Club 17

[weckart]

Interesting developments on the PC side of things. 17" notebooks are still a thing. Now with 2560x1600 displays and weighing less than half as much as the PB G4 17".

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13681/lg-gram-17-available-ultra-thin-laptop-with-a-17-inch-display.

If you have a few beers and squint it doesn't look all that different front on from a unibody MacBook Pro except for the prominent logo.

 

[eyoungren]

Interesting developments on the PC side of things. 17" notebooks are still a thing. Now with 2560x1600 displays and weighing less than half as much as the PB G4 17".

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13681/lg-gram-17-available-ultra-thin-laptop-with-a-17-inch-display.

If you have a few beers and squint it doesn't look all that different front on from a unibody MacBook Pro except for the prominent logo.

That actually looks like a pretty nice laptop. I'd be interested.

 

[bobesch]

Interesting developments on the PC side of things. 17" notebooks are still a thing. Now with 2560x1600 displays and weighing less than half as much as the PB G4 17".
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13681/lg-gram-17-available-ultra-thin-laptop-with-a-17-inch-display.
If you have a few beers and squint it doesn't look all that different front on from a unibody MacBook Pro except for the prominent logo.

I wonder, if Apple would chime in with a 17" MacBook HeavyAir if 17" should become a bestseller ...
Big compliment to the Apple designers, that this 17" machine does look nearly identical to the MB-Air.
(But what about repairability, about glue and battery?)

 

[Toyface19]

Can my first post be to join this elusive club? This is my PowerBook 5,7, single-layer 1440 x 900. I just upgraded it to 1GB of RAM, and when I bought this off of eBay, it sadly had a 4200rpm 30GB drive in it. I have a 120GB 5400rpm Samsung drive ready and waiting to go in this weekend.

Cosmetically this was in good condition, given that it cost roughly £30 when all was said and done. Sadly, the display data cable is touchy, and I have had to do a "bodge job" to the cable inside to make sure it is angled correctly and has the right sort of pressure on it, otherwise my image goes. I do not want to replace the cable - I've searched for and read the horror stories - but am keeping an eye out for a 17" with a working display I can transplant.

Upon entry - assuming I'm allowed in?! - I would like to say a big thank you to the very active members of the PowerPC forums - you know who you are - the info you laid down here has allowed me to experience a PowerPC machine I grew up lusting over both painlessly and to its fullest, so cheers to you!

 

[eyoungren]

Can my first post be to join this elusive club? This is my PowerBook 5,7, single-layer 1440 x 900. I just upgraded it to 1GB of RAM, and when I bought this off of eBay, it sadly had a 4200rpm 30GB drive in it. I have a 120GB 5400rpm Samsung drive ready and waiting to go in this weekend.

Cosmetically this was in good condition, given that it cost roughly £30 when all was said and done. Sadly, the display data cable is touchy, and I have had to do a "bodge job" to the cable inside to make sure it is angled correctly and has the right sort of pressure on it, otherwise my image goes. I do not want to replace the cable - I've searched for and read the horror stories - but am keeping an eye out for a 17" with a working display I can transplant.

Upon entry - assuming I'm allowed in?! - I would like to say a big thank you to the very active members of the PowerPC forums - you know who you are - the info you laid down here has allowed me to experience a PowerPC machine I grew up lusting over both painlessly and to its fullest, so cheers to you!

Welcome to the club!

Swapping displays is fairly easy as long as you have the entire thing (panel, hinge, mounts). It may be cheaper to buy a dead PB with a good display for this. You can use the rest for spare parts.

PS. Macs and coffee, good combo!!!

 

[1042686]

Welcome to the club!

Swapping displays is fairly easy as long as you have the entire thing (panel, hinge, mounts). It may be cheaper to buy a dead PB with a good display for this. You can use the rest for spare parts.

PS. Macs and coffee, good combo!!!

Welcome to the club & the forum.

 

[Toyface19]

Welcome to the club!

Swapping displays is fairly easy as long as you have the entire thing (panel, hinge, mounts). It may be cheaper to buy a dead PB with a good display for this. You can use the rest for spare parts.

PS. Macs and coffee, good combo!!!

This is my exact plan. I'm keeping an eye out for a machine with some other problem I'm not interested in fixing, but has a working display, and I'll swap the displays wholesale. This weekend I'm upgrading the HDD and will be dual-booting Tiger and Leopard, mostly for classic mode on some games, but also because I'm not too impressed with the performance of Leopard. The former is quicker, but the latter gets me WebKit and a better version of some software, so I'm just going to do both!

