iBook G3 Clamshell in 2022

[@gh0stgirl595]

Yeah, I could not believe the prices for the Key Lime dropping basically 2k. Charcoal or Indigo (the more common unexciting colors) you can get for around $500. Definitely a Y2K Collectors item at this point.

[@Nymunariya]

In the area of upgradability, the harddrive is easily upgraded. You just have to dismantle the entire laptop once(only once!) to stick in a CF or mSATA/m.2. Then if you make some cuts in the metal shielding above the harddrive, big enough for getting a CF card or mSATA/small m.2, you can easily swap out the drive just by lifting the keyboard. I made the cut with some garden sheers on my clamshell and I love it. Mac OS 9 is actually more capable than you think. It'll be blazingly fast (compared to Tiger). A copy of AppleWorks (or even ClarisWorks) will open almost immediately. Mac OS 9 also fits into 800x600 a lot nicer than OS X. Whereas Tiger requires at least 256MB of ram, Mac OS 9 will happily run with 64MB (or even less with virtual memory enabled). That would leave you with a lot more headroom for programs and even streaming video. The Airport Card only supports 802.11b, which isn't worth it in the end (up to 44Mbps). The same with USB (up to 12Mbps). The Ethernet is very capable though with up to 100Mbps, which would've been a much better experience, especially for copying files. Mac OS 10.4 should be able to connect to a modern Mac's SMB share, so you could transfer files over the network easily. With a little work, you can even get Mac OS 9 to connect to a modern mac's file sharing, though I would recommend a bridge machine/server. As for watching youtube videos, there is software like TenFiveTube (though it requires Leopard) which makes streaming youtube videos on PowerPC macs a breeze. Basically the biggest problem is just the format and scripting on the youtube website. But as long as you have access to the direct video links, youtube videos can be streamed individually in quicktime, even in OS 9.

[@transitengineer]

I agree with you 100 percent. Even today, I still use some of my old vintage OS 9 software (i.e. Word Perfect, Via Voice, etc.).

[@snappy4368]

I would like to get an ibook to use as an off internet writer and reading machine, as it not only looks cook, and has a decetn keyboard, but is alot of fun to use compared to modern comptuers, and plus, getting a machine that has difficulty working on the internet would help me with my adhd and my tendency to get distracted easily. Will keep this comment in mind! That's crazy you can stream KZbin on a iBook, LOL, hope i get to try it one day!...

[@RobertDeloyd]

I was thinking the same thing about the Hard Drive! What is there... about a hundred screws of different kinds to take out (I'm just exaggerating) there is a whole lot of them. I decided to leave the old one in because it is still working, so only if it dies will I replace it. The CF card and garden shears are looking like a mighty good option! 🤗 The 8bit Guy has a very good video on how to replace those drives.

[@mrjersonlima]

I do like this kind of video because I can relate to. I love vintage technology and I agree with you. I miss the fun GUI and design. The colors and usability still fresh to me. I even think Apple should do some revival into these classic designs with modern hardware embarked with. It would be awesome. So thank you for posting. I really enjoyed!

[@be236]

I have older Powerbook G3 and a iBook G4, but wish I had one of these Clamshell laptops in my collection. Alas.

[@GarrettCrespo]

They’re so hard to find in good, working order. I got lucky with mine

[@jkmsaturn]

Bravo! It is fun to watch these older Macs try to navigate the web . . . they really do give it the college try. I am fortunate to own the Key Lime Edition.

[@garnetkodo]

I also own a keylime, in brand new condition, no scratches and no discoloration on the rubber or plastics, it even has the leaf!

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

Back in the day (2009) while I was at RIT, a guy sold me his old Fujitsu Lifebook for ten bucks which was a 1999 Celeron machine designed for Windows 98SE. 300 mhz, 64 MB of RAM. The coolest thing about using Linux was the marriage of old and new. Rather than a top down approach (searching for the one best configuration, the last supported software, and trying to get it to work), you could use a bottom up approach. If Linux kernel supports your chipset, software can be compiled and made to work and fuse technologies. At the time, Crunchbang #! 9.04, using the Open Box window manager, was a super snappy distro on ancient tier hardware, and because it was based on Ubuntu, I had full access to drivers for anything that I could attach to the thing. I had a USB 1.1/2.0 dongle from Belkin that supported 802.11n (granted I'm not getting those speeds LMFAO) but Linux could install a driver for it and run it when Windows 9x didn't support it. I installed Chromium and ran KZbin (at the time, based on Flash) and it played video in 240p. I could watch full screen 480p video with SMplayer. While it was a meme, I actually unironically kept it open to use it for music and keeping my Outlook Calander open while I worked on my main laptop. I could SSH into the monster servers we had in the computer science lab and actually do some homework on EMACS over SSH and compile and run terminal software on that thing. Not sure how feasible that is in 2023, but I would say that old Celeron machine was legitimately more than a paperweight until maybe 2011. I'm curious how usable the iBook G3 is with Linux on it.

