Testing Apple's FIRST iBook - Will it Work?

[@cjsebes]

I bought one from off a Craigslist ad a few years ago and met the seller at a Dunking Donuts. After seeing the iBook, we shook hands, I paid him, and he almost fell over as I flipped out the handle and picked it up. After owning the laptop for like 10 years, he had no idea the handle was there. Too funny.

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

A really nice collector's piece. You don't really get to see 20+ year old hardware in such good shape.

[@vlsaurus1700]

It was only after contacting MJD that I found out this was a collector's item. I'm honestly surprised that it turned on at all, let alone boot into a USABLE OS!!

[@Mirra2003-f9s]

@@vlsaurus1700 Well it clearly didn't see that much use otherwise it wouldn't have been in such good shape. It would be have been a collector's item even if it wouldn't have worked because the chassis can be reused with a working board

[@KeithMyers2022]

I remember very briefly using a blue clamshell PC in an after-school program in 2008. Played a lot of fun brain on that pc

[@iiTsFaded_]

I’m a good friend of Victor’s, he told me he sent something your way for a video, but I never expected this!

[@vlsaurus1700]

Hi Kyle

[@iiTsFaded_]

@@vlsaurus1700 hey

[@vlsaurus1700]

Yes I am! Hello 👋

[@d.e.v.z.e.r.o]

The device was nice in the past, unfortunately the resolution of 800x600 was an issue, because 1024x768 was already pretty common at that time.

[@appleinfl]

If you can source a specific display from an early 2001 white iBook g3 and cable, you can make some adjustments in open firmware to add 1027x768 resolution. Definitely makes them much more functional in OS X

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@appleinfl openfirmware is underrated, probably just because it's command line rather than a text-mode menu as people had become accustomed-to on Intel PCs. I love it

[@ProtoMario]

I am always stunned that people got rid of these old machines, like if they still work, use them. They cost like 2 to 6 grand back in the 90s just to toss that away. Man crazy.

[@scallen3841]

Yep

[@TheLucidLuxray]

Technology evolved at an astronomical rate around the time this machine came out, so I can see the justification of upgrading to something new every three years then.

[@matchc0635]

Something sad is I would like to use my 10yr+ old computer equipment but the technology had advanced to a point it can't even handle 480p KZbin or video editing in the slightest

[@TheBishopFury]

​@@matchc0635 Curious. You mean Intel era macs? PowerPC I agree, what they still do well these days is raising noise level in the room and that's it.

[@matchc0635]

@@TheBishopFury nope, just computers in general no matter mac or not, got an thinkpad that's one of it's last kind which still have the IBM badge on it, cool factor is a 10 but barely useable in current day enviroment

[@flotowncomputerguy6243]

I still have one that I overclocked via moving some resistors. The heatsink runs on thoughts and prayers. It was much improved in the white iBook g3. You can actually swap a 1024x768 screen into one of these clamshells if you have one of the later models with more video memory

[@smartperson1]

The original tangerine iBook was a quirky thing of beauty. I miss fun Apple…

[@RisingRevengeance]

Late 90's-early 00's was the best apple has ever been even if not financially

[@MattExzy]

I still want one!! I wanted one as a kid then, and I still want one now.. there's a part of my brain that still treats it like a new computer worth having, totally useable in the modern day, which is quite delusional, but a testament to it.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@lazytwaaat they're saying they're using a metric other than pure finances and sales (though of course it's probably part of it, since this iBook was a sales success). I'm guessing more in terms of product design creativity, execution of core concepts, and so on

[@baoquoc3710]

@lazytwaaat The 6 isn't that good of a phone as we think it was, even with 200m sales. Bending, ghost touches, sluggish dual-core is just enough to put you off, the next iteration while less sale, proved to be less being e-waste than the heavily flawed 6.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@kaitlyn__LFor a long time they used sales numbers to show their growth. But then they moved to revenue. Because sales don't increase anymore, but the phones are becoming more expensive.

[@MattExzy]

Those older drives can sometimes have a thing called 'stiction' - it was a real thing spoken of in Mac circles around the time - the myth/fact was that the lubricant in the drive would stick when it hadn't been used for a while. Could explain why it worked after warming up and cycling for a bit.

[@Hendrik382]

Sounds like my 2007 Audi haha

[@dabombinablemi6188]

I thought the typical cause was the HDD head cold welding itself to a platter - at least in the early 90's.

[@_..-.._..-.._]

@@dabombinablemi6188 Nah, the last 90’s early 2000’s version was from harddrive grease that dries out over time and becomes rubbery.

