SPCR

I had the G4 800MHz iBook and it was quiet too. My only gripe with it was that the G4 didn't feel sufficient enough to power OS X Panther, thus I sold it a month after I purchased it.

Just took receipt this morning of a 1.2Ghz G4 iBook 12".

I went bare-bones, but plan on adding more ram if the need arises. The DVD/CD-RW is definitely not quiet, but other than that it seems to be pretty darn quiet, at least the quietest laptop I've ever owned.

I need to give huge props to Apple for their quick shipping. I placed my order Sunday afternoon. Their standards online say 'will ship in 1-2 days', will deliver '8-12 days after shipping'. Less than 36 hours later (Tuesday morning - 8am) I've got 2 boxes that Purolator dropped off - the iBook, case and 2 iSights (one for my brother for his birthday).

Ordered on Easter Sunday, delivered on Silent Tuesday. (free shipping option)

Not clear on where it shipped from exactly. Initally the tracking numbers didn't work and Purolator said that it ships from California and wouldn't show up in the system until it cleared customs (which they said could take a week). The internal bills and docs say that it shipped from somewhere in Pennsylvania. The shipping labels say Markham, Ontario.

And I swear, that 8 hours later I may just be the first geek on the planet to crash and burn a brand new iBook.

In the middle of an audio chat tonight with my brother, when the book freezes. None of the crazy finger-yoga keyboard combinations will get me out of it, so I do the hard-reboot thing... hard drive starts making funny noises.

Try the OS X install disk and it can't see a hard drive. Run the Hardware Test Disk and it crashes on the HD test, throwing error 2STF/1/4 and here

Spend 45 minutes on the phone with apple tech support (who are actually very pleasant) and they're fedexing me RMA tags to get this one back to them and a new one shipped.

To be quite honest though, those were probably 8 of the quietest hours I've ever spent in front of a laptop.

I had a problem with my iBook G4 crashing for no apparent reason with the originaly 256MB only.

I added 1gb from outpost and that solved ALL my stability issues.

I agree the ibook G4 is the quietest notebook/computer I have ever owned.

Well... the new (replacement) iBook is now up and running. I've only heard the fan run once during the hardware test, otherwise it's completely silent. I like the keyboard on this thing too, with the exception of the missing (dedicated) <home> and <end> keys... makes editing a little bit harder. I'm not as crazy about the touch pad, but I'm getting used to the single button for clicking.

I'm also in love with OS X... discovering new & cool things by the hour.

bchung wrote:I had a problem with my iBook G4 crashing for no apparent reason with the originaly 256MB only.

I added 1gb from outpost and that solved ALL my stability issues.

I agree the ibook G4 is the quietest notebook/computer I have ever owned.

The only real problem with OSX (as msm_zgok's problem was, most likely) is that it requires a rediculous amount of ram, which Apple of course charges through the nose for. But once you get past that, it's better than Windows in most regards, and Microsoft office is actually a better program on a mac than it is on a PC

I've just got the bone-stock 256meg for now. I haven't had any crashing issues, but I do see how stretched the memory is. A lot of page-file usage slowing things down a bit.

fairly slow opening programs for the first time, will additional ram help speed this up?

DC

wooglin wrote:I've just got the bone-stock 256meg for now. I haven't had any crashing issues, but I do see how stretched the memory is. A lot of page-file usage slowing things down a bit.

fairly slow opening programs for the first time, will additional ram help speed this up?

DC

It should. OSX really shouldn't be run with less than 512, a gig makes it pretty happy...I'm not 100% sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the unique way its pagefile works. It will probably help some with the opening of programs, but if memory serves that's more of a HDD issue. In general, though, everything is a lot snappier in OSX with more ram. Especially Expose...and if you're not using that, you should be!

Green Shoes wrote: In general, though, everything is a lot snappier in OSX with more ram. Especially Expose...and if you're not using that, you should be!

