My Black ibook

[the_snitch]

BTW, i copies this text from a thread i started a few days ago over at macnn.

MacNN thread

Just thought i'd share it with you guys

Ok, heres the plan:

I really love the white shiny finish of the ibooks, but there are times that i wish i had a shiny black ibook.

Yes, i know all about www.colorwarepc.com, and yes their black ibooks do look very nice, but there is no way i can justify a $400 paint job.

Plus, they do a pretty bad job on the ibooks - they leave the keyboard, cd bezel, trackpad and the I/O bracket all white.

Since i am currently working as an Apple tech, at an Apple authorised service provider, i get access to all sorts of goodies. I was mucking around and found a Powerbook Ti black keyboard. This got me thinking that it could provide the perfect finishing touch to a proper paint job.

Now the powerbook keyboard does not fit straight out of the box, but what someone with patience can do is snap of each individual key and swap it for the ibooks white keys (I did this one afternoon). I actually think this looks nicer than the original ibook keyboard (the keys are translucent black, and have the nice italic font printed on them).

I also have an ibook g4 shell lying around from some lady who spilled drink all through her machine and fried the logic board.

Part B of the plan is taking the empty shell to a contact i have who works in the car painting industry. He is a heavy PC modder, and paints PC peripherals and cases in his spare time with car paints. He is painting the ibook shell a gloss black as we speak.

I will post more pics when i recieve the shell back, and then i will re-assemble the ibook for the final product (provided the shell comes back looking veeery nice :)

Update 1: 19/1/04

Just got the bits back. They look veeery nice. Take a peek ;)

Should be together later tonight

Final Update: All the rest of the pics:

Also, Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Edited January 26, 2005 by the_snitch

[vincent]

That looks very nice :yes:

[ForeverUnknown]

oh that's awesome! cant wait to see it all put together

[Rodrigo]

Damn, so nice!

[StealthMode]

Wow, should look nice back together, be sure to post updated pics ;)

[gigapixels Veteran]

Now that is going to be sweet. Even having only the keyboard black looks sweet. iBooks normally look sweet anyway :p

But anyway, I love black... I think that's going to look incredibly good. Hmmm... Maybe I should paint my Mac mini (when I actually buy it) black! That would be awesome!

[the_snitch]

hey guys, im currently mid-operation

...had to stop for dinner you know :p

[the_snitch]

Finished!

And it looks soooo sweet. Full pics coming soon. Im going to bed :sleep:

But for now, heres a teaser:

[Timan Veteran]

wow, very nice,

[sambrentnall]

wel done that looks realy nice can i ask how much was the paint job and would you be able to get ahold of some more keys that i could buy

[Daninku]

Hey good job mate, looks nice that apple logo with black background :D

[Hurmoth]

:wub:

That looks awesome man (Y)

[enklus]

that looks mighty fine (Y)

[Amnesia]

BEAUTIFUL!!

THAT'S JUST BEAUTIFUL!!!

Was the paint airbrushed on and then glossed over?

I love modding my gadgets (see Titanium P800 or Tahiti MGF)

Let me know, (now if only I had an iBook)

[Xer34]

Awesome snitch! You should write a tutorial up, I might do this to mine if ya did. (care to tell me what paint you used?) :yes:

[giantsnyy]

wow i really wish i could do that to mine. The whiteness of the iBook stands out in all my sliver/black hardware.

Awsome job. :)

[DarkMindsProject]

Im not big on macs but that is FRICK'N AWSOME!

[Diffused Mind]

Looks nice, I may have to get my old iBook shell out of the closet and get some paint. I hope it wouldnt make it a difference if the shell I have is an old 500Mhz snow model.

[chmsant]

that is an awesome mod! now you make me wanna go buy an iBook just so i can do somethin like that!

[titan0111]

Dang~ that is a cool mod...

But if I had extra $400 to spend, I would probably upgrade my HDD and RAM.

[Hankyone]

SEXY!! :woot:

[Fozzieb]

oh baby, if white didn't look cool enough. That is F'n amazing

Well done

[Chris Allen Veteran]

Now that's a great mod (Y) Nice work dude :D

[[idkfa]]

Very cool, but I myself would prefer the keyboard to be still white, still matching the touchpad.

[qdave]

man, you have some good skills. it looks really beautifull :)