Used 12 inch PB advice

lurk

Mitä?
Howdy,

I am looking into getting a used 12 inch 867MHz powerbook to replace my dying TiBook. Are there any gotchas or particular problems with that model that I should be on the lookout for?

Thanks,
-Lurk
 
The rubber feet of the original 12" Powerbook used to drop off very easily. Make sure all the feet are there.

Check the battery to see how much storage capacity is left. Easiest way of doing that is to open Terminal, and type "ioreg -l | grep Battery". You might need to resize the terminal window to be able to see all the output. The Capacity is the field that is of interest to you. A brand new battery has a capacity of about 4400. A battery that has lost 20% of it's capacity will read 3600. You can work your way from there to see how the battery has deteriorated.

Can't think of anything else that you would need to look out for. You are aware of the heat problem with the 12" powerbooks? They get quite warm during use, and get to about 60ºC when under heavy loads.
 
The internal thermometer at the GPU and CPU both read 60ºC. To top it off, when running under heavy load, touching the bottom of the Powerbook is seriously asking for trouble :) You really can't put the 12" on your lap if you're going to be doing processor intensive tasks like encoding movies, compiling software, hardcore gaming, etc. Unless of course you wear lead underpants....
 
Oh wait, lead conducts heat well, doesn't it? Better make that styrofoam underpants :D
 
Naah, can't make them styrofoam, either -- it gives off toxic fumes when it burns, so if the PowerBook got hot enough, it could actually suffocate you.

I would suggest several layers of flame-retardant canvas underpants. :D
 
Thanks for the help but I could not go through with it. I just think the 15 inch model is the perfect size for a laptop. Better to spend a little more and be happy that just settling.

Thanks all,

P.S. Don't tell me about *any* problems with the 15 inchers, let me enjoy my ignorance.
 
I know you don't wanna hear it, but I can't help but warn you about the "tourette's-like" bug that exists with the 15" PowerBooks. It emits loud obscenities about Windows users at random intervals regardless of volume setting. Just thought you should know...

Heh... I would have gone for the same deal. 15" sounds big, but it's actually, as you say, the perfect size for a laptop. I know you'll be satisfied more with the 15" than the 12".
 
He just can't stay in the sun at all, since Kevlar degenerates in the presence of UV light. Also, just for the record if he's wearing Kevlar underpants, he'd better stay indoors :D.
 
i had a 14" iBook and "upgraded" to a 12" powerbook - for me the 12" model is much more convenient/portable.
 
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