On the Hunt for an iBook G3 "Clamshell"

This might sound crazy, but I really want an iBook G3 "clamshell" laptop. I'm well aware that they are quite antiquated and not very useful, but it's a nostalgia thing for me. Also, they seem to be more and more difficult to find as the years go by. This is why I am writing this discussion. I search several sites and could only find them on eBay. The few I found on eBay were over $200 and some of them didn't even include a battery or had significant cosmetic flaws, so $200 is just insane. There were some marked "for parts" with a price tag of $80+. Crazy! The time it would take to find those parts (extremely difficult now that they have been obsolete for quite some time) are near impossible to find or very expensive.

Does anyone here know where I could find one for a reasonable price? Thanks in advance!

Apple3.14 said:

Does anyone here know where I could find one for a reasonable price? Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

If eBay does not work for you...then you got to keep your eyes on Craig's List (and hope for a good deal). But in the 7+ years I've been "shopping" on Craig's List...I've probably seen two of them come up for sale (and I check CL a LOT and OFTEN). And I purchased both of them...for a very good price!

So...you can either pay eBay prices & get something quickly. Or check CL OFTEN...and maybe you get one before you start collecting Social Security benefits!

- Nick

By the way. I just checked eBay...and saw one for $85. Just missing the plastic Apple logo piece on the display cover. Something you can probably source separately.

- Nick

iBook G3 Clamshell

I found an iBook G3 that booted once. Following attempts to boot it resulted in a blank screen and spinning hard drive. The battery also won't hold a charge. It sounds like the hard drive and battery needs to be replaced.

Do you have any other recommendations or pointers?

Threads merged. Not necessary to start a new thread in order to reply to an existing thread.

- Nick

Apple3.14 said:

Do you have any other recommendations or pointers?

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Keep looking. No one said this would be an easy or fast project (unless you wanted to pay eBay prices)!

If it was…you would already have an iBook G3 Clamshell!

- Nick

My apologies. I did purchase one for $35 total (shipping embedded into the $35) because aesthetics wise, it's flawless. Most of the other iBook G3 clamshells on eBay had: cracks, missing apples, warped cases, and missing keys. I found replacement hard drives and batteries for a very reasonable price (actually cheaper than buying a replacement shell and keyboard) so I figured the $35 for this one isn't too shabby. I also will probably upgrade the hard drive since it still has the 3.2 GB manufacturer-issued hard drive.

My questions are now more diagnostic related (hence the other thread I made.) I understand how to replace the battery and hard drive, I'm just unsure as to whether or not this is a hard drive problem. I want to double check and see if anyone else has experienced this problem or can recommend any diagnostic guides.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QQ7TKS4/?tag=macforums0e4-20

Here is the SSD Solution for the ibook g3 and g4

have one in a g4 ibook love it if you want to see more you can see my final project here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M73gcKUQnM8