What is this laptop?

Hi Guys,
I have just had a G3 12" Apple laptop delivered that I won on eBay. The seller knew next to nothing about it except that he had put a new battery in it and that it seemed to work perfectly. Included were the original discs and it was cheap so I bought it.
The writing on the back says it is Model # M8413 and the battery is Model # 8416. When fitted and with the laptop fired up, the battery meter shows 96% and 5.5 hours.
Then we get to the tricky stuff. According to everymac.com there are only 2 iBooks with a 600MHz chip. One is the standard version with an 8 mb video chip and one with 16 mb. Mine is the basic 8 mb version. But that model shipped with either a basic CD player or a DVD player. Mine has a CD-RW.??
Does anybody know exactly what model I have here as I need to know which Airport card to buy and I also need another battery.
Cheers,
Steve. ...... Laptop noob.

5tevie said:

According to everymac.com there are only 2 iBooks with a 600MHz chip. One is the standard version with an 8 mb video chip and one with 16 mb. Mine is the basic 8 mb version. But that model shipped with either a basic CD player or a DVD player. Mine has a CD-RW.??

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You definitely have the G3 12" iBook 600mhz from October, 2001. The 8meg of VRAM is definitely the deciding factor...since the later G3 iBook 600mhz from May, 2002 has 16meg of VRAM.

As far as the optical drive...if you read the description carefully from Everymac.com...your G3 iBook came with with either a DVD-ROM or DVD-ROM/CD-RW. Since you have a CD-RW...then it's the "DVD-ROM/CD-RW"...which is also known as a "combo" drive.

5tevie said:

Does anybody know exactly what model I have here as I need to know which Airport card to buy and I also need another battery.

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Both of these G3 iBooks in question use exactly the same Airport card...so there's no confusion here...you need this one:



And regarding the battery. Your G3 iBook uses a 42 watt-hour battery...the later model 600mhz G3 12" iBook uses a 47 watt-hour battery...so there may be some slight differences. Just get one that matches what you have. Most sites selling batteries are pretty good about listing what models the batteries are compatible with.

HTH,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

And regarding the battery. Your G3 iBook uses a 42 watt-hour battery...the later model 600mhz G3 12" iBook uses a 47 watt-hour battery...so there may be some slight differences. Just get one that matches what you have. Most sites selling batteries are pretty good about listing what models the batteries are compatible with.

- Nick

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Just some trivia, but 42-watt hours is the same as the latest iPad...

Thanks for your help guys.
I knew that somebody on here would know the answer.

OK, after having a bit of a search, I found this airport card and bought it ....
eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace
It looks the same as the one pictured by pigoo but absolutely no blame is laid at his door if it turns out not to fit.
One side issue though. As I understand it, these cards fit in a bay under the keyboard and I suppose at some stage I will need to get my hands oily and take it all apart to have a look. Until I absolutely need to, I'd rather leave it as is and avoid the risk of breaking it. So my question is, will I find an aeriel already in there or do I need to buy one from somewhere?
I have another question about the power lead but that will have to wait.

5tevie said:

OK, after having a bit of a search, I found this airport card and bought it ....

It looks the same as the one pictured by pigoo but absolutely no blame is laid at his door if it turns out not to fit.

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I've probably answered this sort of question at least 100+ times. There were only two user replaceable/installable airport cards...the one you need, bought, and pictured earlier in this thread...and an "Airport Extreme" card...which looks MUCH different.

5tevie said:

One side issue though. As I understand it, these cards fit in a bay under the keyboard and I suppose at some stage I will need to get my hands oily and take it all apart to have a look. Until I absolutely need to, I'd rather leave it as is and avoid the risk of breaking it. So my question is, will I find an aeriel already in there or do I need to buy one from somewhere?
I have another question about the power lead but that will have to wait.

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When you install the card...it slides into a slot. There's an antenna wire that plugs into the card...and there is no "power lead".

