PPC Mac's really hold up.

[AphoticD]

I'm happy to report it survived the procedure.

Well done!

I read this line as "I'm happy to report *I* survived the procedure".

CRTs like to give off a few loving zaps when you try to get friendly with them.
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This is one of the bigger reasons I don't have a fondness for iBooks.

I wonder what the reasoning was behind making the HDDs in the iBooks so difficult to replace. It seems like backwards logic to have to pull the entire machine apart just to replace the HDD when earlier designs like the PowerBook G3 and TiBook made the HDD so easily accessible.

I can think of either;
A) It was intentional to sell more PowerBooks. The selling point to higher end customers being that you can (in all cases except the PB12"), easily replace the HDD or have a technician do this at a lower cost if you intent to upgrade down the track.

B) It was a byproduct of cheap design - Apple didn't want to put the time and money into R&D to create a more accessible system layout. So it became a point of "Good enough".

But if this was the case, surely more time and money was spent during warranty repairs as more human resources were required. Or perhaps the expected lifespan of the HDDs were greater than the extended warranty period, so it become a moot point from a sales point of view.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

Well done!

I read this line as "I'm happy to report *I* survived the procedure".

CRTs like to give off a few loving zaps when you try to get friendly with them.

Lol! That, too! I didn’t have to fool around with the CRT much. I basically just swapped the complete digital assembly (lower half with logic board and disk drives) into a chassis with a good CRT. And, since I obsess over details, I swapped the optical drive door so that things matched. Anyway, thanks for the chuckle.

 

[0248294]

It does depend on which PowerPC Mac you're talking about. The PowerMac G4 line, save for the MDD which is more prone to PSU failure, are fairly robust, for example. But almost all CRT based PPC Macs are starting to have failing analog circuitry by now.

I have gotten rid of a few poorer-condition iMac G3s due to them having bad analog boards. That, combined with the bad conditions they were in (one was stored in a musty shed and sure smelled like it, and had corrosion inside, the other one's internal frame had gotten brittle to the point of breaking), have pushed me to just recycle them. The Bondi I still have is also having such issues, but since it's nice enough and given it's the iconic first generation, I've kept it. But I dread having to go inside of it one day, with the brittle plastic and complicated design.

And my last-gen eMac is also showing signs of bad capacitors in the analog circuitry, since when you turn up the sound loud enough, the screen will flicker when it's driving the speakers, indicating it's probably getting close to not being able to deliver enough power to both the CRT and audio amplification components.

The PowerMac G5 line is also plagued by problems. From logic board problems to power supply failures, and with the later high-end models even liquid cooling system leakage. Overall, the PowerPC line is fairly solid, but I don't think it's any better or worse than Intel-era Macs. Some Intel Macs run fine for many, many years, others suffer from well-known problems that require repair. Just like the PowerPC and 68k Macs.

 

[AphoticD]

Enjoy it while it works, fix it where you can, but don't try to make it into an investment option. Nothing electrical lasts forever.

 

[ctmpkmlec4]

Enjoy it while it works, fix it where you can, but don't try to make it into an investment option. Nothing electrical lasts forever.

I understand and agree.