Unloading an older Apple Powerbook

Making the decision to upgrade isn't always easy

Date published: 1/29/2005

By CHRIS MULDROW

WELL, I'M DOING IT. I'm selling my laptop at home and hunting for a new one.

I have an Apple Powerbook. It's one of the titanium models with a G4 processor in it. I bought it barely used from a guy up in D.C. a couple of years ago. It's served me well.

But the computer does have its issues. Apple apparently didn't shop around too much when it found a paint supplier (or didn't research how well paint sticks to titanium). So there are little places on the case where paint is rubbing off, leaving ugly black marks.

Cosmetics isn't enough to get me to sell a computer, though. I've got several ugly machines floating around my house. But there are a few other issues, too. The titanium case of my laptop makes it very, very light, for instance. But it also apparently blocks a lot of the signal to my internal wireless card's antenna. That means I can't get a good network connection throughout my whole house.

The laptop is also pretty big, which is nice for viewing but a little hard for transporting. I had to get a special sleeve for it because my regular laptop case was too small.

But the biggest thing, the straw that broke the camel's back for me, was Christmas. My mother got me a new computer game as a gift. But my computer was officially too slow to run the game.

How pathetic am I? I can't run a game, so I'm shopping for a new computer!

I've decided to take advantage of the last couple of years' worth of technology improvements. I'm looking for a small laptop--either the Apple iBook or the Powerbook G4 with a 12-inch screen. That screen's a little smaller than I'm used to, but it's also much more portable.

But now I can get a faster wireless card than the one in my current machine. I can also get built-in Bluetooth technology, which should allow me to use wireless keyboards, mice and printers. I'll get a faster hard drive than the one I have now. Best of all, though, I'm planning to get a DVD burner so I can make DVDs of my son that I can send to family members.

Follow us on

Date published: 1/29/2005