icebook!! | PowerPC Macintosh Liberation Army

#1 Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:32 pm icebook!!

k, so with the passing of my pismo (moment of silence please), I shopped around, and came across wegner media, which is selling 500mhz icebooks for a awesome deal of $200. plus, it's warrented for 60 days. It's the CD-ROM model, but I think I can swap in the DVD from my pismo. It also has only 128mb of ram, 64 soldered and 64 on a stick. I have a 256mb module, but it is one of those fat, 16 chip kinds. I am trading it with some parts from the pismo for a 256mb module that has 8 chips, and will fit. My airport card will work as well (don't you love the universility of apple? ). I will also be swapping out the 10gb HD for my 80gb I got for my pismo, which is how it died.

one thing I did not realise, is the thing is on a 66mhz bus, and my pismo and B&W are on a 100mhz bus. However, the thing runs a 500mhz 750cx compaired to the 400mhz 750s in both machines. So, who knows? it might just be a smidgon faster. 320mb is also plenty for tiger. I ran it on 384 in the pismo, and run it on 512 in the B&W.

so, who else is a fan of these things? Let's just hope it's not a SweatBook. But that appears to be totally random.

-digital Wink

#2 Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:30 pm

Good find!

I'm personally not a fan of Wegener, but YMMV.

I don't think the DVD drive from your Pismo will work in your iBook unless your Pismo has a custom slot loading drive.

Peace,
Drew

Power to the PowerPC!

#3 Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:52 pm

no, the 500mhz icebook uses a tray loader. they did not introduce slot loads until later. I think it might work, take the drive off the rails, and swap faceplates, it might just work...

-digital Wink

#4 Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:52 pm

I did not know that. It sure sounds promising.

Peace,
Drew

Power to the PowerPC!

#5 Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:21 am

ok, looked it up, and the slot loaders did not come around on the iBooks until the G4s. That's a long span of time for a transition.

btw, Cory backed out of my pismo parts dealing, so I almost cancelled the iBook transaction, until I realised this is a much smaller machine, and is just as powerful. Look for my pismo in the PX.

-digital Wink

#6 Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:07 am

ok, got the machine yesterday. it is really nice. The only gripe I have is the original 10gb HD is too small, and runs really hot. Other than that, it is rock stable under 10.3.9 on 192mb of ram.

oh yeah, wegner made it impossible to work in the machine wthout voiding the warrenty, so I will have to wait for the 60 days to burn up before I install my 80gb. They do allow you to install an airport card, but not RAM, but I managed to fold the ram cover over without breaking the seal.

-digital Wink

#7 Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:01 pm

They are bastards like that. That has always been the case. I bought a 5300 back in 2002 that had stickers over the screws that allow you to open the keyboard!

Those parts are user-serviceable per the Apple documentation, so there is no possible way that they can enforce that restriction against the warranty. I say go ahead and make the changes you want to make. Besides, unless you do something to break it during the installation, if your Pismo is working fine now, it's not likely to physically break out of the blue in the next 60 days.

Peace,
Drew

Power to the PowerPC!

#8 Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:37 pm

so you say it's OK to break the seals and swap HDs? if so I need to do so soon.

-digital Wink

#9 Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:16 pm

ok, swapped the drives. There were only 3 labels I had to break, but that's OK. I need to find something to remove the silver residue that leaves "void" on the plastic. Any ideas?

the procedure only took a little less than 2 hours from open to shut, which was surprising, because there are at least 2 dozen screws, and the splitting of the plastic (bottom case from the top). Only side effect I am having is the sleep light is not glowing a little more (out the bottom case), but that's only cosmetic. Not to mention a few "mushings" of the plastic when I pryed the bottom case off. I did not have a "spudger", whatever the hell that is, so I used a small flat head screwdriver.

Bless those iFixit guides.

now I have a nice 80gb 9really, 74.39gb) to play with, which is nice. Plus I really do see a speed increase going from 4200 to 5400RPMs. and the S.M.A.R.T. stats are nice, especailly the temperature, which gives me a general feel as to how warm the computer is (currently 123.8F).

-digital Wink

#10 Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:24 am

When you pulled the iBook appart the sleep light board comes loose.You can pull the lower case off and give it a visual check to be sure it's in place. If it's not, it should be held in place with the center screw for the EMR shield, IIRC.