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i *LOVE* PowerBook G4 Aluminums!

What is your favorite PowerBook Aluminum

  • Total voters
    155
I have a 12" 1.33 Powerbook with 1.25GB RAM that I still use today. It's in perfect condition without a scratch on it anywhere. The screen is flawless. Nice size and weight. I upgraded to Leopard and it runs fine. The only thing I notice is that when I startup, it takes much longer to boot with the screen going from white to blue to white to blue and then my desktop. Not sure why. I did a clean install of Leopard and it still does it. With Tiger, it never did. Aside that, Leopard works beautifully on my Powerbook.
 
Spyharpy said:
I have a 12" 1.33 Powerbook with 1.25GB RAM that I still use today. It's in perfect condition without a scratch on it anywhere. The screen is flawless. Nice size and weight. I upgraded to Leopard and it runs fine. The only thing I notice is that when I startup, it takes much longer to boot with the screen going from white to blue to white to blue and then my desktop. Not sure why. I did a clean install of Leopard and it still does it. With Tiger, it never did. Aside that, Leopard works beautifully on my Powerbook.
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the upgraded graphics engine in leopard may be the culprit, Tiger had a graphics system better optimized for PPC Macs, My PowerMac G4 (733Mhz, 1.25Gbs RAM) would barely boot leopard (I had it hacked) but Tiger will boot fully before my 3rd party LCD TV/Monitor can start up. Thats faster than the Mac Mini I used to use.
 
I'm still loving it. 15" 1.67 GHz, 2GB DDR, 160 GB HD
 

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Archon Gold said:
I was thinking about saving up and getting a 17" 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4, does anyone know if these can still perform youtube fine (flash is the one thing that I am worried about.) I don't want to go with the 1.67Ghz models since they are the ones plagued with faulty LCD panels. =[



Same thing happened to my MacBook, that hunk of crap. It turned out to be a dead Slot Loading drive, It currently resides in my closet.
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Wow, I didn't know about the 1.67 models having LCD problems. I may not have bought it had I known that. Mine has been great for 3+ years, though. I had a family pack of Leopard with a couple of spares on it, so I upgraded my PB a few months back. So far, it's been fine with no major hits on performance. As far as Flash: It runs YouTube and Hulu fine, but just don't expect to do anything else on the machine. It absolutely thrashes the CPU and pegs it out. That's on standard def. It really doesn't like trying to run YouTube on higher quality.
 
steve2112 said:
Wow, I didn't know about the 1.67 models having LCD problems. I may not have bought it had I known that. Mine has been great for 3+ years, though. I had a family pack of Leopard with a couple of spares on it, so I upgraded my PB a few months back. So far, it's been fine with no major hits on performance. As far as Flash: It runs YouTube and Hulu fine, but just don't expect to do anything else on the machine. It absolutely thrashes the CPU and pegs it out. That's on standard def. It really doesn't like trying to run YouTube on higher quality.
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Awesome, I dont need it to do a whole ton of things, I just use light youtube, maybe some light video editing/capturing.

The 1.67Ghz 17" PowerBook G4's were plauged with this infamous problem

powerbooklcdlines.jpg


unfortunately, my Grandmother's iMac is suffering from the same problem, time for an upgrade for her.
 
I got my 12" Powerbook G4 November 2005. Upgraded the RAM to 1.25 gigs and upgraded the hard drive to a 100 gig 7200RPM. I love that Powerbook.

Don't use it as much as my Rev. C Air. BUT, when I first bought the Air it sat in the box for over a week. I was just to used to the Powerbook I found it hard to switch over.

The 12" Powerbook G4 was the best laptop Apple EVER made. Period.


(still waiting for the PB G5)
 
Wild-Bill said:
The 12" Powerbook G4 was the best laptop Apple EVER made. Period.
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I've had/have lots of Apple laptops, and I don't think I would hesitate to agree with you 100% on that. I loved my 867MHz model enough to buy the 1.5GHz to replace it. I also got my mom and girlfriend each hooked up with a 12" Powerbook.
 
just got a 12" 1.5Ghz Powerbook G4 :D it also came with the original box and accessories.

Pretty small and good build quality, though it can play youtube videos, it will max out the fans, still not as loud as my PowerMac G4 though.
 
Archon Gold said:
just got a 12" 1.5Ghz Powerbook G4 :D it also came with the original box and accessories.

