Vintage Mac Living
How Much PowerBook or iBook Do You Need to Run Mac OS X?
- 2007.01.15
I had a lot of good response to How Much Mac Do You Need to Run Mac OS X?, and I had a lot of people ask me to which low-end PowerBooks I would recommend.
For the average Mac user who needs to be online (and not put up with incorrectly rendered pages and in need of fewer "must have" features), you should have OS X 10.2.8 or later (I suggest OS X 10.3.9).
While you might need OS X to access the Internet the way you want to, you don't need a new PowerBook or iBook to do it. I've compiled the following list of 'Books that I would recommend to the average user for daily use (prices are for base computer - memory upgrades and OS X may be additional):
Low-end:
- Clamshell iBook G3/366
- 256 MB RAM
- 10 GB hard drive
- CD-ROM
- $230 and up
Low-end Plus:
- iBook G3/500
- 384 MB RAM
- 15 GB hard drive
- DVD (uncommon)
- $350 and up
Midrange:
- 500 MHz Pismo PowerBook G3
- 512 MB RAM
- 20 GB hard drive
- DVD
- $400 and up
Midrange Plus:
- 14" iBook G3/700
- 512 MB RAM
- 20 GB hard drive
- Combo drive
- $385 and up
High-end:
- 15" PowerBook G4/667
- 768 MB RAM
- 40 GB hard drive
- Combo drive
- $600 and up
High-end Plus:
- 12" PowerBook G4/867
- 1024 MB RAM
- 60 GB hard drive
- SuperDrive
- $700 and up
Again, I believe that the models listed above would be your best bet, based on what you do. All you have to do is ask yourself, "How much Mac do I really need?"
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