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gavinstubbs09

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 17, 2013
1,386
256
NorCal boonies ~~~by Reno sorta
One of those times I was just looking through ebay to see what is up for a quick auction. Ran into this one with 3 minutes left. Glad to have another, I was a bit attached to the 12" 867MHz I bought a year and a half ago (was in my hands for a day) for a girl who was moving to Florida.

Looks to be in damn near perfect shape, they are the original owner, maxed out (ram) in 2009, and bought from CompUSA in 2003 in New Orleans. I don't see one scratch or dent in it so it was taken care of and used rarely (supposedly).

Apparently it just gets stuck at the Apple, so maybe a fresh install of either Tiger or Leopard shall fix that!

no details on specs, but it is either a 867MHz or a 1GHz. I'm hoping for the latter for USB2.0!
 

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eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
One of those times I was just looking through ebay to see what is up for a quick auction. Ran into this one with 3 minutes left. Glad to have another, I was a bit attached to the 12" 867MHz I bought a year and a half ago (was in my hands for a day) for a girl who was moving to Florida.

Looks to be in damn near perfect shape, they are the original owner, maxed out (ram) in 2009, and bought from CompUSA in 2003 in New Orleans. I don't see one scratch or dent in it so it was taken care of and used rarely (supposedly).

Apparently it just gets stuck at the Apple, so maybe a fresh install of either Tiger or Leopard shall fix that!

no details on specs, but it is either a 867MHz or a 1GHz. I'm hoping for the latter for USB2.0!
Nice.

May you NEVER have to open the case!

/blessing
 

PowerMac G4 MDD

macrumors 68000
Jul 13, 2014
1,900
277
Jelly! That's an awesome-looking PowerBook G4. There was a 12" going for $40 total with NO bids, but I sadly let it go, as I was in the midst of purchasing a PMG5... I wish I hadn't let it go. I think it was a 1.33Ghz model with a small amount of RAM. I hope to someday get one though!
 

gavinstubbs09

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 17, 2013
1,386
256
NorCal boonies ~~~by Reno sorta
That looks to be a 1Ghz+ model.

You're right, I looked on Wikipedia and the 867MHz has mini VGA while the 1GHz has mini DVI which this one has. Sweet glad that I have the USB2.0!

----------

Nice.

May you NEVER have to open the case!

/blessing

I hope so, that would be a nice touch. Taking apart my first 12" was a nightmare and took me all night!

----------

Jelly! That's an awesome-looking PowerBook G4. There was a 12" going for $40 total with NO bids, but I sadly let it go, as I was in the midst of purchasing a PMG5... I wish I hadn't let it go. I think it was a 1.33Ghz model with a small amount of RAM. I hope to someday get one though!

I scored this cheap too, only two other bids so yay me and finding it quickly! And I remember my first G5, paid $50 for it. I was so stoked about it
 

SkyBell

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2006
6,603
219
Texas, unfortunately.
Congrats! I also snagged my 12" PB G4 off of eBay, late last year for $45, the last 1.5 GHz model. Maxed the RAM for around $25, and its been great as my main portable.

I do have to ask, though - are these things really that nightmareish on the inside? I've disassembled a white iBook G3, two iBook G4's and a SR MacBook in the past; I must admit, the G4's were definitely the biggest challenge out of the lot, but not overwhelmingly so. At some point in the possible near future' I may have to tear into this PowerBook and it would be nice to have an idea of what horrors seemingly await me within it. :p
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
I do have to ask, though - are these things really that nightmareish on the inside?
Yes!

See this picture attached…those connectors that are highlighted with a yellow rectangle? Those are inside the case. You have EXACTLY as much room to pull those connectors up as those holes are wide and tall.

And you have to do it without ripping the connectors off the logicboard. If the connectors are stuck on there, pray! If those connectors are NOT prised up and out of the way, you CANNOT remove the top case. They HAVE to be disconnected.

This pic by the way is with the keyboard off. To get that far you have to remove two keys without breaking them to get access to the screws that allow you to get the keyboard off!

Just go to iFixit.com and take a look at their guides for the 12".

Oh. Once inside, and if you have to remove the heat sink for any reason, good luck getting the screws back on if the plastic connector decides it wants to snap off the logic board when you unscrew it.

Replacing the display entirely means dissassembly of the ENTIRE Mac. The logicboard HAS to come out.
 

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Surrat

macrumors 6502
Jun 20, 2014
478
171
United States
Great score you got there!

I have one just like it, 1ghz 12" PB. I run Leopard on mine, and very happy with it.

Use MonoLingual to remove excess cpu code and languages to help with space and probably a slight speed boost from not having to parse all that extra junk. The newest TenFourFox 31.4 runs great on it also.
 

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,834
3,509
Yes!

See this picture attached…those connectors that are highlighted with a yellow rectangle? Those are inside the case. You have EXACTLY as much room to pull those connectors up as those holes are wide and tall.

And you have to do it without ripping the connectors off the logicboard. If the connectors are stuck on there, pray! If those connectors are NOT prised up and out of the way, you CANNOT remove the top case. They HAVE to be disconnected.

I replaced the logic board in mine and you can get away with removing the top case with only one of those cables disconnected. iFixit user notes make it clear which one. The other cable is easier to detach with the top case lifted. Still a horrible, painstaking job.
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
Those little 12" Powerbooks aren't that hard to teardown and rebuild. Kinda fun in some ways.
 

Hrududu

macrumors 68020
Jul 25, 2008
2,299
627
Central US
Best laptop I've ever owned is the 1.5 12" G4 PowerBook. I started with an 867, but the perfomance left a lot to be desired, but the form factor had me hooked. Bought the 1.5 and still use it a lot.
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
Yup, got a box full of random 12" Powerbook parts still. The hammies have all been retired. Only ~6 of those intrepid machines left in the stock.
 

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,310
6,311
Kentucky
Great score!

I just hope that getting stuck at the Apple doesn't mean a dead hard drive(I bought a Macbook that did exactly that due to a bad drive). If it is the hard drive, have fun :)

I'm rather fond of my 12" PB
 
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