 

[eyoungren]

This is my exact plan. I'm keeping an eye out for a machine with some other problem I'm not interested in fixing, but has a working display, and I'll swap the displays wholesale. This weekend I'm upgrading the HDD and will be dual-booting Tiger and Leopard, mostly for classic mode on some games, but also because I'm not too impressed with the performance of Leopard. The former is quicker, but the latter gets me WebKit and a better version of some software, so I'm just going to do both!

There is a Leopard optimization thread here. Should come up in a search fairly easily.

But briefly…disable all eye candy, use Onyx to speed up display of sheets, turn off menubar transparency (if it's on), use the Secrets Prefpane, and disable Beamsync.

Most of that above will speed Leopard up. Some other tricks are disabling spotlight and safe sleep. But you'll find those in the optimization thread.

Also, it has been shown that a poor install can also cause problems. @Dronecatcher was quite anti-Leopard until he reinstalled the system. Apparently his previous install had gone bad somehow and was dragging down the system.

 

[Dronecatcher]

Also, it has been shown that a poor install can also cause problems. @Dronecatcher was quite anti-Leopard until he reinstalled the system. Apparently his previous install had gone bad somehow and was dragging down the system.

I've had this happen on at least two different Powerbooks - everything worked but with terrible performance - on my 1.5Ghz 12" it was shocking.
Reinstalling brought things right back up to speed.

 

[dbdjre0143]

@Toyface19 : I have a High-Res 17" PB with a dead logic board (and excellent screen!) I've been looking for a good home for someone who wants parts. Shoot me a PM if you want it on the cheap. Welcome to the PPC forum!
PS: Per this thread, it should be a direct swap to the HR screen: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/powerbook-g4-17-high-res-upgrade.2065752/

 

[AphoticD]

My entry into Club 17

PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 64GB mSATA SSD
MacBook Pro 17-inch 2.5GHz "Penryn" Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) - 4GB RAM - 128GB mSATA SSD
PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 100GB 5400rpm HDD


​

 

[B S Magnet]

View attachment 818378

My entry into Club 17

PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 64GB mSATA SSD
MacBook Pro 17-inch 2.5GHz "Penryn" Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) - 4GB RAM - 128GB mSATA SSD
PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 100GB 5400rpm HDD


View attachment 818374 View attachment 818375 View attachment 818376 View attachment 818377​

Show-off.

 

[rawweb]

View attachment 818378

My entry into Club 17

PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 64GB mSATA SSD
MacBook Pro 17-inch 2.5GHz "Penryn" Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) - 4GB RAM - 128GB mSATA SSD
PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 100GB 5400rpm HDD


View attachment 818374 View attachment 818375 View attachment 818376 View attachment 818377​

I desperately want a 17" high res '08 Penryn, the last of a great design. As a script writer, I have memories of it being the best keyboard I've ever used on a Mac. I'm not sure if that's a false memory, but yeah...I keep checking eBay, but I'm very picky. Want something near mint, but still can't pull the trigger on $300 for a 11-year-old machine.

 

[eyoungren]

View attachment 818378

My entry into Club 17

PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 64GB mSATA SSD
MacBook Pro 17-inch 2.5GHz "Penryn" Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) - 4GB RAM - 128GB mSATA SSD
PowerBook G4 17-inch SLSD 1.67GHz (2005) - 2GB RAM - 100GB 5400rpm HDD


View attachment 818374 View attachment 818375 View attachment 818376 View attachment 818377​

So when you make an entry…you make an entry?!

Very nice, and welcome to Club 17!
[doublepost=1548603804][/doublepost]

I desperately want a 17" high res '08 Penryn, the last of a great design. As a script writer, I have memories of it being the best keyboard I've ever used on a Mac. I'm not sure if that's a false memory, but yeah...I keep checking eBay, but I'm very picky. Want something near mint, but still can't pull the trigger on $300 for a 11-year-old machine.

I'd be willing to pay $300 for an A1261. I just haven't been in a spot where $300 wasn't needed elsewhere…yet.

 

[macgeek18]

You guys are making me want a 17" again.

 

[eyoungren]

Currently…

 

[Dronecatcher]

Make yourself comfortable

 

[B S Magnet]

More to follow soon, but:

A local posting for a 17" PB G4 DLSD for "as-is/parts" came up, and based on low-res pics of a kernel panic upon powering up, I took the chance and bought it. Translated to US dollars, it was about $60.

