Anecdotes about buying parts machines that actually work

[swamprock]

I've been hunting for a keyboard for my 1.5ghz 12" Powerbook G4 for years now. Since they're about as common as 7-Horned Unicorns, I opted to buy a parts machine instead, with a decent-looking keyboard, and just remove the keyboard from it. I have other parts (new speakers and fan) so I can totally restore the machine, as it spent six months in a damp environment and got damaged.

I received the "parts" 12" today- a 1ghz machine for $65 shipped, and not only is it working, it's just too damn nice to strip down for parts. I will want to take it down eventually, to replace the spinning drive with an SSD, but this machine has no huge dents (just a slight one near the screen latch button; barely noticeable), no deformed frame, and just a few scratches. The only issue is a slightly-dim display (compared to my 1.5ghz machine, which is nice and bright), but I can replace that with a decent iBook G4 screen from a parts machine (and there are plenty of those), even if that's a bit of a crap shoot. So, now I have to get yet *another* parts machine to mine for its keyboard.

Anyone else experience this phenomenon?

 

[sparty411]

I sell machines on ebay for parts fairly routinely. I'm not willing to spend the time testing every last little thing on them, and can't in good conscience claim they're fully functional because of that. So, "for parts / repair" it is. That is a nice looking machine though. I'd feel bad ravaging it for parts too.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Yeah man I’d call that a score!

Very cool.

 

[Matias_]

I bought two "fully dead" A1138 15" DLSD PowerBook G4s for parts. The first one powered on and booted right up (although it's HDD lasted less than a minute). i suspect the seller did not have a 65w charger.

The second one did actually appear to be fully dead. It turned on but never seemed to initialize. However that one was nontrivial to get working so I guess it was somewhat justified. After connecting a good PRAM battery and resetting the logic board several times it too sprung back to life.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I bought two "fully dead" A1138 15" DLSD PowerBook G4s for parts. The first one powered on and booted right up (although it's HDD lasted less than a minute). i suspect the seller did not have a 65w charger.

The second one did actually appear to be fully dead. It turned on but never seemed to initialize. However that one was nontrivial to get working so I guess it was somewhat justified. After connecting a good PRAM battery and resetting the logic board several times it too sprung back to life.

I have had the opposite luck on mine. PowerBooks and me are like oil and water LOL. I had a 1.5ghz and an 867mhz 12” pbg4s and the 1.5ghz gpu died on that one and my 867mhz … it always ran hot but even after a repaste and new thermal pads, it finally cooked itself into oblivion. That second one was $40 shipped though, very clean and it came with a boxed version of Tiger so more than anything, its a bummer not to have a functioning 12” anymore. The 1.5ghz I completely disassembled down to parts just as an exercise in doing so and that 867 is somewhere out on my garage bench in a parts box somewhere lol.

It is nice to see these cheap parts Macs stories though. They’re certainly not the thrifty affordable buys they used to be.

 

[ww2_1943]

I bought a PB Pismo to use for parts. Turned out to have have a 550mhz G4 upgrade and everything worked. It is now my main PowerBook.