The wonderful world of technology is a fast paced place where by the time the product reaches the public, it’s almost obsolete!

New software and hardware is developed and improved daily allowing for newer models and generations of products to be released every few months. This holds true principally for mobile phones and personal computers.

The Apple iBook was a line of laptop computers produced and sold by Apple from 1999-2006. The product was aimed at entry level users for personal, academic, and occupation purposes with a lower price point than the PowerBook.

It’s ‘clamshell’ design was innovative for the time with its distinct rounded corners and vibrant colour palettes, but compared to today’s sleek and thin designs, it appears bulky, retro and old-school in both appearance and function.

The entire iBook line was replaced by the MacBook model in 2006 when Apple transitioned to Intel processors, leaving the iBook a thing of the past.

The question that remains in wake of the iBook is: are the colourful clamshells junk or not junk?
In short, old laptops are in fact, junk.

If your laptop is three years old or less, the software and programs can simply be updated as new versions become available, but after three years or more, the programs become more difficult to update as they may not mesh with your operating system.

After three years, the machine has no AppleCare coverage and service calls become increasing complex and pricy. Updating an old machine with a newer operating system often costs consumers close to the price of a whole new unit without all the benefits such as the warranty.

Additionally, because the computers were produced on such a mass scale, they’re also unlikely to be of any value to collectors in the future unless you’ve kept one in perfect condition over the years.
So unless you are planning on keeping your old iBook in your personal museum of ‘the history and evolution of Apple,’ your Tangerine, Blueberry, Graphite, Indigo and Key Lime clamshells are relatively worthless and will continue hitting you up for cash.

Make the smart decision and back up all of your music files, pictures, documents, and more and invest in a newer machine that will provide with four more short years of Apple rated fun!