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Used 12 inch powerbook- worth $250?

B

Bokes

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 4, 2008
472
14
Decent quality Used 12 inch powerbooks are going for about $250-300.
My wife is looking for a portable to use as essentially as a typewriter.
Only writing program. Some web stuff.

She look at and likes the new MacAir- she's worried about buying old and used.
 
maybe rev D,E (2005).....but rem you bound to osx leopard max...also i found my old powerbook to be loud! make sure it's min 1.5ghz and loaded with ram,also check dvd to make sure it works well,and run for a few min to hear loudness of fan when warm.

i would save the $300 towards a mba...perhaps she could get by with a 2010 refurb ($749).

where the pb is relatively lite...compared to a mba it feels like a brick ;-)
 
She could get a powerbook g4 15'' 1.67 ghz (2005)! I own one, I've been using it everyday for 4+ years (I basically take it everywhere). It is a war machine. Seriously, it received the worst treatment of all and still is working and getting the job done in 2011 (only concern is youtube's flash player, but get mactubes and you're done).


Note: Machine got dropped from a little too high, had tea on the logic board, had the screen destroyed, the hard drive burnt (put it on hot surface).... and still works ... posting from it.


Edit: a powerbook for 250$?? is it worth it? I can't talk for 12'' ones, but if they are built the same way, I'd say yes!
 
Bokes said:
Decent quality Used 12 inch powerbooks are going for about $250-300.
My wife is looking for a portable to use as essentially as a typewriter.
Only writing program. Some web stuff.

She look at and likes the new MacAir- she's worried about buying old and used.
Click to expand...

$200+ is way to hi for a powerbook. you can get a used fully working macbook on ebay in the usa for $200-300. the max i wood pay for a hi-end powerbook is $150 :)
 
MAC MAN JW said:
$200+ is way to hi for a powerbook. you can get a used fully working macbook on ebay in the usa for $200-300. the max i wood pay for a hi-end powerbook is $150 :)
Click to expand...

One question.... WHERE? :O
Never seen such low prices on ebay for MacBook pros, thats for sure. As for "regular" macbooks, they lack all the outputs/inputs you would like (if I'm correct).

I guess if you can find macbooks for that cheap, buy em!... unless you really want the card bus and the s-video out.
 
The only way to get a Macbook that cheap is if it's a Core Solo, and beat to all hell.

I bought my 12"PB 1.5Ghz for $230, and it's in nearly mint condition, so it was worth the cash to me. If you find a perfect example, it might be worth $250 to the right person.

It's not light, but it's a very cool little laptop. I use it as a backup mac, and am posting from it right now. I opened mine up to re-thermal-paste the CPU, and when I reassembled it, it was MUCH sturdier than before. The screws just needed a retorquing. Now, it feels almost as sturdy as a unibody. *almost* :p
 
"The only way to get a Macbook that cheap is if it's a Core Solo and beat to all hell".

Not tru, if you bid you can get a fully working macbook "Core Duo" or "Core 2 Duo" in good shape for less then $300 and there are no "Core Solo" MacBooks only the old mac mini is "Core Solo". even the oldest macbook will be more usefull then any powerbook if you want to run any new mac apps such as New Web Browers (even that tenfourfox is great for ppc),run Newer versions of OS X then leopard,Newest Flash Player Version. and the "Core 2 Duo" can run lion. And the "Core Duo" can run Snow Leopard. even the original macbook is faster then any powerbook. i got my powerbook g4 12' 1.5GHz for $130 in 2010 it is in good shape as well. :)
 
MAC MAN JW said:
"The only way to get a Macbook that cheap is if it's a Core Solo and beat to all hell".

Not tru, if you bid you can get a fully working macbook "Core Duo" or "Core 2 Duo" in good shape for less then $300 and there are no "Core Solo" MacBooks only the old mac mini is "Core Solo". even the oldest macbook will be more usefull then any powerbook if you want to run any new mac apps such as New Web Browers (even that tenfourfox is great for ppc),run Newer versions of OS X then leopard,Newest Flash Player Version. and the "Core 2 Duo" can run lion. And the "Core Duo" can run Snow Leopard. even the original macbook is faster then any powerbook. i got my powerbook g4 12' 1.5GHz for $130 in 2010 it is in good shape as well. :)
Click to expand...


I stand corrected, I forgot they were only Core Duo, not Solo.
 
The price must vary on the seller though - most of the early model Core Duo MacBooks in my area are on craigslist for $400 minimum, and some are pretty ragged.
 