Presently it's running ASD 2.6.3, but by the look of it, the problem was two-fold and easily solvable:

1. There was a Mac OS X OEM install disc in the SD. The seller didn't clue in how this was the install disc for an iBook G4, probably something like a 1.33GHz, since it was 10.3.5(!).
2. In target disk mode, I glanced at the HDD inside, which so far seems OK for rust. It appeared to have a deeply broken install in which every application was a generic icon with the interdit/no-circle/slash. It's possibly because the partition scheme was GPT(!!).

Superficially, the laptop was filthy, but I've cleaned it up somewhat with hand sanitizer, which is making it look a bit nicer.

Pictures will follow as well, but I went ahead and dug up when this one was built. It was manufactured about three weeks before the MacBook Pro went on sale:

My first take: the 17" form factor should have been called a bodytop, not a laptop.

Also: does this mean I may now join this posh Club 17?

 

[eyoungren]

Also: does this mean I may now join this posh Club 17?

If you own a 17" PB or MBP, you gain automatic entry to the club!

Your's is CTO (Customize To Order) so you've probably got more inside than the default.

Enjoy the bodytop. It'll grow on you!

 

[B S Magnet]

If you own a 17" PB or MBP, you gain automatic entry to the club!

Your's is CTO (Customize To Order) so you've probably got more inside than the default.

Enjoy the bodytop. It'll grow on you!

I looked at the serial specs page again. The CTO items appear to be memory and drive.

This is outfitted with a pair of Kingston 1GB modules, which may or may not be OEM. If the HDD is somehow original (entirely possible), System Profiler shows it to be a Hitachi 7200rpm 100gb unit. The CTO for that was probably a lateral move from the standard 5400rpm 120gb unit.

Unrelated: the battery seems to be good condition.

 

[MagicBoy]

I don't recall 7200rpm drives being a CTO item on the late 2005 PowerBook G4. IIRC 5400rpm drives up to 120GB were an option on the 12" and 15" models, the 17" was already maxed out.

 

[LightBulbFun]

nah the 17 inch DLSD shipped with a 120GB 5400RPM spinner as stock, with an option for a 100GB 7200RPM BTO

need to check what my 17 inch DLSD has, im pretty sure its the stock 120GB 5400RPM drive tho

 

[MagicBoy]

Yeah, I said the 120GB 5400rpm was stock.

CTO upgrade to 7200rpm isn't mentioned in the press release : https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005...gher-Resolution-Displays-Longer-Battery-Life/

7200rpm drives were available from launch on the MacBook Pro. Maybe added late in the DLSD G4 run?

 

[B S Magnet]

Yeah, I said the 120GB 5400rpm was stock.

CTO upgrade to 7200rpm isn't mentioned in the press release : https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2005...gher-Resolution-Displays-Longer-Battery-Life/

7200rpm drives were available from launch on the MacBook Pro. Maybe added late in the DLSD G4 run?

Sorry, kids. I found your answer in the fine print:

 

[B S Magnet]

Superficially, the laptop was filthy, but I've cleaned it up somewhat with hand sanitizer, which is making it look a bit nicer.

Pictures will follow as well, but I went ahead and dug up when this one was built. It was manufactured about three weeks before the MacBook Pro went on sale:

View attachment 827533

I'm probably posting this more for myself than for anyone else, but here's how the A1139 restoration has gone.

First, the symptoms were exactly as I'd sussed.

Someone along the way had tried to boot from an disc install of Panther, which is not possible with the A1138 and A1139s. So I put it into target disk mode, connected it to the G5, wiped the drive, ran ASD 2.6.3, and then installed Leopard Server.




ASD hardware test passed completely. Yay.




Superficially, it was as dirty as one could expect from being left alone for a while at a "swap shop" (i.e., pawn shop). I obviously don't know its history beyond what's before me right now, but I plan to look into it.

Whilst installing Leopard (or maybe whilst running ASD), I opened the RAM compartment to find that 2GB RAM was installed. I fully expected to find only 512MB.



In any event, there's still more work to do, but here's where things are now.

It's cleaner.

Aside from a couple of minor scratches and corner scuffs, everything appears to be in exceptional condition. I swapped the "enter" key with a second "Opt" key donated from a donor 12" PB (which, like 15 and 17-inch models, are translucent to let backlighting through, even as the 12 never was equipped to do that).




Geekbench 2 reports in at 888 for now. With an SSD, this might go up a bit. And the battery will need to be replaced, but it still holds a marginal amount of capacity.



I'm just feeling fortunate to have run across this Powerbook at all, much less for well below $100.