[@outsidethewaxbox]

The clip-in keyboard is indeed a feature I miss. My iBook G4 from 2005 also had that and allowed me to slide in RAM and a new HDD without an issue. Although servicing my plastic unibody MacBook from 2010 and MacBook Pro from 2012 weren’t all that difficult either.

[@goclunker]

Ram yes , hdd no. Ibook g4 required a full teardown for hdd

[@Lampe2020]

A word to the CD drive: if the laser is broken it would still spin up, then slam the laser into the disc to try to get a focus, then spin down again, then repeat. If it can open the hatch but doesn't even attempt to spin up it must be the motor that spins the disc which is broken.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Probably the classic disintegrating belt. I have a drive with a completely stretched out belt that keeps randomly opening on it's own. Replacing the belt helps.

[@Lampe2020]

@@HappyBeezerStudios Especially in the bigger drives the CD holder head is mounted directly to a simple DC motor. So there's no belt to desintegrate and either the control board or the motor is toast.

[@waterlillymiller3207]

I love hearing you talk about how you got into collecting old computers, especially because you got me interested in it and I'm now the proud owner of two Compaq Presario PCs, a 5000 series and an SR5202HM

[@HeadsetGuy]

A lot of old CD-ROM drives struggle to read CD-Rs, especially if they weren't burned at a slow speed. If you have any proper CD-ROMs, you should test the CD drive with one of those.

[@TimurTripp2]

This was the computer that started me off collecting too back 8 years ago. Good to see one being reviewed on your channel!

[@TimurTripp2]

It’s 9 years actually. Time is moving too fast 😬

[@christopherwilliams9418]

By far the iBook Clamshell is my favorite Apple, my favorite computer, to ever be produced. My indigo firewire SE is my pride and joy, I have a 128GB SSD in it, an 8x DVD drive (currently with a graphite drive bezel but always looking for a way to get it matching), maxed out RAM... I'm looking to have the battery rebuilt but it's hard finding someone willing to weld the tabs onto the 18650 cells I bought for it. Something interesting, on the firewire models, there's actually a second unpopulated bank for onboard memory. People have theorized that this might have been for an unreleased Revision D model of the Clamshell, which hypothetically could have shipped with as much as 256mb of onboard memory. There's an interesting topic about it on... I think the Macrumors forums? It's been a while. Would love if someone actually managed to get those working, definitely a computer surgery I'd be willing to pay for to have it done to my own. By that point the GPU would be the real bottleneck... Would love if someone somehow managed to get a 16mb one off a DualUSB iBook in there. :P EDIT: Forgot to mention the matching iBookBag and the matching RCA ColorView CRT television! I love to accessorize... XD

[@goclunker]

Scratch the contacts on the batts and carefully solder. Make sure you don’t heat them too much with your iron. The the wires will stick once scratched and fluxed

[@mbgeralds3010]

I still have the one I bought my son (he was 11) in 2000 in its original box. Cleaning closets and noticed it on a top shelf. Trying to think of a way to upcycle it brought me here

[@chriswertz1661]

I have a laptop that I hasn't run for 4+ years. It took about 3 reboots to run right. I think the drive stiffened up and took a while to loosen up again. Works fine now.

[@anurag9314]

Has Michael ever done a face reveal? He seems like he'd be a perfect friend to have a drink with

[@RostMor]

Nope, he's a full incognito. If a reflection could appear from the monitor, he puts on a mask.

[@mvevitsis]

He's actually Krazy Ken

[@Telefoon-bi9wf]

​@@mvevitsis the plot thickens

[@BloominFleury29]

@@RostMor ngl that’s the best way to be

[@MikeSparksMusic]

@@RostMorAlthough he did show himself from the collar area down when he tried on the Microsoft Windows Ugly Christmas sweaters a few years back.

[@dcarpenter85]

I love when retro devices have a history attached to them. It's really cool seeing how these devices were used back in the day.

[@thecatherd]

Oh hey, I had one of these as a hand-me-down which I used for homework and essays up until around 2015. These things are crazy study and are still perfectly cromulent for offline use like word processing. And they still look great too!

[@justin6581]

Do you still have it?

[@LatiLag]

The first generation of IBook G3 was very original and crazy. It's like a weird fusion of Y2K design of the late '90 of 1900 and.. Art Nouveau of the late' 90 of 1800. I always loved these Apple products

[@alexiiconner]

1800😭 do u mean 1980? or am i confused 😅

[@LatiLag]

@@alexiiconnerNo, no. Properly the '90's of 1800 when Art Nouveau was a huge new thing, this can be weird but it is a personal prospective, nothing is official. This comparison is for the curved lines of the G3 and the sense of "innovation" of this colored design, compared to the rest of the scene at the time

[@abigaillilac1370]

The old iBooks look so cool. I haven't used one before because I was too young. My elementary school got the all white mostly rectangular Macbooks when those came out in the mid '00s. I do remember using Bondi Blue G3s when I was in kindergarten.

