A Semester's Worth of Laptops

[bunnspecial]

I just wrapped up yesterday with what will be my final TA(teaching assistant) assignment of my graduate career.

This was an upper-level(500 level) course that met once a week. I had six students who were the most part pretty self-sufficient. They were also a lot of fun, as all were fairly laid back unlike in lower level labs. I also had a 50:50 ratio of MacC users, including one who had a nice black Macbook.

In any case, I told the students at the beginning semester that I was going to use a different Mac laptop every week we met, and that I thought I had enough to make it through the whole semester.

I just finished up yesterday, and accomplished my goal(something I was quick to point out to the students). The last one I used was a 15" Macbook Pro that I got off here and was delivered-quite literally-an hour before the lab to the FedEx store down the road. I spent the time in lab(when I wasn't actively working with the students or doing other prep work) installing Mavericks.

Admittedly, I did get a few reprieves through the 15-week semester. The first week was taken over as lecture time, we met in my research lab twice and I only used a laptop one of those weeks, and we lost two meeting days to snow days.

Here's the full list-I used a lot of PPC Laptops, although I did stick some Intels in there out of necessity(particularly on weeks where I knew I'd need to spend a lot of time on Blackboard during the lab).

13" Macbook Pro
12" Powerbook(two different ones)
15" A1138 Powerbook
17" A1139 Powerbook
867mhz TiBook
1ghz Ti Powerbook
1.2ghz iBook G4
Pismo 500mhz
13" Black Macbook
13" White Macbook
15" pre-Unibody Macbook Pro

I had a couple more "in reserve" and probably could have made with a few more meeting weeks. I have a second 1ghz TiBook, a 400mhz TiBook, and another iBook G4 that needs a hard drive. I have a big box full of 12" Powerbooks that a member on here sent me, and could have spent the time(if I'd had it) putting one of those together.

You'll notice the lack of iBook G3s on the list. The reason for that is that all iBooks lack PCMCIA slots so I can't put an Airport Extreme compatible card in one to connect to the school networks. The encryption, even on the "public" networks, is advanced enough that I can't even see the school networks with a regular Airport card. I would have loved to bring a Clamshell in . That's why I was able to use the Pismo(running 10.4), however.

I was even tempted one to haul in a Cube and Cinema display to set up, but thought that would be a lot of trouble and would still leave me with the Airport problem. An iMac G4 also came under consideration.

 

[128keaton]

I just wrapped up yesterday with what will be my final TA(teaching assistant) assignment of my graduate career.

This was an upper-level(500 level) course that met once a week. I had six students who were the most part pretty self-sufficient. They were also a lot of fun, as all were fairly laid back unlike in lower level labs. I also had a 50:50 ratio of MacC users, including one who had a nice black Macbook.

In any case, I told the students at the beginning semester that I was going to use a different Mac laptop every week we met, and that I thought I had enough to make it through the whole semester.

I just finished up yesterday, and accomplished my goal(something I was quick to point out to the students). The last one I used was a 15" Macbook Pro that I got off here and was delivered-quite literally-an hour before the lab to the FedEx store down the road. I spent the time in lab(when I wasn't actively working with the students or doing other prep work) installing Mavericks.

Admittedly, I did get a few reprieves through the 15-week semester. The first week was taken over as lecture time, we met in my research lab twice and I only used a laptop one of those weeks, and we lost two meeting days to snow days.

Here's the full list-I used a lot of PPC Laptops, although I did stick some Intels in there out of necessity(particularly on weeks where I knew I'd need to spend a lot of time on Blackboard during the lab).

13" Macbook Pro
12" Powerbook(two different ones)
15" A1138 Powerbook
17" A1139 Powerbook
867mhz TiBook
1ghz Ti Powerbook
1.2ghz iBook G4
Pismo 500mhz
13" Black Macbook
13" White Macbook
15" pre-Unibody Macbook Pro

I had a couple more "in reserve" and probably could have made with a few more meeting weeks. I have a second 1ghz TiBook, a 400mhz TiBook, and another iBook G4 that needs a hard drive. I have a big box full of 12" Powerbooks that a member on here sent me, and could have spent the time(if I'd had it) putting one of those together.

You'll notice the lack of iBook G3s on the list. The reason for that is that all iBooks lack PCMCIA slots so I can't put an Airport Extreme compatible card in one to connect to the school networks. The encryption, even on the "public" networks, is advanced enough that I can't even see the school networks with a regular Airport card. I would have loved to bring a Clamshell in . That's why I was able to use the Pismo(running 10.4), however.

