Mac Forum / General / Portable Macs / December 2006

apple currently has refurbished macbooks (with one year warranty) for
as little as $799 which would be a FAR better use of your money than a
used tibook or pismo.  they even have some refurbished ibooks for the
same price if a powerpc mac was needed for running apps in classic.

Wade-

Where did Apple draw the line with being able to boot into OS 9?  If
they depend on software that is not compatible with Classic mode, that
could have some bearing on the decision.

If they are getting new software, there is no such issue.  Buying old
equipment to save a buck might be false economy.

Fred

I have been making a hobby of restoring these old powerbooks.  For some
reason people keep giving them to me and I like the challenge of
piecing them together like a jig saw puzzle.  I am finding that there
are some very good reasons not to be fishing into older computers.  You
may save money on the initial investment but you loose it trying to
keep them going.

Many times parts for the older computers are more expensive than their
equals for the new.  For example the PRAM battery I am looking for -
$90?  On most of these old computers the main battery is shot, quality
replacements can cost well over $100 and they are not nearly as
efficient as the newer ones.

I went through hell finding a Logic board for one G4.  The retail cost
was higher than the value of a whole computer. Finally found one on
Ebay.  One I got the thing going I have found a whole host of other
issues.

The CD and DVD's for these old computers are slow and can not be
upgraded.  In todays world a good CD/DVD burner is a door into a whole
world of back-ups and communication with the computer.  Many Apps come
on DVD.  On my old Pismo I couldn't boot up from the third party DVD.

In the long run its far less expensive to get the most up to date G4
you can.  With the Intel's recent introduction, the value of the G4s is
dropping quickly.

The newer the computer the apps will run easier, the hardware will
integrate with others better, the memory, batteries, wiring, monitor,
power supply, hinges will have that much less wear and tear.  Each one
of these parts only has a duty cycle of about 5 years.  In another 2 or
3 years it is going to be difficult to get application support for the
old G4s.  I remember going through the same thing with the move from
68k chips to the PowerPCs.

Forget the nostalgia.  Save the headaches and join the modern world.