[@ahmadzahid266]

an imac portable, was an iconic laptop on this era, hope in next video fixing cd room and disassemble for this ibook and discover how looks inside of this device, and also making a projects on this device like what you do with wii, it's was so fun videos

[@NaoPb]

Love the look of the old iBooks and the white MacBook. I feel like working with some of them again and finally get my hands (again) on an iBook G4 and G3.

[@nilz23]

I don't know how you can resist punching Eddy right in his face what with him looking at you with that self satisfied grin on his face through every video.

[@philtkaswahl2124]

"So unlike Apple today." Hell, I remember Apple marketing material from that time that boasted of the modularity and easy access as positive features.

[@shanecottam5550]

Lovely iBook, they are so much nicer looking that their modern equivalents. Just a thought regarding your faulty CD ROM drive. The issue may be that the rubber band that spins the disk may have perished. Great video BTW

[@plechaim]

I remember a teacher having one of these when it must have been brand new, same colour. He was a Mac fanatic!

[@pedropassamani]

Love that indigo one. Beautiful color. My first Mac was a G3 iMac in indigo blue.

[@sjgrall]

I miss my blueberry iBook. I stupidly sold it off when I needed money about a decade ago. It was nearly mint, despite heavy use.

[@95Comics]

U can easily add the fire wire port. The pinout is on the board and you can solder a new one in. Hardest part is cutting the hole but a hot screwdriver will make short work of it!

[@whatbroicanhave50character35]

Super common in schools for sure. Never used G3s but used G4s in 2008-9 at one school. Then Ipads from 2011-2013 at another

[@daleadams6947]

8:21 Startup sound!

[@prescientdove]

i have this one, still powers up and runs great.

[@GreggyMcfly]

Funny on how we used to call these "Judy Jetson's EZ Bake Oven." 🤣🤣

[@LuneLovehearn]

When I was a kid, I always wanted to own the clamshell iBook from that era. those looked so cool with those colors and plastic design... I saw one on a tech magazine from 1999 ~ 2001 iirc. also the ads on the TV about it... one day i found one at college on the computer science labs. too bad the professors didn't allowed me to attempt to revive it and try it. there was another channel trying to upgrade those to the latest possible hardware while keeping the chasis of it. you may like to check out that project where it ended running with an intel i7 and 8 GiB RAM with the latest macOS from 2018 iirc. nowadays I just want the latest intel based macbook to learn mac til M processors get good enough.

[@kuroinekonya]

Glad to see so many uploads this month! :)

[@WalterMan]

Old Apple laptops are just amazing. I recently bought a 2007 MacBook Pro as I really love the look of them. I wanted to see if I could fix it, unfortunately I don’t believe I will be able too.

[@rowermusic]

this model looks so cute!

[@sirflimflam]

I could never really get over the toylike appearance of these compared to other laptops, especially considering that these bright transparent colors were all tie rage on actual toys in that time period. Not that I could afford one at the time in the first place being like 14 years old. Looking back, it actually doesn't look that bad.

[@jbdbibbaerman8071]

I can definitely see what you mean. I wasnt around at the time but it definitely looks like a toy. It's an interesting choice

[@hammondOT]

Same. I can't stand the look. I had the impression they weren't "real" computers. Way too gimmicky.

[@Dedicated2WendyWilliams]

yours is in the best condition that ive seen. its rare to find these in such good condition

[@exaltedb]

I think for me, the Mac that got me into collecting a few of them was a Power Mac G4 MDD with the dual 1.42ghz processors (that a friend gave me for free). Sadly it stopped working and I had no means to fix it but now I have a couple MacBooks as well as a Power Mac G5 (late 05) that I use as a web server. Much as fan of vintage macs as well

[@E_yad]

Didn't finish the video, Going great so far 👍

[@ericjenks9596]

You can always hook it up to a local network and connect it to another mac with apple talk! I had to do that with my imac g3 running 8.6. It never had the usb mass storage update installed, so it wouldn’t recognize usb sticks. I networked it to my g4 tower and backed up the drive to another hdd, and downloaded the needed firmware and software updates it was missing.

[@jeffyp2483]

ive been looking for that hand towel all week, and you had it all along!

