A quick and dirty guide to buying/selling Apple's Macintosh Laptops:



Let's start with more current laptops since that's what we'll all be using. If you are new to the Apple Macintosh lineup this will benefit you greatly. Grab a cup of Cappuccino and read on.

We'll start with the older models and move on. Describing each ones virtues, suggested uses and maybe a little history. Our story begins with the year 1998, 2 years after Apple purchased NextStep computers, thus bringing back the greatest thing to Apple Computer, Inc. since The Woz, Steven P. Jobs.

iBook G3 Clamshell:
    Designed as an all in one desktop with a battery. At the time it's standard 300mhz G3 CPU was about twice as fast processing information than anything Intel could through at it, desktop CPU's included. These machines were unique in that they were the first to break away from the drab heavy black/beige laptops of Apple's past and every other box maker producing WinTel machines. They had a built in carrying handle and came with OS 8, a very good OS by the way.
    These machines came with USB 1.1, ATA3 Hard drives and CD/CDRW drives, later bringing DVD. Pound for Pound an excellent buy at the time. Today these machines still live on as one of the coolest laptops ever produced. Seen as status symbols of their day they carry that legacy even now.
    Since there is no FireWire port (except 366/466mhz models) installing OS X 10.4 Tiger is impossible without a program called XpostFacto. However you can pre-install Tiger from another machine then move the drive into these and it will run.
    These machines came standard with 32mb or 64mb soldered onto the board with one 3.3V PC66 So-Dimm available to max out to 544 or 576. Hard drives were small. Older hard drives like these consumed more than 3.0watts of power and were painfully slow. I would advise an upgrade to a decent, yet newer (Note: ATA6 drives may or may NOT work in these machines) hard drive in the 5400rpm with at least 8mb of cache. ATA6 took their place in 2003 with most models until 2006 being backwards compatible. One other major drawback on these machines is the video capability from the system and 12" screen. The screens themselves were good, even today there good but are limited to 800x600 resolution. As with most of Apple's other software their Operating Systems after 10.2 were designed for computers with much higher resolutions. With a slow interface speed to the bus and low video memory running OS X alone will sap the video performance for all it has. Wanna watch a video? This is not your machine.
    With an updated Hard Drive and maxed out ram running Panther OS X 10.3 these machines will perform to the expectations of Web Surfers, Emailers, Chatters, and will do very mild office work with the appropriate applications (G3 Editon Link ).

iBook Clamshell Failure rate: <1% per 1000 units* (deamed most reliable Apple Laptop EVER)

PowerBook G3:
    These machines were the VERY BEST Apple could produce in a laptop form factor. Expect OUTRIGHT speed and functionality from these machines. There only drawback is of course the aging G3 CPU. For arguments sake we are gonna disregard the two Rotten Apple model Powerbooks: The Kanga (orginal release) and the WallStreet model. These models have their own problems and for the money there not worth it. They are distinguished by their CPU speeds 233-300mhz with the definite be all stay away from 233mhz machine as it had NO CPU L2 Cache (required today by the loads we put on our systems but at the time it was fine). Unless you have some sentimental value to these two older machines stay away regardless how good the price is. The two PowerBook G3 models worth looking at are the Bronze Keyboard and FireWire models. Named because their keyboards have a bronze appearance (even in bad ebay shots) and the latter has a firewire port.
    The main difference between the PowerBook and the iBook G3 models was the system bus and the video capabilities. Were the iBook had a 2x AGP and 4mb of video ram PowerBooks came with as much as 8mb of video on a 4x AGP bus. Far surpassing the iBook Clamshell in video capability. These models came in 300mhz up to 500mhz G3 cpu's and DayStar still makes the G4 upgrade chip for some models. The latter produced with Firewire will run OS X 10.4 Tiger just fine and would make an ideal mobile computer. Non-Firewire models had a max ram of 384 (64mb on board 256mb on PC100 144pin 3.3v so-dimm), Firewire models max out at 1gb of ram using 2 open So-Dimm slots (No onboard ram).
    Our best pick would be a PowerBook G3 400 or 500mhz with at least 512mb ram (384 on early BK's) running Panther or if needed Tiger but note Tiger requires Firewire and 256mb of ram. Panther would run faster and with 10.3.9 Tiger Base parts were included. A DVD drive would be nice but not required. These models used the older Airport cards which are no longer produced and run around $50. G3 Editon Link

