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12" Powerbook!

Wow, this thread made a comeback. Except now its, "who got the best deal on their powerbook." It looks like a lot of you got better deals than me, as the seller definitely did not sell me a mint condition laptop.

Its got the warping problems next to the latch, and now it acts weird. After carrying the laptop around in a bag, when I press the latch release, the display doesn't spring up. I have to pull it up like a macbook.

Regardless, I love this notebook so much guys. I don't even touch my current mac. One thing though... do any of you know a fix for this sluggish leopard spotlight? I already maxed out the RAM free (so subtract from my purchase:D).
 
Another grievance that i have: is it normal to get the spinning beach ball forever when loading a DVD movie on my PowerBook?

CDs work fine n installing MS Office 2008 was ok too but movie DVDs just don't seem to work. Can it be the SuperDrive???

I'm now considering returning this thing to the seller on ebay assuming he'll take it back without giving me hell.
 
I got one too!!

After waiting for apple to replace the 12" FOREVER.., I finally gave in and bought a MBP. The bad thing was I gave my 12" 1.33 iBook to my mom for christmas and I began to get envious of her. haha. Don't get me wrong, my macbook pro is lovely but nothing will replace the 12" unless apple does it again. Imho, not even the air touches it considering the years that separate it. Oh, and to make matters worse, my mom is the type that eats, drinks, and pokes the screen, ahhh. My once beloved mac is now being tortured. I hate seeing that so I had to get me another one, but this time I got myself a powerbook 1.5 . It is in awesome condition and one tiny dent on the bottom. A couple of keys didnt work but I fixed those rather quickly. It came with a sleeve charger, good battery, and box all for $450. Wooohooo!! :D:D Another apple box and mac to add to the collection.
 
frogcat said:
Please powerbook owners give me some encouragement for my purchase, or else I will feel completely regressive and ridiculous. haha
Click to expand...

I bought one to replace my MacBook. I have fitted it with a 250GB HDD. I love the little thing. I have a MBP now for the grunt work and also for writing my dissertation on, but I truly love the 12" PB and too had wanted one for years.
 
I have a MBP 2.16 with 3Gb RAM, and a few weeks ago I had the urge to dive into the 12" scene. I had just really wanted one for a long time, so I splurged on an ibook G3 for around $210. Not too bad a deal, but I would love to sell it an get a powerbook G4. Maybe when they start selling for less...in about 3-4 years!
 
I have the original 867 12" PB, AND the life size Yao Ming and Vern Troyer advertising stand. I love my little PB and still use it when I travel. My son had it at college while his MacBook went in for repair (Beer on the key board is a big no no) and all his fraternity brothers thought the PB was the coolest thing they had ever seen. Three of them have made me offers to buy it. If Apple were to reintroduce the 12" I would buy it in a flash. :D:apple:
 
I have a 12 in PB, 1.33GHz, 80GB that I purchased back in September 2004... it now runs leopard, and other than the slowness with startup it is awesome!!!
I LOOVE IT! I will however sell it to my BF to upgrade to a MBP since I am starting grad school. But it is staying the the family, so it's ok!
I love how well it works, despite my using it in school among my books in a home-made sleeve and during at least 4 intercontinental trips!:D:apple:<3
 
jjahshik32 said:
ever since the mba has come out the pb 12" price came down from $850 to around $550-$650.
Click to expand...

thats not the reason for the price drop, the value of the 12 pb actually went up because so many people were disappointed with the mba... the price has dropped recently because the eventuality of apple dropping powerpc support is on the horizon...
 
thechidz said:
thats not the reason for the price drop, the value of the 12 pb actually went up because so many people were disappointed with the mba... the price has dropped recently because the eventuality of apple dropping powerpc support is on the horizon...
Click to expand...

The value did not go up on the powerbook if it has then the price would go up.

Also its quite the opposite because the mba was apples best selling notebook for a while making it more popular and alot more people putting the 12" pb on ebay and the prices droped a good $250.

Trust me I've been through 2 12" pb just a year ago and it was easily sold for $800-$900 the 1.5Ghz model and right after the introduction of the mba the prices went down and now you can find plenty for $550-$650ish on ebay.
 
All this 12" PB talk has me crying about my old one that I only had for a week before it was stolen 3 months ago. I had just bought it online and it was stolen from me a week after. I was soo upset over it. It wasn't even a money issue. It was something I really adored and loved.
I now own a white MB which is great but I just wish they would bring back the 12" PBs as the size was perfect for me.
 
micol124 said:
I have a 12 in PB, 1.33GHz, 80GB that I purchased back in September 2004... it now runs leopard, and other than the slowness with startup it is awesome!!!
I LOOVE IT! I will however sell it to my BF to upgrade to a MBP since I am starting grad school. But it is staying the the family, so it's ok!
I love how well it works, despite my using it in school among my books in a home-made sleeve and during at least 4 intercontinental trips!:D:apple:<3
Click to expand...

I had an 12" iBook 1.33 that I mentioned earlier running leopard. I know what you mean by the slow startup times. However, that was before I tore into mine and upgraded the hdd, superdrive, and maxed out the ram. If you get the urge it put a 7200rpm drive in you will notice a pretty big difference in situations like that. Im actually considering doing it to the Powerbook and the Macbook Pro. Oh, and good luck "giving your mac to a family member." Somehow, they just dont seem to treat it the same as you.
 
