[IceEnclosure]

Well, I've got an iMac 333MHz and a Dell Axim PocketPC. I don't have much use for the iMac, and the pocketPC, well, it's just a toy for me at the moment. writing out grocery lists on it's screen has gotten old, and watching .wmv files on it - old too.

I kinda convinced my friend to trade me his 400MHz Firewire Pismo for the iMac/PocketPC.

I looked over the computer, it seems everything is in order. it's got a zip bay (blah), and a cd-rom bay, 256MB, 6gig, and Panther.

Should I be aware of anything about these, I know it's a solid 4+ years old, but I've also heard how well these things are built.

I'll surely get a new HD for it, add some ram and maybe get an old airport card for it.

OH! btw, I got the iMac for free and I got the PocektPC for $50 bucks or so.

Do I Win???

[brettcamp]

You'll find quite a few people who consider the Pismo the best laptop Apple ever made, mostly for its durability and expansion bays. I had one for a couple of years and loved it, but I sold it to a friend to upgrade to a 12" iBook so I could burn CDs, plus I liked the iBook's much lighter weight, smaller size, and sharper, brighter screen. I never regretted switching.

I'd look closely at the screen -- after seeing the iBook's, my Pismo's just seemed dim. There was an issue called "pink screen" with some Pismos, too -- after a few years, the screens would develop a tint. Must have been a bad batch.

There are some good G4 upgrades available for the Pismo; if you go over to lowendmac.com and do a search on "Pismo," charles moore reviews and compares them in detail. You can add a CD burner to the expansion bay, too, and extra batteries, zip drive, etc. the big bottleneck is the video memory, but compared to your old iMac, the Pismo will fly.

[IceEnclosure]

ey,thanks for the reply. yea, I understand that the TFT displays on 2001+ibooks/pbooks are much better, but the screen does look okay, and it's not pink.

oh, and i said it had a cdrom drive, but i think it's actually a dvdrom drive.

I don't know if I'll do any processor/optical drive upgrades, as I don't really wanna invest tooo much into the comp, but since my only investment is $50 (for the PocketPC), I may have some room to spend, without getting stupid.

: )

oh, and btw, anyone.. what would be best? an internal airport card or a PC card type wireless card? hmm.. thanks for the replies!

[Dr.Michael]

I had three issues with my Pismo:

1. Screen gets dim. See if you can buy a new backlight bulb.
2. Hinges get loose and make the screen wobble. Check that.
3. A couple of keys stopped working on mine after 2 years.

I don't know how the performance is with Panther. Jaguar was ok.

[Hairllama]

I certainly think you got the better deal. I've thought many times about upgrading to a different machine, but my Pismo does so many things so well. I'm taking a class right now that requires me to use some PC stat programs, I launched Virtual PC running Windows 98 and it worked just fine. In fact, I had Safari, Mail, Terminal, Excel (very big spreadsheet), Virtual PC, and Macstumbler all runnning at the same time with complete usability. Sure, a new book would do all these things faster, but the Pismo is a trooper. I have a Quicksilver desktop and use the Pismo 70% of the time. The only time I really wish for more is when my screen gets cramped with Dreamweaver/Photoshop and when I do presentations in Keynote and want to run slides on a projector and notes on the Pismo (too little VRAM).

[MORT A POTTY]

I love my pismo... but I can't ****ing use it (see the sig)

get an AirPort card. 90 bucks well spent, and easy to install (as is everything else, including processor upgrades)

also, the HD you need to upgrade. you can get a 5400 RPM or 7200RPM HD.

you can get a superdrive, but they are 300 bucks... that's why I don't have one

processor upgrades. 550Mhz G4 is as fast as they will ever make in G4s. it's actually an overclocked 500Mhz G4. PoweerLogix makes a 900Mhz G3 upgrade with either 512K of L2 cache (750FX) or 1MB of L2 cache (750GX) but neither are actually shipping in any capacity... STAY AWAY! if they were shipping though, I'd definitely say the 750GX is the best one to get... but I've been waiting 7 months on mine.... bastards.

but I LOVE the pismo. also, get a newertech high capacity battery. They are totally worth it.

