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Battery from Operator.Headgap website? - Any info??

D

DouglasCarroll

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2016
430
465
Hi Everyone,

I have a 17" powerbook G4, the High Res Model, and the battery finally gave up the ghost and swelled. (How awesome is that!!)

Anyways, the only halfway legitimate battery I can seem to find is here...

Mac-Batteries.com MacBook, MacBook Pro, iBook and PowerBook Batteries

MacBook, iBook and Powerbook batteries at low prices. Apple desktop computer batteries. Pram batteries in stock. Buy replacements 3.6V, 4.5V, Coin Cell for Mac Mini, iMac G5. MacBook, MacBook Pro, PowerBook and iBook power supplies,
biz.headgap.com

HOWEVER, for $125 it had better be the most primo-awesome-stellar battery ever made...

Has anyone here ever ordered anything from this website, or especially a powerbook battery, and have any info on the quality????

Thanks!!

:)
 
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Operator Headgap have been around forever, I remember ordering from them in the early 90s...so, yes, what you will get is legit. I think its just a 2 person company these days, they must be in their 70s now. Their website still looks like it was designed in 1998. Their prices have always been a little high, typical of a small outfit. You are probably buying a legit original Powerbook G4 battery, I think 125 for a battery in a computer that is worth half that, if that, is ridiculous, I'd buy a cheap third party one. I understand the risks, but I have a cheap 25 dollar battery in my Macbook Pro 2008, and you know what, it does the job. Unless of course you are planning on handing down that masterpiece of PowerPC engineering to your grandkids as an heirloom or something...
 
Thanks for the insight, it's what I was expecting to hear. I'm leaning heavily towards chucking the Powerbook in the recycle bin at work and calling it a day. Bummer though, it's the last model of 17" with the larger resolution and, aside from the battery, is in perfect condition (max ram and an ssd installed also). Too much of a huge pain in the ass to try and eBay then ship in my opinion though for the most likely small amount of money I'd end up with. Also trying to find a decent shipping box for that huge laptop sounds like a pain in the ass. Oh well, lesson learned on trying to keep older technology when you can't, reasonably, purchase replacement parts for.

Thanks again!!

:)
 
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@DouglasCarroll Do not do that. These notebooks have not been in production for over 15 years at this point in time, and are getting rarer by the year.

Since the 17" models were designed as desktop replacements, and are rather unwieldy for portable use anyway, you could just as easily hook it up to its power adapter and have it live on a desk, which would also be an excellent use case for this model.

However, if it really is too much of a bother for you to maintain, I implore you to work up the strength to give it to any one of us, who will be more than happy to take it off your hands. It does not deserve to die because it happened to find itself in a bad situation, especially when it is of an especially scarce variety.
 
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@Raging Dufus

DouglasCarroll - Last seen: Sunday at 4:46 PM

Post #4 made on Sunday at 5:11 PM

Alas, my hopes are not high. :(

-

Thank you Apple, yet again, for teaching the gullible populace the wasteful, consumerist, ideological cancer known as 'disposable technology mentality' to eck out that much more profit at the cost of both the consumer and hardware value.

The only good things Apple has ever done is PowerPC, CUPS, and Darwin. Otherwise, I firmly believe that the world would have been better off without them. Had there been no competitor business, Micro$oft might not even be alive today thanks to the antitrust breakup in the late 90's.

Had it not been for the iPhone, Nokia would have lived on.

The industry as we know it would not have been blindly obsessed with thinness of everything (the kind matters not; computers are not supposed to be bulimic). And notably, the industry today would not be following in Apple's footsteps and glue the battery, solder the RAM, bake-in the storage (and quite possibly in the future make use of "special screws" to lock out the user), as an increasing number are now doing "because it's cheaper and maximizes profit".

... In any case, I'm sure this PowerBook lived a long and fulfilling life while it had it.
 
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I'm still looking for a reasonably priced solution for the battery, haven't chucked it "quite" yet...

Sure, I could use the laptop as a desktop only, but to me that's kind of like having a car without tires but keeping it just so I can sit in it to listen to the radio....kind of defeats the whole purpose of the "portability" thing...

Honestly I can't believe there isn't someone anywhere on the planet earth who will rebuild batteries at a reasonable price if you send in the old pack...this isn't rocket science it just takes a spot welder, which I don't have and am not going to buy. Christ, there are idiots everywhere who will 3-d print anything you can dream up but there isn't ANYONE who can safely and properly rebuild a battery pack?

Bizarre....
 
I happened to check this site again today and was suprised to see they have practically (?) ALL PPC laptop batteries NEW back in stock!

Mac-Batteries.com MacBook, MacBook Pro, iBook and PowerBook Batteries

MacBook, iBook and Powerbook batteries at low prices. Apple desktop computer batteries. Pram batteries in stock. Buy replacements 3.6V, 4.5V, Coin Cell for Mac Mini, iMac G5. MacBook, MacBook Pro, PowerBook and iBook power supplies,
biz.headgap.com

Just a heads up for anyone looking for a legit (?) battery.

😀

…also I ended up finding an Apple original battery for my G4 Powerbook with only 35 !!! Cycles on it that works great so I’m good with mine!
 
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