Finally got a decent TiBook.

catzilla · Aug 7, 2014

I took another shot on a Ti on ebay, my last win was thrown in a box and broken in shipment. This one was properly packed. With the exception of a little chipping around the latch button it is pristine. The battery has a cycle count of 42. It is a 550mhz, 256MB, 20GB, combo, no Airport. The 1st was a 667mhz, 1GB, 80GB, SD, Airport. I swapped the ram and AP, maybe this weekend I'll swap the HD & SD.

The 550 was the 1st Mac I bought from the Apple store back in '01. I remember having to put in the Airport card.

128keaton · Aug 7, 2014

catzilla said:
I took another shot on a Ti on ebay, my last win was thrown in a box and broken in shipment. This one was properly packed. With the exception of a little chipping around the latch button it is pristine. The battery has a cycle count of 42. It is a 550mhz, 256MB, 20GB, combo, no Airport. The 1st was a 667mhz, 1GB, 80GB, SD, Airport. I swapped the ram and AP, maybe this weekend I'll swap the HD & SD.

The 550 was the 1st Mac I bought from the Apple store back in '01. I remember having to put in the Airport card.

My first mac was a 667. Oh god the memories. I wrote about it here. Congrats on your TiBook. Mine sits perched on my night stand connected to my sound system playing Spotify.

Graeme43 · Aug 8, 2014

They are so awesome

I love mine so much

Intell · Aug 8, 2014

If the 667Mhz model is a VGA one, you can swap the logicboards. The 667Mhz ones have a faster bus speed of 133Mhz.

128keaton · Aug 8, 2014

Intell said:
If the 667Mhz model is a VGA one, you can swap the logicboards. The 667Mhz ones have a faster bus speed of 133Mhz.

Man, I'd take that 667MHz Logic Board.

Intell · Aug 8, 2014

It isn't usable in the 400/500Mhz models, only the 550Mhz.

128keaton · Aug 8, 2014

Intell said:
It isn't usable in the 400/500Mhz models, only the 550Mhz.

Ah. Good to know.

eyoungren · Aug 8, 2014

Graeme43 said:
They are so awesome I love mine so much

I am very happy for your find and that you really like the TiBooks.

My experience with them has not been very good, but I did have an early model so maybe that's why. My son's TiBook is a rocket and is actually using the screen from my old TiBook 400. So, maybe they made them better as they went along.

Anyway, my main issue was always the case. Over time it kept cracking and breaking in places. What's interesting is that everyone else had hinge issues, but the hinges on my old TiBook were rock solid. Everything else around the hinges broke. This is one of the reasons that old TiBook's LCD continues to be useful in my son's 1Ghz Titanium DVI. But, once I pulled the LCD from the old TiBook that was it for the case. It just entirely broke to pieces.

My preference is for the AlBooks for a lot of reasons, but the TiBook does have a grace of it's own.

128keaton · Aug 8, 2014

eyoungren said:
I am very happy for your find and that you really like the TiBooks.

My experience with them has not been very good, but I did have an early model so maybe that's why. My son's TiBook is a rocket and is actually using the screen from my old TiBook 400. So, maybe they made them better as they went along.

Anyway, my main issue was always the case. Over time it kept cracking and breaking in places. What's interesting is that everyone else had hinge issues, but the hinges on my old TiBook were rock solid. Everything else around the hinges broke. This is one of the reasons that old TiBook's LCD continues to be useful in my son's 1Ghz Titanium DVI. But, once I pulled the LCD from the old TiBook that was it for the case. It just entirely broke to pieces.

My preference is for the AlBooks for a lot of reasons, but the TiBook does have a grace of it's own.

My last TiBook had the same issue. But, my original 500MHz TiBook is solid. Maybe you were just really unlucky. I treat my TiBook as a laptop, meaning I bring it with me most places.

eyoungren · Aug 8, 2014

128keaton said:
My last TiBook had the same issue. But, my original 500MHz TiBook is solid. Maybe you were just really unlucky. I treat my TiBook as a laptop, meaning I bring it with me most places.

