Used PowerBook 17" 1G Need Advice

02/29/2008 12:18:54 AM · #1

Hi,

I currently use for my pictures my old good Toshiba Satellite A10 (Celeron 2.5 1G RAM). The monitor is not trustful though and I wanted initially to purchase a monitor for it. I found out hard to buy smth here in HK as the machine does not support wide screen resolution etc...Then I decided to purchase a whole new desktop or even go for a MacPro 15" and a separate display. I mention that for work (which is not imaging related) I use a MacPro G5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM and love it (with all the Mac shortcomings)

Now I found out that a friend is giving away for free his defective Used PowerBook 17" 1G, 512M RAM. I took it to the shop (no inspection fee even if I insisted) and the repair guy said I am lucky as he has another identical machine in his work shop.

If the bill sums to HKD2500-3000 (USD350-400) I will fix it and take it.

So, anyone, any advice like what to watch out for, is powerful enough for PS, is the monitor relaible etc?
I read some forums on the net and apparently some batches of 17" PowerBooks have some weird lines affecting the LCD screen.

Highly appreciated any replies!

Tibi

Message edited by author 2008-02-29 00:21:29.

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

02/29/2008 04:30:02 AM · #2

bump

tate

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

02/29/2008 07:12:51 AM · #3

I'm guessing this machine is running Tiger. I wouldn't change the OS regardless. I wouldn't upgrade to Leopard, because IMO it isn't worth the extra video/RAM/space that can be precious on a lap-top. If you want to run anything CS3, you'll want more RAM (I'm assuming you have 1 open slot). Sorry not much more advice I can offer. Scalvert will most likely chime in when he reads this! :)

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/29/2008 08:09:20 AM · #4

Good to know for the software. I will leave it. I will upgrade the RAM and I intend running CS2.

Many thanks,

Tibi

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

02/29/2008 09:30:35 AM · #5

Got your PM, but you didn't say which thread to look at. ;-)

I assume by 1G you mean this is a first generation 17" PowerBook? That will run CS2 just fine, but it won't be any speed demon. 1GHz G4 and a maximum of 1GB of RAM isn't very much for Photoshop, and a 60GB hard drive will quickly force you to use an external Firewire drive (that model supports Firewire 800). The 1X DVD-R drive is pretty slow, too. You can use an external LCD monitor up to 1440 x 900 resolution.

This model probably shipped with OS X 10.2, and I wouldn't go past 10.4.11 due to the limited RAM on that model. Note that the original battery would probably be near the end of its service life, so you may need to replace that, too. These sell for about $500-600 on eBay, so $400 is a good deal as long as you are comfortable buying a nearly obsolete computer (it doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Aperture, but iPhoto will supposedly work). Any of the newer Intel-based Macs will run circles around a PowerBook G4 IF you use CS3 (CS2 runs at a reduced speed because it's not Intel-native). Hope that helps!

02/29/2008 08:41:55 PM · #6

Helps a lot.

Thank you so much.

02/29/2008 10:40:12 PM · #7

Oh, and the battery was barely used as the machine served more as a desktop in the office. Maybe was out 2-3 times (too big to carry)