G4 MacBook Pro

So, a friend's G4 MacBook pro (circa 2001) had the logic board fail. She want's to sell it to me for 20 bucks. It has a brand new battery, but other than that, it's all original parts. Is it worth it? I would end up selling the parts, but do you think I will make anything off it?

kribensis12 said:

So, a friend's G4 MacBook pro (circa 2001) had the logic board fail. She want's to sell it to me for 20 bucks. It has a brand new battery, but other than that, it's all original parts. Is it worth it? I would end up selling the parts, but do you think I will make anything off it?

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First...it's NOT a G4 MacBook Pro. Macbook Pro's didn't appear until 2006. You either have a Powerbook G4 or an iBook G4.

As far as is $20 bucks worth it. Darn right it is. The brand new battery is worth much more than $20 bucks. And of course the other parts are worth more than $20 bucks as well.

HTH,

- Nick

Well, she said that it was a pro, and i've seen it. It does say apple computer in 2001 trademark ect. on it. It must be the PowerBook G4. Its body is in horrible shape, but everything works. So, I think I might buy it, play doctor and sell the parts. I could use the extra cash. To think that it lasted 10 years. Wow. That is a long time.

Is it possible to take the cd drive out of it and put it into a newer pc? Or will the size difference be too much?

kribensis12 said:

Is it possible to take the cd drive out of it and put it into a newer pc? Or will the size difference be too much?

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Hard to say without knowing the exact model computer we are talking about. There are easily 30-40 different iBook & Powerbook models. Many of these models have hardware commonalities...but without the exact model, it would just be a guess.

- Nick

It'd be a dell laptop.

kribensis12 said:

It'd be a dell laptop.

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Need to know the exact model Apple laptop you have.

- Nick

It's a G4 PowerBook, I believe.

kribensis12 said:

It's a G4 PowerBook, I believe.

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Did you even read my earlier post?

I said that there are over 30-40 iBook & Powerbook G4 models & and I needed to know the EXACT model. If you do have a Powerbook G4...there are over 20+ models...and they are NOT all the same!

- Nick

I did in fact read your post. I do not know the EXACT model. Not yet anyways. I thought you were asking me what model was the mac that I planned on putting it in. That is where I became confused.

kribensis12 said:

I did in fact read your post. I do not know the EXACT model. Not yet anyways. I thought you were asking me what model was the mac that I planned on putting it in. That is where I became confused.

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In post #4 above...your question was:

"Is it possible to take the cd drive out of it and put it into a newer pc? Or will the size difference be too much?"

In post #6 above you said"

It'd be a dell laptop."

So there never really was any confusion on what computers we were talking about. You said you have this $20 non-functioning Macintosh laptop...and you mentioned that you wanted to know if the CD drive from the Mac laptop would fit into a Dell computer...(NOT another Mac laptop)!

And I asked twice...what was the exact Mac laptop model you have???

Good luck with the project,

- Nick

There are easily 30-40 different iBook & Powerbook models. Many of these models have hardware commonalities...

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When you said this, I thought you were talking about exchanging it with another macs cd drive, because they have a hardware commonality. I will let you know the exact model as soon as I know it.

Well, I picked it up today. It turns out that it is newer than previously thought. It is a A1095 PowerBook. I have no idea what the specs are, but online it says that there is a 1.33 and a 1.5 Ghz version. So, I will have to open it up to find out. It' has a combo drive. Not really sure what that is, I'm assuming that it burns dvds and cd's?

A combo drive will read DVD's but not burn them, but will burn and read CD's and is a cheaper version than the DVD burning Superdrive. Combo drives that old would bring about $5 if it sells at all.

Thanks. It is the 1.3 Ghz model. So, I can't seem to get all the screws out. Is there a trick to it?

Nevermind. I figured it out. In less than an hour I dismantled the laptop and took out the ram, the fans, the battery (obviously), the HDD, and the Logic Board (dead). I'm proud of myself. There is a tiny bit to do left. I have never taken a laptop apart before. I didn't see the processor. It's obviously there somewhere. I will have to take a second look at it tomorrow I guess. Is there any way I can wipe the HDD? I couldn't before because the laptop didn't work. But now..

Anyone? So, I have practically dismantled the whole computer and I have yet to see the CPU. Any idea as to where it is? I have looked at online schematics but nothing points out the CPU, and I am kind of lost. Any help?

kribensis12 said:

Anyone? So, I have practically dismantled the whole computer and I have yet to see the CPU. Any idea as to where it is? I have looked at online schematics but nothing points out the CPU, and I am kind of lost. Any help?

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The cpu is NOT removable.

- Nick

That's no fun. Why would they make it so you can't remove it? Also, what about the graphics card? I haven't seen the likes of it either (granted, I have a tiny bit more of removing to do).

kribensis12 said:

That's no fun. Why would they make it so you can't remove it? Also, what about the graphics card? I haven't seen the likes of it either (granted, I have a tiny bit more of removing to do).

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You REALLY need to do some research! Most Apple computers made for the last 10+ years DO NOT have a removable CPU or GPU!

The CPU & GPU has been soldered to the logic board (non-removable) in almost ALL:

- iMac's
- Mac-mini's
- iBooks
- Powerbook's
- MacBook's
- MacBook Pro's

...made for the past 10+ years. There have been a couple exceptions...but they were/are VERY few.

The only model lines that have had removable CPU's & GPU's designed into them over the last 10 years were/are the:

- Powermac G3's
- Powermac G4's
- Powermac G5's
- Mac Pro's

- Nick