- Nick

This is what the two user-installable Airport cards look like (as you can see they look completely different):

Ahhhh, after a good look at the 2 pictures I can see that there is a slight difference. One has a white apple and one has a black one. (Insert Smilie face)
I may have confused the issue by mentioning a Power lead while on the subject of the Airport card. My fault. I was meaning the power lead for the iBook itself, not for the Airport card. The thing is, I have been sent a lead with a plug on one end that fits securely into a socket on the iBook. The other end of this lead ends in a white rectangular doofah which is very similar to the power lead for an iPad. On the iPad, there is a UK 3-pin plug that connects to this rectangular box to charge the battery or run the iPad. I didn't receive that sawn-off 3-pin plug though. What I got was a standard figure of eight lead.
My issue is that this set up DOES charge the battery but I was wondering if getting hold of one of the sawn-off 3-pin plugs would be better, or even maybe buying a complete lead.

5tevie said:

I may have confused the issue by mentioning a Power lead while on the subject of the Airport card. My fault. I was meaning the power lead for the iBook itself, not for the Airport card. The thing is, I have been sent a lead with a plug on one end that fits securely into a socket on the iBook. The other end of this lead ends in a white rectangular doofah which is very similar to the power lead for an iPad. On the iPad, there is a UK 3-pin plug that connects to this rectangular box to charge the battery or run the iPad. I didn't receive that sawn-off 3-pin plug though. What I got was a standard figure of eight lead.
My issue is that this set up DOES charge the battery but I was wondering if getting hold of one of the sawn-off 3-pin plugs would be better, or even maybe buying a complete lead.

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Ahh...I see...sort of!

Check e-Bay for what you need that would make things more "correct".

Just remember...don't put too much money into this laptop. It's only a 600mhz G3...and 11 years old. You could easily exceed what you paid for it in upgrades...and still have a REALLY slow computer!

Many times when you add up what was paid for the computer + any upgrades...you could have otherwise purchased a newer & much more capable computer straight-away.

- Nick

I know you're right about costs and such but this iBook is gorgeous. Hardly a mark on it and, to be honest, I shall only really have 3 uses for it. One is to use it as a sort of Kindle for my wife to use. Second is to browse eBay and thirdly is to write a novel using Microsoft Office for OSX, the still sealed discs for which came with it. To my way of thinking, it has a decent sized screen without being to big and if I can buy a few bits 'n bobs to make it look and work better without breaking the bank, the actual speed of it doesn't really matter for what I plan to do. That's 90% of the time, anyway.
Thanks for the help,
Steve

5tevie said:

I know you're right about costs and such but this iBook is gorgeous. Hardly a mark on it and, to be honest, I shall only really have 3 uses for it. One is to use it as a sort of Kindle for my wife to use. Second is to browse eBay and thirdly is to write a novel using Microsoft Office for OSX, the still sealed discs for which came with it. To my way of thinking, it has a decent sized screen without being to big and if I can buy a few bits 'n bobs to make it look and work better without breaking the bank, the actual speed of it doesn't really matter for what I plan to do. That's 90% of the time, anyway.
Thanks for the help,
Steve

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Remember you heard it here first...browsing e-Bay on a 600mhz G3 iBook may turn out to be a bit of a "glacial" experience.

The "Kindle" for the wife will probably be ok.

As far as MS Office for writing. Again...probably ok...but you will have to be able to get your hands on an older version of MS Office that is compatible with the OS version installed on the iBook. Since this is an 11 year-old computer...the best & speediest version of MS Office would be from approx. 11 years ago.

- Nick

5tevie said:

and thirdly is to write a novel using Microsoft Office for OSX.

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Writing a Novel on an iBook G3...Be sure to include that in the footnotes somewhere, it would certainly make an Apple nerd reading it giggle at some point.

The novel is already half written on a Windows laptop but the basic story is about a really good and decent policeman who dies in the line of duty. After pleading with St Peter he is allowed back down to Earth to solve the crime that he was working on ..... but he has to come back as a ghost. Nobody can see or hear him so I guess it's just luck that before he died, he owned a parrot.
Work the rest out yourselves .

5tevie said:

The novel is already half written on a Windows laptop but the basic story is about a really good and decent policeman who dies in the line of duty. After pleading with St Peter he is allowed back down to Earth to solve the crime that he was working on ..... but he has to come back as a ghost. Nobody can see or hear him so I guess it's just luck that before he died, he owned a parrot.
Work the rest out yourselves .

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Stolen...

Only joking, but you might want to hold your cards a little closer to your chest, lest people less scrupulous than I steal your ideas...