G3 PowerBook Failure rate: <3% per 1000 units*



iBook G3 Snow White:
    Probably the most Known models of the iBook like are the Snow models. Originally introduced with a 500mhz CPU and 64mb of ram (onboard) with one open memory slot they later were updated to 128mb on board. These models again were good but as with all iBook lines were built for Price not power.
    500mhz up to 900mhz G3 CPU's. 128mb of ram with a max of 640mb using PC100 144 pin So-Dimm 3.3v. ATA6 compliant drive system running a 100mhz bus. AGP 4x interface was standard. 500mhz models had 8mb if video memory, not great by todays standards but still usable. 600mhz models bumped to 16mb of ram with 800mhz models getting 32mb. All models still used the ATI chipset with the 700's on up using the newer Radeon chips for faster performance. Battery life was estimated at 5hrs from Apple and with the stock battery it was acheivable, 3.5 was the norm. Standard video resolution was 1024/768 which is perfect for todays OS. Firewire and USB 1.1 was standard as was a CD-Rom with CDRW and Combo drives later as optional then standard equipment on later higher end models.
    For todays surfer/email/chatter the 500-600 is a bargain. Still supported by Apple and OS X 10.4 it runs very well. If your into video's go with the 600+, if your into gaming (mild please) go with the 800/900 models with Radeon and 32mb of Ram. Max out the ram on any machine you get, your gonna need it. Again these models still used the aged and non-produced Airport cards for 802.11b performance (11mbs).
    Expect to pay $150 for a good decent 500, up to $300 for a well cared for 900. If your really looking for a bargain performer read the next model.

iBook G3 failure rate: <40% per 1000 units*


iBook G4:
    While these machines are great budget performers there have been numerous problems with these. Denmark as a country is now forcing Apple to fix the "Chip Creap" problem these machines are suffering from. Denmark is stating that nearly 40% of the iBooks around the world are failing from this problem. What is the problem? Chip Creap, it's when cycles of heating and cooling cause the chip contacts to walk out of the solder. Namely the video chips located under the left palm rest area. If your machine suffers from a blank display but when pressure is applied down in this area it returns you are suffering from chip delamination AKA Chip Creap. Other problems are the chicklet keyboard that causes flying key syndrome and key marking wear off, cheaply built hard drives and optical drives.  PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND: Apple contracts other manufactures to assemble their machines and 30% of the parts they use are off the shelf type components such as hard drives, cpu's and optical drives. So when looking back at this time span alot of machines being produced were suffering from similar problems.
     That being said these machines when working are great. But obviously they were built for price, NOT performance.
    They came in two sizes 12"/14" and flavors ranging from 800mhz to 1.42ghz. The most reliable units were the 12" early units in 800 and 1ghz. These machines were almost the Titanium G4 powerbooks with a 12" screen. Video memory is a flat 32mb using ATI Radeon Mobility 9xxx series. Great video performance for the price.
    While new these machines ranged in price from $1099 to $1499 there value today around $250-700. Apple still sells refurbished iBooks from time to time with prices starting at $799 for a 14" 1.42ghz model. When buying on Ebay look for models with 512mb ram, Combo drives, 40gb+ hard drives (new 5400 rpm drives would be best) and always buy with a warranty of some kind. Extended warrantys are highly recomended.

iBook G4 Failure rate: <22% per 1000 units*

                                                                                                                          

PowerBook G4:
    Probably the most forgotten Apple Laptop on Ebay. Why? Well everyone knows the iBook, or maybe it's the fact the PowerBooks were made of some rare alloy metal and most people thought they were too expensive. We'll there are deals and steals in the PowerBook linup and we'll discuss the many variations. Again the PowerBook was essentially a desktop with a battery in terms of performance. It's the Ferrari of Apple's, the Lambo of computers. These models when new would easily top $4000 loaded and were/still are worth every penny.

