PowerBook G4 12" Club

[Amethyst1]

Figured Club 17 could do with a less etitist little brother

Admission to Club 12 is in ownership of a 12" PowerBook G4. No iBooks or pre-G4 PowerBooks!

I'll go first:

Left: 867MHz, 1.12GB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm HDD (stock), SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme upgrade. Mac OS 9.2.2.

Right: 1.33GHz, 1.25GB RAM, 60GB 4200rpm HDD (stock), SuperDrive. Mac OS X Jaguar and Tiger (soon to be OpenBSD).​

 

[eyoungren]

It's from 2011 when I got it for my wife, but still works. In my garage now.

Updating OS X at the time…

 

[retta283]

Wonderful machines, I've thought about buying one in the past but can't really justify it. Already have a 2005 12" iBook and an early 2005 15" PB. I knew a couple of people who had 12" PBs back in the mid 2000s and I always wanted to play with it, I was amazed at how good these things were compared to the iBook G3 I had at the time. That's how you can tell it's a good product, that it still looks appealing today even though I don't have a use for it...

I'm more likely to get into Club 12 than Club 17. If there was a Club 15 I'd already be in that. I found the 15" to be the sweet spot when I purchased mine, and I just didn't have the extra funds for the 17" (With the upgrades I did I spent around $2,300).

 

[z970]

No iBooks

"You haven't seen the last of me !!"

 

[weckart]

I have two of the 1.5GHz PB G4 - the final model before the Intel switch; one with a UK keyboard and one with a Swedish keyboard.

 

[Imixmuan]

My 667mhz 12 inch PBG4 shortly after I bought it in 2004, watching BBC news (in Kansas) through a program called iTube!. I could easily stream "high quality" 480p on that machine. Shows just how far we have fallen. In the shadows to the left is my 1st gen ipod clickwheel. Fell victim to its twentieth or so fall to the floor, unrepairable.

 

[Amethyst1]

If there was a Club 15 I'd already be in that.

Me too. Go ahead, start one We can also have a Snow Club for iBooks.

 

[timidpimpin]

I have a 6,8 1.5GHz with a faulty RAM expansion slot. It's not quite dead, but can't go more than 10 min with RAM in there, then KP's. I use it for whitenoise with some logitech speakers. It runs stable forever with just the built-in RAM, so I keep it on Tiger, as it runs half decent with 256MB.

 

[Amethyst1]

I have a 6,8 1.5GHz with a faulty RAM expansion slot. It's not quite dead, but can't go more than 10 min with RAM in there, then KP's. I use it for whitenoise with some logitech speakers. It runs stable forever with just the built-in RAM, so I keep it on Tiger, as it runs half decent with 256MB.

Panther would run better with just 256MB, so if that application supports it...

 

[amedias]

867 MHz
1.0 GHz
1.33 GHz
2x 1.5 GHz

All working although one of the 1.5s has a dodgy ram slot. SSDs in all but the 867

 

[1042686]

Modest 867mhz 12” powerbook.

 

[z970]

@RhianB foxPEP (formerly PowerUOC) is at its seventh iteration now.

 

[1042686]

Yeah man, I think I will give it another shot on the PB12. While I did not see notable improvements on the PB when I last tried it, I certainly did when I installed it on my MDD and DC2GHz PMG5 (which subsequently were later further refined builds IIRC) .

 

[macgeek18]

I got one. 1.5Ghz, 1.5GB RAM, 80GBSSD. Love that little guy. Will be one of the last PPC Macs I get rid of.

 

[Alex_K]

I hope this qualifies me for this club.

I have 5 x Powerbook G4 12inches. These are made up of 3 x 1.5GHz (two work perfectly, the third has graphics and power issues, and stinks, and only boots up properly occasionally), one battered 857MHz that was badly damaged in the post but which works, and finally a 1.33GHz (centre front), which also works but is a bit battered too - I was a tad too enthusiastic with the hammer when trying to flatten out the kinks in the case.

For your interest, this is what I paid (including postage) for them - all have been bought in the past couple of years on UK Ebay.

£10.00 - 1.5GHz. Sold for parts but works perfectly. Even includes a 140GB HD

£16.49 - 1.33GHz. Sold for parts with box. Just needed a HD installed

£25.00 - 1.5GHz. Works perfectly but ram area is a bit battered

£16.69 - 1.5GHz. Boxed. But has graphics and power issues.

£18.50 - 867Mhz. Seller packaged it terribly. And it got bent in the post. But works

You can definitely still pick these up for cheap, if you are patient, and don't need an absolutely perfect specimen.

Personally, I love the look of the 12inch. But the build quality is terrible. The cases are far too fragile, much more so than the iBook 12inches. The metal unibody Mac laptops of today are so much more robust.

 

[Amethyst1]

I hope this qualifies me for this club.

Indeed. Welcome

 

[skinniezinho]

Here is mine
1.5GHz/Maxed our ram/64Gb SSD/New battery from AliExpress
A beauty
Was my Christmas gift to myself two years ago

 

[Riviera122]

Checking in - see bio.

2005 model but was manufactured in early 2006. 1.25GB RAM, 80GB hard drive. I love using it and I'm currently teaching myself InDesign on it, connected to a 2006 Cinema Display.

 

[r6mile]

I had one of these in 2013-14 or so for a bit, and was my main machine for a short while between the untimely death of my MBP, and the purchase of my MBA which still goes very strong. It was mostly fine but was loud as hell! Probably some issue I never diagnosed properly. Firing it up in a small open plan office drew a few disapproving looks from colleagues! Nice size though.

 

[Amethyst1]

It was mostly fine but was loud as hell!

My 1.5GHz was the same, CPU at 70~75°C and fan racing at 9000rpm.

 

[ervus]

My 1.5GHz was the same, CPU at 70~75°C and fan racing at 9000rpm.

This sounds like a broken solder joint. It seems to be pretty common with these, and there are other threads documenting it. While you have it apart to fix it, might as well put in a SSD. That seems to breathe new life into these.

I think the 12" powerbook is the peak of the apple product line.

 

[Amethyst1]

This sounds like a broken solder joint.

Thanks for the hint. I've since sold the machine as-is so it no longer matters. And yep, the 12" is an awesome lil laptop (except for the original 867MHz) but hampered by a crappy GPU.

 

[timidpimpin]

My 1.5GHz was the same, CPU at 70~75°C and fan racing at 9000rpm.

I'm shocked it got over 70, but I guess that's a trait of the 7447 in a laptop with higher tolerances engineered in. The 7455's will typically auto shut down at 70 C.

 

[Amethyst1]

I'm shocked it got over 70, but I guess that's a trait of the 7447 in a laptop with higher tolerances engineered in.

Emergency shutdown occurred at 75.

 

[bobesch]

Figured Club 17 could do with a less etitist little brother

Great! Here my favorite pictures of my little steam-book...
@Amethyst1 : how did you manage to boot into os9 on your early 12" 800-something MHz PB?
Constant fan-activity might be related to a low threshold of temperature sensors - G4FanControl helped me to set Threshold to 60-65dB.
Of heatsink screw break off the board.
iLapStand is a great help to keep the book cooler and table a bit more tidy ...