Buying a Powerbook! Yes, No...Maybe??

So, I recently bought myself an ibook G4 which I've been very happy with so far! Yesterday, my wife's Toshiba Satellite started taking a dump...freezing continuously. I always catch her playing on my Mac, so I was thinking of giving my wife my ibook and picking up a powerbook.

At this time we can't afford a new macbook, so I've been looking at a couple of the later issued powerbook G4 w/ 1.67GHz PPC and 2GB ram. I like the higher resolution, widescreen and the backlight keyboard of the powerbook. I've seen a few around the $400 range. Is this a decent/fair price to pay for a powerbook? What are some of your opinions on the last model powerbook G4? All suggestions are appreciated guys. Thanks!

If you were happy with the older iBook...then you will probably be happy with the G4 Powerbook you're considering.

Then the only question is price. You didn't mention the display size...so I'm going to assume it's a 15" display. $400 for it would be in the right ballpark...but if you could get it for $350 that be great.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

If you were happy with the older iBook...then you will probably be happy with the G4 Powerbook you're considering.

Then the only question is price. You didn't mention the display size...so I'm going to assume it's a 15" display. $400 for it would be in the right ballpark...but if you could get it for $350 that be great.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

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You are correct sir, it is the 15' display. So far, I haven't had any issues with PPC not being able to handle something. Im not using that intense of graphics, video and/or photo editing software. Plus the powerbook is aluminum (anything metal is cool)

Will there be a noticeable difference between the powerbook 1.67Ghz vs. my ibook 1.42GHz while watching streaming/youtube videos?

Yes, perfectly good machines indeed. I have a 12", 1.5 GHz with a 250 mb drive and 1.25 g of RAM, and it's swift running Leopard. It was one of the last made too, so you get Bluetooth and Wi Fi built in too.
I paid £300 about a year back (with a spare battery and a carry bag), so, as Nick said, $350-400 depending on size would be great, a bit less if it's a smaller screen maybe, but the 12 is desirable due to the portability factor.

Spag_187 said:

You are correct sir, it is the 15' display. So far, I haven't had any issues with PPC not being able to handle something. Im not using that intense of graphics, video and/or photo editing software. Plus the powerbook is aluminum (anything metal is cool)

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I'm not sure if you've actually seen this Powerbook you're thinking of buying..but the metal housing (aluminum) of the Powerbook G4's was (and still is) very very easily scratched & dented.

So if you have already seen this computer...and it looks good...great! But if you haven't actually seen it yet...you may want to take a look at it first before making an offer...because I've seen some pretty nasty looking Powerbook G4's...and to me this would effect how much I would pay for it.

HTH,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

I'm not sure if you've actually seen this Powerbook you're thinking of buying..but the metal housing (aluminum) of the Powerbook G4's was (and still is) very very easily scratched & dented.

So if you have already seen this computer...and it looks good...great! But if you haven't actually seen it yet...you may want to take a look at it first before making an offer...because I've seen some pretty nasty looking Powerbook G4's...and to me this would effect how much I would pay for it.

HTH,

- Nick

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Absolutely! I'm the kind of guy that doesn't like to buy something until I can see and touch it for myself...

Spag_187 said:

Absolutely! I'm the kind of guy that doesn't like to buy something until I can see and touch it for myself...

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I only mentioned seeing it first before making an offer...because the Powerbook G4's are much much more prone to physical damage..than say the white polycarbonate iBooks that you are familiar with.

I make people offers all the time over the internet when I see something on Craig's List I'm interested in (before I've seen it)...just to make sure we are in the same "ballpark" on price....and I don't waste my time driving to look at something if we are not close on the price.

The PowerBook G4's are really prone to some serious cosmetic damage...scratches & dented corners...as well as dings anywhere on the housing. Depending on where the seller lives (distance from you)...maybe you could e-mail them asking about any cosmetic damage and/or if they could send you a picture.

- Nick