What is the main difference between G3 and G4 laptops?

Hi guys and guyesses,
Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask but nowhere else seems suitable.
I already use a Mac Mini as my main desktop computer and I wanted to get myself a laptop to use alongside it. I really like the look of the white iBook models and I have been looking at the 1.2 GHz, 12.1" screen G4 iBooks on eBay. Only snag is that they seem to go for more than I can afford. On the plus side I have seen similar looking G3 iBooks running an 800 MHz chip that fit nicely into my budget range.
So, my basic question is this .... What can the 1.2 GHz, G4 version do that an 800 MHz, G3 version can't?
Bearing in mind that this laptop will mostly be used indoors with the odd trip out to store photographs when my camera's memory card is full. In fact, if I'm being honest, it will mostly be used to browse eBay and play poker while snug as a bug in bed.
Any advice gratefully received.
Steve

The G3 and G4 iBooks (overall)...were available from around 1998 thru around 2005 (various releases & generations).

Really...the biggest difference over that time between the G3's and G4s is processor speed. The G3 iBooks started out with around a 300mhz cpu...and the last G4 iBooks ended up with a 1.42ghz cpu.

But of course during those 7 years there were various improvements to the:

- video hardware
- maximum amount of ram
- improvements in wireless airport
- and lots of other little things "under the hood"

Basically the newer and faster G3 or G4 iBook you get:

- the more capable it will be
- the newer the OS version it can run (and run well)
- and the more ram it will be able to be upgraded to.

The "newest" G4 iBook will now be 7 years old in 2012...so anything older than that...will just be that less capable.

I recently purchased a 12" Powerbook G4 1.5ghz for $40 bucks. It did need some work...and I had to put about $40-$50 into it to get it working right. But definitely a great little laptop computer for under $100 bucks. Also be aware...that ram for these older computers is NOT cheap. So what ever you buy...get one with as much ram as possible.

Good luck,

- Nick

So, the question still remains. Will a G3 iBook running at 800 MHz be able to browse the web, send and receive e-mails and all the other trivial jobs that a silver surfer would normally ask of it, bearing in mind that any more difficult stuff such as Photo and Video editing will be let to the main Mac Mini?
I understand that a low spec iBook won't work as fast as one of the later models but it's a question of cost.
If I can browse the web without a 30 second wait for a new page to load every time, that will do for me.
As an example, a G3 iBook (white) running at 800 MHz with 384 MB of RAM, an Airport extreme card, with a clean install of Panther plus the recovery discs, charger and a battery holding 4 hours worth of charge just sold for £84 + postage. Sales like that don't happen every day but they are not uncommon.
So, is it worth while going for one of those, bearing in mind the uses I will be putting it to or would one of those just end up as a very pretty door stop?
Cheers,
Steve

A G3 is very slow. I have an 800Mhz G3 White 12" iBook. Even 240p You tube jerks. Some say to use Camino but that browser is also very behind on many things modern web standards related. It will probably come with OSX 10.3 Panther which is SO OLD most stuff will not run. If you max the ram to 640 Megs, 10.4 Tiger will run but don't expect much.

I also have a 900Mhz G4 14" iBook and it's better (as the G4 is better and faster than any G3) but still slow for many things. I also own a 1.33Ghz Last Generation iBook G4 12". With 1.5GB RAM it runs 10.5 Leopard. Not the fastest but useable, VERY useable in fact. 240p Videos on You Tube are very smooth in Safari or Firefox.

For Basic Web Browsing, that 800Mhz G3 iBook would do but forget any video that looks decent on the Web and I would max the RAM and go with Tiger as more applications will run and Safari and other things are much newer for Tiger.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your top budget limit $$$ wise?

5tevie said:

As an example, a G3 iBook (white) running at 800 MHz with 384 MB of RAM, an Airport extreme card, with a clean install of Panther plus the recovery discs, charger and a battery holding 4 hours worth of charge just sold for £84 + postage. Sales like that don't happen every day but they are not uncommon.
So, is it worth while going for one of those, bearing in mind the uses I will be putting it to or would one of those just end up as a very pretty door stop?

Click to expand...

It will get the job done. Just don't expect too much.

Forget about anything internet video related...or really complex pages with a lot of graphics (which believe it or not...many what you may think are simple web pages sites really are not that simple).

- Max out the ram.
- Display brightness on older laptops is not that great either. You will probably have to have it on max. brightness to see well in a bright room...or outside.
- You probably won't get 4 hours of battery runtime either.

Keep your expectations low...and an 800mhz iBook for £84 will get basic computer things done.

- Nick

dtravis7 .... Last question first. I would be happy if I got a Mac iBook capable of web browsing and storing photos for under £100. I know it's a stretch but I would like to play a DVD if possible which is why I was initially looking at the G4, 1.2 GHz, 12" iBook.

