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My Powerbook Won't Die

They really don't build them like they used to. I just repaired my sister's 12" PB's DC card and it refuses to die. You'd be best just getting a new machine and honoring the PB with some kind of shrine as a monument to good engineering. Luckily (really not) the newer machines don't last half as long so you should be able to pick up a new one every two years or so from here on out. ;)

Don't kill the PB, just keep it around for brainless tasks like downloads or network stuff.
 
Same here. I have a 15" Powerbook G4. It just refuses to give up. It still has two hours worth of battery time. It's just that nowadays most software don't support non intel macs ...

... so I bought a 15" i7 last week.
 
If you want a new one, buy it (as long as you can afford it...). I'd keep the Powerbook and have it as a memento;)

Remember, you pay a lot for these machines, they are built better than quite possibly anything else, and will last for ages.
 
This thread really makes me miss my 12" PowerBook. If I could go back, I never would have sold it. That was a good machine.
 
oblomow said:
E's old laptop? So I'm not the only one giving hand-me-downs to his wife. :)

Nice photo/artwork btw.
Click to expand...

It was but I pinched it! I use it as a glorified netbook really. I have an 8 core mac pro for the heavy lifting. :)

And thank you. It's a decal but a really nice one.
 
iBlue said:
I have an 8 core mac pro for the heavy lifting. :)

And thank you. It's a decal but a really nice one.
Click to expand...

An 8 core mac pro? Luxury. I have to live in a hole in the ground, with nothing to eat, working 28h/day using a MBP. ( but I am happy )

Decal? (never mind, wikipedia was my friend)
 
oblomow said:
An 8 core mac pro? Luxury. I have to live in a hole in the ground, with nothing to eat, working 28h/day using a MBP. ( but I am happy )

Decal? (never mind, wikipedia was my friend)
Click to expand...

Oh don't be fooled. I have to power it from my refrigerator box in east london with a modified bicycle and streams of tears.
 
designgeek said:
They really don't build them like they used to. I just repaired my sister's 12" PB's DC card and it refuses to die. You'd be best just getting a new machine and honoring the PB with some kind of shrine as a monument to good engineering. Luckily (really not) the newer machines don't last half as long so you should be able to pick up a new one every two years or so from here on out. ;)

Don't kill the PB, just keep it around for brainless tasks like downloads or network stuff.
Click to expand...

*pulls out PowerBook G4 17"*
Just got a new battery for this thing, for when I'm at starbucks, and what is funny is, I was talking to a friend, who claimed his Core Duo MB was "faster in everything", compared to this G4. I told him that the graphics are better in the G4 (Radeon 9700 vs. GMA 950), but not by much, so I told him to play a certain game that was graphics dependent, and to his suprise, my G4 was faster, but not by much. Somehow, over the years, my family has collected various 'Books, and I have to say that for the appearance, the Aluminum G4s are the best looking, and the most dependable ones that we have.
 
the 12" powerbook g4 might go down as the most rugged apple laptop to date... so many people still using them... sounds like its good to keep you going for awhile... I would wait in the hope that someday they offer a matte screen 13"mbp... if you dont mind the glossy I think the 13" is a great machine and the current model should be pretty nice. It wont have the overheating issues the i5 and i7 models have seen (although with your usage, I doubt you would notice it)...


really I just hope my late 2009 13"mbp can last me 5 years or more and be as reliable as those powerbook g4's have been to all of you...
 
brendu said:
the 12" powerbook g4 might go down as the most rugged apple laptop to date... so many people still using them... sounds like its good to keep you going for awhile... I would wait in the hope that someday they offer a matte screen 13"mbp... if you dont mind the glossy I think the 13" is a great machine and the current model should be pretty nice. It wont have the overheating issues the i5 and i7 models have seen (although with your usage, I doubt you would notice it)...


really I just hope my late 2009 13"mbp can last me 5 years or more and be as reliable as those powerbook g4's have been to all of you...
Click to expand...

Macs are like chips..
You can't have just one.
I wish Apple would go back to a system where you could get the power of an 17" G4 in a 12" G4, or very near specifications. Now if you want a powerful computer, you have to go big, and pay for the big screen, when maybe you don't need it, but want a small system that is very powerful.
 
I still have an old 12" PBG4 too that refuses to die, the thing is a tank.

It has fallen many times, it has the dents to prove it.

