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Price I should pay for a Powerbook G4
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I did. They may have had just the one but not any more.
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Getting the penultimate PB15 is another potential mistake. That one suffers from sudden death memory slot syndrome. The 17" from that period seems free from that blight. The 15" DLSD is worth the extra just for the peace of mind of having 2GB of RAM available for heavier apps if you don't want the 17".
Check eBay whenever the 1.67SL comes up how often they are described as having 1GB of RAM onboard. There's a reason for that.
You (deliberately?)
overlooked the hair-tearing, frustratingly un-friendly repairability shortcomings of these otherwise great 12" PowerBooks. Oh, and the hot-bottoms of course!One of mine has a torn l/h speaker cone, and I've been forever putting off ordering one and installing it - and like AphoticD, I've torn-down/upgraded/rebuilt these a few times. The only enjoyable part after a complete refurbishment is pressing the on key, and uncrossing fingers and toes when it satisfactorily springs to life. Sheer joy!
You (deliberately?)
I very rarely crack open my Powerbooks/iBooks. I only buy them at low prices so almost regard them as disposable but my 12" 1.33Ghz I've had for 4 years now and had no reason to go inside.
Yes, you're right about the heat but in the case of the OP here - portable writing only means CPU at reduced setting - better battery life and less heat/noise.
I can't say I've ever heard of these models experiencing that, but I can say mine has never had any graphical issues.
Hmm...
Maybe the best way to go here is getting a parts/repair one and fixing that with other components to keep the cost down.
Most times, if somebody is selling a working DLSD, they've very aware of it, and they'll go for pretty pennies.
On the other hand, does anyone know the speed difference of the 1.5 models and the 1.67 ones? They have most of the same specs and don't suffer from prominent issues, do they?
In real world use I never noticed a difference between a 1.5 GHz 15" G4 and my 1.67 GHz 15" G4 HR/DLSD, provided both had the maximum RAM and similar HDD/SSD. Keep in mind that I did very little graphical work with either of them, that's probably where the differences would manifest most. But in handling video, audio, or general browsing, apart from the screen resolution I wouldn't have known the difference.
I've also had a couple examples of the penultimate 15" G4, the A1106. The first one did have a dead RAM slot, though in this thread is the first I've heard of that being a regular problem. I ended up tossing that board, I refuse to sell a machine like that. The second one, however - that was the fastest PowerBook G4 I have ever owned. It had the maximum 2GB RAM and a 7200 RPM spinner, and it was noticeably faster than either the 1.5 or the 1.67 HR/DLSD that I bought to replace it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that would be the case before I sold it.
I love my HR/DLSD, but I miss that A1106. Doesn't make any sense that it should best the later G4 with faster RAM and more VRAM, but that's how it "felt" to me. FWIW.
Nope.
As for the A1106
https://web.archive.org/web/20071007100216/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303173
Apple also references the 1.5GHz as being prone to this fault. I did have this PB back in the day, which never showed any issues in all the time I owned it but I suppose there must have been enough complaints for Apple to have included it in the repair program.
The nice thing about a DLSD when it fails though is that you can just use a 2GB stick of DDR2 if I'm not mistaken, which is pretty easy to come by. As far as I know, (correct me if I'm wrong!) the biggest modules for the DDR required by the earlier models are 1GB.
Yes, that's true, though I'm not fussed - the 1Gb is fine.
We spent more time on this topic this week that Apple this decade
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To be fair, despite their talk of products holding their value, Apple never really wants you to buy a used device.
Well, yes my Mac Mini 1,1 caught that bug, too. The point is, those two PB models were prone to that lower memory slot failing. It led to a repair program, which to my knowledge was not forthcoming for either the DLSD or my Mac Mini, which would suggest just bad luck on our parts with a faulty logic board as opposed to a design/inherent production error.
Here is what I paid for my 3 PowerBooks which I acquired in the last 2 years.
PowerBook Early 2005 1.67 Ghz stock configuration – 35€ (even though users in here report faulty memory slots I haven't had any problems until now I even checked the archived Apple page of the particular PowerBook repair programme and according to the serial number of my PowerBook the device should have been eligible for repair) but again thankfully I haven't had this problem (and I hope I won't have it in the future)
PowerBook Late 2005 1.67 Ghz DLSD stock configuration - 96€
PowerBook Early 2005 12" 1.5 Ghz stock configuration – 50€
As you can see PowerBooks can be had for little money on the used market. I pimped all of my PowerBooks that means I spec'd them out by adding max RAM and a SSD. Only problems I had with my purchases was a blown speaker on my Early 2005 (blew after the purchase) and a very annoying grinding right fan on my DLSD. I ordered replacement parts online and fixed that particular problems very easily. So now all work like a charm I would also suggest replacing the thermal paste of these old PowerBooks (I had to do it due to the fact that for my repairs the logic board had to be taken out of the casing). On my DLSD I noticed an improvement of almost 20°C (instead of 60°C now only 40°C in idle).
I love these old
laptops cause they looks so damn gorgeous and for their durability. Admittedly in 2019 their usability is limited due to the rather weak G4 processor (when comparing to the Intel Core 2 Duo which came shortly afterwards) but there are days I only use one of my PowerBooks and surprisingly I can still be very productive on it when it comes to students tasks (writing papers, browsing the internet, etc.)
PowerBook Early 2005 1.67 Ghz stock configuration – 35€ (even though users in here report faulty memory slots I haven't had any problems until now I even checked the archived Apple page of the particular PowerBook repair programme and according to the serial number of my PowerBook the device should have been eligible for repair) but again thankfully I haven't had this problem (and I hope I won't have it in the future)
PowerBook Late 2005 1.67 Ghz DLSD stock configuration - 96€
PowerBook Early 2005 12" 1.5 Ghz stock configuration – 50€
As you can see PowerBooks can be had for little money on the used market. I pimped all of my PowerBooks that means I spec'd them out by adding max RAM and a SSD. Only problems I had with my purchases was a blown speaker on my Early 2005 (blew after the purchase) and a very annoying grinding right fan on my DLSD. I ordered replacement parts online and fixed that particular problems very easily. So now all work like a charm
I would also suggest replacing the thermal paste of these old PowerBooks (I had to do it due to the fact that for my repairs the logic board had to be taken out of the casing). On my DLSD I noticed an improvement of almost 20°C (instead of 60°C now only 40°C in idle).I love these old
laptops cause they looks so damn gorgeous and for their durability. Admittedly in 2019 their usability is limited due to the rather weak G4 processor (when comparing to the Intel Core 2 Duo which came shortly afterwards) but there are days I only use one of my PowerBooks and surprisingly I can still be very productive on it when it comes to students tasks (writing papers, browsing the internet, etc.)
