i just bought a 17'' powerbook!!!

Quashu said:

question: when leopard comes out, can i install it on my powerbook?

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Yes, Leopard will run fine on that Powerbook. If you can afford it, max out the RAM.

There was one very last model Powerbook G4 that actually went to PC2 DDR2 RAM. Yours MIGHT be that model from reading the Ebay sellers description. Wait till your Power Book arrives and see if it's DDR or DDR2. Just click on the Blue Apple in OSX and on about this Mac and also More Info.

If it's the older model, it takes PC2700 DDR SDRAM. You can also use PC3200. They are Laptop So-Dimms. You can not use PC2100 in that machine.

Title27GT said:

Just imagine, you could have a brand new MacBook duel booting XP or Vista but now you're stuck with a used Powerbook running a PowerPC processor.

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Here's an idea, you've made your point, how about you stop rubbing it in. We're here to help, not see who can be the most critical. I for one would consider you much more helpful if you backed off.

Yes, he could have bought a Macbook, but he didn't. Why not stop berating him and help him out so he can get the most out of the machine he did buy?

Quashu, FWIW, I think the PowerPC is a fine chip. You'll be able to use it for some time, but as the others mentioned, memory is the best thing you can get right now.

schweb said:

Here's an idea, you've made your point, how about you stop rubbing it in. We're here to help, not see who can be the most critical. I for one would consider you much more helpful if you backed off.

Yes, he could have bought a Macbook, but he didn't. Why not stop berating him and help him out so he can get the most out of the machine he did buy?

Quashu, FWIW, I think the PowerPC is a fine chip. You'll be able to use it for some time, but as the others mentioned, memory is the best thing you can get right now.

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He asked us if he got a good deal.
I gave my honest opinion.

Title27GT said:

He asked us if he got a good deal.
I gave my honest opinion.

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Yes, over three times. Everyone after the first was completely unhelpful and didn't assist with his questions. You went beyond giving your opinion....at least in my opinion.

schweb said:

Yes, over three times. Everyone after the first was completely unhelpful and didn't assist with his questions. You went beyond giving your opinion....at least in my opinion.

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Well, softtack's post was pretty helpful saying it doesn't do windows...

dekan said:

Well, softtack's post was pretty helpful saying it doesn't do windows...

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Not really, seeing that PPC machines do have options for emulating and running Windows.

D3v1L80Y said:

Not really, seeing that PPC machines do have options for emulating and running Windows.

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I think that we need to stop talking about who is productive and who isn't. We're all here to talk about Apple and Macs and to assist people who have recently switched and answer questions from those who are thinking about switching. I also think that no matter how friendly the community be or how helpful its members are, moderators are here to clean up the forums, not place blame on members who have given their honest-to-god opinion or helped the OP to the best of their ability. I don't like to say names but Schweb I do think that you could have handled the situation better by deleting or altering posts that were not relevant to the subject matter and not placing blame and entirely changing the dynamics of the thread to a full out blame-fest rather than one designed to help the original poster and answer his or her questions. I know that I'm being hypocritical because I just named a name like I precisely said we shouldn't do.

Just my two cents.

D3v1L80Y said:

Not really, seeing that PPC machines do have options for emulating and running Windows.

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The initial question was if he could run dual boot. if you do that on a PPC with vista, tell me how.

So in that case it was a helpful answer - in my opinion anyway.

NM.

To the OP, let us know if you have any issues and need help finding RAM for your machine.

dtravis7 said:

NM.

To the OP, let us know if you have any issues and need help finding RAM for your machine.

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Right-o.
And if you need some suggestions or help with finding ways to run Windows on your machine, take a look here:

http://www.macwindows.com/emulator.html#PCEmulators

and quashu, go here and they will point you in the right direction about that Ram. I've had a bad experience with crucial. your laptop rocks.Cheers.

Title27GT said:

I think that we need to stop talking about who is productive and who isn't. We're all here to talk about Apple and Macs and to assist people who have recently switched and answer questions from those who are thinking about switching. I also think that no matter how friendly the community be or how helpful its members are, moderators are here to clean up the forums, not place blame on members who have given their honest-to-god opinion or helped the OP to the best of their ability. I don't like to say names but Schweb I do think that you could have handled the situation better by deleting or altering posts that were not relevant to the subject matter and not placing blame and entirely changing the dynamics of the thread to a full out blame-fest rather than one designed to help the original poster and answer his or her questions. I know that I'm being hypocritical because I just named a name like I precisely said we shouldn't do.

Just my two cents.

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While I appreciate you trying to tell us what the job of a moderator is, I'll have to disagree with you. You're brand new to the forums and yes, part of our job is to enforce "friendliness" here in addition to keeping things neat and tidy. I would suggest you spend a little more time here and understand the feel and pulse of this community before you decide to tell us how to run it.

I told you to stop berating him once. You decided to continue on with the argument. Shall we keep going now? As a new member, clearly unfamiliar with how this forum's atmosphere works, I would suggest you don't.

You thought you were being helpful. I disagree and fail to see how this is at all helpful:

Just imagine, you could have a brand new MacBook duel booting XP or Vista but now you're stuck with a used Powerbook running a PowerPC processor.

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He was asking about Office on the Mac and its cost. So um, maybe I'm missing it, but how was that at all helpful rather than another "I told you so post" that you've done in this thread?

BTW. given the fact your reputation is now "red" that means the community itself is unhappy with your behavior, not just the mods.

