mark nottingham

The Powerbook is Dead; Long Live the Powerbook

Friday, 5 March 2004

I’ve just got back from a two-week business trip, during which my 15” Titanium Powerbook showed increasing signs of shaking off this mortal coil. Specifically, the bottom 1/3 of the screen kept on flickering white. At first, I was able to tap the screen to make it better, but as time went on, tapping became hitting, and by the end, it was unresponsive. Considering the work this machine has done, I’m not terribly displeased.

On the downside, I wasn’t able to get any work done on the plane home, but on the upside, I was able to sleep on the plane home (thanks for the SWU, United), and today I strolled down to the Burlingame Apple Store to assess my options.

Despite rumours of an upcoming speed bump, and some attractive deals on refurbished Powerbooks, I opted for the base model 15”; 1Ghz processor, 256M of RAM (soon to be upgraded) and a combo drive. After putting the TiBook into Target Disk Mode and transferring everything over, I’m basically back up and running.

So, I now have a 15” TiBook for sale. As described, it’s got some screen problems (the hinges have already been replaced), and the paint is flaking. Despite that, it’s a fine machine if you’re willing to get it fixed (I’d recommend PowerBookResQ), use it as a headless server, or just for parts. It’s a 667Mhz with 768M RAM, Gigahertz Ethernet, VGA out, a 30G disk, a combo drive, airport, and a battery that’s just a few months old. All offers considered; if I don’t sell it soon, it’ll go on eBay.