[bgotori]

Hey IceEnclosure

My Pismo is a Great machine for what I use it for, E-mailing, Word Processing, Spread Sheets, and Wi-Fi. A friend has one of the first 1.2 ghz from PowerLogix(Processor upgrades).his works Great and doesn't get to Hot when set at 900mhz, at 1.2 its gets over temp running just 20mins, but with his PCMCIA Fan and and extra fan in the case its workable. But battery life is down to 1-11/2hrs with a 7200mah battery at 1.2. when he's Processing data at 1.2 its as fast a 1.33 Powerbook doing the same thing. He got Really Lucky getting it(1.2ghz processor), came with the Pismo he got off Ebay awhile ago.

You can upgrade the Processor to G4 550 from FastMac, its a 533mhz processor that they say is upped to 550, all are Software bumped, and they get alittle Hotter. You can also get an 8X DVD-+RW for them and can connect a VGA monitor directly to the back of the Pismo. Plus you can have two batteries connected if you need more unconnected(Power)time. With two(2) 7200mah batteries I get about 9 1/2hrs, Wi-Fi ,and a LED(USB), or Bluetooth mouse connected.


Have a Great One!!!

Brad

[MORT A POTTY]

how do you have a bluetooth mouse? USB module?

and 1.2Ghz? nobody ever made a 1.2Ghz processor upgrade for the Pismo. PowerLogix originally had the 750GX at 1.0Ghz, but never got it to ship reliably in any quantities whatsoever so they had to apologize and clock it down to 900Mhz and take a chunk off the price. I know, I ordered when it was 1.0Ghz.

[tooki]

I agree that it's not worth spending too much on internal upgrades. I got an external FireWire CD-RW drive for my Pismo, because then I can use the drive on any of my Macs. (That external writes CDs substantially faster than the DVD writer inside my AlBook.)

All Pismos shipped with a DVD-ROM drive, by the way, not CD-ROM.

As for pink screen: I think replacing the backlight tube will fix that.

A RAM upgrade to 1GB is really worthwhile, especially if you're going to be running Mac OS X, as is an upgrade to the slow stock hard drive. Both of these upgrades make a MASSIVE difference in overall performance.

tooki

[MORT A POTTY]

how much is a backlight replacement? mine is kinda yellowish tinted now... dull.

[Moderator]

mine has that aged look too..but the computer itself is still great...good trade

[stevesnj]

Had a Pismo 500 Firewire...I put it through the ringer and it wouldn't die...I have a 17" rev A and the Pismo is still my fav.

[bgotori]

Hey MORT A POTTY

The PowerLogix 1.2 chip was done awhile ago(Years) it shows up as a 1.2ghz on the display... and runs like one... Don't know much about it, other then the guy he bought it from said he used to work for PowerLogix. I saw one on Ebay about 4-6 months ago. Was sold by some company in Hesperia(spelling), Ca., I believe they were a PawnShop or something... Look around, they turn-up every Now and Then.

Bluetooth, yea a D-Link USB. mouse is the first gen MicroSoft Bluetooth.


Have a Great One!!!

Brad

[Ray@SAT]

My pismo is a dream machine. Got panther running sooo smothly, Upgraded ram, and that's about it !
It's six years old now, I believe. I've had the same battery all this time, i've dropped the pb down a flight of stairs, I tow it to work every day without a carrying case. And it's been ON and working non stop about 10 hours a day (7 a week).
GET IT !

Ray.

[IceEnclosure]

ha, well...

I got it, and I loved it for two days. This morning, I went to boot it up and it stopped at the spinning wheel thing (10.3.2).

There's no optical drive in it (just a stupid ass SuperDisk� thing in the expansion bay. I'm gonna try to do a Target Disk mode and reinstall the OS, as it was already on here when I got the computer.


I wish I could rename the title of this thread to 'My New Pismo won't boot up!!'

any ideas?

[tooki]

Originally posted by MORT A POTTY:
how much is a backlight replacement? mine is kinda yellowish tinted now... dull.

About $15 plus labor.

tooki

[bmhome1]

I have archived a tutorial (no longer available) on replacing the LCD in a Pismo along with purchasing information on buying the backlight bulb here:

http://homepage.mac.com/brucemillerphoto