[belafonte]

I just recently purchased the new imac G5 for my business and I want to get a laptop for portability. I looked on ebay and all of the the Powerbook Titaniums are roughly around $400-700, how come they're so cheap? is there anything that I am not aware of too why people wouldn't want to purchase them?

[webb3201]

That depends on which version you are looking to purchase. Typically you see Powerbooks going for around $1.25 per megahertz. Unfortunately the 1ghz TI's are commanding a higher price in many cases, as they are very capable machines and the last with the ability to boot into OS9 or OSX.

I assume you are seeing machines in the 400 mhz to 667 in that price range. I recommend a 667 DVI as a very capable machine that still feels fast enough to run today's applications . The DVI model ran pretty cool. I wish I still had mine around. I miss the fact that I could easily swap hard drives in my Ti machines. I am too chicken to try on my AL machines.

The TI line was great and is still cutting edge design (looks great). They have no major issues other than paint chipping that you should be too worried about.

[brapper]

I, until recently, had a tibook 667 (non-DVI)
It was still vary capable and ran everything I threw at it with the exception of the latest games.
What are your needs?

[benwhanlee]

i have a 667 model and it still runs great. not the fastest thing in the world but it's still capable enough.

[belafonte]

I would be using it for Photoshop cs2... do you think that would still run?
-

[brapper]

it'd run...not incredibly, but yeah if you dont know any better you may be pleased with the performance.

[threestain]

I ran a 1GHz TiBook and it handles things very capably, from photoshop to encoding video. I love it.

Maybe a little too much, truth be told!

[tomato71]

Originally Posted by belafonte

I just recently purchased the new imac G5 for my business and I want to get a laptop for portability. I looked on ebay and all of the the Powerbook Titaniums are roughly around $400-700, how come they're so cheap? is there anything that I am not aware of too why people wouldn't want to purchase them?

I sold my 667 Mhz last fall. Never had a problem with any of the internal components.

Why are they so cheap? Mostly cosmetic reasons I suspect-the casing is extremely vunerable to scratches and the paint flakes (experienced both). Compared to its immediate predecessor the Pismo, the machine is also not that rugged. The lid for the lcd is remarkably thin, you can run your finger on the back of the lid-you don't need to (and shouldn't) exert much pressure-- and see the pixels 'bubble up' underneath where your finger is.

Pismos by the way are still highly sought after pieces of machinery. In Tokyo, the price of a used Pismo is still hovering around $800 to $900.

[Link]

Cheap? $400-700 for a machine that's under 667mhz seems awfully high to me, given these are used laptops. Do yourself a favor though if you get one and make sure to clean that keyboard! After having seen a "where do you take your laptop?" thread here on MacNN I practically vowed to never buy a used one -- especially off anyone who posted in that thread! O_o

[SEkker]

iBooks >1GHz are <$999 new. A sub-667MHz TiPB SHOULD be half that price.

[mousehouse]

my advice would be to skip the route you're taking!

1) don't buy laptops via Ebay. there's a lot of fraud going on with apple hardware on ebay where you pay and never receive anything. other than that i suspect a lot of stolen hardware being sold through that channel.

2) don't buy a used laptop that old that you don't have personal experience with. of these machines are a few years old there is a big chance it's come by some accidents. this happens. a dropped bag, a sleeping cat, etc. big chance that problems will develop with the drive, memory or screen. eg. expected lifetime of the backlight in the LCD is only like 3yrs. besides you would be forced to get a new battery anyway (another $100 costs).

just get a new iBook. they will be faster than the <=667 tibooks, run at a comparable screen size (from the DVI versions upwards they went to 1280x8something, before that it was 1152x768 i think). the faster tibooks are like hairblowers, if you click something in the GUI they start blowing like crazy and burn your legs (i know, i have one for nearly 3 yrs).

if you want the iBook cheaper you could consider a refurbished model.

[belafonte]

too much money though... i basically just want something to be able to take to clients and show them pictures on... right now i am using my ipod... but its just not big enough...

[chse]

I still have a 667 DVI - it runs great but I really would not recommend buying a used one. The construction is very poor, and if it was (will be) carried around a lot you can be sure that you will run into trouble. The hinges to the screen might brake the handrest nearly always can be pressed in, there most likely will be keyboard marks on the screen, there might be white spots on the screen, the paint might come off or the whole casing might become flumsy..
And I completely agree with the previous posting do not buy on ebay- since there can be so many faults you should have a look at the pb before you buy it (the status of the paint is a very good indicator how heavily it was used, though).
It is to expensive, too you can get a nice ibook for a little more- and get the 3 yrs waranty if you laptop falls apart after 2 ys of use you get it repaired (I wish I would have done this..).
If you still want to get one starting from the 667 DVI (there is also an non-DVI 667) the screen resolution was a bit higher and the screen better (and the paint did not fall off so easily) - thats why these are more expensive, though.

C