iBook G4 benchmarked against hackintosh netbook, comes out even
By Nilay Patel 
posted Feb 3rd 2009 7:46PM
posted Feb 3rd 2009 7:46PM
[Thanks, Penny]
posted Feb 3rd 2009 7:46PM
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12" Powerbook G4? LOL, no thanks. That'd mean I'd be buying into an old platform, non intel machine and be stuck completely on windows, oh and of course it comes with apple's patented sheep syndrome for buying anything shiny and a half bit apple logo on it (general public loooooves that).
MSI Wind all the way XP + OS X.
*be stuck completely on OS X.
I just bought a G4. You are misinformed.
I hope you didnt buy an iBook G4, because that thing is a piece of garbage now.
I would maybe pick one up for 50 bucks, but anything more and i would have been ripped off.
Ive seen some pretty good Apple logo mods for the Wind. Considering doing one myself.
The white Wind with the logo mod looks exactly like something Apple would make.
12" G4 Powerbook FTW! Still my favorite laptop, ever.
Why on earth would anybody buy a PowerPC G4 when apple is set to totally discount and depreciate the PowerPC architecture with Snow Leopard?
Honestly.
What's sad is that an atom based netbook is probably cheaper. So sad.
so basically all the replies to my comment agree that its useless buying a g4 powerbook, and my comment gets low ranked? are the readers of engadget as ridiculous as some of its writers?
So just that you know why you get low ranked (at least by me):
While the ibook is indeed an old platform and not exactly the best thing to buy if you are searching for a cheap and portable computing solution nowadays, the rest of your comment is just stupid fanboy bullshit.
You are not locked to OSX. There are many linux variants that still support the power PC architecture (and will continue so for quite a bit). And even if you keep OSX, it is still going strong on the G4 (and as you can see if even beats the atoms in some respects), and it doesnt seem like netbooks will get any stronger soon (thanks to MS stupid 1,6GHz/ 1 GB limit).
The size is also arguable. While 10 or even 9" netbooks are way more portable, the ibooks 12" screen is more comfortable for many folks.
Also baterry is an issue: Many netbooks are around 3h, while you can get more with the ibook. Of course this is all relative, since there are indeed netbooks that offer way more battery life, and many ibooks simply have old batteries, that dont have much life left.
so to conclude:
would i suggest an ibook for anyone searching for a netbook? probably not.
But this report is great news for me, who was thinking about replacing my ibook with a netbook. Since they are eqaly powered, i will gain nothing from getting me a netbook. so i keep my ibook and have more money to use on other stuff.
qwert
Powerbook G4 12" FTW!
Got an Acer Aspire One netbook to replace mine, selling the Acer One and going back to the Powerbook :)
Got Ubuntu Linux and OS X Leopard running happily on its 1GHz G4 and 1.25GB of RAM :)
@Patriks7
He said current. As far as I know the RROD is an issue of the past.
So this is why PC's are so slow. Microsoft doesn't make the hardware.
If Microsoft made the hardware, you'd have to send it in every two weeks for repair.
All currently manufactured Microsoft hardware is awesome. Prove me wrong.
@darth abe
what hard ware
i thought they payed other people to build it for them
correct me if im wrong
@KAIKAI
You mean like everyone else? Or am I running a special mac book that has non-apple manufactured parts. I guess iPod Nanos aren't Samsung flash memory sticks with a 3rd party LCDs...
@Darth Abe
rrod?
@KAIKAI: Darth Abe never said Microsoft manufactured their own hardware. Still, you can also say the same about Apple.
Xbox 360, Zune and a whole slew of odds and ends peripherals (mice/keyboards)?
Outside of a few small issues (RROD and Dec 31) I'd say they do fine work.
@KAIKAI:
hardware
paid
I'm
i ment
they dont build ANY of there stuff
correct me if im wrong
some chinese company made the 360
same w/ the zune
and
the various mice and keyboards
are various companys
i want to say mostly logitech
but i think that wrongs idk
@KAIKAI: Pssssssssst... Apple does not manufacture their products in-house either. Duck your head quickly and walk away as if you were never here. Upon turning the corner, enter a store and buy new clothes so no-one recognizes you.
@ topic: In my experience, Microsoft-designed hardware supports its purpose well. Of course, there is no excuse for it not to, regarding ANY company. When you tailor your hardware towards your software it runs smoothly...
P.S. @KAIKAI:
Are your
Comments supposed to
Be like poetry?
The enter button
Is primarily used
To separate paragraphs
not
ideas
or scraps of thought.
WHO IS THE HOLY FUCK STARTED THE TALK ABOUT APPLE
we were talking about microsoft ?
were we not ?
"All currently manufactured Microsoft hardware is awesome. Prove me wrong."
