If you are looking for inexpensive without having to buy a beater you might look for A1013s. Those are the first 17" PowerBooks and while they lack USB 2.0 you can get a PC card for that. Additionally, they are the ONLY 17" AlBooks with L3 cache.
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Club 17
- Thread starter eyoungren
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Two of my colleagues use those nice old displays with Apple notebooks that are far more modern. I'm certain that they could request larger, higher resolution displays but they really enjoy using the old displays.
Yeah, in my MacBookPro5,2 the optical drive failed a long time ago. It was rarely used so I ignored the failure, I occasionally use a USB-powered Blu-ray drive.
I was amazed to see a sad Mac icon shortly after I began using PC-BSD. It took me some to realise that it was the screen saver!
Don't need USB 2.0. Just need a hard drive to store and iTunes to play back. Literally.
Well, I mentioned it just in case you may at some point want to do that. The PC cards for this are like $8-10. But not a big deal if that isn't anything you need.
Most of these that I see come either with 60GB or 80GB hard drives. It's rare to see 100GB or 120GB.
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Well, I plan on taking the other iPieces off the drive (i.e. iMovie, iPhoto) because they're simply not needed. Then I am putting around 20GB of audio on it and a few DVD images. The only reason why it would run out of hard drive space is because I underestimated the amount of DVD images I'm placing there.
Ok I need some opinions here.
Just found this listing for a 17" PB, it is well within my driving range, so I'm looking for unbiased and honest opinions as to whether or not this might be a good deal.
I've compared the price to ebay listings and it seems to be in the ball park, the only concern I might have is the model (1.33 GHz).
What do you think, could this be my chance to join the club?
Just found this listing for a 17" PB, it is well within my driving range, so I'm looking for unbiased and honest opinions as to whether or not this might be a good deal.
I've compared the price to ebay listings and it seems to be in the ball park, the only concern I might have is the model (1.33 GHz).
What do you think, could this be my chance to join the club?
Looks like a decent Mac James.
The HD can always be replaced, 50GB after all. That's pretty small. The 1.33 is the mid-model but it does come with 2GB ram and no dead pixels.
I'd say go for it. Just might surprise you how nice these larger laptop Macs are.
I love my 1.33 with 2GB and 80GB. It's fast, works well, and looks great. Only complaints about mine is that the latches don't always keep the heavy screen down as well as the fact my battery only lasts a 1/2hr. Other than that, it's an awesome machine and I say you go for it!
You can fix that.
Get a refrigerator magnet and a pair of needle nose pliers. Use the magnet to draw the hooks out of the slots (grab one with a hand when it comes out).
Use the pliers to SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY bend the hook forwards or backwards a little bit at a time. Close the lid and see if the lid catches. If it's worse, you bent the hook in the wrong direction so try the other way.
Also, since this is aluminum the lid can slowly migrate over time out of position. You can combat that by placing your Mac inside whatever you carry it in in the opposite direction you normally place it in periodically.
Yes magnets.
They aren't just for hard drives.
Last summer-holidays there had been plenty much time for (un)foreseeable things to happen... - like a 17"PB.
I've put some stickers onto it to hide scratches.
Like that view of the tiny crazy-driving Apple behind the steering wheel...
Screen size is gorgeous but I don't dare to use it that often. So my 15"PB DLSD, which needed a lot of attention, when I first got hands on it, is my main driver.
I've put some stickers onto it to hide scratches.
Like that view of the tiny crazy-driving Apple behind the steering wheel...
Screen size is gorgeous but I don't dare to use it that often. So my 15"PB DLSD, which needed a lot of attention, when I first got hands on it, is my main driver.
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Hey guys, i just found this topic! I'm still using an old, pre unibody (but absolutely fully upgraded) MacBook Pro 17" in every day (with Sierra) because of my iMac 27" is not portable.
Recently booted from ZFS on a 16 GB USB flash drive:
As things turned out, over the past few months I did occasionally boot from the SSHD.
Whilst Apple System Information and Disk Utility find nothing wrong with the S.M.A.R.T. status of the disk or its HFS Plus startup volume, ZEVO reveals thousands of checksum errors in the part of the disk that's not limited to HFS Plus. The scrub, which I deferred for months, began a few hours ago and should end within three hours; I might post details to the APFS topic.
How is this 17" MacBook Pro with a FreeBSD-based system?
One extraordinary issue:
- I have not yet discovered how to control the brightness.
- the Broadcom hardware is not open source-friendly, so I use an old USB wireless adapter
- wake from sleep probably will not work.
One of the things I love about my model PowerBook G4. It's old, it lacks USB 2.0 (fixed with a PC card) and it's the first model so no dual layer burning and no hi-def screen.
But it's got L3 cache! Something the other models of 17" PowerBook don't have.
But it's got L3 cache! Something the other models of 17" PowerBook don't have.