I was even tempted one to haul in a Cube and Cinema display to set up, but thought that would be a lot of trouble and would still leave me with the Airport problem. An iMac G4 also came under consideration.

Thats awesome man! What might be a good idea for your clamshells or cube is get a WiFi -> Ethernet adapter. I have one just for this purpose, and I can get very good speeds. Since the actual WiFi chip is modern, you can utilize full speeds over your Ethernet jack. These can be a bit expensive, but aren't very hard to find.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

For a real challenge, do one week with a PowerBook 5x0!

 

[128keaton]

For a real challenge, do one week with a PowerBook 5x0!

Or, dare I say, a legal pad and a pen!

 

[bunnspecial]

Or, dare I say, a legal pad and a pen!

Believe it or not, as a chemist I still do a lot of pen-and-paper work.

I carry and use a fountain pen every day(I've been using the same main one for 4 years now) and especially when I'm teaching I frequently make notes and calculations for solutions I'm making up.

The IT store at school gave away a bunch of scratch pads of varying sizes a little while back from "recycled" paper. At their encouragement(since no one else was taking them) I loaded up on them. They weren't true processed, recycled paper but rather "virgin" paper that had been cut and repurposed-some of them, for example, have envelope security backing on them, so I'm guessing they started out as envelopes. Most are 30lb+ paper and are very fountain pen friendly(when using fountain pens, you very quickly learn that not all paper is equal)-I jot a lot of notes and do a lot of calculations on those.

I always keep a few legal pads around for taking notes in meetings and places like that. Typically the department ones are "lowest bidder" and vary a lot in paper quality. The most recent batch were 25% recycled and 75% sugar cane fiber. Sugar cane has a great reputation among fountain pen users, and these were no exception-they are superb. Since I go through one legal pad about every 6 months, I grabbed a couple extra of those and stashed them in my desk for future use(it's hard to say what the next batch they order will be like). I also have a couple of "University of Kentucky" legal pads that were given to me, and I like to pull those out during basketball season

 

[weckart]

Thats awesome man! What might be a good idea for your clamshells or cube is get a WiFi -> Ethernet adapter. I have one just for this purpose, and I can get very good speeds. Since the actual WiFi chip is modern, you can utilize full speeds over your Ethernet jack. These can be a bit expensive, but aren't very hard to find.

They are cheap as chips.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Repeater-150Mpbs/dp/B007PTCFFW.

Smaller than it looks, but boxy.

Asus does a nice Apple-like version, the WL-330NUL, with an Apple-like price to match.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Multi-Mode-Pocket-Router-WL-330NUL/dp/B00CWIRMRC

Edimax does a budget version of the Asus router

www.amazon.com/Edimax-Wireless-Personal-Hotspot-BR-6258nL/dp/B00ADHPP6Y

You can probably find a used one of any of the above on eBay for a few dollars.

 

[128keaton]

They are cheap as chips.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Repeater-150Mpbs/dp/B007PTCFFW.

Smaller than it looks, but boxy.

Asus does a nice Apple-like version, the WL-330NUL, with an Apple-like price to match.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Multi-Mode-Pocket-Router-WL-330NUL/dp/B00CWIRMRC

Edimax does a budget version of the Asus router

www.amazon.com/Edimax-Wireless-Personal-Hotspot-BR-6258nL/dp/B00ADHPP6Y

You can probably find a used one of any of the above on eBay for a few dollars.

We got a Netgear one from WorstPurchase for around $25. Not too bad.

Believe it or not, as a chemist I still do a lot of pen-and-paper work.

I carry and use a fountain pen every day(I've been using the same main one for 4 years now) and especially when I'm teaching I frequently make notes and calculations for solutions I'm making up.

The IT store at school gave away a bunch of scratch pads of varying sizes a little while back from "recycled" paper. At their encouragement(since no one else was taking them) I loaded up on them. They weren't true processed, recycled paper but rather "virgin" paper that had been cut and repurposed-some of them, for example, have envelope security backing on them, so I'm guessing they started out as envelopes. Most are 30lb+ paper and are very fountain pen friendly(when using fountain pens, you very quickly learn that not all paper is equal)-I jot a lot of notes and do a lot of calculations on those.