[@logan_page]

You got the tangerine? Lucky. I only have the blueberry.

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

old school laptops are cool and Apple had the coolest looking one.

[@Kingelfdemondevourer]

i have vivid memories of that orange ibook.. many many many hours over 20 years ago spent playing many games.. but the one i remember most i believe was Turok.. this was late 90's and early 2000's

[@LukeZalvino]

Sad that I dont have any nostalgia connected to 2000s mac stuff. Never had any mac stuff or barely used it besides in like 1999 to play Oregon trail.

[@davidmckendry4491]

Love seeing the Eddie "reliable" trusffull figure smiling next to a apple product.😂

[@David_Phantom]

A cliché potential for the issue with the disc drive is capacitors. But if there are issues with power, that could also explain the initial problem you had with booting the hard drive. After the capacitors "warmed up" so to speak, they were able to handle booting the hard drive. Just a thought, though things that punch holes in this hypothesis are the fact the screen appeared to have no issues and that the sound seemed to work fine. Also, can the iBook boot from a USB DVD drive?

[@5argetech56]

Whenever I see one of those clam shell iBooks, I think of Alton Brown! He always used a blue and white one on his show Good Eats! ☺

[@KSCPMark6742]

I always hope to see a project to entirely replace the internals in one of these classics with the internals from for example a modern 13" MB Air....

[@Clyde-3195]

It's actually easy to make a power adapter for these. All you need is a 3pin 3,5mm jack and 19v 3a power brick. Wire the center pin as negative, the sleeve as positive and the tip is not connected. Works just fine and charges the battery (assuming it's still functional). Same for the G4, but with a 2,5mm plug.

[@Clyde-3195]

PS. The iBook wants 24V DC, however it's pretty tolerant towards voltage, like most other laptops. 19v works fine with the clamshell.

[@d3adman404]

YES! i love this old macintosh videos!

[@Dogeforlife0]

Orange, white, victor.... WAIT! ITS VECTOR

[@hh-kw4vo]

always awesome when you post!

[@phr3dmcc0y]

You might be able to remove the optical drive and look at the numbers on it to see if it is a generic style from that time period, and get one similar to it from a different laptop, and just move the plastics to the replacement. Or see if that drive can be repaired by someone who is a mac fanatic.

[@Haluu_]

glad to see a video from you! honestly, if you started a patreon/youtube member thing i would love to support you!

[@MichaelMJD]

I have debated starting a Patreon page for years now, so I'm glad to see there's some interest!

[@Haluu_]

@@MichaelMJD Yeah! As long as you don't have the prices too terribly outrageous, id love to support your content!

[@StrayGuitarist]

Old Apple drives sticking after not being used for a bit, then springing to life after they've been cycled a few times is actually pretty common. I've temporarily fixed some older HDD-based iPods and PowerBooks by powercycling them a few times and (gently) tapping on the drive, and they sprung back to life. "Stiction," I think it was named by the community.

[@troyvanheer3827]

Hi Michael, great video as always! I have a suggestion, give the laser on the iBook a quick clean and fiddle around with the drive to see if you can get it spinning again, even if it's just temporarily. Sometimes people get lucky and it ends up working, BUT THAT'S MY CHALLENGE TO YOU! 😁

[@FurryVile]

3:53 hehe there is a bug crawling on the back wall

[@pop-coyotart]

What I wouldn't give to have one of these with windows 7 on it! Wow, what a cool piece of tech!

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

Reminds me of elementary school

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

You really lucked out, in general. It is good that you had an extra iBook to swap the hard drive with. Enjoy!

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

Ok! Let's order pizza off of it now. I'm hungry.

[@gillesp782]

I have 6 of them (all colors and a second tangerine), they all works fine !

[@electricmiragemedia]

Your response to the price of the CD ROM drive was nice.

[@aquaz_eu]

10:43 that voice was almost like "the missle knows where it is" :D

[@blushslice]

I want one so bad ugh the lime green one is so pretty 💚

[@Lampe2020]

12:00 Is that really Comic Sans?!? That must have been a very funny teacher...

[@chris88962]

I put an msata 64gb drive in an ata enclosure in to mine. Getting to that hdd is a huge pain.

[@A5PEN-W0LF]

I bought one on release day! this brings back so many memories!

[@stephensalex]

The heads were probably stuck. As for MacTest Pro, that was never supported on iBooks. For an iBook you'd want to use AHT.

[@MichaelMJD]

I tried tracking down a version of AHT for the original iBooks but wasn't able to find it. There were disc images for the later iBooks, but not the original. Still something I'm looking out for though.