So you want to tell me all of those RROD Xboxes are just our imagination? :o
Some XBox 360s broke. Whoop-de-doo. I am sure it is a pain to have happen, but it happened to a fraction of a percentage of 360s, and doesn't make the games any less fun for the majority who had no trouble whatsoever.
There's no BSOD or RROD on the Zune (or grey veil of death or white logo screen of death or beachball).
Leave the Zune out of this, it has enough of a fight on it's hands.
wait, are you telling me that steve jobs -gasp- LIED about how fast his computers were?
Buh? Wha?
How did you get that from this article?
Because back then, he said that the gigahertz race was hoey. But think about it, the G4 runs at 800mhz to 1.42 ghz. It's still busting the megahertz myth. So my idol, Steve Jobs, didn't lie.
I think it has more to do with Apple's OS's ability to scale. Also what version of OSX are we talking about Leopard, Tiger, Panther? Remember most of those netbooks run windows XP for good reason.
On second thought after reading the benchmarks I think this is a fail on the part of the tester. He never once tells you what OS X variant is on the hacintosh or the G4. Most benchmarks I read go into such depth as to tell you what hex code color the connector is on the video card much less make sure everything else is close to the same as possible.
This isn't why "PC's are so slow" but rather an example of how OS X doesn't scale very well to less expensive/older/slower hardware which is probably why we haven't seen a sub-$500 version of the Mac Mini.
No kidding! My netbook runs Vista smooth as a hot knife through your logic!
if you remember Snow Leopard is said to be a performance upgrade not a major overhaul, guess that translates to "make it faster for tiny machines" just like Windows 7 is turning out.
maybe when the dual core atom becomes mainstream, apple will release a cheap netbook?
I wonder how mac os would run on nvidia's Ion setup...
Not surprised. I remember seeing videos of OS X on netbooks and the boot-time was BALLS.
"...those of you searching for an OS X netbook can skip the EULA violations and just hunt down an old 12-inch PowerBook G4."
Fuck that. You're still better off with a Hackintosh'ed netbook. The days of PPC-compatible software are numbered and you could at least dual-boot whatever OS came with the netbook to begin with.
"The days of PPC-compatible software are numbered"
Yeah, I don't like compiling either.
...but they're only 'numbered' in the proprietary realm. Truly portable code isn't going to give you trouble.
Micrososft hardware good? Last I checked, the xbox 360 was sent out by microsoft knowing that the cd drive was going to chew up cds inside it. Now, it has to deal with the lawsuits and figure out how to fix the problem without going broke! Microsoft sucks and so does its hardware! Long live Apple!!!
CD drive? Really?
I'd be a part of that lawsuit if my modern game console shipped with a CD drive, too. Fortunately for me, I got a DVD drive in my console that requires a DVD drive to play it's DVD based games.
Yeah rigggghhhhhttt, so Apple also "knowingly" shipped those Macbooks with the problematic Sony batteries, and those with the problematic Seagate drives? Also, they specifically chose the poor quality LCD's for the iPod Touch? (Well maybe the last one was intentional, we'd never truly know)
STFU, every company could screw up, and Apple is not an exemption.
my iBook G4 is why i havent bought a netbook, need a new battery for it though. Runs leopard fine but its the 1.2 Ghz version
How much RAM is in your iBook?
It's maxed out at 1.256 GB. The 256 MB is on board so I bought a 1 GB stick from newegg.com. NewEgg ftw btw, lol acronyms!
I have the 1.33 MHz iBook G4 runs Leopard ok w/ 1.25gb. Battery has seen better days.
I'd get a Wind if these numbers are correct.
Course the G4 has serous flash problems, this can be pretty relevant if you are hoping to make it a kids machine. Even with plenty of memory simple noggin or pbs flash games run at about quarter speed and are almost unplayable.
p-p-powerbook!!
Well I just got a Powerbook G4 and i'm loving my "new" "netbook" 1.5ghz but it still has no camera which sucks.
Camera, shamera. I've done hackintosh on the wind and ideapad, and I prefer the 12" 1.5 g4 powerbook.
You use the camera once or twice at first, but you use the keyboard every freakin' day. A hackbook is a good for messing around at a coffee shop, but for real use there is no comparison with the powerbook.
That being said, how much ram did the ibook have? What model g4 was it? And how would it compare with my 12" 1.5 with 1.25 gigs of ram and a new hard drive?
Apple ported the OSX kernal to run on a way-underpowered iPhone. who's to say they won't do something similar for a netbook
Won't happen. Netbooks are supposed to be small, CHEAP, laptops. Apple would go the small route, but never cheap. Doesn't fit their image. Might cause preexisting Mac owners to say "Wait a minute, why did I spend so much on my *book?" and that's bad for sales.
-facepalm-
Dude, do you really think that the OSX on the iPhone is actually OSX? Do you also believe that Windows Mobile is ACTUALLY a slimmed down Windows Kernel??????? What has the world come to!?!?