TiBook or iBook - Which Makes The Best Mid-Price Choice Used?
by Charles W. Moore
TiBook prices have been falling sharply of late, and I've seen the odd 400 MHz first-generation Ti offered at less than $500, so the older Titanium units are definitely now in the same price range as late generation G3 iBooks and not that much less than refurbished G4 iBooks. Late last week, Apple was offering Certified Refurbished iBook G4 1.2GHz units for $699.00.
This relatively rapid resale price decline of the TiBook by historical PowerBook standards is attributable to a number of factors. One is supply and demand. The Ti was in production for 28 months, and a large number of them were sold. There were relatively frequent speed bumps and specification upgrades -- while the last 1 GHz Tis look pretty much identical to the original "one more thing" machine Steve Jobs rolled out on the MacWorld San Francisco stage in January, 2001, it was really an almost completely different machine inside.
The clock speed more than doubled, and so did standard hard drive capacities. The system bus speed was 33 percent faster, and video RAM octupled (?? - eight times as much, anyway), with a much more powerful and capable graphics processing units. The 15.2-inch display on the last two generation Tibooks had a higher resolution, with a CD-RW drive standard and a slot-loading SuperDrive DVD burner available. FireWire throughput had improved dramatically, there was gigabit Ethernet, and an analog audio sound-in port had been restored, all making the later TiBooks much more desirable than the early machines.
Price reductions on new PowerBooks and iBooks have also increased downward pressure on used TiBook prices, as has the fact that even the base, $999 12" iBook handily outperforms all generations of Titanium PowerBooks, and supports OS X Quartz Extreme, while the early Tis don't.
In any case, it's impossible to generalize about used Titanium PowerBooks as a category. Personally, I would definitely prefer even a stock 500 MHz Pismo, and definitely a processor-upgraded one (which is what I own) over the original (Mercury) 400 - 500 MHz TiBooks, which, motherboard architecture-wise, are essentially Pismos with G4 CPUs. The 400 MHz and 500 MHz clock speeds are the same; the 100 MHz system bus is the same; the eight megabytes of VRAM/RAGE 128 graphics support is identical; and the hard drive options were about the same. The big distinction other than the case form factor and screen size is the Altivec in the G4 chips. Even the wide screen has the same resolution as the Pismo's 14-incher.
The Ti is more fragile than a Pismo and astronomically expensive to repair. Its painted metal finish is easily scratched and prone to wearing off in contact areas. There is no removable device expansion bay and no analog sound-in port, and the Ti is not as easily and cheaply processor upgradeable. But no longer "impossible."
Several months ago, Daystar released a Titanium PowerBook processor upgrade for the first and entry-level second-generation (400 through 550 MHz) TiBooks.
The Daystar XLR8 MAChSpeed G4 TITANIUM upgrade with 1 MB cache and MAChSpeed Control software boosts the Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium (400-550 MHz) speed up to 40% for better graphics, video and games performance.
Available upgrades:
550 MHz (original CPU at 400 MHz or 500 MHz)
667 MHz (original CPU at 550 MHz)
The XLR8 MAChSpeed Titanium PowerBook CPU Upgrade sells for $259.00.
For more information, visit here.
http://4daystar.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=241
Then a couple of weeks ago, week veteran Mac upgrade supplier Sonnet Technologies unveiled a 1.2 GHz processor upgrade for the 550 MHz and 667 MHz Second generation "Ivory" TiBooks. Why not for the first generation 400 MHz and 500 MHz machines as well?, you might be asking. Well, the reason is that these early editions used a G4 7410 chip, which is not pin-compatible with the 745x chips used in later models, so 500 MHz (or 550 MHz overclocked ) is the maximum ceiling (a limitation shared by the Pismo upgrades).
Sonnet's 1.2 GHz Titanium Makeover can give your PowerBook G4 (Titanium) 550 MHz and 667 MHz (with VGA external monitor port) a new lease on life. Upgraded TiBook's remain completely compatible with your existing hardware, software, RAM, and peripherals, and support Mac OS 9.2 through the latest version of Mac OS X.
While other Sonnet processor upgrades are user-installable, due to the complexity and technical skills required to upgrade a PowerBook G4's processor, Sonnet will send a custom, padded shipping container for your PowerBook, certified by FedEx for shipping and receiving notebook computers.
Sonnet upgrades your PowerBook G4 (Titanium) 550 MHz or 667 MHz (with VGA external monitor port) with a PowerBook G4 logic board upgraded with a G4 processor running at 1.2 GHz G4 with 512K L2 backside cache.