I have had my 1.33ghz for 4 years now! It's been my workhorse computer nearly the entire time, including two years of college. I can't bring myself to get rid of it and get a "modern" computer... I fully expect to use it for the rest of college and (hopefully) med school.

It's very slow at flash, and Spotlight is pretty sluggish too. I use it REALLY heavily though--as of now I have 12 windows open. I'm considering getting one of those 12" Sony Vaios with the 10 hour battery. I'm losing faith in Apple because they refuse to release another 12" or smaller machine :( I don't understand the point of the MBA, it's not like thickness really matters inside of a computer bag. Footprint is what matters!
 
hey all just found this post :D

i got my 12" G4 1.33,1.25,80 and i want to know who has upgraded the hdd?

also i paid £300 (including the 1gb ram stick and a new top case and bottom case) the other was scratched a bit on the top and the bottom corner is dinged and the left side is a bit bent.

but it is worth it.

doing it up to be spangly :D

anyone who has upgraded the hdd in the 12" please pm or message in this thread.

kris
 
monkey86 said:
hey all just found this post :D

i got my 12" G4 1.33,1.25,80 and i want to know who has upgraded the hdd?

also i paid £300 (including the 1gb ram stick and a new top case and bottom case) the other was scratched a bit on the top and the bottom corner is dinged and the left side is a bit bent.

but it is worth it.

doing it up to be spangly :D

anyone who has upgraded the hdd in the 12" please pm or message in this thread.

kris
Click to expand...

I upgraded mine to 250 GB from 100 GB. A 2.5" ATA hard drive of any capacity will work.
 
how was the install was it complicated? im also replacing the top lid (no bother) and the bottom case (scared!) let me know ill probably go for the 250 WD mentioned in another post.

also are the firewire/usb caddies useful? as i would like to turn the 60gb in here in to a external harddrive :D
 
I just found this thread, having just finished reinstalling the stock 10.3 on my old 12" (1.5ghz, 1.25gb, 80gb superdrive). I have a lot of love for mine, and it has been VERY good to me. Unfortunately, I just don't need it anymore now that I've upgraded to a Penryn MBP, only due to a bigger screen requirement, so it's sadly going up for sale soon. It's definitely one of the best laptops I've ever used!
 
frogcat said:
Please powerbook owners give me some encouragement for my purchase, or else I will feel completely regressive and ridiculous. haha
Click to expand...

We have one at work in our office that we called back from a user who we upgraded to a brand new macbook.

It inspired awe from the Dell engineer who was helping me configure one of their new SANs last week. Funnily enough, his works issue laptop was 'in the shop' for some reason or other and he had to bring his own personal one on site. It was an HP!
 
To Monkey86...and whoever else interested

I upgraded my HDD and put in a SuperDrive in my 12" 1.33 iBook around a year ago. I know that my 12" PowerBook is a little smaller than the iBook, which is now my Mom's :( (Christmas gift) but I would imagine it would be pretty similar. If you have never taken anything apart, ESP your primary mac:) move slowly, don't rush, work in a clean, spacious environment and keep the screws together!
As far as the drives go, I put a 7200 100gb drive in it which appear to be nearly extinct now. I actually started a thread on it bc I was thinking of upgrading the PowerBook bc the iBook is speedy on startup and getting files.

The external housing for your old drives work great. I actually use a drive from an ibook g3 for misc stuff.

Good luck with what you decide and if you have questions I'll try to help. I'm not sure if you have heard of ifixit.com but they have great guides. I'm not sure if they have a guide for our mac(sure they do) so if you would like I can try to dig up some pictures for you for help/encouragement!
 
To Monkey86...and whoever else interested

I upgraded my HDD and put in a SuperDrive in my 12" 1.33 iBook around a year ago. I know that my 12" PowerBook is a little smaller than the iBook, which is now my Mom's (Christmas gift) but I would imagine it would be pretty similar. If you have never taken anything apart, ESP your primary mac move slowly, don't rush, work in a clean, spacious environment and keep the screws together!
As far as the drives go, I put a 7200 100gb drive in it which appear to be nearly extinct now. I actually started a thread on it bc I was thinking of upgrading the PowerBook bc the iBook is speedy on startup and getting files.

The external housing for your old drives work great. I actually use a drive from an ibook g3 for misc stuff.

Good luck with what you decide and if you have questions I'll try to help. I'm not sure if you have heard of ifixit.com but they have great guides. I'm not sure if they have a guide for our mac(sure they do) so if you would like I can try to dig up some pictures for you for help/encouragement!
Click to expand...

thanks for the replay im looking at putting a WD Scorpio in (250gb 5400rpm) so any help will be awesome, ive taken apart macs before but this one is fragile and i want to use it for a few more years! also putting new top and bottom cases on xD

if you have any pics etc wpould be good to see them and ifixit.com is quality :)
 
I wonder who here has the most travelled 12" PB? Mine has been to...

US
Canada
Mexico
Mainland China
Tibet
UK
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Belgium
Netherlands

It's got lots of dents to show for it :)
 
Solid purchase. I still use my 3yr old 12" PB 1.5Ghz, 1.25GB RAM as my main computer. I am still running Tiger on it...don't want to overload it and why fix what isn't broken?
 
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