[@KCRUBYWOO]

I remember when we first got these in our school library. Sheesh... those were the golden days.

[@TheRonGoleman]

Back in 2000, I was starting law school, and really wanted a clamshell MacBook but at the time, I went cheap and got an eMachines laptop. Shouldn't have gone cheap. Ever.

[@moxie96]

As desperate I was for a laptop, eMachines always gave off invisible stink lines to me back then

[@mikaelastefkova]

I'm in love with the design of this laptop (since I found about it as a child, actually, always loved it for some reason) and I still dream about getting one 🙈 If there was any similar laptop with this gorgeous blue/white design, I'd try to save up for it as quickly as I'd be able to haha

[@ShiggitayMediaProductions]

A few things: 1) At the start of the video you called the laptop a PowerBook G3... lol later on though you did refer to it correctly as an iBook, but that amused me a little. 2) When it comes to modern usability, I'd suggest looking into getting a PowerPC Linux distro like Adelie Linux installed on there... It'll make it surprisingly usable since Adelie is made to work with older PPC Macs specifically (with ofc x86 versions also available). It's in RC status, so it's not quite out of beta etc, but it's worth a shot since it's not your main laptop (or so I assume). With all that said, seeing people cover/make videos about older Apple tech like this iBook, of which I wanted so GD bad as a kid makes me happy. Anyone born after 1995 or so would never have heard of an iBook if it wasn't for KZbinrs making videos on these glorious machines that sparked and shaped the past few generations of computing. I've been wanting to make a video on my PowerMac 8500 that I've upgraded out the @$$, making it a "super computer" for 1995, and I think I might still... You've inspired me to do it! What/how I'll structure the video is yet to be decided, but it's just sitting there gathering dust, and I want to use it for something. Great video! See you around!

[@transitengineer]

You are correct about younger people not knowing about the first generation of iBooks. About 5 years ago at the office for a co-worker, I had to go to the internet and pull up Steve Jobs keynote introduction where, he starts walking around the stage and stays connected on-line (with no wires or cables) ....this is not possible. Of course after showing my co-worker the various colors and the models sold she, feel in love with the "Key Line" version (smile...smile).

[@snappy4368]

Love seeing these videos too. The g3 imacs and ibooks are both my favorite comptuers ever, period. Thats so cool you also have ongoing PowerMac project. The only vintage macs i have is a macintosh IIsi, which unfortunately had its motherboard fail, and I cant afford to have it fixed.... You should tottally do a video on it though!!!!

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

Is Adelie Linux Free?

[@ShiggitayMediaProductions]

@@RaysGamingChannel2003 yes. Most Linux distros are free.

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

@@ShiggitayMediaProductions okay

[@QUANTUMJOKER]

I just acquired a clamshell iBook and upgraded it with an SSD! Mine is an older SE from 1999 with a 366 MHz CPU, 4 MB of video memory, a CD-ROM drive and no FireWire. The upgrade process was fiddly and a little rough - I was very careful and categorized all the screws at every step, but six or so screws wouldn't go back in, and one of the seams in the upper case didn't quite go back together - but this iBook now has a 64 GB Compact Flash card for a hard-drive (and 320 MB of RAM through adding a 256 MB module)! The iBook runs very well, and I'm extremely pleased with how the upgrade turned out.

[@SomeRandomOldFatGuy]

I've wanted one of these clamshells since they were released. They were so crazy sexy

[@Journey_to_who_knows]

I would love this goofy design on modern machines instead of these featureless kitchen tables of today, but using a 10 year old model is annoying enough I can’t imagine how brutal this would be. Though I think it may be possible to connect to routers using WPS. Replacing the parts with modern Wifi cards and processors is probably doable but the labour involved would be hardcore.

