Mac Musings

Older Macs in the Age of Leopard

The Future of G4 iBooks in the Age of Leopard

Dan Knight - 2007.10.22, updated - Tip Jar

del.icio.us Bookmark in del.icio.us

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94, New 2008 iMac 2GB $46. MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO 2GB $44 / 1GB $23--Free shipping available.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: Mercury Elite FW800/FW400/USB2/eSATA up to 2.0TB TOP-RATED Solutions offer High Performance, Reliable storage for all your data storage needs. 500GB $159.99, 750GB $199.99, 1.0TB from $299.99

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $84, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...

Apple announced the system requirements for Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" last week: a drive that can read the DVD install disc, at least 512 MB of memory, and an 867 MHz G4 or better.

There's only on G4 iBook that's not officially supported, and we have lots of tips on installing Mac OS X 10.5 on unsupported Macs in our article on Unsupported Leopard Installation.

First Generation

The iBook line was the last to make the transition from G3 to G4; the first generation of G4 iBooks was introduced in October 2003. The 12" model ran at 800 MHz, just shy of Apple's official requirement for Leopard, and the 14" model ran at 933 MHz. Like the "dual USB" iBooks, they had the same 1024 x 768 screen resolution; the 14" iBook just made the image larger. Graphics are driven by ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 4x AGP with 32 MB of VRAM.

With the move to the G4, Apple also moved the iBook line to USB 2.0, a big improvement over USB 1.1, especially for external drives. All G4 iBooks supported the 802.11g AirPort Extreme card.

These iBooks shipped with 128 MB of onboard memory, which can be supplemented by up to 1 GB of additional memory. (A 1 GB PC2100 memory module sells for as little as $65 these days, and a 512 MB upgrade costs just $12.) The hard drives were fairly lackluster affairs, and upgrading to a 5400 rpm drive with an 8-16 MB cache will help unleash the computer's potential, as will a 1 GB memory upgrade.

These iBooks should run Leopard nicely, even if the 12" model isn't officially supported.

Second Generation

In April 2004, the iBook reached 1.2 GHz (1 GHz for the 12" model), went to 256 MB of onboard RAM. ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 4x AGP with 32 MB of dedicated video memory rounds out the package. The top-end 14" 1.2 GHz iBook was the first iBook to ship with a SuperDrive.

As before, the 4200 rpm hard drive hobbles performance, and updating to a 5400 rpm drive makes a significant difference you'll notice right away. Memory can be expanded to 1.25 GB with a 1 GB memory module, which will also help unleash the hardware's full potential under OS X.

These should make very competent Leopard machines, and we recommend a 768 MB memory configuration (base 256 MB plus 512 MB) along with a faster hard drive for better performance, 1.25 GB (by adding a 1 GB module) for best performance.

Third Generation

The October 2004 iBook was pretty much just a speed bump. The 12" model went to 1.2 GHz, and the 14" to 1.33 GHz. Everything else remains the same.

Fourth Generation

The final revision of the iBook came in July 2005, when Apple bumped the 12" model to 1.33 GHz and the 14" to 1.42 GHz. Video was upgraded with ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 4x AGP (still with 32 MB of VRAM), and the new iBooks had 512 MB of onboard memory, allowing a maximum RAM configuration of 1.5 GB. (The 2005 iBooks use PC2700 memory, which currently sells as low as $12 for 512 MB and $65 for a 1 GB module.)

Except for the 12" 800 MHz G4 iBook, all of these are fully supported for Leopard, and it should run quite nicely with a minimum 512 MB upgrade. For best performance, a 5400 rpm drive with an 8-16 MB cache or a 7200 rpm drive will really help, and putting in maximum memory will let each of these iBooks reach its full potential.  LEM

Further Reading

Dan Knight has been using Macs since 1986, sold Macs for several years, supported them for many more years, and has been publishing Low End Mac since April 1997. If you find Dan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Musings

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Low End Living

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.