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Picked up a couple of pristine PowerBooks

ried

Well-known member
First up is the PowerBook G3 (PDQ / 300MHz), which had not been powered on since 1999. Fired right up into Mac OS 8.5 and I found someone's files on the desktop. Was a medical business of some sort, and this was a doctor's machine. Files were all dated late 1999.

I immediately shut it down, removed the hard drive and installed an SSD. Now happily running Mac OS 9.2.2.Absolutely no wear on the palm rest, trackpad or keyboard. Clean as a whistle. Pretty neat!

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Will share the next one later on.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
That PDQ looks immaculate!

It reminds me of my distant memories of my mother's Lombard when it was new, except 10-year-old me made sure it didn't stay that way for long... ;)

c
 

AndyO

Well-known member
That PDQ looks truly amazing! I thought mine was as good as I was likely to see after cleaning the dust off it, but that one looks like it was barely used! Great find!
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Awesome PowerBook, great find! Be careful with the hinges though, the actual metal wears out and they’ll go floppy, my PDQ has this problem. Enjoy it!
 

ried

Well-known member
Here's the 12-inch PowerBook G4 1.5GHz machine, which came in its original packaging. I installed an SSD and Sorbet Leopard R15 this weekend. Mint case, basically an unused machine. Battery only has 11 cycles and still reaches its original 4400 mAh capacity:

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ried

Well-known member
Awesome PowerBook, great find! Be careful with the hinges though, the actual metal wears out and they’ll go floppy, my PDQ has this problem. Enjoy it!
Good advice, thank you! I'm very gentle with it.

Funny story... when I was in college, a 266MHz was my first laptop and a major expense at the time. I proudly brought it to a friend's dorm room and sat it next to his Rev. B iMac G3. Going to leave, I picked it up with one hand and raised it about waist high. I wasn't holding it very well, though, and the 7+ lbs machine slipped through my fingers. I tried to grab it but only succeeded in raising it even higher and causing it to open up, then cartwheel end-over-end as it tumbled to the concrete floor below. It felt like that happened in slow motion, jaws were dropped.

Miraculously, it did not break and survived unscathed. To this day I do not know how that is physically possible. It was dropped, display open, cartwheeling from a good 3-4 feet in the air to an unforgiving surface. They were tough machines!
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
For sure! Only weak part on those is the metal hinges themselves, everything else on them is rock solid. Well, except for the rubber finish. It scratches easy and scratches will reveal an ugly green material underneath. As long as you don't throw it in a bag with a bunch of other junk you should be fine.

Sweet 12 inch G4 - that's the fastest of them I believe? I recently picked up a good (but not mint) DLSD 15" with a dead battery for $110 - I thought that was lucky! Can't fathom finding one of those mint - the aluminum scratches ridiculously easy on those. Where on earth are you finding these in such great shape?
 

max1zzz

Well-known member
Miraculously, it did not break and survived unscathed. To this day I do not know how that is physically possible. It was dropped, display open, cartwheeling from a good 3-4 feet in the air to an unforgiving surface. They were tough machines!
When I was much younger I had a 12" iBook (600Mhz '01 Dual USB), one day I was running up the stairs at home holding the iBook in both hands and tipped on the top step and smashed the lid of the iBook into the corner of a radiator at the top of the stairs. Much to my amazement on opening it back Up I found the LCD was totally intact! Laptop's where built differently back then :)
 

ried

Well-known member
For sure! Only weak part on those is the metal hinges themselves, everything else on them is rock solid. Well, except for the rubber finish. It scratches easy and scratches will reveal an ugly green material underneath. As long as you don't throw it in a bag with a bunch of other junk you should be fine.

Sweet 12 inch G4 - that's the fastest of them I believe? I recently picked up a good (but not mint) DLSD 15" with a dead battery for $110 - I thought that was lucky! Can't fathom finding one of those mint - the aluminum scratches ridiculously easy on those. Where on earth are you finding these in such great shape?

Mostly eBay and Mercari, which is a surprisingly good source of these old things. I'm new to Mercari and have only bought a few items there, but the experience has been very good so far.
 

ried

Well-known member
Someone made out like a bandit with this TiBook the other day. Looks like it's in excellent shape, and you can't beat $60.


Was sold the same day it was listed, so people are onto that website. The PDQ was $80 and the 12" PB was $250, in my case - both eBay.
 

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Super lucky on the PDQ - $80 for one of those would usually net you a trashed one with current prices. I also "made out like a bandit" with my TiBook - $40 + shipping and tax and it's in nearly as good of shape as that one, but not perfect. Paid the same for the PDQ - good shape but bad hinge. Great finds, 12" was a lot but for the condition, battery, and box definitely worth it I'd say.
 
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CC_333

Well-known member
When my iBook clamshell (the first laptop I could call my own) was my main machine (1999-2004), I dropped it often, and I even once left it outside in the rain by accident, and it never died! The CD drive's tray got all wonky and wuldn't latch closed, but if I wanted to use it, I'd just get a block of something (an eraser, say), jam it into the slot (the bezel went missing) and tape it on as needed.

It finally did die, but it was partly my fault, as I botched my attempt at repairing the DC-in board first by tearing the trackpad cable, and then by misplacing the screws (I eventually found them, years later). That was sad, but I did eventually come across another one about 5 years later, in decent condition, for $35. The logic board and charger/clicker board got weird (it wouldn't recognize or charge a known good battery), so I reused the ones from my original, so in a sense, it lives on in a new body.

c
 
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