Buying a Used Powerbook G4

[kelvinz]

Hi,

I'm new to the G4 powerbooks and don't really know much about them. I'm mostly a PC user but I use to own a firewire G3 powerbook. I really love apple laptops and am looking at buying a used G4.

My main question to you is which of the powerbooks is the most stable and reliable? I've heard the early generation (400mhz) have cd/dvd loading problems and some of the g4's have problems with the screen hinges?

Also what's the end user result of apple changing from titanium casing to a aluminum casing?

Thanks, feel free to inforrm me on anything else I might of missed!

 

[yoda13]

I personally feel that the new aluminum cases are far more sturdy than the old titanium ones, but that is only an opinion, I am sure you could find plenty of people to disagree with me. The airport reception is better on the new books. I had a 500mhz TiBook for a few years and it was great, had not hinge problems, etc. However, by the time I got rid of it, the case wasn't nearly as tight feeling as when I got it, and I baby my computers. That being said, I beleive that there are known hinge issues with all the tibooks made before the end of the summer last year, so that is something to keep in mind. I believe I read something that said Apple switched the material they were using to make the hinges along about that time, but I couldn't find anything to link to here. So be careful in purchasing your new old book, but enjoy it. As long as you are careful what you buy, you could get a very nice computers

 

[jxyama]

also, Al PBs have more clearance room between the screen and the keyboard so the screen being imprinted with keyboard marks are non-existent now...

i'd go with Al, if you can.

 

[kelvinz]

i see, how do the speeds compare?

 

[jxyama]

i see, how do the speeds compare?

i think with the exception of rev. A 12" PB (867 MHz with 256k L2 cache), all other Al PBs are faster than the fastest Ti PB (1 GHz).

 

[parrothead]

I just sold my Tibook 500 and I can tell you it was a great computer. The hinge problems came from people holding only one side of the screen when they moved it. That caused stress on the hinges and caused them to crack. If you do get a Tibook or even a Albook, it is a very good idea to hold the screen in the middle or with one hand on each side when moving it. Luckily I was always careful about that and I had no problems.

I also had problems with the infamous cd drive. But, after installing a new one (which wasnt hard to do myself) no more problems. So if you end up looking at a Tibook take a close look to see if there are any cracks on the hinges.