    Starting at the G4 400mhz model in Titanium Apple started something that they themselves probably were not aware of (Ive's aside). That the new cream of the crop laptops 6 years down the road will just start to bear rare allow metals and weigh 3lbs lighter than their equivilants. In an era were the average budget laptop was weighing in at 8lbs Apple used Titanium to cut the weight down to 5lbs on some models.
    15" Screens, G4 CPU's with Altivec (Motorola's MMX equivilant) georgous design and Slot Loading optical drives set these apart from their plastic sisters the iBook. While some contested these machines to be "Status" symbols there speed related to CPU mhz/mhz when compared to the iBook was nearly double. Due in part the iBook's were still stuck on the G3 chips and 66mhz bus speeds and the Powerbooks were using bleeding edge technology available at the time. Even today the base model G4 400 Titanium will blow alot of machines out of the water. 1gb ram max using PC100 in Even numbered CPU's, PC133 in Odd numbered models. OEM hard drives while fast for the time are outdated, beyond their usable life and tremendously slow for today. These models have a well known trouble spot, their case. With the intense heat the G4 CPU kicks out (when plugged in to A/C power and set to max performance) the cases while strong were thin and tended to warp. Another MAJOR problem was the keyboards touched the LCD screens. When this happens it leaves a permanant imprint of the keyboard on the screen, Cost to repair is over $400 and not worth it.
    CPU Range: 400-1ghz
    Look for machines with at least 512mb ram, new 5400rpm hard drives in the 60gb+ size with DVD drives. Clear screens and non-warped cases. OS X 10.4 runs very nice on the older ones. 667+ machines are the fastest of these breeds and use 133mhz bus speed.

PB G4 Titanium Failure rate: <15% per 1000 units*


PowerBook G4 Aluminum:
    Quite possibly the most attractive of the PowerBook line and also the last of the PowerBooks. Expect blazing fast performance from all models. Thinner and lighter with longer battery life and better heat dissipation than the Titanium models these command and deliver the highest dollar and performance. Speeds range from 867 to 1.67ghz.
    The alumium model was the first to introduce the highly popular 12" Sub-Notebook model back into the powerbook line. Weighing in a scant 4.2lbs it actually fit on your lap and was extremely fast. Heat was allways a factor with previous models but with new alloys for heatsinks, better fan controls and a very nicely done side intake/rear exhaust heat was no longer a problem.
    Aluminum's also ran DDR ram, PC2100/2700 in 867-1ghz, PC3200-4300 in later faster models. Max Ram is 1.128gb on early models, later bumped to 1.256gb, then 2gb. Running on a 167mhz bus with a new bus controller and updated G4 chip models (not just frequencys) these models beat the previous by 28% at least (867mhz Aluminum Vs. 1ghz Titanium - While CPU was slower, overall system was 28% faster).
    These models also benfieted with updated graphics chips from nVidia and ATI. 32mb of Video ram at first going all the way up to 128mb in later models.
    Another introduction first for Apple was the 17" PowerBook G4 starting with the 1ghz CPU. While nice and big and bright it was heavy and clumsy and was easily dropped when used on a lap. Weight and heft are it's 2 downfalls. More suited as a portable desktop since battery life was dismal. At this point in time Apple had the Smallest laptop (12" PB) and Largest screened laptop (17" PB), they also had the fastest laptops on the planet (all PB's).

If your into traveling and/or need maximum battery with maximum performance stick to the 12" Aluminum models. If your a mix of desk and travel the 15" model would suite you. If you need a portable desktop the 17" model is right for you. Look for 1gb ram, SuperDrive, NEW hard drives (these models were worked hard that's why people bought them and original 4200rpm drives are easily past there expectable lifespan by now) in good condition. Due to their high cost of repairs I would suggest buying an extended warranty or get the seller to include it. These generally run 10% of the auction price for a 2yr 100% coverage from SquareTrade. Expect to pay $500-1200 for a model in good condition and even more if it includes software or is in excellent condition. These machines are not expected to be on Apple's Vintage list for another 4 years or more. Apple still sells refurbished models starting at $1199 for a 12" model on up to $1899 for a 17" loaded example.

A rare upgrade on late 04/05 models was a Video Upgrade that gave the PB's 128mb of Vram and higher resolution monitors (HR), not to be confused with HR DL models however these units did use the same video card ATI 9700 w/128mb ram on a 4x AGP bus. They also combined a 5400rpm 16mb cache HD with them and in 17" Models supported the 30" Cinema display in both Mirror and Expanded views. An option of the day costing $399, today that value should be added or noted. Look for 1280x864 resolutions and you'll have your Video Surprise.