[@brandon-kc9zi]

that psycho pass footage came out of nowhere lol

[@Stabby666]

I basically have exactly the same model and spec, however I'm currently designing a custom PCB to replace the original motherboard, with a Raspberry Pi 4 compute module as the core. Oh it can also make the read apple logo glow - I'm thinking of using that to notify me of things. 😁

[@GarrettCrespo]

Very nice. You’re braver than I am. I like keeping this as original as possible

[@Stabby666]

@@GarrettCrespo yeah that’s cool - in my case it’ll be mostly used to play retro arcade and console emulators on the CRT screen.

[@WinrichNaujoks]

@@Stabby666 Will you be able to use the original keyboard? What about the touchpad and the screen?

[@Stabby666]

@@WinrichNaujoks yes, that is the plan for it. I’ve done quite a few custom conversions (I’m an EE and spend most of my time designing PCBs and writing code for embedded devices so I basically get to make my own stuff for free as a bonus 😁)

[@snappy4368]

Woah, those mods sound crazy! You will absolutely have to make a youtube video about that or something, people like me I'm sure would love to see that, especially because I have never heard of anyone doing that before!

[@mirkofrollano1265]

I love these kinds of videos! Yours was really very well built! Loved it!

[@paulmuaddib451]

With the wifi, it was *definitely* the 11b; most newer routers that tout that they can use it...are basically lying. Glad you got it worked out. Wonderful video about a wonderful machine.

[@NoobixCube]

I've come to realise, recently, that Apple's user-hostile design really only seems to have started in the Intel era. Like, the G5 iMac, you could literally pop the back panel off and get access to everything inside, but the first Intel iMacs were far trickier to open up. The G5, 4, and 3 desktop towers all had an easy to open case that gave you access to everything. The iMac G3 and eMac G4 were a little tricky but there wasn't much in there TO upgrade. It's not like you couldn't get in there, but you normally wouldn't want to unless you really knew what you were doing. I actually suspect there may have been some contractual reasons behind Apple progressively more and more tightly buttoning up their internals after they moved to Intel. I'm not sure _why_ that would be, but they weathered a solid decade of criticism over that. Modern Apple machines, while pretty much everything is on the one board, at least you can get in there easily again. I mean, the damage is done, Apple is now a non-serviceable manufacturer, but if I want to get inside my Macbook to clean the dust out at some point, I at least am not going to need an iFixit toolkit and some special expertise. I just need to know which end of the screwdriver to hold.

[@NoobixCube]

Also, in fairness to the DVD watching experience and audio quality, in the year 2000/2001, this was pretty much best in class , practically _alone_ in its class, for watching a DVD on a laptop. I mean, yeah, the 800x600 TFT panel isn't the hottest by our standards, today, but it was probably one of the nicest looking laptop screens at the time (so many late 90s to early 2000s Windows laptops still had passive matrix displays that ghosted visibly). Sure, you'd get better sound and video out of the contemporary iMac G3 with its CRT screen and built in speakers, but you couldn't slip that into your backpack.

[@transitengineer]

For the most part, I fully agree with your comments. In my desktop collection is an All-in-One 5500 (with an internal Apple video capture card system, an internal Apple TV/FM card system with matching black remote control); a glossy white 20-inch G4 iMac; a glossy white 20-inch G5 iMac, a glossy white 24-inch Intel iMac, a 2010 "mac mini" (the last model with a built-in DVD super-drive); and my newest addition a trash can size 2014, 8-core/D700 Mac Pro. With the exception of my 24-inch Intel iMac each, is fun to open and upgrade (smile...smile).

[@Teodor_P]

For wifi, if you have an older airport extreme (the ones before the towers), you can configure the network to be "B" and make it passwordless and hidden. The ibook will connect even in MacOS9.

[@AlbertoRodriguez-ju6hc]

I love how companies claim they "stand buy their product", back then it was "all interchangeable/compatible" but the PC didn't work with anything really unless you struggled with it for hours, the apple i mack and the i mack clam shell were apple's solution to it all back then and in their day they worked better because people's expectations were tempered. We had just gotten out of the dial up era, back then if you wanted to get on you're computer on a saturday night you had to power it up on a tuesday morning, you had to wait 4 whole days for you're computer to just boot up,if you wanted to use it more then 1 day in a row you had to leave it on or you had to boot it up again. Back then when windows vista came out it was the beginning of a improvement on something, finally it only took 1 whole day for you're computer to boot uo and people were happy. In my opinion windows 7 was where it should've stopped because this computer was compatible it and everything worked perfectly but as time went on people got greedy qnd wanted more and better and unfortunately the customer is always right and big business has a nasty habit of giving the publick what they want all the time so we got wind.

