PowerBook G4

[joecool99]

powerbook G4 replaced logic board, dead firewire

followed ifixit guide. i'm pretty comfortable with hardware, but there is one port that they describe as modem connecter. it's impossible to attach it back to the new board.
so i left it unplugged as i don't care about the modem, but the FW 800 & 400 ports are dead. coincidence ?

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-PowerBook-G4-Aluminum-15-Inch-1-67-GHz-Logic-Board/640/6

 

[zudo]

Trusty PB G4

I'm still running my 1.5GHz 15" G4 from about five years ago. It's running tiger with 1gig of ram. Honestly, I've been desperate to upgrade for ages and will soon be buying a new macbook pro but I'm starting to feel bad about giving up this lovely old machine!

It really has been a great bit of kit and it's still mine and my wife's main computer - I even use it to edit photos using lightroom!! Yeah flash is slow and there are a few things I want to use that are intel only but it does cope with most stuff. The battery is utterly knackered though...

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it when I get the new machine, not sure I'd get much if I sold it so I guess it'll live on as a second machine.

Anyway, go for it, should be fine as a backup machine for you!!

 

[coleweiche]

Honestly, a powerbook g4 is good for word processing, iTunes, and casual surfing. That's literally about it, especially if running Leopard. I'm currently using a 1.67 GHz 15" with 1Gb of ram and a 250Gb hard drive. I've been using it for school for the last couple of years. It's good for typing and having portability, but I just ordered a new 15" 2.66 GHz i7 with the High Res screen, and I'm really excited about having several times more capability and power. I wouldn't give more than about $300 max for the computer you've described.

Bottom line, if you don't need much, it's fine. If you will need it for anything even remotely processor intensive, no way.

I'm using a 1.67 17" with 2 gb of ram and a 160 gb hard drive with 10.4 OS X and I use this thing to run all kinds of games, Age of Empires III being one of the most processing-hungry ones, and I use it to record my band's demos with. It works great for what we do, and we make really good quality recordings for what we have. I think you've got a great deal on your hands. I wish I'd found a deal like that when I bought mine. I spent $600. :/

 

[g3powerbook boy]

I just got a g4 powerbook titanium for less than $100.00 found a used battery on craigslist for $15.00 and had to buy a new power adapter from apple for $80.00. I also have a g3 powerbook pismo that i still use as well however that needs a battery badly. I love both of my powerbooks and mine plays you-tube just fine either on the wifi at starbucks or where ever or on my cricket usb modem. my g4 is a 400mhz/512k with an 60 gig hd. I think they are some of the best ever. I may get 2 512 ram sticks if i can find them reasonable but thats about it. I would by all means get it and enjoy it you will find it works really well and really isnt too slow either.

 

[MidiMonk]

I am hoping to pick up a 1.5 ghz G4 as a back up mobile recorder(using Digidesign's 002R with 7.1 LE) so that my main system stays home.I should be able to record 16 tracks all night long if my memory serves me right.So a PPC powerbook will be a great addition.

 

[g3powerbook boy]

I forgot to add to my prior post that my g4 titanium powerbook is my main laptop computer as well and i use it for stormchasing where i need it to be able to run the live weather radar which it does just fine. As the titanium powerbook is so nice, i think i will be using my g3 powerbook for chasing since that also ran live weather radar without a problem. ill just have to run that one off of the inverter in my chase truck as the battery will not hold a charge for more than 2 seconds. maybe take out the ibm thinkpad from the mount in my truck and mount the g3 powerbook as a permenant mount computer. I would much rather use apple products than windows crap anyday even if the powerbooks or ibooks are slightly slower and dont have the " intel inside" sticker on it.

 

[noodle654]

I have been thinking about doing the exact same thing. I want a backup computer for portability, so I have been looking into a 12" PB. I don't want to spend more than $180 on one, and so far its looking good, I have seen a couple of good conditions ones on eBay and CL. You really cant beat the 12" portability.

 

[SuperCompu2]

PowerBook G4s make absolutely phenomenal companion units. I used one (still in my sig right now) alongside my Core Duo iMac, and often times edited large movies using both units. This goes for photo editing, word processing, presentations and more! I absolutely adore(d) my PowerBook, but recently just bought a 15" MacBook Pro for 500 bucks on eBay, so it'll be getting replaced. The specs of my old machine match that of the OP's machine in question, and with 2GB of RAM, you tend to forget the thing is running a G4.

Go for the PowerBook! I'm typing this on a 400MHz G3 Pismo, so I know PowerPC Macs pretty well. I have been using them for years, including many Ti Books before my Al Book. The 1.33GHz PowerBooks are fine machines, you won't be disappointed!