What should I do with 2 12" PowerBook's?

[theMarble]

Hello everyone!

I've owned a 1GHz (Late 2003) 12" PowerBook G4 for a few months now and oh my is it nice to use. It's a little beaten up but it runs fine. In the time I've owned it I've taken it from Tiger to Leopard, maxed out the RAM and done some other stuff with it.

I'm getting my hands on a mint condition 1.5GHz 12" (High End model w/ Super-Drive and 80GB HDD) and will take the extra RAM from my older 12" to max this one out and put an mSATA SSD in it.

So, now I will soon have 2 12" PowerBook's. What are some weird and wonderful things I can do with a spare PowerBook!

 

[z970]

Before I gave my 12" to another forum member here, I was going to use it as a desk clock with Leopard's screen saver function. That aside, you could also hook it up to a stereo and make it into a little jukebox. Or you could turn off AirPort and just carry it around as a compact word processor.

You could even connect a VGA-to-Mini DVI adapter, external display, and keyboard / mouse and turn it into a slimline Mac mini if you wanted to. Expanding on this, I once plugged mine into Ethernet, and just used it as a improvised file server (which it did well as).

There are many things one could do with a 12" PowerBook. It goes without saying however that these things' varying degrees of usefulness all depend on the individual and what goal they might expect to accomplish in doing so.

 

[Amethyst1]

So, now I will soon have 2 12" PowerBook's. What are some weird and wonderful things I can do with a spare PowerBook!

Throw Jaguar on it and be amazed by its pure Aqua awesomeness

 

[eyoungren]

There was a time where I had an iBook off in a corner with an attached USB external drive. I was using it solely to share the disk and directing all my TM backups to that drive. Once the initial TM backups were done, doing it over USB 1.1 wasn't that bad.

 

[B S Magnet]

Hello everyone!

I've owned a 1GHz (Late 2003) 12" PowerBook G4 for a few months now and oh my is it nice to use. It's a little beaten up but it runs fine. In the time I've owned it I've taken it from Tiger to Leopard, maxed out the RAM and done some other stuff with it.

I'm getting my hands on a mint condition 1.5GHz 12" (High End model w/ Super-Drive and 80GB HDD) and will take the extra RAM from my older 12" to max this one out and put an mSATA SSD in it.

So, now I will soon have 2 12" PowerBook's. What are some weird and wonderful things I can do with a spare PowerBook!

If you’re the tinkering kind, why not throw on Build 10A96 of Snow Leopard for PowerPC and see how far you can take it? And if you’re willing to do even more serious tinkering and have the cheddar to spend (it won’t be cheap, but life, living just once, etc…), why not upgrade that display and supercharge it into a high-res monster?

 

[whiskersld]

A portable dvd player? You can put ps 7 on there so could be a little portable photo editing set up. I really like z970mp's idea of a little jukebox also. you could use it to rip cds and transfer to modern macs, although if you wanted to listen to the cd's on the device alone, a g3 imac, emac or a imac g4 with the harmon kardon speakers would be a better option for sound quality

 

[Doq]

This is really only a particularly "me" use, but the Twelve that I have shoutouts to @z970mp is currently used for Mac and Linux server administration, on top of being the resident Leopard machine. It's small enough that I can put it basically anywhere and do what I need to do.

 

[theMarble]

If you’re the tinkering kind, why not throw on Build 10A96 of Snow Leopard for PowerPC and see how far you can take it? And if you’re willing to do even more serious tinkering and have the cheddar to spend (it won’t be cheap, but life, living just once, etc…), why not upgrade that display and supercharge it into a high-res monster?

That is a good idea! Though I would put the better screen on the 1.5 when it comes! I have done screen replacements on a 17" before but not a 12". From experience the 12" is much harder to disassemble so we will see how that goes

 

[eyoungren]

That is a good idea! Though I would put the better screen on the 1.5 when it comes! I have done screen replacements on a 17" before but not a 12". From experience the 12" is much harder to disassemble so we will see how that goes

I've done a screen replacement on both. The 12 inch requires everything to come out and I do mean EVERYTHING. The LB has to be removed before you can detach the screen from the case.

There is a cable underneath the LB. Be careful when lifting the LB out because you need to disconnect it.

iFixit.com has a guide.

I managed to destroy a key and strip out the wires for the sleep sensor light. I hope you fare better.

PS. Watch out for the very small rectangular space on the top case. You have to squeeze in there to disconnect a cable before you can lift the top case off. It's a real PITA.

 

[Project Alice]

I've done a screen replacement on both. The 12 inch requires everything to come out and I do mean EVERYTHING. The LB has to be removed before you can detach the screen from the case.

There is a cable underneath the LB. Be careful when lifting the LB out because you need to disconnect it.

iFixit.com has a guide.

I managed to destroy a key and strip out the wires for the sleep sensor light. I hope you fare better.

PS. Watch out for the very small rectangular space on the top case. You have to squeeze in there to disconnect a cable before you can lift the top case off. It's a real PITA.

The iFixit guide linked above doesn't look like they even touched the bottom case?

 

[eyoungren]

The iFixit guide linked above doesn't look like they even touched the bottom case?

You're right…and I am too. It's complicated so let me explain.

The last time I did this I scored a 12" PowerBook off eBay it was advertised as a working 867mhz with max ram. But the screen was cracked. I tested it to make sure it turned on, but took the seller at his WORD.

PowerBook G4 Aluminum 12" 867 MHz Display Replacement

Change out the entire display assembly, including the inverter, Airport antenna, hinges and metal casing.

www.ifixit.com

This is the iFixit guide for a screen replacement for the 867mhz 12" PowerBook. I should have rechecked that OP said he had a 1Ghz, because you are right in that iFixit shows a different approach to that for the 1GHZ and above.

When I was done replacing the screen (and done with all the other complications of doing that) I checked the specs of the Mac. Lo and behold it was a 1Ghz 12" with LESS than max ram!

Had I known it was 1Ghz at the time (and had I checked the OPs Mac) I would have followed the 1Ghz iFixit guide.

 

[ervus]

The panel itself can be replaced just from the top/front. I also bought a 12 with a cracked screen and just replaced the panel. The standard 1024x768 is easy to find. I also replaced a cracked one with the high-res panel, and this was also done without touching the bottom.