If all she is going to do is use it as a TypeWriter, a PowerBook G4 will suffice. (My personal typewriting machine is a PowerBook 1400/133 from 1997). If she's going remotely near the flash-based part of the web and especially YouTube, I would seriously consider a MacBook Core Duo. They have pretty much all the ports (You only miss out on the 56k Modem) that the 12" PowerBook has. Their also not *that* much more costly than the PowerBooks, about the same size and weight, and they are a lot quicker, with a much better screen (1280*800 over 1024*768). I would however try to make sure that whatever you get her is in decent shape, that way it should last for the next few years at least.
 
Thanks much-

yes- will just be used as a Word processor.
We have a 2010 Mac Pro for any heavy lifting.

That said - I'm beginning to worry about getting something from ebay. A few of them look decent in the photos- but who knows what will show up.
May have to bite the bullet and try get something local.

I only suggested the 12inch to her because I used to have one and always regretted selling it. It really is (was) something special in it's day.

thanks again.
 
I think the prices on these old Macs are outrageous. I paid $400 for my Dell E6400, C2D, 4GB.. I paid $100 for my PowerMac, 2x2.0, had 512mb at that point. There is no way in hell I would pay $300 for a PowerBook. These machines are nearing complete obsolecence.

I understand the value of nostalgia but I am consistently surorised by the asking price on some of these older Macs.

For that matter new Mac pricing is outrageous too, but my new MBP tells me otherwise in my sleep.
 
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The 12" PowerBook G4 is one of the top PowerPC Macs still sought after. Certainly the highest demanded of all the PB G4's. That adds to the price a bit.

My personal ceiling for even a tricked out 12" would be about $180.
 
phyrexia said:
I think the prices on these old Macs are outrageous. I paid $400 for my Dell E6400, C2D, 4GB.. I paid $100 for my PowerMac, 2x2.0, had 512mb at that point. There is no way in hell I would pay $300 for a PowerBook. These machines are nearing complete obsolecence.

I understand the value of nostalgia but I am consistently surorised by the asking price on some of these older Macs.

For that matter new Mac pricing is outrageous too, but my new MBP tells me otherwise in my sleep.
Click to expand...

Nostalgia, probably... but I am not yet convinced to jump on the intel bandwagon all the way.
 
The problem is, there's going to be no warranty with it, so if something does go wrong, you know... xD
 
I bought a 15 inches Powerbook G4 from Craigslist 5 months ago for 200 the seller wants 250. I am very happy with this you can always test drive powerbook before you buy than you cant tell from ebay!
 
AHDuke99 said:
I see one on eBay now for $60. You can definitely get one for less than $250
Click to expand...

in the USA perhaps , but not in the UK where you can simply forget to get a good condition Powerbook for under £300 , in the UK you only get the ones with some defects the more harmless ones are dents , scratches , broken mechanics of the lid, wifi not working, non working batteries or failed dc boards, or ram slots not working for under £300 and even if there is a cheaper one in between that looks decent its certainly a 1ghz and below model or more likely a iBook in the wrong category

and the first generation MacBooks are no better , cost more around £400+ and you know the core duo's killed their own logicboards for fun and if they missed they killed their own screen, batteries are dead anyway or have 20 minutes life in them if most
 
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I still have the PBG4 12in 1GHz, 1GB RAM but to be honest, def not worth 250.

The fan sounds like a fighter jet... prob louder than the i7 MBP models.
All you can install would be Leopard so yeah...

I would say 150 tops.
 
MacHamster68 said:
in the USA perhaps , but not in the UK where you can simply forget to get a good condition Powerbook for under £300 , in the UK you only get the ones with some defects the more harmless ones are dents , scratches , broken mechanics of the lid, wifi not working, non working batteries or failed dc boards, or ram slots not working for under £300 and even if there is a cheaper one in between that looks decent its certainly a 1ghz and below model or more likely a iBook in the wrong category

and the first generation MacBooks are no better , cost more around £400+ and you know the core duo's killed their own logicboards for fun and if they missed they killed their own screen, batteries are dead anyway or have 20 minutes life in them if most
Click to expand...

Not if you take your time, i probably was lucky and found one for £180 12", new 160GB hard drive 1.2GB Ram, 1.5GHz. It is in good shape although it was dropped and has a smallish dent on the bottom case otherwise there are hardly any other scratches or dents. They still have a lot of life left in them although they can get noisy, i use it as my main machine it does just fine for browsing the internet and the odd PPC game.
 
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