John8520
Well-known member
I've been out of the old mac game for a long time (years.) Was digging through craigslist late yesterday, as you do on a Friday night, and I lucked into finding a PowerBook G3 listed at $65, not far away. Pictures suggested a Pismo or Lombard (eventually narrowed to a Lombard as it says "Macintosh PowerBook G3" under the screen, Pismos just say "PowerBook") and there was no other description listed other than the fact that it had a password that the seller didn't know.
Given that the Lombard is my favorite PowerBook ever, and I gave away my last one about 8 years ago, I figured I should jump on this one - contacted the seller, he still had it, drove out and picked it up today. Managed to talk him down to $40, too. Got the unit, a yoyo PSU with an older style plug spliced on (so I'll be needing a new PSU..), and a musty old swissgear case.
Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/dciKy
Luckily, it's the 400MHz model, and in great shape. Has a 128MB SODIMM on top of the base 64, and the past owner had installed Panther onto an upgraded drive (20GB travelstar) which I promptly replaced with a 4GB CF card with 9.2.2. The battery holds some charge, not sure how much, probably less than 30 minutes. Missing all but one foot so that needs to be straightened out, and unfortunately it does have the typical crack between the trackpad and trackpad button. It also belonged to a smoker at some point, because while the outside case is clean, there's definitely a lingering smell under the hood.
Overall I'm pretty pleased. Short term plans include finding an 8 or 16GB CF card (have one laying about somewhere), putting a spacer under the keyboard (I forgot it rests on the HDD on the top right corner, who does that?), and upping it to 512MB RAM because I should have two 256MB SODIMMs around here somewhere, getting a new PSU, and cleaning up the smell a bit. Any suggestions for that last part?
Given that the Lombard is my favorite PowerBook ever, and I gave away my last one about 8 years ago, I figured I should jump on this one - contacted the seller, he still had it, drove out and picked it up today. Managed to talk him down to $40, too. Got the unit, a yoyo PSU with an older style plug spliced on (so I'll be needing a new PSU..), and a musty old swissgear case.
Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/dciKy
Luckily, it's the 400MHz model, and in great shape. Has a 128MB SODIMM on top of the base 64, and the past owner had installed Panther onto an upgraded drive (20GB travelstar) which I promptly replaced with a 4GB CF card with 9.2.2. The battery holds some charge, not sure how much, probably less than 30 minutes. Missing all but one foot so that needs to be straightened out, and unfortunately it does have the typical crack between the trackpad and trackpad button. It also belonged to a smoker at some point, because while the outside case is clean, there's definitely a lingering smell under the hood.
Overall I'm pretty pleased. Short term plans include finding an 8 or 16GB CF card (have one laying about somewhere), putting a spacer under the keyboard (I forgot it rests on the HDD on the top right corner, who does that?), and upping it to 512MB RAM because I should have two 256MB SODIMMs around here somewhere, getting a new PSU, and cleaning up the smell a bit. Any suggestions for that last part?