Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Meadowfield · Mar 22, 2001, 01:45 PM

I'm expecting delivery of a supposedly "new" 500 purchased through eBay later today or tomorrow. No doubt, I'm suspect, and hope it's not a refirb or lemon someone has pawned. They claim to include all accessories and the full warranty - we'll see...

Can you folks think of anything I should be on the lookout for as far as defects, etc., or suggest any diagnostic procedures that may shed some light on this orphan's history? This will be my 1st laptop and I'm soo excited I can hardly sit still. Thanks in advance.

bighead · Mar 22, 2001, 02:49 PM

Just make sure you register for the AppleCare warranty as soon as you get it, and keep all of your reciepts and transaction paper trails.

Meadowfield · Mar 22, 2001, 02:51 PM

O..K... any other suggestions?

Meadowfield · Mar 22, 2001, 02:54 PM

Thanks BH. Do you know if there is a way to check how long it's been used? I remember the ol' pizza box 460's used to be able to tell you...

Mar 23, 2001, 12:15 AM

Hi there,

Get TechTool at www.micromat.com. It is a free app that will tell you how many hours the book has been used. It also rebuilds your desktop, zaps your pram and does a few other things if you want it to. Great little app and free to boot.

(Techtool is the name of the app. you want, not TechTool Pro. TechTool Pro is commercial and you must pay for it. )

Mar 23, 2001, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by Danni:
Hi there,

Get TechTool at www.micromat.com. It is a free app that will tell you how many hours the book has been used. It also rebuilds your desktop, zaps your pram and does a few other things if you want it to. Great little app and free to boot.

(Techtool is the name of the app. you want, not TechTool Pro. TechTool Pro is commercial and you must pay for it. )

if u zap the p-ram without using tech tool (cmd-opt-p-r) the use hours will reset to 0 though.. the prev. owner could have done that.

Meadowfield · Mar 23, 2001, 03:21 PM

Ok, it's here... Short on memory, but otherwise ok so far.

First Question -

Is it supposed to have a bronze keyboard?

t_hah · Mar 23, 2001, 03:24 PM

There is a utility out there that tell you the computer's used hours...can someone tell me what the name of it please.
Thanks

tooki · Mar 23, 2001, 03:47 PM

Yes, Pismos have bronze keyboards. There are only a few visible differences between Pismos and Lombards

- the bezel says "PowerBook", not "PowerBook G3"
- the shape of the PC Card slot is a tad different
- the FireWire ports in place of the SCSI port

tooki

LY · Mar 23, 2001, 04:41 PM

Isn't the Lombard's keyboard more golden bronze colored than the Pismo's?

tooki · Mar 23, 2001, 09:06 PM

Well, I never had the opportunity to actually have a Lombard and a Pismo side-by-side, but I think they are the identical color.

tooki

Meadowfield · Mar 25, 2001, 01:43 PM

Pretty GREAT so far! The only thing that bothers me is the trackpad; a little hard to get used to after all those years on a mouse. And, actually, I've noticed that the keyboard sounds a little loose on the right side - near the '.' character. Like is's not so snug underneath. I opened it and noticed some play betw the bottom of the board and the metal cd drive. Perhaps some felt to cushion the impact(?) Electrical tape didn't do the trick. Too thins is my guess.

Any other maladies known in this model that I should be on the lookout for?

Thanks.

Mar 25, 2001, 11:15 PM

I just ordered a Pismo 400 (new) for 1599 USD.
Should I go use my existing memory and have 192 MB or go for 320 MB (64+256 SODIMM).
I want to use OS X.

ion · Mar 26, 2001, 02:08 AM

Originally posted by Riemann Zeta:
I just ordered a Pismo 400 (new) for 1599 USD.
Should I go use my existing memory and have 192 MB or go for 320 MB (64+256 SODIMM).
I want to use OS X.

only you can answer this question based on the work you do and the programs you use. just try whatever you like under 9.x plus 64-96 or so for x/classic enviorment.

p.s. sorry about being so breif in answering this but the last two times i tried to my pos pb with this pos beta x and this pos beta ie deleted my responces before i was done writing so my paitents are all used up for a little while.

Mar 27, 2001, 09:46 PM

I am going with 384 MB, I hope that will be enough to run OS X at resonable clip. After all a 400 MHz G3 is not really enough (sad as that may sound.)

Camali · Mar 28, 2001, 12:59 AM

The Lombard and Pismo keyboard color are IDENTICAL, no difference.

If your going to upgrade your memory do it now, I understand memory prices are going to go back up, how much is anyones guess. But Transintl.com has 512mb for only $200, while Memorytogo has them for $195.

I trust both of them