Pretty small and good build quality, though it can play youtube videos, it will max out the fans, still not as loud as my PowerMac G4 though.
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Sweet,congrats on that.My next purchase will be 1.5Ghz 12in PB or Macbook.What ever I get a killer deal on.
 
Checking back into this thread... I used to have several of these. I had a 15" 1.67GHz PB for a while which I loved... granted, I got robbed when purchasing it ($800!) but it was a great machine and I do miss it now.

Another PB I had was a 12" 1.5GHz model which was super ghetto so I just sold it...

but now, I'm looking at one of these mofos.

20060403000128!PowerBook_G4_17.jpg


Anyone know how much I would have to shell out for a decent 1.5 or 1.67GHz 17er?
 
iMpathetic said:
Checking back into this thread... I used to have several of these. I had a 15" 1.67GHz PB for a while which I loved... granted, I got robbed when purchasing it ($800!) but it was a great machine and I do miss it now.

Another PB I had was a 12" 1.5GHz model which was super ghetto so I just sold it...

but now, I'm looking at one of these mofos.

20060403000128!PowerBook_G4_17.jpg


Anyone know how much I would have to shell out for a decent 1.5 or 1.67GHz 17er?
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Sadly, $700-$900 unless you eBay.
 
iMpathetic said:
Checking back into this thread... I used to have several of these. I had a 15" 1.67GHz PB for a while which I loved... granted, I got robbed when purchasing it ($800!) but it was a great machine and I do miss it now.

Another PB I had was a 12" 1.5GHz model which was super ghetto so I just sold it...

but now, I'm looking at one of these mofos.

20060403000128!PowerBook_G4_17.jpg


Anyone know how much I would have to shell out for a decent 1.5 or 1.67GHz 17er?
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http://www.wegenermedia.com/alum17.htm I bought my 15 inch from there. They have 15 inch MBP's for $600 too. Honestly, I would recommend getting a intel.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Not just the G4, but all of Apple's designs from that era. the iPod that came out at that time, with a MOVING WHEEL. like, physical responce.. that was the day. I still want a 12" G4 Powerbook... And I know that even if Apple were to make a 12" Macbook Pro, it wouldn't be as good as the 12" Powerbook.

Thanks Apple crap industrial designers. :(
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Agreed!!!

Not to mention the lineup back then was MUCH more complete than it is now, although Apple is getting better and filling the gaps somewhat.

Personally, the 12" Powerbook is by far the best of the computer era as far as design and performance and specs, etc goes.

The only thing I wish it had was a backlit keyboard, and an easier take apart method.
 
iMpathetic said:
Yeeeaaahhh.... I head the first gen MBPs had a bunch of teething issues though. I might not have $600 to spend. It might be closer to ~$400, which, you'd think, would buy a lot more Mac now than a year ago.
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If you get the 17" PB with 1440x900 I would not get a 1.5 or 1.67 because the screen could have the line issue shown about 11 posts back. I think the early mbp issues got worked out by the 2.16 models though.
 
iMpathetic said:
Yeeeaaahhh.... I head the first gen MBPs had a bunch of teething issues though. I might not have $600 to spend. It might be closer to ~$400, which, you'd think, would buy a lot more Mac now than a year ago.
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I recommend looking for a 12", they are great machines, I even own the last revision (1.5Ghz) 12" Powerbook G4.
 
Archon Gold said:
I recommend looking for a 12", they are great machines, I even own the last revision (1.5Ghz) 12" Powerbook G4.
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cult following = stupidly expensive :p

Eh, I'll poke around and see what I can find... getting some more cash money tomorrow (knock on wood) so my choices might expand a little.
 
Cassie said:
I'll never understand how you people can deal with resolutions that high. I guess my eyes are just bad.
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I'm no fan of the ultra-high displays (1440x900 is almost too much on a 15" for me), but I last time I used a Clamshell (800x600)...wow. So painful for web browsing, even iTunes! Great little machines, but I do wish they'd gotten the 1024x768 screens.
 
sysiphus said:
I'm no fan of the ultra-high displays (1440x900 is almost too much on a 15" for me), but I last time I used a Clamshell (800x600)...wow. So painful for web browsing, even iTunes! Great little machines, but I do wish they'd gotten the 1024x768 screens.
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the later revisions (firewire based iBook Clamshells) had 1024x768 displays.
 
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