra ATA hard drive, a tray-loading 8X/24X/10X/24X DVD-ROM/CD-RW "Combo" drive, 2X AGP ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics with 32 MB of VRAM, and optional AirPort (802.11b) packed into a compact opaque white case with a 12.1" TFT XGA active matrix display (1024x768 native resolution).
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ibook/specs/ibook_900.html

while it would be awesome to have an ibook g4 running mac os9... this is the next best thing! (untill someone cracks the ibook g4 radeon 9200 mobile mystery!) while i could track down the absolute best option for os9 laptop - a powerbook g4 ti book. for some reason the ibook g3 900mhz is my most wanted macos9 laptop.. other than the wallstreet pdq (for it being the last serial port mac laptop)

[nanopico]

I've had 3 white G3 iBooks.
The biggest downside to them is the location of the GPU.  It's on the bottom side of the motherboard and they are well known to come loose and you lose all video yet the machine will still boot.
If found the best way to avoid that is to always use both hands to carry and pick it up so as not to put any stress from potentially bending the motherboard.
Other than that, they are awesome machines.