For more information, visit:
http://www.sonnettech.com/service/tibook/index.html
Sonnet's 1.2 GHz Titanium upgrade will definitely provides a significant boost in performance, but at 500 dollars, one has to question the economics.
A used 550 MHz or 667 mark MHz Titanium PowerBook has a market value of about $550 - $650. Add the price of the Sonnet upgrade, and you are well over $1,000 in combined cost, and Apple will sell you a refurbished 1.2 GHz iBook with a one-year warranty for $699, or a nice, new 1.33 GHz one for $999, Also unfortunately,the upgradable models have only an ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processing unit with 8 or 16 MB of video RAM, which may be more of a performance bottleneck in certain instances than processor speed. The early TiBooks don't support OS X Quartz Extreme or Core Image graphics in OS 10.4 Tiger. Current iBooks do.
The November, 2002, iBooks and later addressed the video support issue with either 16 MB or 32 MB of video RAM and the ATI Radeon 7500 video accelerator card that graced the April, 2002 "Ivory" TiBooks, and support Quartz Extreme, which is a more important performance factor in many instances than G4 Altivec.
However, the more recent TiBooks -- the April, 2002 "Ivory" models and the November, 2002 800 MHz and GHz machines, begin to pull substantially ahead of the later G3 'Books in terms of performance, video support and bells and whistles. Let's look at the four distinct Titanium PowerBook G4 revision families as used 'Book candidates.
Mercury (January 2001 - October, 2001 400-500 MHz)
As noted above, the original TiBooks owed a great deal to the G3 Pismo, sharing its basic motherboard architecture, its 100 MHz system bus, its relatively slow FireWire throughput, and its RAGE 128 graphics card with just 8 megabytes of video RAM. The biggest distinctions are the slim metal case, bigger screen, and of course the G4 processors, which retained the Pismo's 400 MHz and 500 MHz clock speeds. The 1152 x 768 display also had the same 91.1 dpi pixel density as the Pismo's 14.1" 1024 x 768 screen, with some extra real estate added that either side.
PowerBook G4 Titanium 400 MHz (January 2001)
Active-matrix 15.2" color display (1152-by-768)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)
tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot
10/100 Base-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
infrared support and S-video-out
16-bit stereo sound input/output
6x DVD-ROM drive
10 GB HD (20 GB optional)
One FireWire Port
Two USB ports
Maximum RAM 1 GB (128 MB standard)
PowerPC 7410 (G4) 400 MHz
100 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 2 cache
ATI RAGE Mobility 128 graphics controller with 8 MB of video SDRAM 16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output
Weight: 5.3 pounds
PowerBook G4 Titanium 500 MHz (January 2001)
Active-matrix 15.2" color display (1152-by-768)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)
tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot
10/100 Base-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
infrared support and S-video-out
16-bit stereo sound input/output
6x DVD-ROM drive
20 GB HD (30 GB optional)
One FireWire Port
Two USB ports
Maximum RAM 1 GB (256 MB standard)
PowerPC 7410 (G4) 400 MHz
100 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 2 cache
ATI RAGE Mobility 128 graphics controller with 8 MB of video SDRAM 16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output
Weight: 5.3 pounds
The Mercury uses PC 100 RAM but supports only up to 1.5" low-profile DIMMs, and ships with a 1.25" DIMM installed. The low-end machine's standard 10 gigabyte hard drive is way too cramped by current standards. The Mercury Ti offered the same 10, 20, or 30 GB, 4200 RPM hard drive options as Pismo, and supported drives up to 12.7 mm in thickness.
The first Ti's internal bus speed remained at 100 MHz, but it is a new pipelined system bus that is more efficient than the bus on the PowerPC G3 microprocessors.
These early Tis have no analog (PlainTalk) audio-in port, and depend on digital audio input via the USB or FireWire ports. There is an autosensing 10/100 Base-T, PHY interface IC/Auto-MDIX Ethernet port that will switch from straight to crossover when it is plugged into another Mac likewise equipped. All Tis have a single battery bay. The original battery uses lithium ion cells and provides 50 Watt-hours at 16.6 V (full charge).
The price for used 400 MHz-500 MHz iBook should be in the range of $400 - 600, which puts them in the same ballpark as 12". 800 MHz or 900 MHz G3 iBooks. The iBook will give you the best performance among these alternatives, a combo drive with the 900 MHz model, 32 MB of VRAM on a RADEON 7500 graphics accelerator card, and a larger capacity hard drive. However, the PowerBooks will support one gigahertz of system RAM, while the G3 iBook maxes out at 640 MB.
