Loving eulogy for a Powerbook

While I have now upgraded to a Powerbook G4 (early 2005 model bought in July of 2005), I still have a special place in my technology heart for my beloved Pismo. It is six years old and it is still going strong. What they say about the Pismos is true, they are tough and are built to last. My wife now uses it as her own, doing Office stuff, email, web, etc., nothing too processor intensive. It runs great and I keep using it until something major dies, like the screen. I hope my current Al PB is as long lasting as the Pismo.

hey thanks for linking up my powerbook

it is great to hear all the stories of the people who had a similar computer in their life.

my mac was not abused. if i had to take more care of a laptop then i did this one, i wouldn't buy another mac.

the only real physical problem is the cracks around the case. this as a problem many first generation tibooks were having. if you go back people were reporting this problem only weeks after recieving their computers. so i feel pretty good to get through more than three years with out a crack showing up.

sure the bottom is scratched up, and the paint flaked off, and the keyboard hit the screen. but it is a tool not a fashion accessory. and it was back in the year 2000. apple didn't know how to glue rubber feet on or make paint that didn't flake off. and it was hard to measure if the keyboard was going to hit the screen.

as for the dents around the DVD drive. that was totally a mistake. i was drunk and lost control while trying to hit my friend in the head with the computer. if he had not ducked, the computer would not have slipped out of my hands and it wouldn't have hit the floor.

it lasted more than five years and i know i could probably fix whatever is wrong with it, but it was an awesome computer and there is no reason to keep it limping along.

thanks guys
sam

> Its usefulness is mostly gone, but I still love it. I will still be sad when it dies.

These laptops can be kept alive for half way to eternity. Replace the hard drive when it dies, and even the screen backlight when it goes pop too. By then, with luck and non-everyday use, it'll be 2025!

My 3 year old 12" AluBook is much travelled yet almost immaculate. That's the result of a good carry case. The feet are half worn off but there are no scratches or stains anywhere in sight. Indeed, it was pretty much perfect until a freak Kanji dictionary landing on the trackpad incident a month or two ago, which left a dimple but no material or functional damage. I do need to replace the aged hard disk sometime though. I'm thinking Compact Flash!

I had the same feeling of loss when my sister in law dropped my immaaculate powerbook 2 years ago (it was three years old at the time). Having got back from work I turned it on and was amazed it still worked. The back left corner took the brunt of the drop, the hinges, the power and dvd drive still worked though, I bound the side of the machine (just like Sam Brown) with gaffer tape, which now seems like it's always been there. Now I can appreciate it's imperfections.

I love this machine, when it goes I'll keep it open as if it's just asleep, on a shelf, just tempting me to wake it and start playing.

One of the treasures of my computer collection is a PowerBook G3 Lombard. The dud model of the PowerBook G3s, Lombards were only on sale for eight months, and also got recalled. The woman I got it from was a professional graphics designer, it was her first laptop, and she took incredible care of it. She had upgraded a few times in recent years, and had no more use for her Lombard.

Growing up I watched her use it, longingly looking at the Mac, but also a little afraid of it. When I finally made the switch last October, I asked to have the old laptop just to have around. She hadn't turned it on in a year and a half, and told me if I wanted it, it was mine.

I took it home, opened it up, and turned it on. My first Mac laptop. I installed Panther on it, and marvelled at how it managed to still work. The battery was shot, unplugging the computer turned it off - but it was mine. People were amazed by it. New Apple fans were shocked to see a black Mac. Old Apple fans were shocked to see a working Lombard.

Now I've upgraded to a MacBook Pro for work, but I keep my PowerBook around. I want to install OS9 on it, and learn the old system. Its usefulness is mostly gone, but I still love it. I will still be sad when it dies.

This poor computer was definitely abused. My 4 year old TiBook looks, and runs, in mint condition except for a few paint chips here and there and one small scratch. No cracks, no tape, no bent peices, no giant patches of scratches. The screen is clear and only has some slight keyboard impressions. It's only had one repair ever: a recent hard drive replacement. If your powerbook looks as bad as this guys then you didn't take care of it, no matter what you claim.

oh no! not sam's powerbook!
with such a loving eulogy too, I hope someone at apple who loves his work gets in touch with him and donates a macbook to him, I think he really deserves one.

All the comments have got to be kidding. My Titanium is in nearly as bad of condition and I take immaculate care of it. My brother kids me about how careful I am with it, I use a case, have a pad for the keyboard when closing it and everything. The edges are cracking and also turing green where cracked (I am guessing a mix of perspiration and copper in the casing). Mine barely runs, with the screen going dark in conjunction with random shut downs of my hard drive. Sometime coming back for short periods of no problems. But while his looks heavily used, I think calling it "abused" is ridiculous.

in addition..the only way i can imagine a powerbook getting so messed up is if this guys job was a laptop abuse tester or maybe he thinks frizbee and powerbook go.. they dont btw. never have i seen a laptop with that much abuse after 5 years!

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/08/223234

if the cost of producing titanium is that cheap right now, I think apple should switch back using Titanium again. It's lighter and also stronger compare to Aluminium.

I'm dreaming of Anodized Titanium MacBook Pro Hmmmm....