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

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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 😬

[@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?

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@daleadams6947]

8:21 Startup sound!

[@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.

[@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

[@kuroinekonya]

Glad to see so many uploads this month! :)

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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!

[@prescientdove]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@pedropassamani]

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

[@m4ttr4w3som3]

I wish technology still had this kind of fun and creativity. Apple has started bringing back color to their devices which I've been thrilled about. Maybe a clear MacBook would be awesome.

[@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

[@jeffyp2483]

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

[@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?

[@hh-kw4vo]

always awesome when you post!

[@chris88962]

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

[@E_yad]

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

[@rowermusic]

this model looks so cute!

[@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....

[@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.

[@ZeroHourProductions407]

Steve jobs then: "lift this flap, and all the technology is there for you." *Crowd oohs and ahhs and cheers* Tim cook now: "you can't upgrade the ram. You cant upgrade the storage. You take a screwdriver to it and we will shoot you and ban your itunes account." Crowd: *crickets* Me: "is this the 1984 timeline or what?"

[@PixelatedFolf]

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

[@thekornreeper]

Hell yeah ❤

[@mintybudgie]

yeah

[@Dedicated2WendyWilliams]

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

[@d3adman404]

YES! i love this old macintosh videos!

[@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

[@Demonguy84]

Did you trie using a non burned disc? Around that time, a lot of drives (in my experience) couldn't read CD-R/RW.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@GreggyMcfly]

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

[@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.

[@doro8665]

At about 9:21-9:23 "Let's go ahead and *force power off* this." Apple won't even let us do that anymore. Not without sliding the on-screen power button which especially does not help in a situation that the touch will not respond.

[@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!

[@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.

[@plechaim]

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

[@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.

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

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

[@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.

[@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!

[@voltare2amstereo]

the cd drive model is likely just a generc IDE type as used in windows pc's their were 2 or 3 types to do with how the front bezel attaches

[@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.

[@Lampe2020]

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

[@emmaimprenti3078]

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

[@MichaelMJD]

The Key Lime is probably my favorite color!

[@RobTheSquire]

Can't really pick fault with an old iBook having a dead cd drive after all this time, although I did think that the battery pack would have been done for instead.

[@MaximRecoil]

"Can't really pick fault with an old iBook having a dead cd drive after all this time" Of course you can. I have a Pioneer head unit (CD player + radio) until that I bought new in 1998 and its CD drive still works perfectly fine (and so do all of its other functions), and that's after spending all its life in vehicles that are always parked outside where it gets very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer, and of course it gets exposed to all the bumps and vibrations that cars receive while driving around. I also have a Sony boombox that I bought new in 1995 and its CD drive still works fine too.

[@FurryVile]

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

[@Windows7RedEdition]

What if you installed Windows on the iBook G3 (No FireWire)(orange)?

[@thomassantillan2194]

21:00 While not official Apple, I've heard the PB Swiss coin driver is nice (but pricey).

[@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! 😁

[@Dylan_Collie]

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

[@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

[@davidmckendry4491]

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

[@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.

[@aquaz_eu]

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

[@MrDeadmanwalken1]

Faulty cmos battery can cause the ibook hdd to be finnicky if it hasnt been powered on in awhile. I had the same issue with mine. It stopped happening after i changed the cmos battery

[@ste666666666]

Very Nice!, I'v been having a fluke with our laptop thats just had win10 installed so i guess it happens!. Sometimes boots up and says no bootable device :/ then after restart its fine!. HDD is perfectly fine but guess its just windows being strange!

[@MacCrafter707]

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

[@blushslice]

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

[@APM_29]

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

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

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

[@gillesp782]

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

[@LuneLovehearn]

How about trying to remove the CD drive and find a replacement or check if the cable still works/isn't loose? and since the HDD has data, try imaging it/cloning it for privacy respect/archive. you could even try to upgrade the RAM, replace the HDD with a better one and upgrade the macOS system to the latest one supported by it. some say that you can even run OSX on it somehow.

[@foshelan]

I have a MacBook 3, but I do not know what to do with it, the system is too old to use some apps. I installed a Linux on it, but no wifi connection

[@emulatorretro]

I have heard of Mac mini logic boards installed in some of these since the original logic boards have failed. if my PowerMac G4 AGP Sawtooth ever fails I will install a Mac mini Internals. I do have a aluminum G5 that has a failed logic board and power that I will put modern Mac mini guts in it.

[@ikwilgeenkanaalzeur]

Love the design!

[@electricmiragemedia]

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

[@smylmv]

You only can use as a colletions or if you want to make funcional, try to change the all complete hardware and install Linux Systems or using as a tablet support.

[@Nerdistmaximus]

Where did you find that one. WOW. Would LOVE to have a Tangerine. Fantastic condition. So SO SO jealous.

[@logan_page]

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

[@bvanbranden]

The palm app came standard on the iBook 99 install CD.

[@AndreaFistetto]

The iBook have a standard Pata 2,5 had, you can make a CF to he too

[@traviscombs6947]

I bought a 2004 iBook G4 from eBay a few years back and vaguely remember having an issue where it wouldn't read DVDs I think. What fixed it for me was clearing the PRAM. Is that a thing on these G3 iBooks?

[@Snipereyez]

"I don't know if you can tell on camera, but the screen is mildly dusty" me thinking he's doing a terrible job wiping the dust off the screen only to realize the dusty screen is mine

[@mrbisshie]

3:59 you can see a bug walking on the wall! Right next to Eddy.

[@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.

[@JamesSmith-sw3nk]

Your cd drive failure could be a mechanism problem, if you are lucky, a couple drops of sewing machine oil or light grease on the mechanism that guides the laser up & down could fix it. If it's been sitting for years and that mechanism hasn't moved then that could be the problem.

[@Dogeforlife0]

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