[Mastrap]

A friend of mine in Germany has good contacts to Apple - he quoted me a very good price for a 15" refurb. All legit, I hasten to add.

He claims they are as good as new, with no sign that they have ever been used. Does anybody have any experience with that?

Also, it being Apple Germany, it would come with a German keyboard. Meaning they've got a lot of keys I don't need (ü ö ä ß etc). How expensive would a standard US/UK exchange PB keyboard be?

All input appreciated.

[seanyepez]

Removing a PowerBook's keyboard is easy. You can get a standard, English keyboard from www.pbparts.com, or you could find one for less money on eBay.

[tooki]

I don't know about Germany, but in Switzerland, there are companies that will re-finish your key caps with whatever characters you need (commonly, converting a US keyboard to something else).

tooki

[bbales]

I've bought two refurbished PBs -- and had good luck with both. Actually, with the second, the CD drive b ombed out on me very quickly and I did have a bit of a problem getting the company to take it back and give me a new one, but I eventually got satisfacation. That's a 3400 C -- I still have it, though the trackpad, after about 18 months, broke. I won't go into the boring details, but a permanent fix is yet to be made! It's still a good little powerbook, though, so I will fix it, if I can get the right part cheaply.

Usually there is some sort of guarantee on these things, especially if it's coming from Apple. Check into that.

[dettociao]

I've had great experience with refurbs from apple.

that said, ive had horrible experience with refurbs from other companies.

IMO i wouldnt buy refurb from anyone but apple (which appears to be what you're going to do )

[Voch]

I've had my refurb PowerBook G4 667 DVI for a little more than a month and it's great.

[BkueKanoodle]

I bought a 15" refurb in January and its been great. the only way yuoc ould tell it was refurb was it said refurbished on the box it came in. Not bad for saving $300 dollars.