Onyx (October 2001 - April 2002; 550-667 MHz)
On October 16, 2001 Apple released the first major TiBook upgrade, with faster processors, higher speed graphics support and larger hard drives with PowerPC G4 processors up to 667 MHz, a new system bus running a 133 MHz on the 667 MHz model, new ATI Mobility Radeon AGP 4X graphics with 16 MB of VRAM and built-in Gigabit Ethernet networking -- the first time ever in a portable.
The entry level model was bumped to 550 MHz, but the 100 MHz system bus was retained. Both models got the new graphics card with faster 3D rendering with the ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 16MB of DDR video memory, which is sufficient for basic Quartz Extreme support, and Gigabit Ethernet. The new 667 MHz PowerBook G4 came with AirPort wireless networking pre-installed.
PowerBook G4 Titanium 550 MHz (October 2001)
Active-matrix 15.2" color display (1152-by-768)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)
tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot
10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
infrared support and S-video-out
16-bit stereo sound input/output
slot-loading DVD-ROM drive or new slot-loading CD-RW drive option
20 GB HD (30 GB optional)
One FireWire Port
Two USB ports
Maximum RAM 1 GB (128 MB standard)
PowerPC 7410 (G4) 550 MHz
100 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 2 cache
ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 16MB video memory 16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output
a new small, lightweight power adaptor
Weight: 5.3 pounds
PowerBook G4 Titanium 667 MHz (October 2001)
Active-matrix 15.2" color display (1152-by-768) Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)
tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot
10/100 Base-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
infrared support and S-video-out
16-bit stereo sound input/output
slot-loading DVD-ROM drive or new slot-loading CD-RW drive option
30GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive standard, with drives up to 48GB optional
One FireWire Port
Two USB ports
Maximum RAM 1 GB (256 MB standard)
PowerPC (G4) 667 MHz
133 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 2 cache
ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 16MB of video memory
16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output
AirPort wireless networking pre-installed
a new small, lightweight power adaptor
Weight: 5.3 pounds
In mid- December, 2001, the Onyx models were upgraded again with standard slot-loading Combo CD-RW drives
I would say that the 550 MHz TiBook, which is essentially a speed bumped Mercury, should sell for no more than $600. The 667 MHz Onyx has a 133 MHz system bus and came with more high-end bells and whistles, and the combo drive was added to these machines a couple of months into their production run, so the value picture is a bit convoluted with the Onyx TiBooks. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the next-generation "Ivory" 667 MHz TiBook was significantly different machine than the 667 MHz Onyx, with 32 MB of VRAM for full Quartz Extreme support, and a new, high-resolution display. I would say that $650 or less might be a fair market price for a 667 MHz Onyx Ti with a combo drive. In that price category, also consider a 900 MHz 12 in. or 14 in. G3 iBook, or spend an extra 50 bucks and get a refurbished 1.2 GHz G4 iBook from Apple with a full warranty.
Ivory (April 2002 - November 2002; "Ivory" 667 MHz - 800 MHz)
On April 29, 2002, Apple once again upgraded the Titanium PowerBook G4 line with a new, higher-resolution display, 667 and 800 MHz G4 processors, an integrated Digital Visual Interface (DVI) port, and a 133 MHz system bus on all models. With Quartz Extreme coming in OS X 10.2, the Ivory PowerBook G4 line also was equipped with an ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 32MB of DDR video memory.
The enhanced 15.2-inch display has a resolution of 1280-by-854 pixels at 101.4 dpi -- 23 percent more than the previous TiBooks' 1152x768 at 91.1 dpi, along with higher brightness and better color saturation, and, integrated Digital Visual Interface (DVI) which can support either Apple's ADC digital interface for the current generation of Studio and Cinema LCD external monitors and DVI-equipped digital projectors, or standard VGA, with the proper adaptors respectively.
The TiBook form factor remained constant, with only Ivory's elimination of the IR port and restoration of an analog sound-in port (last seen on the Pismo G3 Series 'Books), as well as a DVI video port.