[@SunnyBeetle1922]

Thank you so much for putting this together. Your attention to detail on this was extremely helpful and just what I was looking for!! Thank you🙏🏽🙏🏽💯💯

[@transitengineer]

Wow, what a great "blast" from the past! Back in the day, I feel in love with this generation of iBooks at first sight. However, for my first Apple laptop, I selected (from the same time period) the last of the black and white Powerbooks the Fire-wire Pismo model. Why, because it had double what the iBook had two USB "A" ports, two Fire-wire 400 ports, two "hot swapable" bays for (an extra battery, a Zip drive, a Super-drive, a floppy drive, etc.) plus an Infer-Red port for wireless printing, and PCMA card slot all with a higher resolution screen. My Airport card still works but, only the public Wifi network at my office supports this old wireless standard (smile...smile).

[@wolfgangfrick4567]

Interestingly, the original tray-load iMac G3 models from 1998 and 1999 were fan-cooled, but the slot-load models from 2000 and 2001 were passively cooled just like the clamshell iBooks.

[@typingcat]

The first HDD I bought with my money was 30GB (used one, probably for about $100 USD at that time) and it was large enough to have games and music and whatnot. Now I have 1TB old disks lying around unused.

[@cesarwdominguezsommerfeld4161]

nice video i love the ibook g3

[@peterxyz3541]

I played with one of those clamshell laptop for a few months. I “LOVED” it…yes, in quotation. I LOVE the handle… the curved, converging (toward the rear) made it too “childish”

[@peporgan]

Correction: the iMac of that time also had no fan. They were both fanless!

[@GarrettCrespo]

I was referring more to revision A of the iMac, but you are also correct. Revision B and onwards had no fan.

[@peporgan]

@@GarrettCrespo ah, I see. Loved the video, good stuff. I’m glad you used TFF in your demonstration. There are really great web optimisations on Macrumors PowerPC Forum too. I watch KZbin on my clamshell all the time using PPCMC :)

[@introvertdzephyr]

I understand how you feel with the usb 1.1 port. Transferring photos with usb 1.1 would take me hours at a time

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

Tiger was the first x86 capable OS, but also the last supported on the iBook G3 and the iMac G3. I find it interesting that you called it 10.04 when that's a retcon. Tiger was 10.4. Lol.

[@MichaelJ023]

I’m not sure what you mean by the audio Jack being only 16bit. That is the standard for cd audio and most laptops today use the same. The audio on these is quite good when streaming internet radio or playing CDs, or mp3s in iTunes.

[@JanustheXanus]

That Thumbnail looks beautiful

[@dennisud]

I have a 2010 MacBook and though slow (Not as much as the clamshell) it still browses ok.

[@diegomax]

The headphones jack is analog, not sure what you meant by referring to it as "16 bit audio", on top of that DVD audio is either PCM at 16 bit or DOLBY ac3/dts so in no case the 16bit *DAC* on the laptop would be an issue.

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

I have a iBookG4 and I still use it as my daily Driver and it has Mac OS X 10.5.8

[@yesgunner9494]

I would loved to see more of the laptop

[@huachucho69]

Hello, I have a Apple iBook G3 M2453, what airport base station would serve to connect to the internet. Regards

[@GarrettCrespo]

It was the 2nd gen wireless 802.11 N model. The pizza box looking one.

[@rickkarrer8370]

Did anyone else twitch when he said "Powerbook G3 Clamshell"? lol. Great video though!

[@atruceforbruce5388]

I miss the fun look that the late 90's early 2000's had. I think we moved on from sleek to the cyberpunk rgb look, before we see fun again we all have to get past the whole minimalistic trend.

[@mikegenesis7732]

You can download KZbin videos and play them with vlc player on it. Only in max 360p

[@puttemacguff7666]

Tiger is still by far the best OS Apple made! My trusty G4 can runt 10.5 but 10.4 are way more stable :D

[@RaptorNet]

Idk if it’s been pointed out, airport cards don’t support WPA2.

[@GarrettCrespo]

I discovered that after the video was uploaded. Thanks for pointing it out!

