A little info before I buy?

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FrogMould

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Having only ever used Windows, I have recently fallen in love with a strange creature:
It is: the g4 12.1" tft screen ibook

Never having had a laptop or a mac before I have a few things I'd like to know first.

I've already decided to "upgrade" it to have 512mb RAM and 60gb harddrive.

I'm assuming AOL(as an ISP) won't be compatible with a mac, but don't really know what I should be looking for ISP-wise.

How difficult am I likely to find rootling through my files? Are they accessible, etc? Am I going to have to override security settings to fiddle with stuff? And while I'm on the subject, with windows I can happily play around with stuff without anything going wrong, can I do this with OS-x?

Is it dummy friendly(OS-x, etc.)? Currently using XP and I resent it's attempts to puppy-walk me through everything.

If it breaks, do I have to send it back to apple or can I just find someone to fix it myself?

Hmm. I think that's it, is there anything else I need to know?
 
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Mac Pro 8x3.0ghz 12gb ram 8800GT , MBP 2.16 2GB Ram 17 inch.
1) good move upgrading
2) AOL is compatible with the macs
3) Not difficult at all and not fiddling around unless you really really want to.
4)Dummy friendly or advanced depending on what you want to do and if you want to use terminal
5) Send it back to apple or take it to the apple store for them to fix it for you. most problems can be fixed over the phone tho.
 
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T

Tel

Guest
I would advise against AOL, go on some forums and ask people who live in the same area what a good ISP is, this is especially good if you go on gamer forums as they're usually the ones concerned with ping times and up/down speeds.

I'd get 768MB of RAM, if you buy it from somewhere other than Apple (newegg.com for exapmle) it will probably cost you about the same.

Its easy enough to fiddle with but to be honest, other than cosmetic stuff, theres not much that needs fiddling, everything works from the start and all settings that you need to customize your computer are in the system preferences.

Also, Apple have one of the best customer serivices that I have ever experienced, you really wouldn't want anyone else tinkering with your iBook once you've seen them in action.
 
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Ex_PC_Puke

Guest
I love my 12" PB and while I have DSL at home - I just signed up last nite on NetZero to have dial-up while I travel --- it was very easy - and seemed to be pretty unobtrusive install --- you can even opt not to have netzero email (as I did) so its less junk on your system

I do agree with others that there is a lot of spamming and scamming coming out of AOL - I wouldn't go there unless you have family / friends on it.

OS X is very easy to use and if you're a real novice or non techie - pick up a copy of OS X for Dummies

Good luck
 
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F

FrogMould

Guest
Thanks for the replies.

I will however be sticking with AOL if I can, after having struggled with it from 5.0 through to 9.0 and beta tested various different versions and features I've been very happy with it for the last two years or so. Thanks for the concerns though.

If I upgrade the memory/harddrive through a company other than apple, will that cause problems trying to get it fixed if something does go wrong? After buying a P.C with a 40gb harddrive and 256mb ram a good few years ago and watching it suffer when trying to keep open more than one program at a time(I don't know if it's true, but someone told me it had less memory than recommended for running xp...), I'm determined to upgrade on the ibook.

Thanks again for your replies, sorry if my questions seem a bit obvious.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
14" iBook G3 900/640/40 _ _ Power Macintosh G3 All-In-One 315/768/20 _ _ 20 GB iPod
FrogMould said:
If I upgrade the memory/harddrive through a company other than apple, will that cause problems trying to get it fixed if something does go wrong? After buying a P.C with a 40gb harddrive and 256mb ram a good few years ago and watching it suffer when trying to keep open more than one program at a time(I don't know if it's true, but someone told me it had less memory than recommended for running xp...), I'm determined to upgrade on the ibook.

Upgrading the hard drive yourself will void you warranty, but installing you own RAM upgrade will not (unless you happen to break something in the process, which is extremely unlikely).
 

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