The French site MacBidouille has detailed step-by-step instructions for souping-up a 12-inch iBook and turning it into a something comparable to the 12-inch PowerBook — at a considerable saving.
It requires disassembing the iBook, swapping out the optical drive and hard drive, and adding Bluetooth and a ton of RAM. It takes a couple of hours, and “this transformation is not a piece of cake,” but:
All parts including the iBook have been purchased for 1,598 euros VAT included. To compare, the same iBook 80GB 5400rpm without the SuperDrive costs : 1,677.99 euros VAT included and the PB 12″ Superdrive 1.2 GB with 80 GB 5400rpm : 2,168 euros VAT included.