I always keep a few legal pads around for taking notes in meetings and places like that. Typically the department ones are "lowest bidder" and vary a lot in paper quality. The most recent batch were 25% recycled and 75% sugar cane fiber. Sugar cane has a great reputation among fountain pen users, and these were no exception-they are superb. Since I go through one legal pad about every 6 months, I grabbed a couple extra of those and stashed them in my desk for future use(it's hard to say what the next batch they order will be like). I also have a couple of "University of Kentucky" legal pads that were given to me, and I like to pull those out during basketball season

I love working with pens/mechanical pencils. My favorite brand is Pentel, my favorite pencil being my P207D and my pen is their Energel 0.7mm with a metal point. My second favorite is their RSVP series, especially their fine one.

 

[Gamer9430]

Now this... Is an achievement! Any plans for that box of PowerBooks now that you have more spare time?

 

[mzs.112000]

We got a Netgear one from WorstPurchase for around $25. Not too bad.




I love working with pens/mechanical pencils. My favorite brand is Pentel, my favorite pencil being my P207D and my pen is their Energel 0.7mm with a metal point. My second favorite is their RSVP series, especially their fine one.

I will use pens/pencils on legal pads, usually to take notes, and jot down ideas when I am away from a PC, because I don't like typing on a smartphone.

 

[bunnspecial]

Now this... Is an achievement! Any plans for that box of PowerBooks now that you have more spare time?

Well, I'm not quite done yet so the spare time hasn't materialized...but I'm hoping to put together a couple of working laptops out of it. Beyond that, I don't know.

 

[Gamer9430]

Well, I'm not quite done yet so the spare time hasn't materialized...but I'm hoping to put together a couple of working laptops out of it. Beyond that, I don't know.

Ah ok; and very nice!

 

[A.Goldberg]

At this rate, by this time next year you'll have enough mac laptops to bring a different one to school every day!

That's quite an accomplishment, an odd one, but you have quite the collection going for yourself. Pretty cool man.

 

[bunnspecial]

They are cheap as chips.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Repeater-150Mpbs/dp/B007PTCFFW.

Smaller than it looks, but boxy.

Asus does a nice Apple-like version, the WL-330NUL, with an Apple-like price to match.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Multi-Mode-Pocket-Router-WL-330NUL/dp/B00CWIRMRC

Edimax does a budget version of the Asus router

www.amazon.com/Edimax-Wireless-Personal-Hotspot-BR-6258nL/dp/B00ADHPP6Y

You can probably find a used one of any of the above on eBay for a few dollars.

Thanks for the suggestions-I know you've recommended them before, so I'm anxious to give one a try.

I ordered the first one to which you linked.

 

[bunnspecial]

At this rate, by this time next year you'll have enough mac laptops to bring a different one to school every day!

That's quite an accomplishment, an odd one, but you have quite the collection going for yourself. Pretty cool man.

I'm pretty much done with laptops, although I do still want the full G3 Powerbook series and the pre-DLSD Powerbooks in 15 and 17." Wallstreets are uncomfortably pricey for me. I'm sort of hunting for a last generation iBook G4, although it's not a high priority. I wouldn't mind a 68K Powerbook, but I'm not a fan of trackballs

On the Intel front, I'm sort of looking for three, although they really aren't a huge priority. My roommate has an Aluminum Macbook that I've really been trying to talk him into selling me. He never uses it and was unemployed for 6 months, but is not budging on getting rid of it. I'd like a plastic unibody Macbook and a mid-2012 15" with a matte hi-res screen. I also wouldn't mind a 17"(preferably Unibody) somewhere along the way, although the graphics issues scare me off. The 2012 15" models are okay with graphics issues, but there are a LOT of issues with 15 and 17" GPUs in both unibody and pre-unibody models. I'm just hoping that my 2008(non-Unibody) has lasted long enough that it's safe.

 

[A.Goldberg]

I'm pretty much done with laptops, although I do still want the full G3 Powerbook series and the pre-DLSD Powerbooks in 15 and 17." Wallstreets are uncomfortably pricey for me. I'm sort of hunting for a last generation iBook G4, although it's not a high priority. I wouldn't mind a 68K Powerbook, but I'm not a fan of trackballs

On the Intel front, I'm sort of looking for three, although they really aren't a huge priority. My roommate has an Aluminum Macbook that I've really been trying to talk him into selling me. He never uses it and was unemployed for 6 months, but is not budging on getting rid of it. I'd like a plastic unibody Macbook and a mid-2012 15" with a matte hi-res screen. I also wouldn't mind a 17"(preferably Unibody) somewhere along the way, although the graphics issues scare me off. The 2012 15" models are okay with graphics issues, but there are a LOT of issues with 15 and 17" GPUs in both unibody and pre-unibody models. I'm just hoping that my 2008(non-Unibody) has lasted long enough that it's safe.

