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mully1121

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 9, 2009
47
0
Does anybody have a ballpark figure for a decent price for a titanium powerbook? Its 550 MHz, 512 MB RAM. Optical drive upgraded to a CD burner with the original discs, Tiger and Office 2004. Surprisingly the battery still holds a decent charge. Any info would be appreciated.
 

Goftrey

macrumors 68000
May 20, 2011
1,853
75
Wales, UK
Not much anymore unfortunately, over here in the UK, maybe £50 on eBay for a 550mhz in good condition, that'd be around $80 USD. This may sound ridiculous, but they ALL seem to go for more money if they're running Leopard, regardless of the specs. I think people don't realize it'll run poorly & think they're getting a better deal because it runs a more modern OS.

The Titaniums have a renown problem of the paint chipping on the palmrest bezel. If it's still in good nick that'll bump the price up too.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,707
I bought a TiBook about two months ago off eBay to replace our dying 400mhz TiBook.

It's a 1Ghz TiBook with a Superdrive and 1GB of ram. It had a screen broken off the hinges so I replaced that with the screen from my old TiBook. The battery was brand new (about 30 cycles). Got it from a firm in New York that specializes in reselling old corporate inventory. It's running Leopard just fine and has no other issues.

It did not come with a hard drive, but I had two spare PATA 2.5 inch drives so that wasn't a big deal.

I paid $24.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
I bought a TiBook about two months ago off eBay to replace our dying 400mhz TiBook.

It's a 1Ghz TiBook with a Superdrive and 1GB of ram. It had a screen broken off the hinges so I replaced that with the screen from my old TiBook. The battery was brand new (about 30 cycles). Got it from a firm in New York that specializes in reselling old corporate inventory. It's running Leopard just fine and has no other issues.

It did not come with a hard drive, but I had two spare PATA 2.5 inch drives so that wasn't a big deal.

I paid $24.

Great price but even greater feat of replacing the higher resolution screen on the 1 ghz with another Tibook screen.

Was the other Tibook also a 1ghz machine?

Excellent. That Tibook has 64mb vram.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,707
No, the original TiBook I had was 400mhz. I'm the third owner (the second was my mom and the first my sister's old boyfriend). I got it in 2002. It's on it's second logicboard and that's failing which is why I replaced it with the 1Ghz TiBook.
I have had the opposite experience of almost every TiBook owner. My hinges on the Ti400 did NOT break. But the case broke AROUND the hinges! So when I swapped the displays I had good hinges.
The old LCD is of a lesser resolution so my son is not getting the full resolution. I did buy an LCD pull from a 1Ghz machine, but in my rush did not notice that it came without hinges. I'm either going to try my hand at finding and replacing hinges or find another LCD pull that has hinges for a good price.
Replacing the LCD was no issue. I've replaced the logicboard on the first TiBook and this was marginally more complicated (because to get the LCD off you have to remove the logicboard). I've replaced the LCD on a 12" AlBook, a 17" Albook and lots of other parts on the 17" Albooks. The only PB I don't have and have yet to work on is a 15" Albook. So, again, swapping the screen was no issue.
For some reason, eBay sellers seem to think that a bad LCD compromises the entire Mac and they sell it for parts or whatever. Just replace the LCD. It's no big deal. I've now gotten three good Macs for firesale prices because sellers don't seem to be able to understand this. Oh well, my gain. :)
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
No, the original TiBook I had was 400mhz. I'm the third owner (the second was my mom and the first my sister's old boyfriend). I got it in 2002. It's on it's second logicboard and that's failing which is why I replaced it with the 1Ghz TiBook.
I have had the opposite experience of almost every TiBook owner. My hinges on the Ti400 did NOT break. But the case broke AROUND the hinges! So when I swapped the displays I had good hinges.
The old LCD is of a lesser resolution so my son is not getting the full resolution. I did buy an LCD pull from a 1Ghz machine, but in my rush did not notice that it came without hinges. I'm either going to try my hand at finding and replacing hinges or find another LCD pull that has hinges for a good price.
Replacing the LCD was no issue. I've replaced the logicboard on the first TiBook and this was marginally more complicated (because to get the LCD off you have to remove the logicboard). I've replaced the LCD on a 12" AlBook, a 17" Albook and lots of other parts on the 17" Albooks. The only PB I don't have and have yet to work on is a 15" Albook. So, again, swapping the screen was no issue.
For some reason, eBay sellers seem to think that a bad LCD compromises the entire Mac and they sell it for parts or whatever. Just replace the LCD. It's no big deal. I've now gotten three good Macs for firesale prices because sellers don't seem to be able to understand this. Oh well, my gain. :)

Very interesting. LOL because I owned both of these machines and always pined for the lower res 400mhz screen and always wanted to do what you did -- but was told the 400mhz screen wouldn't work on the 1ghz.

Your DVI output on the 1ghz will power the aluminum 23" Apple C Display -- awesome.