Mmmmm, I have just realised something.
Keeping within my budget, I can buy a G4 iBook running at 800 MHz. I'm guessing it will be a bit faster than a G3 running at the same speed and will probably accept more RAM and a later OS.
Am I thinking straight here?
Cheers,
Steve

First on the DVD issue, Just be sure the iBook you get has a Super Drive or Combo drive and not just a CD Rom drive. If it has a DVD drive, it will play DVD's fine. Both my G4 iBooks play them fine.

Get a G4 is you can. They are faster than a G3.

Will get back to you on the RAM.

The 800 Mhz G3 iBook has 128 Megs RAM Soldered to the logicboard and you can put in a 512MB in the slot under the keyboard for a total of 640MB. One model has only a CDROM but the other has a Combo drive that plays DVD's and burns CD's. The Ram for the iBook G3 800 is PC100 SD Ram.

The 800 Mhz G4 iBook has 256 MB RAM soldered to the logic board and it will take a 1GB in the slot under the keyboard for a total of 1.25GB RAM!!! Much better than the G3. It uses PC2100 DDR Ram. All the G4 800 iBooks have a Combo drive that plays DVD's.

Both use Laptop SoDims.

"Silver Surfer" -- that is an AWESOME term for older users. Great. Stealing that.

Chas ..... That ain't my term so I can't take the credit. I first heard it on the British News in a story about Dating sites (don't ask, lol) and that was maybe 10 years ago, maybe even longer.

I'm sorry for being a bit of a pain but I have been made an offer by an eBay seller and I don't know what to make of it. I found a seller who sells quite a few of the older Mac laptops so I wrote and asked him if he had any cheaper ones that I could look at. Purely by chance, I had picked the auction page of a pristine iBook with 1.2 GHz and all the whistles and bells being offered for £180. Anyway, he told me that he had a G4, 1.33 GHz machine with over 1 GB of RAM and an 80 GB hard drive running Leopard with the same sort of spec as the listed one.
He went on to say that the lappy has a couple of snags as follows.
1 ..... The keyboard is slightly yellowed.
2 ..... The right hand CMD key is missing
3 ..... The underside of the lappy has a few deep scratches but he went on to say that they are NOT gouges, just scratches.

Now, bearing in mind the usage that I will be putting this iBook to which is web browsing, playing Poker (no shoot-em-up type games), text editing and other minor office stuff, does £160 sound reasonable?
BTW, I only contacted this guy because he lives close by and I can be at his door in 10 minutes if the road is clear. My main concern is that this particular model of Apple lappy was found to be a Lemon and nobody wants it for some reason that I don't know about. All the reviews look good though.
Cheers,
Steve

The G3 and G4 "white" iBooks are prone to having the built-in video card soldering come loose, causing the system to fail. This was rare with the machines were young, but they're very very old now so the problem is pretty widespread at this point. Machines that are CAREFULLY handled by gripping them with TWO HANDS can avoid the issue for as long as possible, and the solder can be re-flowed by a skilled tech who's willing to tear the machine completely down and rebuilt it afterward.

For this reason I cannot recommend iBooks anymore, on top of the simple fact that they can barely run a modern OS. The flaws you mentioned are not serious ones that would put me off the machine nearly as much as the age (the battery is likely overdue to be replaced, if you ever needed to replace the hard drive that's a HUGE job on those models) and complications.

I realise you're not planning to do anything to heavy with it and since the guy is nearby you can test the machine before buying, but at that price I'd just save up and get something made much more recently, circa 2007 and higher, for not a lot more money. Just MPO, but there's no way I'd pay well over $200 for a G4 (or any sort) these days.

5tevie said:

IAnyway, he told me that he had a G4, 1.33 GHz machine with over 1 GB of RAM and an 80 GB hard drive running Leopard with the same sort of spec as the listed one.

Click to expand...

Mac2sell.net (UK version)...says this laptop is worth £120 (that's without the issues that the seller mentioned).

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Mac2sell.net (UK version)...says this laptop is worth £120 (that's without the issues that the seller mentioned).

Click to expand...

That would be for a pristine one with no issues or cosmetic damage, yeah.

I would take issue with Mac2Sell on this however for the fact that changing out the hard drive on these models is INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT compared to the later MacBooks. I used to have to do this for a living, you have to tear down the ENTIRE iBook down to the frame, carefully organize the more than 64 different screw pairs and put them back EXACTLY as they came out in reverse order once you've got the new drive in.

Once hard drive prices fell to where they are nowadays we simply stopped offering the service as it was no longer cost-effective against what we had to charge to do it.