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What to do with my "Pismo"

Disavowed

Disavowed

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2009
143
0
Midwest
In 2001, when I wasn't anywhere near as wise from these forums, I bought the last Pismo due to a price reduction. I love the keyboard, screen, and it is in FLAWLESS condition aesthetically.

That said, the battery is dead and the thing won't even power up anymore. Does it just need a new battery? Are these issues, for this model, somehow related?

Finally, I hate the thought of it sitting in my basement gathering dust when someone who loves Macs may think this is the perfect gift for a grandchild or something like that. Should I just try and sell it? Should I fix it and sell it? What do you think I could get for it in either circumstance? I know it will run Tiger....but I have neither the time, money, or expertise to "bring it up to speed".


Any ideas?


Thanks!

p.s. Still have box, original disks, EVERYTHING.
 
Unplug the computer and press the reset button on the back between the modem and video out ports. Wait about 5 seconds and plug it back in. See if that starts it up.
 
Hrududu said:
Unplug the computer and press the reset button on the back between the modem and video out ports. Wait about 5 seconds and plug it back in. See if that starts it up.
Click to expand...

And VOILA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's A-L-I-V-E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I am somewhat embarrassed forgetting about the reset buttom, I am happy to report that it booted right up and was surfing in less than a minute. Looking at old papers from grad school was PRETTY weird! I am stonished by the fact that it just picked up where it left of. This is a machine that has not seen daylight since early 2004!!!!

Any ideas on price?
 
everymac.com says the 400mhz pismo has a value between $250 and $350 and the have the 500mhz pegged between $275 and $400. Pretty reasonable for a 10 year old laptop IMHO.
 
while i love teh/my pismo, i would guess that the $200 range would be for the collectors/wackos only. i have never seen a decent pismo go for much over $100 and yes, i check and watch these things on lots of different sites. damn ebay and the crazy price sites.

with that said, great pics, original box/stuff, list it on ebay with a great listing, and you might get lucky.

or else, about $100. best of luck.

PS. i love my pismo! PPS it's not that useful anymore, but i don't care!! :apple:

EDIT: for what it's worth, mine has not had the PRAM battery plugged in for years. boot, reset time from web, surf!
 
I just decommissioned by 1999 Pismo. Sad to see it go. It had never been turned off since I bought it USED in 2000. Never crashed. Great laptop.
 
I lost a 1998 Wallstreet in a burglary a couple of years ago. God knows why they took that and left the new Mac Mini next to it, especially as the Wallstreet was not exactly immaculate.

It was my first ever Mac and Post XFacto enabled it to run Tiger. Sedately.
 
robivy64 said:
I used to love mine. I had a 500 MHz Pismo with 512 MB RAM. Good times indeed.
Click to expand...


Mine is the 500MHz with 1GB of RAM (I think, it's 1 GB, 500 MHz for sure)


That think is so clean, cool, and holds up looks wise. Love the fact that all the inputs are covered and in the back. EXCEPTIONAL design that looks surprisingly modern and new.

Thanks everybody! :D
 
I'm still running my Pismo. It's not my main laptop but when my daughter snags my MBP I take my trusty Pismo and surf the net with it. It's still reliable and I have spares just in case I need to repair it...:D

I have the following for my Pismo:
- 500Mhz G3 processor
- 900Mhz G3 processor (very rare)
- 550Mhz G4 processor (in use)

I have spares:
- logic board
- LCD
- PRAM
- keyboard
- AC/Sound board (these seem to fail the most)

1Gb RAM and 120Gb hard drive. I am still using the original Airport card that's inside my laptop with no issues. The screen backlighting has been replaced since having my Pismo. Since there's no replacement LCDs maufatured for the Pismo....

Anyway, there are some who say that the Pismo has outlived it's usefulness but I disagree. Depending on what you are going to use your computer for, in this case - internet surfing/emails, my Pismo is prefectly adequate for this need...:D
 
Disavowed said:
In 2001, when I wasn't anywhere near as wise from these forums, I bought the last Pismo due to a price reduction. I love the keyboard, screen, and it is in FLAWLESS condition aesthetically.

That said, the battery is dead and the thing won't even power up anymore. Does it just need a new battery? Are these issues, for this model, somehow related?

Finally, I hate the thought of it sitting in my basement gathering dust when someone who loves Macs may think this is the perfect gift for a grandchild or something like that. Should I just try and sell it? Should I fix it and sell it? What do you think I could get for it in either circumstance? I know it will run Tiger....but I have neither the time, money, or expertise to "bring it up to speed".


Any ideas?


Thanks!

p.s. Still have box, original disks, EVERYTHING.
Click to expand...

try taking the power cord out, then take out the battery, and the put the power cord back in and power on. hope it works! and If you want to sell it sell it on ebay, cause not many people sell old mac on amazon so people don't look there, but people always look on ebay for old mac, cause people always sell old mac on ebay! Who knows, maybe I'll buy it! p.s. don't sell it over $50.00 cause people won't want to buy it! Hint, Hint! :apple:
 
Upgrade it, My iMac G3 crashed when trying to run youtube for an example, but once I upped the RAM to 1GB and installed a faster HDD the thing would run youtube flawlessly!

These old machines go un noticed very frequently.
 
macgenius09 said:
try taking the power cord out, then take out the battery, and the put the power cord back in and power on. hope it works! and If you want to sell it sell it on ebay, cause not many people sell old mac on amazon so people don't look there, but people always look on ebay for old mac, cause people always sell old mac on ebay! Who knows, maybe I'll buy it! p.s. don't sell it over $50.00 cause people won't want to buy it! Hint, Hint! :apple:
Click to expand...
He's had it back up and running since July BTW.
 
G3 500 Mhz Pismo was my first "new" Mac, I had to retire it about four years ago because the display had those colored stripes running down it. I think it was fine with an external monitor I'll have to dig t out and try it again.

It was a great machine for it's time and a bit after, too.
 
Pismo is a very special Mac.

1. It showed up in advertising years after it was discontinued. I still see one everyone once in a while in advertising.

2. I had the 500MHz version with 1MB of cache. No laptop could touch it at the time.

3. Final Cut Pro came out about the same time. Editing DV on a laptop? We take that for granted now. It was a showstopper back in the day.

I'd keep a Pismo if I still had one I bought originally. I think that will be a Mac to have in 25 more years.
 
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