BTW back in the day, they actually sold "TiPaint" to touch up the white paint on the powerbooks.
 

mully1121

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 9, 2009
47
0
I was thinking $80 - 100. The case is actually in pretty decent shape, way back when it was still under Apple Care I managed to talk them into replacing it (took about a 1.5 years). I'm torn between trying to sell it (trying to get rid of clutter) or fixing it up and just playing around with it. It might be useful for playing some old school games.
 

goMac

Contributor
Apr 15, 2004
7,662
1,693
A collector might be willing to pay $80-$100 bucks, but it's a longshot.

A machine like that typically goes for around $50. I've bought much much faster machines for $75-$100.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,707
Very interesting. LOL because I owned both of these machines and always pined for the lower res 400mhz screen and always wanted to do what you did -- but was told the 400mhz screen wouldn't work on the 1ghz.

Your DVI output on the 1ghz will power the aluminum 23" Apple C Display -- awesome.

BTW back in the day, they actually sold "TiPaint" to touch up the white paint on the powerbooks.

Yeah, when I bought it I looked up the specs. It's a rocket to be sure.

The research I did as far as the LCD is concerned revealed both what you were told and also two other things. Either it would work at the highest resolutiion of the screen itself (and go no higher) or you could select a higher resolution, but you would get artifacts.

I just decided to try it. I had an 8 year old boy who had already waited three days for me to get to it. If it didn't work then I was going to experiment on the broken screen and then try the new one I had bought. Fortunately it worked (and you can't select a higher resolution).

A little thing I noticed is that sometime between the original TiBook and this new TiBook, Apple changed the font and the size of the font that they used for the "PowerBook G4" imprint on the front of the LCD.

I remember those paint ads. The PB has a few spots that could use that right about now.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
Yeah, when I bought it I looked up the specs. It's a rocket to be sure.

The research I did as far as the LCD is concerned revealed both what you were told and also two other things. Either it would work at the highest resolutiion of the screen itself (and go no higher) or you could select a higher resolution, but you would get artifacts.

I just decided to try it. I had an 8 year old boy who had already waited three days for me to get to it. If it didn't work then I was going to experiment on the broken screen and then try the new one I had bought. Fortunately it worked (and you can't select a higher resolution).

A little thing I noticed is that sometime between the original TiBook and this new TiBook, Apple changed the font and the size of the font that they used for the "PowerBook G4" imprint on the front of the LCD.

I remember those paint ads. The PB has a few spots that could use that right about now.

What took you so long to join MR? You sound like an MR veteran...!

Someone a while back on MR had a Titanium prototype and guess what... the white painted border was originally black.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,707
What took you so long to join MR? You sound like an MR veteran...!
Well, thanks! That's nice to hear.

Acutally, I was unaware that MR existed until some time last year. I'm actually a Mac convert (whole story behind that) so my awareness of all things Mac since 1984 or earlier is quite often lacking.

I've been using Macs in the jobs I've had since 1999 though. Except for my first job the rest have been small newspapers (I'm a Graphic Designer) so I have to be my own IT department. You learn things when you have to fix it with a deadline looming. But, I am no Mac expert. I also frequent the QuarkXPress forums (since 2001) regularly. Then there has been Facebook, etc. So, I wasn't really looking for something new until late last year.

Nice being here!
Someone a while back on MR had a Titanium prototype and guess what... the white painted border was originally black.
Wow. That's cool! I didn't realize that. Apple should have stayed with that!
 

Goftrey

macrumors 68000
May 20, 2011
1,853
75
Wales, UK
Someone a while back on MR had a Titanium prototype and guess what... the white painted border was originally black.

Here's the thread. I found it fascinating.

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California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
Here's the thread. I found it fascinating.

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Yes, I think Jonny Ive realized the shiny black border clashed with the matte black keys.

Ive is a genius.

I believe he was trying for some proto Industrial 1940's typewriter look with the black keys on the Powerbooks and now of course with the Aluminum Mac Book Pros.

But back in the day, that black border did not work well aesthetically.

He should've just made it out of grey rubber for all the trouble it caused the TIbooks.

He fixed it all with the unibody design.
 

KurtangleTN

macrumors 6502a
Apr 2, 2007
523
0
How good of condition is it? Scratches, paint, hinges?

Most TiBooks are in awful shape on eBay, usually scratched to hell with the hinges hanging by a thread.

If you've somehow managed to keep it in good shape throughout the years you'll get more than the ones that can't be saved.
 

mully1121

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 9, 2009
47
0
How good of condition is it? Scratches, paint, hinges?

Its in good shape, the hinges are fine. I never even knew they typically had issues until I started hanging out on here. The paint is actually decent shape (not 100% but better than a lot I've seen).
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,707
Its in good shape, the hinges are fine. I never even knew they typically had issues until I started hanging out on here. The paint is actually decent shape (not 100% but better than a lot I've seen).
In that condition I'd be fine with paying $100 for it. Maybe a little more. Once you get into say $150+ territory though you start to bump into the lower prices for Aluminum PowerBooks.
 

Ariii

macrumors 6502a
Jan 26, 2012
681
8
Chicago
Its in good shape, the hinges are fine. I never even knew they typically had issues until I started hanging out on here. The paint is actually decent shape (not 100% but better than a lot I've seen).

I've heard that the hinges are a bit more prone to breaking on the early TiBooks though that was fixed later on... since yours is in good condition I think this might not be a problem soon, though.
 
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