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How to Prepare 17" PowerBook for sale

K

ktraphagen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2008
9
0
I have a 2004 17" PowerBook. It served me well before I got my first MacBook Pro in Dec 2006. My husband has used it since then. He accidentally got his foot caught in the powercord and dragged it off a desk once (those magsafe cords would have saved him), so it has a rather nasty looking dent on one front corner (the display is fine, just the keyboard section has the dent).

Now he is getting my MacBook Pro because I got a Unibody MacBook Pro. The 17" is still running fine, display is great, etc. I want to list it on Craigslist to sell it.

How should I prepare it for its next owner? I have the newer Leopard disks that we upgraded with. Should I use those or do I need to use the older PowerBook disks that originally came with the PowerBook. Any suggestions on what I should ask for it? Like I said, it's running great, but that dent has damaged the case pretty badly.

Thanks
 
K

ktraphagen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2008
9
0
Specs

PowerBook G4, 17"
1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 (1.1)
1 GB DDR SDRAM
80 GB Hard-drive (has been replaced from original by Apple)

Any other questions?
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Well if you use the new Leopards discs, you need to include them when you sell the computer; as with prepping it, you will be selling the machine as-is and when you install from the install DVD, go to Tools—>Disk Utility, select the HDD, select 'Secure Wipe', then select Zero-Out. The give the drive a name (Macintosh HD), and then click Erase. This will wipe the drive and make data uncoverable (by the masses). After the erase (which will take a few hours), install the OS, but do not set up; just turn off the computer after installation.

You can clean you computer if you want like wiping the case down—to make it look better.

Just a heads up, if the Leopard discs are upgrade disks, then you will want to do the zero out then run the original restore discs.
 
K

ktraphagen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2008
9
0
OK, so since we bought the "family pack" for the Leopard OS, then I guess we cannot install that on the PowerBook we are selling because we would have no disks to give to them.

Is it even worth a try to sell a PowerPC PowerBook with the original system and disks? Would anyone want it? I've actually never sold my replaced laptops before!
 
E

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
2
Seriously, don't worry about it. Most people do a leopard upgrade along with the usual suite of 'must have apps' and even get away with it on ebay. You won't get in trouble. Not saying its right or anything but this board is generally void of ethics anyway.

Anyway, as long as the price is right, it could be a good value. Don't expect to get top dollar for it, especially when you can get a brand new macbook or macbook pro. Since it has the large dent, i'd say no more than 350 or so, maybe even 275-300 for a quick sell. The twelve inchers sell for more because of their portability, but the 15" and 17" don't fetch as much. Even the first gen macbook pro took a large hit when the unibodies came out, and the powerbook will be deemed 100% obsolete by 10.6.
 
JamesGorman

JamesGorman

macrumors 65816
Dec 31, 2008
1,123
1
Winnipeg
just install leopard on it but dont go through the set-up. As for giving the discs to them, i guess you really cant, since you bought the family pack and want to keep the discs for yourself. just tell them that and tell them where to buy and how much new leopard discs would be. that shouldnt be a problem anyway cuz most pc's dont come with the restore discs anyway. But im sure someone would like to buy it.Even if it is older, ppl will always find uses for things.
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
Well if you use the new Leopards discs, you need to include them when you sell the computer; as with prepping it, you will be selling the machine as-is and when you install from the install DVD, go to Tools—>Disk Utility, select the HDD, select 'Secure Wipe', then select Zero-Out. The give the drive a name (Macintosh HD), and then click Erase. This will wipe the drive and make data uncoverable (by the masses). After the erase (which will take a few hours), install the OS, but do not set up; just turn off the computer after installation.

You can clean you computer if you want like wiping the case down—to make it look better.
 
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