[@KoopaTroopa2021]

We gave come a long way with tech

[@atomicorang]

I’m going to try this

[@GiordanDiodato]

my mom used this machine a lot because she was an elementary school librarian.

[@KamiKitsuneVA]

You should try an iBook G4!

[@GarrettCrespo]

I’ve been trying to find one. They’re getting harder to find!

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

@@GarrettCrespoI got mine for free from a school in 2020 or 2021

[@AJ9017]

Nostalgia! Great Video, Garrett. Just wondering if you would be willing to sell it?

[@GarrettCrespo]

I appreciate it, but I won’t be selling it. I’m trying to grow my collection and this is a piece I definitely want to keep.

[@TheMalibuDar]

Which Airport version were you using? I'm in the same boat with my 366 and a 802.11ax. Thanks!

[@GarrettCrespo]

AirPort Extreme gen 2. The last 802.11n airport.

[@xenocide2121]

BSD will give you a slightly better experience now in 2024 if u wanna do it again :P

[@daviddadut4620]

sorry i forgoten any optical drive you not know this cd-rw dvd combo? my clamshell a origianl dvd rom inside but i plan put back a 366mhz clamshell cd rom not know any optical drive this but cd-rw this better me :)

[@daviddadut4620]

hi i have a question my coolection here one graphite 466mhz se with 576mb ram and 10gb hdd and os 9.2 i plan put this a 60gb hdd or 80 my main quest for htis i book what a max for treatment? i good know os 9.2 max hdd 100gb

[@GarrettCrespo]

If you’re asking what the maximum storage is, I believe it’s 100gb on Mac OS 9.2. OSX will take whatever the hardware maximum is.

[@petersmythe6462]

When Apple releases the clamshell iBook M3:

[@GarrettCrespo]

One can dream!

[@samuel-j5n8s]

what is the point off saying that at the beginning off the video you are just using an ibook g3 clamshell in 2022

[@snoopdoggthecertifiedg6777]

Your channel and videos have the same production quality and replayability as Luke Miani and other creators like him! You deserve way more recognition!!

[@k.p.3739]

Don’t think people like simple industrial styles.

[@alexandriarobertson3]

I am strugglin with the same issue with the network wifi router being to new, can you recommend what I could buy that would get it online ?

[@GarrettCrespo]

Unfortunately, my only solution was to get an old airport router from that era and run it in bridge mode. Aside from that, it’d have to be wired in to any modern network.

[@WinrichNaujoks]

You can create a WiFi hotspot with your iPhone/Android, don't use any encryption but only allow certain MAC addresses to connect to it.

[@stellalorella5339]

so it can't play normal streaming you tube videos in a web browser?

[@GarrettCrespo]

Nope. Unfortunately this just doesn’t have the power to manage modern video codecs

[@AndreaFistetto]

fru!

[@Tomatoheadplays]

Question does it have games

[@Goofball69.]

It’s not a power book

[@JohnSmith-zl8rz]

Carrie Bradshaw laptop hehe.

[@GarrettCrespo]

I’m pretty sure she had a PowerBook G3. Same era, though. Lol

[@Pkg597]

Elle woods

[@abcxyz1234]

That view count

[@henry_achin]

If you ever feel stupid remember someone at apple though this was a good idea.

[@jaygreentree4394]

Macbooks/powerbooks are not laptops. Any real Apple user knows better. Apple specifically calls them notebooks because they dont want you putting them on your lap and burning your legs.

[@GarrettCrespo]

Apple's website has an "Explore lineup" section that specifically calls them "laptop". Granted, I cant tell if you're being serious or just making a "MacBooks run hot" joke from circa 2018. 🤣

[@billchatfield3064]

Way too much talking before actually showing the issues on the actual computer. Half of the video is just blah, blah, blah with no computer. The video is supposed to be about the computer, not looking at some dude talking.

[@GarrettCrespo]

It’s literally one minute of context dialog with b roll footage to help with that context before I show the iBook? What do you mean?

[@LoveXKnife]

Too much of your face, not enough laptop

[@GarrettCrespo]

I’ve heard that before. I’m working on it.

[@GERALD_786]

thats the most ugliest laptop design ever ive ever witnessed even worse than that bulky gaming laptop

[@GarrettCrespo]

It was the 90’s. So it was either this or a sea of beige rectangles.