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Powerbook G4 Stolen!!!

That sucks big time. In reality, you have little or no chance of recovering it.

You do need to take a look at your insurance though. A $2200 deductible is ridiculous unless you are only seeking protection for major things. Homeowners insurance is cheap. I had to obtain an insurance license a while back and realized I was way underinsured. I doubled my protection, added full replacement value and changed my deductible from $250 to $500 and it only cost an additional $93 a year.
 
You need to cruise the local pawn shops ... I have recovered several laptops for customers this way. Apple computers RARELY if EVER come into Pawn shops ... but give it a week.

Also put Apple laptop, G4 Powerbook, Apple notebook into a local 30 mile radius personal search on eBay and have it for the next 60 days ... I have found one this way too.

Further, if you don't recover it ... you can get one of the many tracking utilities from several different companies and install it on your laptop ... it costs something like 19.99 for 2 years ...

Further, you should make it really difficult for novice crooks to use ... password protection, etc and keep the restore disks in a separate place. This way they might have to go to an Apple service facility to reset the password.

You can alert local apple "guys" to your theft as well ... I actually recovered a high ranking Apple Employee's laptop this way.
 
Ferrence said:
Well, I left my house for an hour today to go to the gym and came home to find that my home had been broken into to. I realized that my Powerbook G4 15" 80 GB, digital camera and all my DVDs and CDs were taken. My Home Owners has a b.s. $2,200 deductable that won't even cover the Powerbook.

The police were here and filed a Case# to it, and took photos, etc. And, when I called Apple to report it missing, they said that they don't like to get involved... WTF?!

So, my question is: Is there anyway to track a stolen laptop there the Airport card whe it's near a Wi-Fi connection? I thought I heard something about this and wanted to know if it's true.

Please, any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Craig
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I feel for you, I do.

Keep your fingers crossed - you never know, you might get lucky and recover it somehow. On the other hand, you can remind yourself that by stealing from you, this person has probably stored up a lot of bad luck for the future.
 
Like everyone else here, I am sorry you have to deal with this...I agree that it is almost impossible to recover your PB.

Some ideas [some previously discussed]

* if the person is local, check for the person using the PB in an unsecured network.

* go to the local apple store, best buy, compusa, and give them all the info you can and hope the jerk who stole it will take it there to wipe the system.

* watch your local craig's list or ebay.

Lastly, I agree with some previous posts that there should be a way to track a computer if stolen, computer lojack, where if they try and access the internet it will be detected and the owner is notified. I think this is possible to accomplish without infringing on people's privacy.
 
I remember there was a service where they would install a program on your hard drive that would activate when you reported your computer stolen and would help the company find your laptop or they would buy you a new one, but they dont support macs or if they are even around still.
 
that's too bad

janey said:
there isn't much you can do, unfortunately. what I do remember is that the serial and all applicable mac addresses (ethernet and airport, usually) are on a sticker on the box the computer came with, but that'll do you no good.

keebler - even with a connection to the internet, that's not humanely possible. it's like saying to dell: here's a serial number for one of your computers. we want you to find it NOW, assuming it's connected to the internet....
it just can't be done. an IP is a different matter, but you can't go sorting through all the computers on a network looking for serial numbers or mac addresses, it's just not possible nor feasible.

its also a different matter if you used the crontab that checks for a specific file on your webserver and the computer IS connected to the internet, but then again, that's still limited by the fact that you're relying on something that might or might not be there.

best of luck, but there isn't much you can do. unless of course you see the moron trying to sell it on ebay or a similar site, then you can contact the police and get them to follow up on that.
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thanks Janey. I was tossing ideas out there, wondering if it were possible b/c almost anything seems possible with computers.

Ferrence, sorry buddy :( I would also search your local newspapers for any selling ads. they might try that too.
 
thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Right now, I'm keeping an eye on craigslist, ebay, the local paper and even visted a few Pawn shops (I plan another go around tomorrow or Saturday).

My IT department also gave me a link to "Kismac" Since so many B&E's are done by neighbors, they may show up on a local network. I have to admit that I'm a little ignorant when it comes to something that complex.

If all else falls, the police were able to pull some fingerprints. If they really care about catching them, maybe the prints will match some priors. I'll keep my fingers crossed... pun intended.
 
Ferrence said:
The police were here and filed a Case# to it, and took photos, etc. And, when I called Apple to report it missing, they said that they don't like to get involved... WTF?!
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Apple has no power in this. That is like getting my car stolen and asking Ford to help. They have no way of helping. If I lost my cell phone, there is no blacklist of IMEI numbers and anybody with a SIM can just put their chip in my phone and have a working phone that you really can't trace.
 
No, I wouldn't call Ford if the car was stolen because a car doesn't necessarily have to go back to a Ford dealership. However, an Apple laptop has to be serviced by someone at Apple or Apple-educated.

