Where can I get an Apple iBook clam shell cheap or free

[Gorgonops]

Random thought: we'll be having this discussion in a few years about used 2007/2008 MacBook Pros.)

I thought we already had that discussion a few times.

Regarding the Rage128s being more reliable, it's interesting that they are considering the motherboard is practically identical between them and the later models, but there may also be a straightforward explanation. If you look at how the Radeon chipset is wedged onto the later machines you'll see it's in the form of a strange rectangular GPU chipset package bonded onto a carrier board with the VRAM chips, the whole thing sitting in the footprint formally occupied by the Rage 128-M, which had its 8MB of RAM integrated onboard. I wonder if that weird little GPU-on-cracker module is something Apple cooked up, or a standard off-the-shelf item ATI sold as an OEM solution for updating older laptop designs.

 

[Cory5412]

thought we already had that discussion a few times.

<severe voice> AGAIN! AGAIN!

In ten years it'll be people picking them up for next to nothing based on nostalgia of when they were kids in the super early 2000s. Though, my colleague pulled hers out of a closet this morning and brought it in to show it to us, and the battery puffed up like some of those do, so there's definitely an "if they survive their own batteries" aspect to this.

Regarding the Rage128s being more reliable, it's interesting that they are considering the motherboard is practically identical between them and the later models, but there may also be a straightforward explanation

I'll be honest, I would've been tempted to blame BGA soldering and RoHS, failing all else. It seems like that's what people blame for literally every other laptop GPU failure in the past ~decade or so.

I wonder if that weird little GPU-on-cracker module is something Apple cooked up, or a standard off-the-shelf item ATI sold as an OEM solution for updating older laptop designs.

This makes me want to look at the ThinkPad X series, but I forget if they ever used Rage 128 or if they went right from SiS or C&T to ATi at the Radeon.

 

[EvieSigma]

I have a X61 but I don't think it has a GPU...not sure my T61 does either.

 

[Compgeke]

. I wonder if that weird little GPU-on-cracker module is something Apple cooked up, or a standard off-the-shelf item ATI sold as an OEM solution for updating older laptop designs.

Nope, that's an official ATI package. You'll also find them in HPs, Dells and a few servers. Here's a pic of a 2850 motherboard and you can see the weird ATI package on it 

 

[Cory5412]

I have a X61 but I don't think it has a GPU...not sure my T61 does either.

The X61 will have a GMA X3100 in it. the T61 will probably also have one, unless it has the geforce 8600m equivalent quadro. I believe some T60s had an ATi graphics chip.

The X20 and 30 series had discrete graphics, but usually it was relatively low end.

 

[Byrd]

I think we've scared off the choosy beggar by now.

 

[Paralel]

Seems likely.

 

[Gorgonops]

Nope, that's an official ATI package. 

Weird. I wonder if ATI was overly optimistic about how much VRAM they were going to be able to stuff on-die in future generations of their GPUs after the 128-M and made contractual obligations to deliver upgrades that fit the same footprint.

 

[Franklinstein]

It was probably cheaper and easier to build the GPU packages with off-die on-package VRAM. It's fast and keeps a small footprint. The faster chips in the PBG4s had on-package VRAM and board-level VRAM that combined to 128MB. 

The failure with the iBook GPUs was multifaceted: the flexing PCB with a big, hot, poorly cooled BGA stuck onto it using RoHS solder. 

Bad solder jobs also are the reason for the lower RAM slot failures in late PBG4s and of course the XBox 360.