- 1
The original Powerbook 1400 is very slow and old now, but can be purchased for less than $100.
Decide what you need the Powerbook for. If you need it just to check emails on the road, an older model will do. If you want it to be your main laptop, the latest one you can afford is best. - 2
The Pismo was the last black Powerbook and still has some kick to it today.
Look at the Pismo. The last version of the black Powerbook was quite modern for its time. It can be upgraded to 1 gigabyte RAM and has a 500 megahertz processor. It also has two USB ports and two firewire ports. You can add wireless Internet with an Airport card (internally) or a PCMCIA card (externally using the PC slot). The Pismo is the last of the G3 processors, so it is slower than a G4 Mac, but it’s got a brilliant screen and works great. You can instantly change modules such as CD player or burner, DVD/CD player or burner, Zip drive or even a slot-load DVD/CD burner. - 3
The 12-inch Powerbook was quite fast for a G4.
Look at much newer Powerbooks for speed and flexibility. The silver ones (Titanium or Aluminum designations by Apple) are newer and faster. The 12-inch models went as high as 1.5ghz speed and the 15-inch and 17-inch models topped out at 1.67ghz. From 2003 onward, models had Bluetooth built-in so wireless devices including mice and printers can be used with them. Internal wireless Wi-Fi Airport cards were optional early on, but later came standard. There is no PC slot, so if you need Wi-Fi, make sure to look for a used Powerbook with an Airport card inside. You can add one later, but it entails taking the computer apart. This is not as easy as on earlier models. - 4
The 15-inch Powerbook had a top speed of 1.67ghz as a G4.
Seek Powerbooks that already have the maximum RAM and high-capacity hard drives. The 12-inch models topped out at 1.25 gigabytes of RAM and the 15- and 17-inch models went up to 2 gigabytes. You can add this easily yourself, but getting a Powerbook with top RAM will save you money and make the machine faster. Powerbooks came with 40-gig to 100-gig hard drives at either 4,200 or 5,400 RPM speed. The faster the better. You can upgrade the hard drive to 120gbs and a speed of 7,200 RPM, but it does entail taking the computer apart. - 5). Make sure the Powerbook you are looking at has no significant dents, scratches or bulges. Any of these could mean it has been dropped and that could mean more serious internal damage. The Titanium and Aluminum models do scratch relatively easily, so minor wear scratches are nothing to worry about. Significant damage that could effect performance or usability could be around the power port or the CD/DVD drive slot. The former could make it hard to charge the Powerbook while the latter could make it difficult to get discs in and out.
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The Powerbook 17-inch 1.67ghz laptop was the top of the line before the Macbook Pros arrived.
Decide whether you need a CD or DVD burner. Not all Powerbooks have the SuperDrive which burns both. If you only need CD burning, don’t worry about the SuperDrive. If you’re going to need to burn DVDs, try to find a Powerbook that burns them. You can add an external DVD burner if necessary and chances are an external model will burn at higher speeds.
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