Don't feel completely discouraged in your purchase, as you should have researched it first their are other options.

You can still emulate windows software, obviously it will run slower but for word/excel I don't think you need it running in more than emulation. You can get office for mac pretty cheap on ebay as well. Don't be discouraged, still is a good looking powerbook, hope that you are moderatly happy with your purchase at least.

PowerBooks are still very modern machines: each hardware component was thought out for the professional market and is better than what came in the iBook. Faster hard drives, usually better video cards, more ports, etc.

So I wouldn't feel bad at all if I were you. Plus, a 17" screen! Think of all the screen real estate you are getting in a laptop! And you'll be able to connect another screen if you want it.

There are some alternatives to Windoze apps out there: just ask for them and if we know anything about them, we'll help you out, no problems! So post away, quashu!

Mate, don't worry about what almost everyone else is saying, thats not a bad deal.

If that was a UK Auction, I'd have probably bid! £440 for a 17" Apple Laptop? I don't think anyone appreciates that a 17" MacBook Pro (The new, Intel version of what you have brought), costs three times as much as that.

That PowerBook is in near mint condition too from what I can see.

A 1.67Ghz G4 might be no match for a Dual 2.2Ghz Intel Chip, but it certainly is good value, and will run most applications with ease.

The 'ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128MB of DDR SDRAM and dual-link DVI' graphics aren't half bad either!

So really, it ain't half bad!

If you can, upgrade it to 2GB of RAM, you'll get better performance.

As for Windows, you can install Microsoft Virtual PC and run Windows XP in emulation (I wouldn't use Vista) and run Office 2007 on top. Alternatively, you could sell Office 2007 and do one of the following:

1. Buy Office 2004:Mac
2. Download OpenOffice for Mac/NeoOffice
3. Wait for Office 2008:Mac to be released and then buy it!

But seriously, you haven't wasted your money at all, and I think thats a very good buy, and a very nice laptop. Especially with the extra battery.

Nice buy!

One last thing - Leopard requires an 800Mhz G4 with 512MB of RAM, your system will run it with ease (trust me, I've tried Leopard on an 800Mhz G4 with 512MB of RAM, and it doesn't run slowly, so yours should be fine!)

EDIT: See this very nice SteveNote video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PKF9GOE2q38

Title27GT said:

I think that we need to stop talking about who is productive and who isn't. We're all here to talk about Apple and Macs and to assist people who have recently switched and answer questions from those who are thinking about switching. I also think that no matter how friendly the community be or how helpful its members are, moderators are here to clean up the forums, not place blame on members who have given their honest-to-god opinion or helped the OP to the best of their ability. I don't like to say names but Schweb I do think that you could have handled the situation better by deleting or altering posts that were not relevant to the subject matter and not placing blame and entirely changing the dynamics of the thread to a full out blame-fest rather than one designed to help the original poster and answer his or her questions. I know that I'm being hypocritical because I just named a name like I precisely said we shouldn't do.

Just my two cents.

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First of all, your posts in general never seem to be helpful at all. It's as if you try to respond to people with unhelpful remarks that only you find funny.

Secondly, while you can get a MacBook for about $200 more, the PowerBook was a good deal. The PowerBook he bought was 17", has a firewire 800 port, backlit keyboard, and ambient light sensor. Amenities you can't find in a MacBook (youll need to fork over about $2700 if you want a 17" MacBook Pro). It also has other features that are give it more lasting value (like the Dual Layer superdrive)

IMO, youre probably just a very recent switcher trying to talk about things you know nothing about. I've been a switcher for only about 6 months, but I have more sense than to say that an $850 17" PowerBook is a bad deal, and then rub it in their face.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a Powerbook. My dad is still using one for work, and his is close to 1.5-2 years old now. Powerbooks are great machines, and you made an excellent choice purchasing one.

Title27GT said:

I'm sorry, but I really don't think you got a very good deal on that. 850 dollars for a used PowerBook G4? Sheesh! With that you could have gotten a high end windows laptop. Maybe you should've looked at some more options. a PowerBook G4 at the most should sell for 300-400 dollars.

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what he got was an excellent deal, not sure what you are thinking. Those go for more than $1100.

ibookclamman300 said:

what he got was an excellent deal, not sure what you are thinking. Those go for more than $1100.

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Thats what iv been noticing, Powerbooks are very nice machines. But its all about what you can afford. Yeah for 3 or 4 hundred more dollars could have gotten something newer but mabe he didnt have it.

Thanks people.
I feel less weight on my shoulder now. I couldn't sleep that well last night because I kept thinking I just wasted my money and should have spent it on fixing my car instead. (it has something wrong with the steering rod&pinion, Midas told me it costs $1000, so I have to save up for that now. )

The main reason I wanted to run Vista is because I want to run office 2007(specifically word and excel), and I thought office 2007 works better with Vista. Another reason is I want to use IE sometimes. I know IE is not good but I need to use it to remote control my work computer. People in my work told me only IE works for that purpose. (I've tried using firefox/safari, they don't work somehow, sadly, it seems like a microsoft exclusive thing.) And my IE in my ibm laptop always crashes, in fact, it crashes everytime when I open it, I tried reinstalling IE and it didn't work. I might need reinstall my windows...
not a fun process.


Oh and the reason I want to run excel 2007 vs. excel 2003 is because the new one has a lot more columns and rows. I need to use that occassionally.