If only they had...
My 933 Quicksilver has 2Mb L3 and although it benchmarks lower than my 1.33 books it feels faster in use.
I keep peeping into this thread, and for some time have been longing to be a member. In the 16 months or so since I've been looking for a 17", I've seen a number advertised, but my problem is (like many of my collection) I search for almost 'like new' condition, which I realise isn't particularly realistic. Plus I wanted the very last 17" PowerBook model.
My wish may finally have come true. I've just answered an ad which read, "The laptop is in immaculate condition, with no scratches and virtually no trace of wear, with practically a new battery as the computer has always been used from mains power."
Too good to be true? The detailed photos I've requested should hopefully speak for themselves. Watch this space............
My wish may finally have come true. I've just answered an ad which read, "The laptop is in immaculate condition, with no scratches and virtually no trace of wear, with practically a new battery as the computer has always been used from mains power."
Too good to be true? The detailed photos I've requested should hopefully speak for themselves. Watch this space............
Today I fell into the occasion of a 30€ PB-G4 1.5GHz 17" ... Couldn't resist.
Unfortunately the trackpad isn't working. Seems to need a replacement wristrest/touchpad/kb?
Unfortunately the trackpad isn't working. Seems to need a replacement wristrest/touchpad/kb?
Try disconnecting the ribbon cable from the logicboard and wiping the contacts down with a soft cloth. Then reinsert the ribbon and see if it works.
Sometimes, if you are in and out of the case a lot the contacts on that cable can get dirty and it won't work.
If this does not work, then yes, you need a new keyboard/trackpad.
So true. Even when refitting the keyboard carefully after re-connecting the ribbon cable, without the addition of a strip of Kapton tape, the ribbon cable can slip off it's MB connection. I installed an SSD to my son's G4 15" Powerbook last year, and noticed that the original piece of Kapton tape was hardly doing it's job, so cut two new strips to ensure that once connected, the ribbon cable would remain in place whilst carefully lowering the keyboard into place.
Incidentally this same PB has all of a sudden refused to boot. To be the subject of a new post.
Today I removed the upper case to look, what's under the hood. Easy job indeed compared to other models!
Looks like spilled coffee had been the reason for malfunction - lucky, the logic-board or other parts were not affected.
Summary of the things, that didn't work before my drastic cure: Touchpad not working, keyboard has no backlight, the cursor2right key doesn't work.
Then I removed the keyboard off the upper case and gave it a really big wash with hot water from the tap and even after that, there had been some stuff left to be removed manually with a toothpick and the whole thing needed a wash again.
The ribbon, that comes from the touchpad was tightly attached to it's connector - maybe sticked to the connector by remnants of coffee...
I wonder how things turn out after spring-clean and reassembling everything.
Update: spring-cleaning and reconnecting the cables unfortunately didn't help. Nothing better - nothing worse. Seem like I have to go for an upper-case assembly...
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Good chance the battery is still dead after hanging on the mains for 12 years.
Otherwise it's possible the PB is still near mint.
Yes you could be right about the battery. However I've just re-checked the ad and I omitted in my translation, "the computer has always been used from the mains without the battery." This implies it was removed. Anyway time will tell. If it lives up to the condition of the photos received, I'll willingly buy a new battery if necessary.
That's too bad!
At least you know what the problem now is though. Fortunately, the coffee only killed the top case.
Yes, the 17" is easy to work inside. One of the reasons I had such difficulty with my wife's 12". I made the assumption that Apple had made it easy to work inside the 12" as well and that was NOT the case!
Although I'm not yet truly 'in the club' yet, pls allow an additional question.
Other than the obvious screen, upper case, and battery, are there internal components that are interchangeable between the 1.67GHz 15" & 17" models?
Other than the obvious screen, upper case, and battery, are there internal components that are interchangeable between the 1.67GHz 15" & 17" models?
Some maybe.
The DC-In board is special to the HD DLSD model. So is the LCD and not just because it's higher resolution. Apple changed the logicboard connector for the LCVD cable for the HD model.
I know the ambient sensor/speakers are different.
Possibly the sound board, modem, Airport Extreme Card, LCD clutch hinges and maybe some other really basic parts are the same.
But in general the HD DLSD models are their own Macs.
If you have just the basic 1.67 model though, the standard res version you should find it easier. The same DC-In Board will work across all models except for the HD-DLSD version.
A proud new member!
Just received. A 17" 1.67GHz PowerBook5.7
As previously mentioned I've been after an immaculate example for quite some time. And this certainly fits the bill.
Currently with 1GB RAM which I plan to max out to 2GB
Just received. A 17" 1.67GHz PowerBook5.7
As previously mentioned I've been after an immaculate example for quite some time. And this certainly fits the bill.
Currently with 1GB RAM which I plan to max out to 2GB