Wait, you have a roommate? How does he physically fit in your abode with the extensive mac collection?

I have a PowerBook 140 laying around somewhere back at my parents house in storage somewhere. I guess it's special because it's the first generation of PowerBook (100/140/170). Interestingly Sony helped design the product. My quick research suggests the following base model differences...
PB 100 - 68000 16MHz processor, 2mb RAM, 20mb HD, no internal floppy.
PB 140 - 68030 16MHz processor, 2mb RAM, 20mb HD, internal floppy
PB 170 - 68030 25MHz processor, 2mb RAM, 40mb HD, internal floppy, modem
The base prices range from $2500 to $4600. It says the RAM upgrades were propriety are cost $300/2mb. And that's 1991/1992 money too!

The last time I booted it up it ran just fine except for the battery (obviously). Maybe 4 years ago I tried to fire it up but I couldn't find the charger. If I remember correctly it is the PB 140, 16MHz, 8mb RAM ( ), 40mb HD, with a modem. I want to say it ran OS 7.x. It also has a portable inkjet canon printer for it as well. It's only black and white, but who cares when the PowerBook's 9.8" screen is B&W too! My mom used that thing for years before eventually giving it to my grandfather, and then eventually to me. I guess I could call that my first laptop, but by the time I got the thing it was so obsolete. I couldn't get ink for the printer and that must have been 1998 - 2000.

If I can dig it out I'll send it to you for free since your such an avid collector. I won't give up the matching MessagePad 120 though

 

[bunnspecial]

Wait, you have a roommate? How does he physically fit in your abode with the extensive mac collection?

Well, we do live on separate floors of a townhouse, and I try to keep stuff from spilling out too much. I also think he recognizes the value of basically living in a computer parts store (something he's taken advantage of more than once) so doesn't complain at all.

He's pretty anti-Mac but I still throw him a bone every once in a while. I gave him a Quicksilver several months back that he's had fun installing Linux on, along with several other odds and ends along the way.

 

[lowendlinux]

Wait, you have a roommate? How does he physically fit in your abode with the extensive mac collection?

I have a PowerBook 140 laying around somewhere back at my parents house in storage somewhere. I guess it's special because it's the first generation of PowerBook (100/140/170). Interestingly Sony helped design the product. My quick research suggests the following base model differences...
PB 100 - 68000 16MHz processor, 2mb RAM, 20mb HD, no internal floppy.
PB 140 - 68030 16MHz processor, 2mb RAM, 20mb HD, internal floppy
PB 170 - 68030 25MHz processor, 2mb RAM, 40mb HD, internal floppy, modem
The base prices range from $2500 to $4600. It says the RAM upgrades were propriety are cost $300/2mb. And that's 1991/1992 money too!

The last time I booted it up it ran just fine except for the battery (obviously). Maybe 4 years ago I tried to fire it up but I couldn't find the charger. If I remember correctly it is the PB 140, 16MHz, 8mb RAM ( ), 40mb HD, with a modem. I want to say it ran OS 7.x. It also has a portable inkjet canon printer for it as well. It's only black and white, but who cares when the PowerBook's 9.8" screen is B&W too! My mom used that thing for years before eventually giving it to my grandfather, and then eventually to me. I guess I could call that my first laptop, but by the time I got the thing it was so obsolete. I couldn't get ink for the printer and that must have been 1998 - 2000.

If I can dig it out I'll send it to you for free since your such an avid collector. I won't give up the matching MessagePad 120 though

Those were the days I took a PowerBook 140 with me to college in 1994.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

In 1996, my dad won a contest from one of the big Mac "mall" type mail order places (might have been MacMall, or MacConnections, or whatever.) $2500 "shopping spree."

He could get a minimum-spec then-brand-new PowerBook 1400cs.

He passed down to me his PowerBook 5300c. I became the only person in my college to own two laptops. (I had an old 386 laptop I had bought used off a coworker before heading off to college.) I was already one of the extremely few to have a laptop at all. Now all of a sudden I had what was still a quite decent laptop (the 5300c,) plus an old laptop. (Plus my desktop computer.)

The funny part was that the PowerBook 5300c he "handed down to me" actually belonged to his work, not him personally. Although since he was in charge of IT procurement and inventory, it's not like anyone was going to miss it...