These models resemble the MacBook Pro's in every way physically. Just before Apple dropped the PowerBook line and went to MacBook Pro's there was a special model set released called HR DL. These models are the absolute BEST and sported a High Resolution screen. 128mb of Video Ram running ATI's Radeon 9700 chipset however the super high resolution is how you tell if the model your looking is this model. They also ran 5400rpm drives with 16mb cache by Toshiba, absolute blazing speed for a laptop drive came in 80gb and 100gb models. Add $200 to the above pricing for these rare but highly sout after models. They were the last and came with the last G4 generation chips and were actually DEKSTOP CPU's not laptop, but had internal scalling to reduce heat and power when on battery power. Plug them in and set it to max performance and the overal speed of the system jumps 30%. These models came with an updated Superdrive model as well. 1.5ghz models still used PC 3200 DDR ram, 1.67mhz models jumped to PC 4300 (533mhz) DDR ram ONLY in the HR DL models. HR DL's also have Dual Layer DVD drives, hence the "DL" part.

Again to denote the HR models: 128mb Vram ATI 9700 and resolution of 1440x960 - They were the only models capable of acheiving this HD High Resolution (same as the MacBook Pro until June 2007) 17" models went to 1680x1050. Still to this day, no PC equivilant to these two units are available. Either one of these machines should be priced accordingly. They are WORTH every dime! Ideal for Video/Photographers. The displays alone were said to cost Apple $1200.

PB G4 Aluminum failure rate: <5% per 1000 units*

OS 9 Compatibility:
     OS 9 is aging but some may still want to run it, or at least run emulation of it on OS X. It should be noted that while it's a given that the G3 laptops will run OS 9 as OS 9, iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 models starting with the aluminum PowerBook (2003) will only run OS 9 applications through emulation ON OS X. G3 Laptops also run OS 9 4x's faster than OS X on the same system so booting into OS 9 (Apple Icon -> System Preferences -> Startup Disk (under System) -> Select OS 9 --- Booting back into OS X is the same on OS 9). will result is much faster video performance for watching movies and such.

2006 entered the era of the Intel conversion. With the move to Intel Apple leveled the field between PC's and Mac's. But with the transition came a few problems. For one PowerPC based programs, how would they run or would they run was the biggest concern but with a program called Rossetta built into OS X 10.4 (Tiger) any PPC program will run on intel machines EXCEPT OS 9 applications. OS 9 applications will not run, or will not run properly on an Intel based Macintosh. However big changes happened in the Macintosh Laptop line and we'll discuss that here.

MacBook:
      To replace the iBook Apple renamed the "i" part to signify the change to Intel CPU's. Enter MacBook and it's big brother MacBook Pro. MacBooks came originally with CoreDuo mobile CPU's sporting 1.83ghz - 2.0ghz Dual Core CPU's and was the first laptop to offer dual CPU's. These models sported a 13.3" glossy widescreen display and brought some much needed upgrades under the hood. First was a major bump in bus speed to 667mhz which also matches the DD2 PC2-5300 memory (2gb max using 2 chips). Another bump was in the graphics department but came with a slight drawback. Video memory was bumped to 64mb up from 32 on the iBook but used a built in GMA 950 graphics chipset from Intel and got it's memory from the system rather than having dedicated. So a 1024mb ram (1gb) would actually take 80mb for the video leaving 944mb of ram for the computer. Core Animation was supported but not fully but OpenGL was supported 100%.

1st Gen MacBook Failure rate: <8% per 1000 units*

     In late 2006 Apple bumped the MacBook up again giving the CPU's Core2Duo bringing them into dual 64bit CPU's (noting the "2" in the Core2Duo = 64bit cpu's) bringing about a 20% overall performance increase even though CPU speeds did not change until May 2007 (2.0ghz with bumped ram to 1gb base and 80gb hard drives up from 60gb). No other changes were made in late 2006.

2nd Gen MacBook Failure rate: <3% per 1000 units*

     While still the budget lineup from Apple for laptops with prices starting at $1099 new they fix a number of problems the iBook G4's were plauged with. Quality was back up to above par and performace was the fastest you could get in a laptop. BootCamp released in June 2006 allowed dual booting of Windows and Mac OS X but you needed to repartition the drive and with the stock 60gb model this meant you pretty much had space for little extra.

