Comments on: R.I.P. iBook: December 31, 2002 – March 7, 2009

By: Gangster33

Gangster33 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:22:05 +0000

That was a punch in the mouth. ,

By: YourMacFriend

YourMacFriend — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:57:52 +0000

There is a small battery in the laptop that last for years. When this battery expires, the iBook will not start up. Some repair shops will tell you you need a new mother board. They charge you for one, but only change the $2.00 battery. We had one shop here in Panama City, FL that did this all the time.

The battery is inside under the keyboard. In some Books you have to remove the hard drive to get to it. Apple suggest you take it to a certified service center, but I have done this to many laptop Macs without any problems, except the Duos.

The old Pizza Box Macs (LCs) were famous for this after only three years of use.

I just bought a new Summer 2009 MacBook Pro 2.8GHz 17in. I’m going to sell my retired iBook 1.33GHz 12in for about $400. I still have the box and everything that came with it. Still looks and works like new.

By: skinnie

skinnie — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:00:12 +0000

I bought a few months ago a 800MHz Ibook 12′,because carrying a 17′ HP DV9500@3.55Kg is horrible.
The ibook is so much “better” than the HP,I still get about 4h of battery of it,coconut battery shows 93% health with 357cycles!
I think it was good idea to try fixing your ibook,like aplying pressure or heat…you won’t waste money and can take an “old friend” back..
Someday I’ll trade the HP for a macbook or macbook pro,but the ibook will stay,I love the thing!

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:34:35 +0000

I bought a computer like yours at a thrift shop…It would not go on at all, not even a sound…..So I gave it to a friend to look at it…..his little girl plugged it in and it works great…I have no idea what happenned…..I took it to a few mac stores and they said just get rid of it it no good…so maybe one day just try again and you will have my luck….Lori

By: brett

brett — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:48:08 +0000

I think it knew that you’d just received a new unibody MacBook — can’t be a coincidence — and figured that it was time to make room for the new guy.

By: Devon

Devon — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:26:50 +0000

Charles,

I feel bad that it finally died, when people would try and tell me about the poor reliability of ibooks I would always point them to your Compleat ibook guide on lowendmac and mention how your 700mhz unit has been going non stop. Ive had my 600mhz 16vram ibook about a year since i bought it for 40 bucks dead and i installed a logic board in the unit and its been solid as a rock where as my other mac laptops including my 17 inch G4 have failed. I feel the dual usb is a great design and that you should maybe look into replacing the logic board as they have gotten to be pretty cheap on ebay.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:08:42 +0000

Charles,
My 800MHz iBook did something like that in 2006 – but the charger plug didn’t glow either. It ended up being a dead power brick. It still runs great today with an aftermaket power brick… but lately the power plug seems a bit wobbly (perhaps the dog snagging the cord too often). I hope to get as many years from my iBook.

By: Daniel Finegan

Daniel Finegan — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:29:15 +0000

Charles, if you look on the Apple User discussion sites, you’ll find some suggestions about either replacing the logic board or else trying fixes like applying pressure to certain parts of the computer.

I had a similar iBook sudden death, was able to get it re-started a few times but it was never reliable and eventually sold it for parts.

It’s a shame. I agree with you – the Icebook ibook was one of my favorite Macs ever!

Dan

By: TMann

TMann — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:21:52 +0000

I just sold an 800 mhz G3 iBook on eBay. I had had it since 2003, and it had worked perfectly through most of that time. I did have to send it back to Apple for the recalled logic board replacement. I also had to replace an inverter cable about a year and a half ago. (I love iFixIt.com!) But other than those little “upgrades” it just kept chugging along for almost six years. It was my wife’s computer during most of those years, (I purchased a 12″ Powerbook G4 a year after the iBook.) I still think that the 12″ iBook/Powerbook size was the ideal size for a portable computer.

By: Sharninder

Sharninder — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:00:12 +0000

My late 2004 model 12″ iBook died last year with a logic board problem and the Apple store was going to charge almost as much for it as the cost of a new notebook. I used it the previous night and it wouldn’t start the next morning. I didn’t get it repaired but kept it with me for emotional reasons :-)

So, basically last week I took it out of the box and found that if I applied some pressure over the palm rest (above where the hard disk is present), the thing would start up.

I opened up the cover and inserted a couple of folded papers and closed the cover and the iBook works again now :-) I don’t know how long it’ll continue to work like this but I’m happy.

I still feel that the 12″ iBook was the best notebook Apple ever produced.