iBook transparent case mod.
 

Not really much of a mod to be honest, very straight forward and well worth the effort though.

I scored a 2000 vintage Apple iBook G3 Graphite for christmas. It's powered by an IBM PPC750 G3 @ 366MHz, has 320Mb RAM and a 6Gb hard drive. Not bad for a classic Mac, good enough for browsing.

But it was filthy. There was so much filth some had worked between the inside of the plastic case and the metal shields inside and looked terrible - especially since the plastic is transparent.

So I stripped it, and pulled the shields out to clean it... and then decided to leave them out. However, they also served as EMI shielding, and as heat shielding. Not keeping heat out, but keeping it in. As a result it keeps me toasty warm when I'm in bed surfing the 'net now.

I'll be taking it apart again soon to fit some ramsinks on the uncooled chipset components underneath though, it gets a little too hot for my liking.

http://www.fragged.net.nz/modificati...okclam/kbd.jpg
The keyboard. Note the modem shielding at the top... I should have pulled it out, seeing as I never use the modem...

http://www.fragged.net.nz/modificati...clam/under.jpg
The underside - the bit I worry about. Note the memory modules and networking ICs lurking below - these are where it gets hot. Note also the strange marks - it's actually engraved with 'Collingwood Intermediate Principal'... it's an ex-school machine.

http://www.fragged.net.nz/modificati...am/lcdback.jpg
Back of the screen. I love the light flooding through the transparent plastic :)

http://www.fragged.net.nz/modificati...m/lcdfront.jpg
Front of the screen. Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10... a big step up on MacOS 9.2.2. The screen frame is in full view now, makes it look a little bit gnarlier than stock.


So even though I'm not an Apple fan I think I'll be hanging onto the little notebook. It is fine for what I want it for, and it was free. The best bit is, it has the radical looks that it shares with all the Macintosh gear of the era. Like it or loath it, the clamshells were definitely one-of-a-kind notebooks.