old ibook G4

Mooch

Hi guys,
i've had my trusty ibookg4 since the end of 2004, its running OSX 10.3.9 and i've recently increased the RAM so its now at 1.25Gb. i have no interest in upgrading the OS or anything but I do wonder what the shelf life on these things actually is? After reading some other threads here, i diligently back up (most days!!). I have noticed that sometimes, randomly, some of my applications have the wrong icon, or if i plug in my external hardrive, it has a random image for an icon. Is this a sign of mac senility or am i just being paranoid??!!

valleyoftheunos

Mooch wrote: »

Hi guys,
i've had my trusty ibookg4 since the end of 2004, its running OSX 10.3.9 and i've recently increased the RAM so its now at 1.25Gb. i have no interest in upgrading the OS or anything but I do wonder what the shelf life on these things actually is? After reading some other threads here, i diligently back up (most days!!). I have noticed that sometimes, randomly, some of my applications have the wrong icon, or if i plug in my external hardrive, it has a random image for an icon. Is this a sign of mac senility or am i just being paranoid??!!

I've had my iBook G4 the same length of time and only a few weeks ago one of the fans has gone kaput. Its unusable now and needs a repair, I find myself wondering if it has out lived it shelf life and perhaps I ought to simply replace it.

Whilst I'm not very happy about it I reckon I'm gonna leave it go and get a new macbook one in september. The like ly costs of the repair is dear so I'd be better off putting that money towards a new laptop.

ZENER

valleyoftheunos wrote: »

I've had my iBook G4 the same length of time and only a few weeks ago one of the fans has gone kaput. Its unusable now and needs a repair, I find myself wondering if it has out lived it shelf life and perhaps I ought to simply replace it.

Whilst I'm not very happy about it I reckon I'm gonna leave it go and get a new macbook one in september. The like ly costs of the repair is dear so I'd be better off putting that money towards a new laptop.

If either of you guys were to advertise those machines in adverts.ie I'd be a bidder

ZEN

Mooch

ZENER wrote: »

If either of you guys were to advertise those machines in adverts.ie I'd be a bidder

ZEN

Aw, I'm not giving it up just yet! :eek::)

Out of interest, valleyoftheunos, do you mind me asking how much a new fan costs??

Sad Professor

Well my iBook G4 1GHz (bought in June 2004) is still going strong. The same can't be said for the power cable though. I reckon I'll be forking out on a replacement soon enough.

valleyoftheunos

Mooch wrote: »

Aw, I'm not giving it up just yet! :eek::)

Out of interest, valleyoftheunos, do you mind me asking how much a new fan costs??

I have no idea really but my guestimate at the cost of the repair was between €200 and €300. There is no real way of teling without having it assesed (which in itself would cost €70).

I posted a tread on it here somewhere and a couple of punters suggested my guess probably wasn't too far off.

It kills me to just put aside what I consider to be a viable machine but When I weigh it all up I think I'm going to buy a new one. I can get my hands on a macbook from the US fairly easily from about €600. In that light the repairs seem less worth while.

WUSBDesign

You can always look out on eBay for iBooks with broken LCDs, faulty logic boards, etc., and cannabilise them. iBook G3/4 machines have well-known, production-related issues involving the soldering of the graphics chip, so your efforts may not result in prolonging your iBook's life to meet your expectations.

valleyoftheunos

WUSBDesign wrote: »

You can always look out on eBay for iBooks with broken LCDs, faulty logic boards, etc., and cannabilise them. iBook G3/4 machines have well-known, production-related issues involving the soldering of the graphics chip, so your efforts may not result in prolonging your iBook's life to meet your expectations.

Exactly

I had hoped to get another year or two out of it as it was runnng perfectly but getting a repair now doesnt mean that it wont develop another problem in the near future.

As regards canibalising another machine, I still wouldn't have a clue how to actually replace it!

WUSBDesign

Well, I cannot comment on the "how to actually replace it" part, but have a look at iFixit for instructions.

BostonB

valleyoftheunos wrote: »

I've had my iBook G4 the same length of time and only a few weeks ago one of the fans has gone kaput. Its unusable now and needs a repair, I find myself wondering if it has out lived it shelf life and perhaps I ought to simply replace it.

Whilst I'm not very happy about it I reckon I'm gonna leave it go and get a new macbook one in september. The like ly costs of the repair is dear so I'd be better off putting that money towards a new laptop.

In that case, you have little to lose by trying the repair yourself.

valleyoftheunos

BostonB wrote: »

In that case, you have little to lose by trying the repair yourself.

I'd end up at a desk with a lot of tiny screws lot all over the place and no clue where they came from or where they should go.

All my Data is still intact as far as I can tell I'd be terrified that I'd damage it. Maybe after I get everthing off it.

K.O.Kiki

Backup to different media while you're at it -- CD/DVD, flash/hard drive + online storage would be a good idea.

atilladehun

I second ifixit. I used it to ungrade the hard drive in my G4 ibook. Gave it a few extra years in my eyes. I would have jammed in an internal bluetooth piece if they wern't so expensive.

I'd say give it a go with some time (2 days for me) and patience and will power to clip it open you'll be really happy with your repair.

valleyoftheunos

I just dont trust my ability to repair it. as I say I'd give it a go once I have a new mac up and running with all my old stuff on it. Got all my Photos and few other things onto a hard drive, but couldn't back up my Itunes for some reason.