PowerBook G4 Titanium 667 MHz (April 2002)
Active-matrix 15.2" color display (1280-by-854)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)
tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot
10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
infrared support and S-video-out
16-bit stereo sound input/output
a slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
30GB hard drive standard, with up to 60GB optional One FireWire Port
Two USB ports
Maximum RAM 1 GB (256 MB standard)
PowerPC 7410 (G4) 550 MHz
133 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 2 cache
DVI, DVI to VGA adaptor, S-video ports
audio line-in and audio line-out ports;
ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 32MB of video memory
16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output
Weight: 5.4 pounds
PowerBook G4 Titanium 800 MHz (April 2002)
Active-matrix 15.2" color display (1280-by-854)
Lithium Ion battery (up to 5 hours use)
tappable trackpad
2 built-in speakers and microphone
1 PC card slot
10/100 Base-T Ethernet
Built-in 56k Fax/Modem
infrared support and S-video-out
16-bit stereo sound input/output
a slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
40GB hard drive standard, with up to 60GB optional
One FireWire Port
Two USB ports
DVI, DVI to VGA adaptor, S-video port
audio line-in and audio line-out ports
Maximum RAM 1 GB (512 MB standard)
PowerPC (G4) 667 MHz
133 MHz System Bus
1 MB Level 2 cache
ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 32MB of video memory
16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output
built-in AirPort Card with integrated antennas
Weight: 5.3 pounds
Personally, the 667 MHz and 800 MHz "Ivory" TiBooks are the oldest Ti models that would even slightly tempt me away from the late-model iBook alternatives. With their higher resolution screens, RADEON 7500 video cards and 32 MB of VRAM supporting Quartz Extreme, 133 MHz system bus, restoration of analog sound-in support, and built-in, combo drives, these PowerBooks begin to offer some clear and unambiguous advantages over the old Pismo, and the faster G3 iBooks as well. Prices should run from about $700 to $800, which puts you in the same range as refurbished G4 iBooks and 867 MHz/ 1 GHz 12" PowerBooks.
"Gigahertz" (November 2002 - Present; "Gigahertz" - 867MHz- 1 GHz)
On November 6, 2002 Apple released the fourth and last major TiBook revision with the psychologically significant 1 GHz threshold having finally been crossed in an Apple laptop. Also new were a slot-loading, DVD-burning SuperDrive, a Radeon 9000 video card, 512 MB of standard RAM, 64 MB of video RAM and a 60 gigabyte hard drive on the high end unit, with significant price reductions from the previous Ivory models as icing on the cake. The November, 2002 PowerBook was also the first laptop to include a 1MB DDR level 3 cache.
If the availability of a slot-loading SuperDrive in a PowerBook is important to you, this was the Ti for you.
The November 2002 Titanium PowerBook G4 is available in two standard configurations:
The base PowerBook G4 includes:
• 867 MHz PowerPC G4 with 1MB DDR level 3 cache;
• Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive;
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 32MB DDR SDRAM graphics memory
• 256MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB;
• 40GB Ultra ATA hard drive; and
• AirPort ready with integrated antennas and card slot.
The high-end PowerBook G4 GHz includes:
• 1 GHz PowerPC G4 with 1MB DDR level 3 cache;
• SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) optical drive;
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 64MB DDR SDRAM graphics memory;
• 512MB SDRAM, expandable to 1GB;
• a 60GB Ultra ATA hard drive; and
• AirPort enabled with integrated antennas and pre-installed AirPort Card.
Additional build-to-order options for the PowerBook G4 included up to 1GB of SDRAM; Bluetooth Adaptor; the AirPort Base Station and AirPort Card; up to 60GB hard drive; and the AppleCare Protection Plan.
Prospective purchasers should also keep in mind that these machines don't sell for much less if any than early revision 15" Aluminum PowerBook, and new 14" iBooks, the latter of which is a much more powerful machine, albeit with a less-desirable keyboard and display.
Of course an iBook isn't a PowerBook, although it's a lot closer to being an equivalent with the latest, July 2005 update. The Titanium machines do widescreen displays which are not available on any iBook.
Another issue with TiBook upgrades is that supported machines are now 4-5 years old, and the Titanium PowerBook has not proved to be a particularly rugged machine compared with, say, the nearly bulletproof WallStreet and Pismo. They are also difficult and expensive to repair, especially case and screen issues.
The current new iBooks offer by comparison 1.33 GHz and 1.42 GHz processors (at least one-third faster than the fastest Ti); 512 megabytes of standard RAM across the board; a programmable graphics processor that fully supports Core Image in OS 10.4; scrolling trackpads and sudden motion sensors, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth support. Most of this was not even available in the TiBook era, and now you get it standard in a $999 iBook!
In summary, I would be inclined opt for an iBook over any TiBook, although the last two revision Tis are arguably still an attractive option.