Expect to pay about 20% off new prices on Ebay for used equipment. Look for 1gb ram in all models, or upgrade it after the sale. Upgrading is easy. PC2-5300 DDR2 200 pin So-Dimm running 667mhz.

MacBook Pro:
      Not a major Leap from the PowerBook G4 model it's replacing but still quite a performance increase of 32% or greater. Sporting 15.4" or 17" widescreens in either Glossy or traditional flat finish. MBP's came in speeds from 2.0ghz up to 2.33ghz and expect to pay the $600 premium for the 2.33 models. While still faster the performance/price is negligable between the base MBP and the 2.33MBP. These models incorporated a seperate graphics memory system and used Core Animation 100% compatible graphics chips as well. Making these machines significantly better in video performance than there little sister machines the MacBooks.
      Missing from the lineup was a smaller subnotebook model to replace the 12" PowerBook. While this model appeals to the largest number of users the SubNotebook Pro's are not available and users needing a small yet extremely powerful notebook should resort back to the 12" PowerBook.
      Performance increase from the PowerBook's is 22% to a whopping 67% increase. This of course varies on setups between machines.
      In late 2006 Core2Duo's came on the scene and increased overall performance an additional 18% in the MBP's.
      Any MacBook Pro would be ideal as these machines came from Apple even in basic form extremely well equipped. You will pay a premium for these and you'll get every dollars worth. However check Apple's refurbished store prior to purchasing on Ebay as we have seen used machines sell for a much larger price than Apple without getting 1yr Apple Warranty and Free Shipping.

MacBook Pro Failure rate: <1% per 1000 units* (Awarded Most Reliable notebook 2006)

Best Buys:

Model : AVG Price

12" PowerBook G4 867mhz : $950
12" iBook G3 500mhz : $165
14" iBook G4 1.4ghz : $850
MacBook : $900
15" PowerBook G4 667mhz Titanium : $600

ALWAYS purchase an extended warranty when available. SquareTrade warranty's cost just 10% of the purchase price and cover 100% for 2 years or they buy it back from you at the price you paid.

Money is no option and maximum performance is needed: MacBook Pro 2.33 Core2Duo with 3gb of ram/160gb Hard drive.  

Some things you can do to increase the speed/performance and battery life:

1. Upgrade the ram to the maximum possible
2. Install a newer hard drive. We'd recomend Seagate 5400.3 drives if battery longevity is required or Hitachi 7200 rpm drives if performance is the utmost importance. 7200.1 Seagate drives tend to run cooler but are marginally slower than Hitachi drives.
   
3.  On G3 machines disable Dock bouncing and magnification. Reduce colors to Thousands from Millions. You probably won't notice a difference in color depth but video performance will increase slightly.
4. Always keep 20% of your hard drive free! Example: 10gb hard drive should always have 2.1gb of free space. The more the better. See #1.
5. When running on battery select the battery icon (top right) and then select what type of performance your looking for, same goes when connected to A/C power. However G4 and Intel owners should watch the Max Performance setting as it will heat and in some cases overheat the CPU resulting in safety shutdown or in ability to reboot until the CPU has cooled, these machines have sensors everywhere, Intel models can actually tell you at what degree its tilted or leaning to. The sensors are to maximize cooling effeciency and prevent hardware failure.
6. Drain the batters completely dead once a month, recharge for 12hrs non-stop without using it (don't touch it!). To drain it completely dead just use it. When the low battery shutdown happens let it sit for 24hrs. Once the power light stops flashing the battery is drained completely, now charge it.
7. Our Mac Pack 2 disc includes utilities to maximize performance on any and every Mac running 10.3 and 10.4. Utilities specific to laptops as well such as the ability to see the batterys exact charge performance and maximum capacity as well as Fan Controls. We even included games the Intel Mac laptops can play using their tilt sensors (kinda like the WII remote uses motion sensors).

* Failure rates were taken from 2006 Industry Sector survey. Apple repeatedly was 1st place in laptop reliability in all cases expect the iBook G3 models. Apple also took 1st place in: Customer satisfaction, Desktop reliability, Overall Customer satisfaction and MP3 Player reliability. It should also be noted that their operating system was rated #1 and has retained this rating for the last 5 years and the iPod was also rated #1 MP3 player.