Maybe there was something more robust about the components used back in the day because my first 15" PowerBook G4 (purchased in 2005) took a half a cup of milky tea on the display and keyboard when it was in use by a family member around 2012. I was able to fully resurrect that with only minimal replacement parts (display inverter board, keyboard circuit sheets and speaker kit). The PowerBook is still going strong after all these years too.
My first foray past a 400mhz TiBook was in November 2009 when the TiBook died (the first time). I replaced it with a 17" PowerBook G4 I scored for $152 on eBay. My first auction win on a PB I had always wanted.
Back then though, PowerPC hadn't come down to the rock bottom prices we usually see them at now. So, for my $152 I got a Mac with a bad screen (discovered later), all the external case screws missing and pitting on the left palm rest.
That Mac lasted until about 2013. But I got a good run from it. My T4Fx tweaks are because it had no CPU cache.
3 or 4 DC Inverter boards, a new LCVDS cable, new screen, new sound board, black electrical tape to fix the left speaker wiring, new optical drive, increased ram, a full set of case screws and oh yeah - 3 logicboard replacements.
At some point I had to give up on it. There's only so many times that you replace a broom handle and the bristles before you no longer have the original broom.
The current replacement for it though is mint. I was the first person to open it and it's perfect in every way. That is, until my son stepped on the power cord with his big-ass boots and caused the connections inside on the DC-In board to snap.
That was a couple months ago. Waiting on a new DC-In Board to arrive as I was finally able to order that. Of course, it's delayed. USPS was able to get two other things I ordered AFTER that here within a couple of days, but this part looks like it's taking the opposite direction around the world to get to me.
I took the opportunity however, since I am opening it to swap the board to order one of the mSATA adapters you use and a 128GB mSATA SSD to replace my 128GB spinner. I wanted 512GB but I settled on 128 because I reasoned I'm not using this Mac in the same way I was before so I don't need that.
Last known location of the mSATA was in San Francisco (it was shipped from China). I won't be surprised if it arrives before my DC-In board.
Meanwhile, the adapter got here early last week.
Ah well. I still need my tools. Buried somewhere in my garage. Hopefully I will come across them before all my parts get here.
The garage is another story…although a recent splurge on shelving has allowed me to begin getting organized.