I'd played around with my brothers eMac for a year, and it wasn't until I saw the OS X demo on the apple site that I saw what expose was. Putting it politely... when I first experienced expose... I think I made a mess in my pants... that feature is soooo cooool!

wooglin wrote:I'd played around with my brothers eMac for a year, and it wasn't until I saw the OS X demo on the apple site that I saw what expose was. Putting it politely... when I first experienced expose... I think I made a mess in my pants... that feature is soooo cooool!

One thing Apple has really hit out of the part lately is the "wow" factor. They may not make the best stuff on earth, but it's always really cool. Since I use both platforms in my job, I can list just as many negatives for OSX as I can positives....except for maybe Expose But in general that's why the iPod sells so much better than everything else, even though there are (arguably) better MP3 players out there; and it's why the mac mini is poised to become a big threat. One of my colleagues just got one....and they are pretty stinkin' awesome.

iPods are just like Macs - it's fairly easy to find an mp3 player or PC that is cheaper, faster, nicer looking or smaller, but you always, always lose more than you gain.

Straker wrote:iPods are just like Macs - it's fairly easy to find an mp3 player or PC that is cheaper, faster, nicer looking or smaller, but you always, always lose more than you gain.

I'm not too sure... in general, yes (I'm not trying to start a whole mac vs PC flame thread again here... it's been argued from here to infinity), but I think that the iBook is a tremendous value when you compare it to most PC laptops.

As for the iPod.... I've got a 3rd generation 20gig. I love the styling. I like the interface. Paired with some sony ex-71 earbuds, the sound is great. Hard-core audiophiles might argue... but come on. For 99% of the users out there, it's all fine and dandy. I don't have any issues with iTunes either on the PC or Apple... screw DRM.

when I compare the $1250 that I spent on this iBook, to the over $3000 that I put into a Toshiba laptop (yes, it was a year ago) I think I got a much better value for my dollar with the iBook.

Only buyers remorse that I've got at the moment, was if I'd held off on the order for another couple of weeks, I could have gotten Tiger for the $5 upgrade price instead of having to pay $130 if I want to get it now.

Glad you're happy with it To me, Apple probably makes the best laptops on the market (it's really a shame the G5 chips are too hot for the powerbooks)....but this makes perfect sense. Apple's main weakness to people like us is that you can't really re-arrange anything, swap out parts, or change much at all. But in laptops you can't really do that anyway b/c every mobo is proprietary; there's no ATXm standard. Plus most laptop owners want ease of use more than anything else; anyone trying to run Doom3 at 1600x1200 on a laptop is only kidding themselves.

As a musician, yeah, I've heard one or two MP3 players that sound better than the iPod. But I think it's a moot point; my problem with every MP3 player is that they don't have enough capacity to hold much lossless information, whether it be Apple Lossless or the WMP version or straight-up .wav files. Once I see a 200GB player then I'll be excited.

That being said, I love my 60 gig photo iPod

What HD do they use?
Will a HD swap void the warranty? What's the general policy with changing HD in laptops, not only Apple?

Offtopic: I think the Airport Express is really cool! I didn't fully understand the potential with WLAN until I heard about them. Was thinking "Ok, wireless LAN, but I still need a cable to the stereo, great. "
Do you know if they work well with PC's? Any issues? Are there any competitors out there? I really don't know.

Thanks!

Mats wrote:What HD do they use?
Will a HD swap void the warranty? What's the general policy with changing HD in laptops, not only Apple?

My 12" iBook came with a Fujitsu MHT2040AT 30 gig drive which is pretty quiet. Low on the seek noise, and I can't even hear it spin up.

A HD swap on iBooks is very involved, voids the warranty and basically involves 100% disassembly of the laptop. The hard drive must literally be the first thing that they install when the chassis rolls down the production line.

Thanks for the info wooglin.
Found some Airport Express competitors. The Squeezebox 2 seems like one of the better, too bad it costs almost 50 % more in Sweden than in the USA.