Well, I was the second owner and I got that laptop for Christmas 2001. I used it until November 2009, but I didn't REALLY use it until mid-2003. Sometime around late 2007 is when my son and I started going to Starbucks and that's when I decided to get an Airport card for it. So for the last two years is when it really saw heavier use.

However, it did see a year of daily use at work doing production work. I had a keyboard, mouse and monitor hooked up to it so my coworker could work. It wasn't until we got the G5 that there were two Macs in the department. Once that happened (Feb. 2005) the PB came home.

So, I can't complain about the use I got out of it because it did literally go everywhere. I just didn't start using it as my main driver until much later in it's life. By then is when it was starting to fall apart.

128keaton · Aug 8, 2014

eyoungren said:
Well, I was the second owner and I got that laptop for Christmas 2001. I used it until November 2009, but I didn't REALLY use it until mid-2003. Sometime around late 2007 is when my son and I started going to Starbucks and that's when I decided to get an Airport card for it. So for the last two years is when it really saw heavier use.

However, it did see a year of daily use at work doing production work. I had a keyboard, mouse and monitor hooked up to it so my coworker could work. It wasn't until we got the G5 that there were two Macs in the department. Once that happened (Feb. 2005) the PB came home.

So, I can't complain about the use I got out of it because it did literally go everywhere. I just didn't start using it as my main driver until much later in it's life. By then is when it was starting to fall apart.

Ah, thats why. But good on you for using it to its fullest.

bunnspecial · Aug 8, 2014

I'm sitting here typing this from my 867mhz TiBook, and doing so in preference to the unibody MBP that I also have sitting nearby.

I think that my TiBook has been badly treated in the past(I've only had it about two weeks) and it needed a new HDD cable, as well as a generous and strategic application of epoxy to the case bottom just to get it to stay together as it should. Aside from that, the hinges on mine are rock-solid, and the rest of the computer feels that way too.

I do need to track down a new battery, as the battery in mine will last all of 5 minutes, but aside from that it's surprisingly useable.

The screen is not as "flashy" as the LED backlit glossy screen on my MBP, I actually find it a lot more pleasant to use. If I'd been smart, when I bought my MBP I might have moved up to a 15" with a high-res matte screen, but Apple doesn't see fit to offer us anything similar to TiBook screen these days.

Enjoy your new one. I've certainly enjoyed mine.

128keaton · Aug 8, 2014

bunnspecial said:
I'm sitting here typing this from my 867mhz TiBook, and doing so in preference to the unibody MBP that I also have sitting nearby.

I think that my TiBook has been badly treated in the past(I've only had it about two weeks) and it needed a new HDD cable, as well as a generous and strategic application of epoxy to the case bottom just to get it to stay together as it should. Aside from that, the hinges on mine are rock-solid, and the rest of the computer feels that way too.

I do need to track down a new battery, as the battery in mine will last all of 5 minutes, but aside from that it's surprisingly useable.

The screen is not as "flashy" as the LED backlit glossy screen on my MBP, I actually find it a lot more pleasant to use. If I'd been smart, when I bought my MBP I might have moved up to a 15" with a high-res matte screen, but Apple doesn't see fit to offer us anything similar to TiBook screen these days.

Enjoy your new one. I've certainly enjoyed mine.

My battery latch is still having issues, but whenever it does charge, it lasts a good 30 mins, which is fine since most of the places I go to have outlets.

