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Powerbook G4

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powerbookpro

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
14
0
Hi,

I have an oppurtunity to buy a 15" Powerbook G4 1.67 ghz and I was wondering if ~$400 was a good price for it.

It's mainly going to be used as a netbook (I have the original asus eee 701 and I want an upgrade). I figure even the old powerbook is more powerful than most netbooks, and runs os x leopard, and has a higher screen resolution. I know its a lot bigger, but my 15" macbook pro is more than portable enough.

It has 2 gigs of ram and the stock hard drive.

Is it worth it, or should I pass this up and get a new netbook and potentially run os x on it?
 
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weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,835
3,514
Newer netbooks with the N450 chip won't run OSX very well, if at all due to the lack of drivers for the gpu. The problem with the Powerbook will be the dim screen, relatively poor battery life and the inability to run intel apps.

Your best bet is probably an older N270 chipped netbook that will run OSX well. Some older ULV notebooks will do that too, but are unlikely to offer much in battery life, if that matters to you.

The Powerbook is only really worth considering if you have some Classic apps that you still want to hold onto for whatever reason.
 
Corrosive vinyl

Corrosive vinyl

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2006
473
0
I like the old G4 computers. They are solid and (obviously) last a long time. The 2 gigs of RAM is very promising. That said, keep in mind that the newest versions of software, including safari, OS X, and many others are not supporting PPC machines anymore. This includes bug fixes and vulnerabilities.

What kind of netbook are you looking into which would be comparable to the powerbook?
 
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powerbookpro

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
14
0
I'm thinking about the asus eee 1201n
It has a dual core atom and nvidia ion gpu, which is basically a 9400m

Reports are that it runs os x very nicely, with the only thing not fully supported yet being wifi and function keys, with wifi being easily remedied with the purchase of a ~30 dollar dell card, and function keys being negligable. Screen resolution would even be 1366x768, which is very promising.

I was worried about the dim screen on the powerbook, but was thinking that I could replace the backlight? But then I'd probably invest more time/money than the machine is worth and an os x capable netbook would be more useful?
 
S

seb-opp

macrumors 6502
Nov 16, 2008
398
1
London/Norwich
Im curious, why do you want to get a powerbook when you already have a 15" MBP which is the same size but faster? Wouldn't it be more convenient to just use one computer, after all neither has an advantage of being more portable :S
 
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powerbookpro

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
14
0
I've had a couple scares over the winter when the sidewalk is all iced up and I've almost slipped and fell, and had my super expensive mac in my backpack when that's happened. I would very much prefer a 12" powerbook, but I haven't found one of those for under 400 dollars yet.
 
Eric S.

Eric S.

macrumors 68040
Feb 1, 2008
3,599
0
Santa Cruz Mountains, California
Corrosive vinyl said:
I like the old G4 computers. They are solid and (obviously) last a long time. The 2 gigs of RAM is very promising. That said, keep in mind that the newest versions of software, including safari, OS X, and many others are not supporting PPC machines anymore. This includes bug fixes and vulnerabilities.
Click to expand...

But as the OP said, it will run Leopard and software support under Leopard is just fine, at least for now. Obviously all PPC systems will be left behind as time goes on.

weckart said:
The Powerbook is only really worth considering if you have some Classic apps that you still want to hold onto for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

And if you do want to run Classic apps you'll be forced to run Tiger, which would not be as good in terms of software support. But a lot of PPC users prefer Tiger as an OS, claiming it is more solid and more efficient than Leopard.
 
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powerbookpro

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
14
0
Thanks a lot everybody! So I've decided against the powerbook, but out of curiosity searched completed ebay listings of the first-generation macbook pro, and a lot of the 1.83 ghz models are selling for under 500.

For what basically amounts to a "beater" notebook, what would you do?
 
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Alex72

macrumors member
Jul 19, 2002
70
2
Los Angeles
powerbookpro said:
Thanks a lot everybody! So I've decided against the powerbook, but out of curiosity searched completed ebay listings of the first-generation macbook pro, and a lot of the 1.83 ghz models are selling for under 500.

For what basically amounts to a "beater" notebook, what would you do?
Click to expand...


If you can score a Core2Duo version of the 1.83, I'd go for that. Unless the Core Duo model happens to be in immaculate condition. I had a late-2006 1.83 C2D and, for some odd reason, even with only 512MB of memory, it at times felt faster than the early-2009 2.0 model, sporting 2GB, that I replaced it with... It certainly booted faster, anyway.
 
Santabean2000

Santabean2000

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2007
1,883
2,044
I had a 12" PB, (which I gave away to my sister a year or two ago), and I loved it. But... PPC is just not worth it anymore.

Save for a C2D MacBook min.

Unless you are a collector...
 
D

Deepshade

macrumors regular
Mar 22, 2010
237
39
I've got one. Its a super design.
One of the nicest designs apple produced. Interestingly its slab style with rounded corners is echoed in the new (alleged) iPhone.
Case looks and feels more solid than the current MBP.


But....
Sadly the screen, having a flexible surface is always a concern.
Battery life is non existent.
So many new apps are Intel only.
My sons brand new dual core pc laptop costs just a little more.
For anything else but wordprocessing - it feels hellishly slow.

On Apples obsolete list.

Personally - I'd bite the bullet and buy at least an Intel MB
 
craig1410

craig1410

macrumors 65816
Mar 22, 2007
1,129
905
Scotland
powerbookpro said:
I've had a couple scares over the winter when the sidewalk is all iced up and I've almost slipped and fell, and had my super expensive mac in my backpack when that's happened. I would very much prefer a 12" powerbook, but I haven't found one of those for under 400 dollars yet.
Click to expand...

$400 would buy a lot of salt for your sidewalk!
Or how about some spiked shoes or perhaps a padded laptop bag?
:p:

Sorry, I don't mean to be sarcastic - I actually came into this thread to tell you that a Powerbook G4 12" is a great alternative to a netbook but then I realised you were talking about a 15" PB.

I hope you get something sorted out.
Craig.
 
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