[seanyepez]

It was a fateful afternoon a few weeks ago. I had come back from school with a ton of homework and had been sleeping for the two-hour commute through hordes of traffic from my college prep in San Jose. Barely conscious, I notice my friend get out of the car. I get up and look outside, and we're at his house. In absolute horror, I witness my friend closing the car trunk on my backpack. I got home, unpacked my stuff, washed up, and got a snack. Then, I turned on my PowerBook and alas, my screen was cracked into a million pieces. I sighed in distress.

What was I to do? Screen repairs from Apple are upwards of $600, and www.pbparts.com is asking $500 for a screen replacement. My Pismo is now barely worth a thousand dollars with a functional panel! I start looking on eBay and get in touch with my good friend Victor, and I ask him to repair my PowerBook for me with a panel from eBay.

Well, I just got my trusty 500-megahertz Pismo back from Victor (known here as "vmarks") and I would like to advise all of you with repair inquiries of any sort to contact him before you pay someone else to fix your beloved machine. For about $150 excluding shipping, my PowerBook's fragmented, utterly obliterated Samsung panel that already suffered from a dim backlight and a yellowish color tint was replaced by an almost-new, $75 Chi Mei LCD panel. It's whiter, brighter, and best of all, working fine!

In the process of repairing my PowerBook, Victor encountered a chipped AirPort antenna. The generous man he is, he soldered it back together for no additional charge.

All throughout the process, Victor and I remained in close communication. I assure you, if you have anything you want fixed, consider shipping your PowerBook off to the respectable Victor Marks, friendly moderator of numerous forums here at MacNN! Thank you Doctor Marks, you've saved my PowerBook!

(By the way, I haven't been asked or otherwise coaxed into posting this; I'm just so happy with the results of the transaction! Victor was not consulted regarding this post before its posting.)

[SOLIDAge]

Victor is currently in the process of stripping my Powerbook G4, due to dents, and stratches etc and so far is doing an absolutly amazing job. He is a truly talented guy
vote libritarian on Nov 5th if your in his district ;-)

here are the photos he has sent me so far of my Ti, i'll give a full update when it arrives back here

http://homepage.mac.com/alasaracina/PhotoAlbum21.html

[KidRed]

Originally posted by solidage:
Victor is currently in the process of stripping my Powerbook G4, due to dents, and stratches etc and so far is doing an absolutly amazing job. He is a truly talented guy
vote libritarian on Nov 5th if your in his district ;-)

here are the photos he has sent me so far of my Ti, i'll give a full update when it arrives back here

http://homepage.mac.com/alasaracina/PhotoAlbum21.html

So there's paint on top of the titanium? Why not just leave it titanium? Not sure why they'd paint that.

[seanyepez]

Considering all the problems they've been having with the TiBook's paint job, leaving it bare titanium could have been less problematic.

[romeosc]

As you are probably aware Titanium changes colors subly from oils and exposure to polutents. It would have a rainbow effect.... Hmmmm rainbow .....Apple .... na they dumped the color logo!

[SOLIDAge]

Originally posted by romeosc:
As you are probably aware Titanium changes colors subly from oils and exposure to polutents. It would have a rainbow effect.... Hmmmm rainbow .....Apple .... na they dumped the color logo!

The titanium alloy also changes color from moisture that isn't skin oil- for example, a damp cloth dragged across the bottom will leave the titanium a darker color. But of course, the advantage is, it doesn't show scratches near as much as the paint surface did.

Still, I like the way it's turned out.

[euphras]

The "rainbow" colours appear due to oxidation processes. Titanium can go through multiple oxidation steps and each oxidation step refers to one colour. You can accelerate and (with experience) control the appearence of this "rainbow effect" using a soldering torch or a Bunsen burner. I would like to see some Rainbow Tibooks out there in the valley of the brave

Pat

[kndonlee]

Hey that's awesome that you got your Powerbook LCD screen replaced! Would it be pssible to find where to purchase al the parts, as i have a pismo too, and the screen has been slightly damaged due to some pressure. Still usable, but just annoying. Hearing that an lcd can be bought and replced for 75 dollars is almost a steal! If any information could be posted up on how to replace the lcd.. that would be awesome!

Thanx

[SOLIDAge]

Here is why i am mainly getting the Powerbook fixed

Dent +scratch



NOWWW only a light Dent




that was the main point of this modification (if youd call it that)

[urrl5201]

MAAS metal polish shines metal to incredible level. Check out the hinge work:

http://homepage.mac.com/bhardy3/PhotoAlbum6.html

The actual hinge was so dull after stripping the paint it did not even look like metal. The polish really made it shine like a new product.