[@stephensalex]

@@MichaelMJD I probably have it. Do you know what version you need for that one? I really don't mind sharing if I have the image. Part of me thinks 1.2.4 should work on any iBook that has FireWire.

[@brennenraines51]

A modern Mac in a case like this, i would actually buy that.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Wait, did you have to install Comic Sans specially to customise the Finder font? As I recall, Apple tried to use Marker Felt instead of licensing Comic Sans. Though maybe I'm remembering that wrong! Speaking of, I really really miss being allowed to customise the fonts and colours and so forth of window frames. Just built-in, no special utilities which make stuff work all wonky. Not just for customisation and fashion purposes, but also increasing the font size could make a big difference for people with fading eyesight. Now you're lucky if you get a large text option, and you often just have to scale the UI further so the buttons are huge and get in the way of the text.

[@artemalexandrovich6855]

Nice looking machine. I will prefer this thing with modern hardware over ANY new laptops.

[@PixelatedFolf]

Been watching your channel for awhile now, much love and support as always!

[@thekornreeper]

Hell yeah ❤

[@mintybudgie]

yeah

[@RosieBee463]

Those old clamshells and the other fruity colored imacs certainly had character compared to what was going on with PCs at the time. My only memory of these is playing with the display units in Best Buy, yet they still stand out to me after so many years.

[@RandomFandomOfficial]

Max it out with fancy upgrades!

[@Monsuco]

I found one of those and kept it around. It needed a new HDD and a new touch pad, the battery was toast so I got rid of it and I got it up to 544 MB of RAM but now it works. I got it to dual-boot macOS 9.2.2, the final version of Classic macOS alongside macOS 10.4.11 "Tiger". Officially it can't run Tiger unless it has a firewire port but a tool called XPostFacto allows it to bypass Apple's arbitrary hardware restriction. You can play old mac games on it and it's an interesting piece.

[@stevensonrf]

The toilet seat, Mac😁

[@emmaimprenti3078]

Love that machine, brought mine in 2016 and it is the KeyLime

[@MichaelMJD]

The Key Lime is probably my favorite color!

[@dash8brj]

Appears to have a stuffed cd drive motor. In your last scene playing with the drive, the writing on the CD had not moved, indicating the drive had not even attempted to spin up the disc.

[@TangoTheDamnMango]

your videos are great, when im bored i always go to your channel and search for some cool stuff! keep up the great work!

[@APM_29]

How did you get an iMac G3, what a crazy portable piece of old Mac

[@Stefan_38]

The collors are a vibe

[@foxdavani4091]

I had one of these with Mac iOS 9. I loved it and one day the hard drive stopped booting. I was a little kid and didn’t know what to do. And my mom wasn’t sure how to fix this kind of a Mac as she was a desktop person at the time. so I did the only thing I could as a little kid. I disassembled my little iBook. That’s how I learned about hardware. Problem was I was too little to know how to put it back together, so it got lost in its many pieces. God only knows where it is now.

[@gracekim1998]

This is pretty cool tech 😮 I’m amazed by how creative Apple were at the beginning 15.8.23

[@dilianvt]

Well I could see the dust on the screen but the dirt on my iPad screen is making that difficult to see LOL 😂 Guess I need to spray some windex on a cloth and wipe the screen on my iPad

[@sadmac356]

yeah 15:43 is why I'm _still_ struggling to back up mine. I'd just throw it in target disk mode if it had firewire, but since it doesn't, I'm trying to back it up over a network connection

[@sjgrall]

Wow, your indigo hasn't faded!

[@E_yad]

Finished it better than butter!

[@windows_FutureX]

I love the design of this iBook for no reason 🙂👌

[@ikwilgeenkanaalzeur]

Love the design!

[@willt9172]

Awesome, yes do some more with it in the future!

[@yesitsmaxwell]

If this thing showed up in the sky as a giant spaceship I wouldn't be surprised

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

Wasn't the reasoning behind the iPod's name that they thought of it as a pod docking with a mothership before going back out into the world?

[@tenow]

I'm sure HDD motor lubricant thickened and prevented it from spinning initially. After several attempts it freed itself. Could be the same with the CD-drive? Also could be a blown fuse or bad motor.

[@kevinmiles5770]

Your favorite word of the day is...Wait for it..."Yeah!" LOL Sorry, I don't think I have ever heard someone use the word "Yeah" as much you have in this video LOL But, good job I love retro-Mac's

[@MacCrafter707]

I have the orange, always wanted the Lime but they just didn't produce enough.

[@Voltasaur]

Always wanted one of these in lime green ☺️