The reason I wanted to call Apple was not to ask if they could replace it, but to put the Serial # into their system. That way, if it's brought in for service, or there is a "Software Update" they may be able to track it's general location. It doesn't really seem like that hard of a thing to do.
 
You should post more information, like where you are located and any identifying aspects of your powerbook, such as usernames or specific documents or something. Just in case someone happens to see a listing or ad with a powerbook in YourTown, USA. Was this "thief" smart enough to take your recovery CDs too?

The best way to recover it is letting everyone know to be on the lookout for it.
 
Good Point.

--------
Specs:
Break-in occured: Wed., March 29th, between 10:10am - 11:15am)
Where: In, or around Minneapolis, MN (Richfield, MN)

15" Apple Powerbook G4 1.5 GHZ/512 MB/80 G/Combo --
Serial # W85152LURG3
(It was loaded with an additional 1 Gig of RAM, however, it was in the batch of models where the lower memory slot has been failing, so it only shows 1 gig total; instead of the supposed 1.5 gig)

It also has a minor dent on the hinge (if it's in front of you with the lid closed, it would be to your left)

It also has AppleCare that would cover it until July 2008.

Also, they grabbed the power cord, and a WHITE clear Apple Mouse that they may try to sell with it. However, they did not get any Recovery discs or packaging!
------------
 
This is really a shame. Don't give up - if someone did steal it, they more than likely will try to sell it and not keep it for themselves.

What goes around comes aroud. Hopefully some good luck will be coming your way.
 
max_altitude said:
That really really sucks!

I've not heard of any way to track a laptop, as you've mentioned. Jack Bauer might be able to do it, but I don't think we common people have much of a chance.

Hope it all works out for you!
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Actually, Jack Bauer wouldn't have a clue as to how to track the stolen laptop. Cloe, on the other hand, could open a socket, set up a node and have Jack retrieve your laptop in under the 15 minutes it takes to travel anywhere, by SUV, in LA. :)

jbcaro
 
Ferrence said:
The police were here and filed a Case# to it, and took photos, etc. And, when I called Apple to report it missing, they said that they don't like to get involved... WTF?!
Click to expand...

The same thing happened to me a year ago, though my insurance covered everything. I reported the serial number to Apple (you never know, somebody might be stupid enough to send it to Apple if it needs to be repaired), but basically they told me that they couldn't care less.

The police also took some photos and finger prints, and I gave them the serial number.. well, all I can tell you is that you'll have to accept that you won't see your notebook again..
 
rickvanr said:
Tough luck. Hope you get it back eventually.

But.. why would you call Apple to report it missing? Do you honestly think they'd care, send you a new one? No.
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The answer to this is really simple, for those that care or have had one stolen before...if he, the owner, registered it with Apple and someone brought it in for service, some day, (say it was sold to another party) the serial number gets logged and it would come up stolen. This is what Apple told me, the police and the Insurance company when mine got stolen last year. Thus it would be held and the owner/insurance company would be contacted.
Those that wouldn't think of this or care (that bought a "hot" PB and/or had no clue) would just go about their day. So, when a problem happens, they might send it in or take it to get it fixed. Since it was reported to Apple, as said before, it would get flagged as stolen. When this is done there is a 95% success rate of recovery with said item (s) but more important someone gets caught, or leads to being caught for a crime.
 
It was me, I stole your notebook. Just kidding.

Maybe check ebay, they might be stupid and post it up on there.
 
This definitely requires some action... okay, the weekend is here. I suggest you knock on every one of your neighbor's door and question them about it. Watch their emotions as they answer you. Ask around. It was obviously someone close by since it happened within the hour. Just be assertive and your luck may change. :)
 
p0intblank said:
This definitely requires some action... okay, the weekend is here. I suggest you knock on every one of your neighbor's door and question them about it. Watch their emotions as they answer you. Ask around. It was obviously someone close by since it happened within the hour. Just be assertive and your luck may change. :)
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That and/or someone at work that knew you called off and then someone they knew waited for you to leave for a short time.
 
i know this doesn't really help this matter per se, but for the future or anyone else out there wondering about what they might do if their powerbook was stolen, there's always this option - undercover from orbicule. read the website to get the full detail, but i'd be very tempted to try it if i had a macbook with an isight...yeah, it would be sweet

http://orbicule.com/
 
vandy said:
i know this doesn't really help this matter per se, but for the future or anyone else out there wondering about what they might do if their powerbook was stolen, there's always this option - undercover from orbicule. read the website to get the full detail, but i'd be very tempted to try it if i had a macbook with an isight...yeah, it would be sweet

http://orbicule.com/
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That actually seems pretty cool, except I'd hate to see what happens if this company goes belly up or runs into major financial issues and decides hold peoples macs hostage.
 
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