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I really missed my 12" PB 1.5ghz...

California

California

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
I sold it here on MR last year. It actually had applecare through next month.

I bought a uni 2.4 Macbook Aluminum. Actually I went through four of them, a 2.0 and two 2.4s until I got a perfect one by last Thanksgiving.

Since I have a PMG5, the firewireless MB was completely annoying to me. I could not synch it up easily with fw. It existed in a separate universe unto itself. It reminded me of the first gen iMac G3s without firewire. You just can't do much with them because you can't boot off it with another Mac.

So, it sat. Plus, I don't know, but the PB 12" screen was somehow "taller" with the written page to me. And better. So I sold the unibody last month for 1200 bucks, thinking I'd get the new one. But then I thought, why? I'm on the PM all the time. I only use it for when I'm on the go. Why do I need a top of the line laptop?

So I am actually excited because I'm getting another 12" PB 1.5 today. Can't wait. I will max it out with the new 320gb hard drive and I am brave enough now I think to put in a dl superdrive. I still have my PB bookendz dock and accessories so I'm a very happy camper.

One thing... what will happen if I try to hook it up to my 30" ACD? Will it work at all? It's got only 64vram. But I don't care, I'll target disc it into my quad. I'm back in PPC heaven, go ahead and laugh!
 
The 12" PB was a great machine, especially if you could get the last model with the 1.5ghz processor. Apple needs to build something again that portable with all the ports/drives.
 
:( I miss mine too I sold it because the drive was messed up, it was in really good shape though
 
I'm still using mine. However, since getting an iPhone I'm really thinking of getting an 24" iMac next. I hardly use the PB anymore (the iPhone is that good) and would really like something with a large screen so I can edit family movies, pictures, etc.

I wonder how much I could get for it?
 
California said:
One thing... what will happen if I try to hook it up to my 30" ACD? Will it work at all? It's got only 64vram.
Click to expand...
It will work - somewhat.
I'm currently doing exactly that with my 12" PB (the slower 1.33Ghz mind you).

The PB can't output Dual Link DVI, only single. So you will not get the full 2560x1600. Luckily the 30" ACD is smart enough to detect this and adapts itself. However you don't even get 1920x1200, which is the maximum the PB's DVI could support, you only get 'quarter res', i.e. 1280x800, effectively pixels are doubled up in 2x2 'mega pixels'.
It's still a higher res than the built-in 12" LCD and that way you can still watch DVDs full-screen on the big 30" ACD, but it's not as high a resolution as the PowerBook is capable of (1920x1200).

This quarter resolution also works in dual screen mode, so you can use the 1280x800 plus the built-in 1024x768.

It's alright. Better than nothing.
 
whilst i do miss the machine overall...it was no longer practical for me due to poor Wi-Fi reception which is why i sold it in the first place
 
I still have my baby, and with room to max the ram, I think I can eek more life out of it. I recall seeing some on here for sale a while back for maybe $400-$500 or so.
 
I had two PB 12''s, the rev A, and the last one as well. I really liked it, it had all the features too which was a big plus. I do think that the bigger screens of the 15'' MBPs are a lot easier to use.
 
got rid of my 1.5 to pick up an imac during the first run of intel machines. regretted it many many times.

recently got the 13'' mbp and am very close to finally getting over the pb. it really was a great little machine.
 
I really love mine(slow 1.33 tho :() I also put in a superdrive from my dead iBook 1.42. That was a few hours there :D. Good luck with that! Also the 320gb drives are nice!

I'm thinking of maybe finding someone to trade for the 15". Did you buy it on CL?
 
Meh, the 12" Powerbook, while a cute form factor, was hardly a good machine. Poor screen quality, very washed out compared to the 15 and 17". No PCMCIA card slot, low end GPU compared to the 15 and 17" and didn't match the ram options of the 15 and 17". There's not much to miss, the 13"MBP is really a true Macbook Pro. The 12" Powerbook was a glorified iBook.
 
HLdan said:
Meh, the 12" Powerbook, while a cute form factor, was hardly a good machine. Poor screen quality, very washed out compared to the 15 and 17". No PCMCIA card slot, low end GPU compared to the 15 and 17" and didn't match the ram options of the 15 and 17". There's not much to miss, the 13"MBP is really a true Macbook Pro. The 12" Powerbook was a glorified iBook.
Click to expand...

Well at least the PB had a dedicated GPU. They just slapped a MBP label on a normal Macbook to boost their sales :rolleyes:.

Besides, the 13" MBP screen is no where as nice as the 15" and 17" MBPs either.

There also was no room for the PCMCIA slot and not many people used them anyways. Just like the ExpressCard slot which is why they dumped it. The 1.25gb limit is also crap and sucked that the late iBook capped at 1.5.:mad:
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Well at least the PB had a dedicated GPU. They just slapped a MBP label on a normal Macbook to boost their sales :rolleyes:.

Besides, the 13" MBP screen is no where as nice as the 15" and 17" MBPs either.
There also was no room for the PCMCIA slot and not many people used them anyways. :
Click to expand...

Riiiiiiight, that's exactly what Apple did. In fact everything in your post is correct. :rolleyes:
 
HLdan said:
Meh, the 12" Powerbook, while a cute form factor, was hardly a good machine. Poor screen quality, very washed out compared to the 15 and 17". No PCMCIA card slot, low end GPU compared to the 15 and 17" and didn't match the ram options of the 15 and 17". There's not much to miss, the 13"MBP is really a true Macbook Pro. The 12" Powerbook was a glorified iBook.
Click to expand...

+1

I have the 1.5 ghz version with decked out ram. While the exterior is nice, keyboard is great, and is very light, the components are so very slow. This thing can barely handle youtube, and anything remotely taxing puts the fans at max rpm - which btw is annoyingly loud. By today's standards, it is basically a nice looking netbook rather than a true laptop speedwise.
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
Well at least the PB had a dedicated GPU. They just slapped a MBP label on a normal Macbook to boost their sales :rolleyes:.

Besides, the 13" MBP screen is no where as nice as the 15" and 17" MBPs either.

There also was no room for the PCMCIA slot and not many people used them anyways. Just like the ExpressCard slot which is why they dumped it. The 1.25gb limit is also crap and sucked that the late iBook capped at 1.5.:mad:
Click to expand...

While it has a dedicated gpu, it has the fx5200, which benches at around integrated speeds. Really, back in its day it was deplored as a really bad card. Actually, back in the day if you remember, the ibook with its 9200 radeon card was lauded as faster than the fx5200, thus recommended over the powerbook for video work (ironically).
 
I still have my 1.33 12" PB with the original 60GB HD and 768MB RAM. In fact, I'm using it now. AppleCare ran out last year, I never even used it, everything still works. But the screen seems dim to me now, and it's slow handling many applications that I'm thinking of replacing it. It just feels like it's about time. Thinking of an MBA since I already have two faster Macs.
 
Well I got it home and cleaned off the topcase and it's in nearly perfect condition.

One 1/16th pin push on one corner.

The person who owned this obviously never used the "brigntness" button so the screen is actually bright for PB standards.

The ram limit in the PB12" was overcome somewhat by me with maxed ram and 250gig or a 100 gig 7200rpm hard drive. The 320 will be even faster.

Dashboard disabled, maxed ram, it's perfect for me on the go.

Now didn't one of you guys say you were going to "try" to shoe horn a new mac mini logic board into a PB 12" case...

someone on MR did.

Now that I'd like to see!
 
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