It has had many parts replaced via AppleCare, but keeps on ticking.

The power cord has been ripped out so many times, once by a Rotweiler (SP?), that is is actually frayed (and kind of scary... I should replace that, if I ever use the laptop again).

The pain is worn away where your palms rest (not much, but it is) and the keys are beginning to break from overuse (the connectors underneath, not the actual key itself).

It also doesn't hold a charge anymore, but it's the original battery.

It's still chugging along, I definitely can't see any of the new laptops withstanding such abuse. I no longer use it, but I keep it as a memento :).
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
Macs are like chips..
You can't have just one.
I wish Apple would go back to a system where you could get the power of an 17" G4 in a 12" G4, or very near specifications. Now if you want a powerful computer, you have to go big, and pay for the big screen, when maybe you don't need it, but want a small system that is very powerful.
Click to expand...

yeah but they were able to make the 12" as powerful (or close to) by making it thicker than the 15 and 17" models... they dont seem to be willing to do that anymore with the 13"... I would be fine with it being a bit thicker if it meant I could have what the 15 and 17 offer in terms of hardware...
 
brendu said:
yeah but they were able to make the 12" as powerful (or close to) by making it thicker than the 15 and 17" models... they dont seem to be willing to do that anymore with the 13"... I would be fine with it being a bit thicker if it meant I could have what the 15 and 17 offer in terms of hardware...
Click to expand...

I looked at Mactracker, then I lined up the three sizes of G4 'Books that are in our house, and the 12" is 1.18" tall, the 15" is 1.1", and the 17" is 1" tall. I would definitely not mind an additional 0.18 inches of height in the 13" MBP to make it more powerful. The battery size and the location of everything in the 13", versus the 12" might be another reason why they could not make it more powerful.
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
I still have an old 12" PBG4 too that refuses to die, the thing is a tank.

It has fallen many times, it has the dents to prove it.

It has had many parts replaced via AppleCare, but keeps on ticking.

The power cord has been ripped out so many times, once by a Rotweiler (SP?), that is is actually frayed (and kind of scary... I should replace that, if I ever use the laptop again).

The pain is worn away where your palms rest (not much, but it is) and the keys are beginning to break from overuse (the connectors underneath, not the actual key itself).

It also doesn't hold a charge anymore, but it's the original battery.

It's still chugging along, I definitely can't see any of the new laptops withstanding such abuse. I no longer use it, but I keep it as a memento :).
Click to expand...


The saying goes "They don't make them like they used to.", and that unfortunately is true with Macs. It seems that the intel based 'Books are less reliable all around than the PPC 'Books. :(
 
HughJigo said:
..................
Click to expand...

set some goals/conditions concerning your next writing assignment; that it will be the element that pays for the new hardware, say an iPad and keyboard dock (or BT kb)


This way you're not simply buying something for the sake of buying it.

Think of it as effort being rewarded, vs just a gift to yourself.
 
Well don't try to kill it!
You can always sell that and put it into a new Mac, if you really want one. I'm sure you can get $100 to $200 minimum for that.

I'd probably sell it if I were you, but I know many people who wouldn't.
 
I say keep on using it until it's in the ground, especially if all you're doing is writing. My 12" iBook is still great for writing, DVDs (I did a slot-loading DVD drive mod a couple years ago), and email. OK so YouTube looks like a slide show and Hulu is out of the question, but you can't have it all.
 
Now that's just awesome, OP :D.

I bought a 12" Powerbook in Jan 2005 for university. It travelled with me every day at university, it went further and travelled with me to my girlfriends uni place. It survived being left on with a video on loop for my graduation show (along with my Dell monitor) for a whole week. I set the auto sleep/wake up and just left it behind a protective screen for 2 weeks with a script to make it load+loop the video, only had to check up on it every few days!
2 years ago I gave that PB to my dad since he bought me a unibody Macbook. It's had its first cosmetic damage in his hands, it's been dropped, also gets carried everywhere, had a drink spilled onto it. The only upgrade its had is a new battery. It really wont die. They're built incredibly well!

Now around the PB time I bought a high-end PC laptop. Pentium 4 3ghz, great graphics card, 15" etc... It lasted 2 years before the battery could no longer hold a charge and just over 2 years before the HDD started to crap out. We still have it but it takes about 30 minutes to boot up, an impossibly long time to do anything at all. Poor thing!
 
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