Graeme43 · Aug 9, 2014

I have the 500 and its manufactured week 15 of 2001. All thats wrong with it is the drive wont read DVDs... just spits them out. Real nuisance

Cosmetically the feet are gone... one time I moved it along my desk and it melted the feet into rubber streaks on my desk lool

and the bottom case is splitting off and been glued back on before where that mad cement like stuff lost its grip

Guess I can try ebay for a bottom panel. The white paint is all perfect which is crazy

It is my favorite Mac

I used to say I wanted to be buried with it in the end lol

catzilla · Aug 9, 2014

Yeah, this my favorite classic laptop. I wish I could remember why I upgraded to the Albook 1.25. I did have problems initially with the paint, but they replaced the casing when it went in for warranty repairs and it came back without the IR module, but that's another story. I was editing videos at work at the time, that must have been it. Faster 'book with a SD.
I have to post some pictures of this $26 beauty!

128keaton · Aug 9, 2014

Graeme43 said:
I have the 500 and its manufactured week 15 of 2001. All thats wrong with it is the drive wont read DVDs... just spits them out. Real nuisance

Cosmetically the feet are gone... one time I moved it along my desk and it melted the feet into rubber streaks on my desk lool and the bottom case is splitting off and been glued back on before where that mad cement like stuff lost its grip

Guess I can try ebay for a bottom panel. The white paint is all perfect which is crazy

It is my favorite Mac I used to say I wanted to be buried with it in the end lol

How can you tell the Manufacturing date?
Nevermind. Mine was week 3 of march of 2001. My Classic is the same too, haha.

eyoungren · Aug 9, 2014

128keaton said:
How can you tell the Manufacturing date?
Nevermind. Mine was week 3 of march of 2001. My Classic is the same too, haha.

Hmmm. Mine was younger than I thought. October 2001 (original logic board).

Model introduced: 2001
Serial number: QT1391XFL98 Nice Name:
Machine Model: PowerBook3,2
Name: PowerBook G4 (Titanium / Jan 2001)
ModelCode: pg4
Family name: M5884
Model Number: M7952
Group1: PowerBook
Group2: G4
Generation: 1
CPU speed: 400MHz
Screen size: 15 inch
Screen resolution: 1152x768 pixels
Production year: 2001
Production week: 39 (October)
Production number: 2225 (within this week)
Model introduced: 2001
Memory - flavour: PC100-S-100
Memory - number of slots: 2
Factory: QT (Quanta, Taiwan)

Here's a part of what's left of it after I took it apart to get the LCD out. Note the destruction in the corner of the top case.

Graeme43 · Aug 10, 2014

Seems they all came from Taiwan back then :apple:

My TiBook also has a baby bro (500 iBook) from 2001 as well

eyoungren · Aug 10, 2014

Graeme43 said:
Seems they all came from Taiwan back then

My TiBook also has a baby bro (500 iBook) from 2001 as well

What Mario game is that in the picture?

My son has the Titanium DVI (1Ghz) and he'd be totally interested in any Mario games that run on his Mac.

Graeme43 · Aug 10, 2014

twas snes9x and super mario world rom. I have a real SNES and the game but I only have VGA & HDMI inputs these days

eyoungren · Aug 10, 2014

Graeme43 said:
twas snes9x and super mario world rom. I have a real SNES and the game but I only have VGA & HDMI inputs these days

Thanks! Of course my son tells me "I have that already" once I show it to him, LOL!

Graeme43 · Aug 10, 2014

I actually completed the game few years ago on Wii virtual console

Was nice to see snes9x worked on 10.2.8 lol

I just done a fresh 9.2 on my iBook and copied it over to my Ti since the drive kept spitting out my cd lol. The thing needs a new drive badly lol

PowerMac G4 MDD · Aug 10, 2014

Graeme43 said:
They are so awesome I love mine so much

I got a VGA (I think 600 or 667Mhz, 1GB RAM) model from someone and it was such a nice laptop. So thin, even for today... light, good and familiar iBook/PowerBook keyboard, unique trackpad. The thing was in my laptop bag and must have stayed on. It fried to death

I had only had it for some months before this happened.

Graeme43 · Aug 11, 2014

I threw 10.0 on it for a laugh

Finally got a decent TiBook.

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