Our iMac G4 bit the dust. I reckon a surge killed the powerpack as absolutely nothing happens when I hit the power button (a phase tester tells me juice is flowing in the cable). Could be the power or the motherboard or both. Either way I don"t think I'm going to fix it.

So what to get instead. Glossy screen is out of the question. I saw the mba for the first time yesterday and if it had a matt screen, I might have taken it on the spot, but it doesn't. If you don"t mind looking at yourself, it is a really nice format.

We have a 12"pb which we both like. One thought is a 17" g4 pb off of eBay. That way we'd have a two screen options available depending on what one or other of use wanted to do. They seem to have gotten really cheap recently.

MBP refurb is another idea .. but for some reason the German AppleStore seems not to have good deals on the mbp. Yesterday there was a batch of mbp 2.2 at a really good price in a number of the European AppleStores but not here. If they had the same offer here: deal done.

What just occurred to me is that if I got a good deal on a G4 17", I could also get a new "lowend" macmini and have that as an entertainment station assuming that it will behave nicely with my monitor. Total, about the same as the best deal on an a refurb 15 inch mbp.

indecision, indecision ...

At this point I would not invest any more in G4 technology. I would wait until you can get a MBP refurb, or since you're comfortable with ebay, maybe look for a slightly used one there.

Ditto. Although my 15" PB G4 is still perfectly serviceable, there's no way I would buy one at this point, and generally they seem overpriced for what you get on ebay and craigslist. Have you thought of a refurb macbook? It has better performance than the macbook air (and much better than the PB G4), is a lot cheaper, Iand you can easily run it with a second larger screen if you want two screen sizes (monitors are cheap). We have a couple of those at home and even though I had misgivings about the glossy screens when we bought them, I have concluded that in real life it doesn't matter and the screens are MUCH better (brighter, better color) than my PB G4 screen.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

buy an MBA; google around, you can get a matte overlay for the screen and be a happy camper... then donate the G4 PB to a deserving MRF'er...

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Sometimes it is what it is...
and then there's times when it's really better.



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Quote
simonm
... Glossy screen is out of the question. I saw the mba for the first time yesterday and if it had a matt screen, I might have taken it on the spot, but it doesn't. If you don"t mind looking at yourself, it is a really nice format.
...

LOL!!! Not everyone is ugly.

About the only thing you could do for you and the PB is max the RAM (if you haven't already) and put in a 7200rpm HD.

That would perk up the G4 a bit, and depending on what you do, that may be enough. It won't run Leopard with full video perks, the chipset is too old.

But it's still a jewel of a computer.

Still, I would not buy a *bigger* G4 box of any kind (unless it was a G4 iMac, 17"; I love those!) Instead I'd buy a bigger monitor to use with the PB 12. It makes the PB less portable, but at least it's not more money on old tech.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

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Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
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You make me pull, I'll put you down.

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Quote
Buzz
.... you can get a matte overlay for the screen and be a happy camper....

I've looked for overlays on the net, but found few references and absolutely no reviews or comments from people using them. If this worked for me, I'd be a super happy trooper for sure.

Any suggestions where to look?

Quote
space-time
....
LOL!!! Not everyone is ugly.....

We can't all be so lucky ...

I guess it depends on how much you can get a G4 powerbook for. I just re-vamped my pismo for about $200 (hd + ram upgrade), and it's like a new machine. unfortunately, the PRAM on the pismo (which I got from OWC) seemed to have died. I'll have to RMA it.

I just couldn't let the pismo go...I know I could have 'saved up' for a macbook refurb, but given that the pismo works just fine (and is fast enough for what I need), what would be the point of spending that extra $600?

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.