A very good powerbook
Written: Apr 04 '03
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Pros: Firewire, rugged, reasonably fast for its age, reliable
Cons: No CD/RW
No DVD-RW
The Bottom Line: One of the best choices for a used Apple powerbook. Works happily with OS X. Very rugged design with excellent keyboard feel.
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| datkinso's Full Review: Apple PowerBook G3 14.1 in. (M7633F/A) Mac Noteboo... |
The 500 mHz firewire powerbook, also known as the Pismo, was the last in the line of black professional powerbooks that Apple produced. It specs out as follows:
500MHz PowerPC G3 Processor, 1MB backside L2 cache
Maximum RAM 2x256MB but two 512MB chips do work even though Apple does not officially support the configuration.
11.24GB Hard Drive, CD/DVD ROM, 56K Modem, 10/100 NIC
(2) Firewire Ports, (2) USB Ports
14.1" TFT Screen, S-Video Out
It runs quite nicely with OS X (10.2.4 at the moment). Pismo's are tougher than the titanium powerbooks that replaced them. I have been using this machine for two years and it has not let me down. They are available used for under $1000. If you are looking for one of Apple's best designs that is still fully functional and quite pleasant to use, this is it.
There are a couple of things to consider if you are planning to buy a Pismo. It does not have a CD/RW so if you want to burn CD's you will need an external firewire burner. I have a Sony and all aspects of iTunes work just fine with external burners. iPhoto and iMovie also work well with this machine. What won't work is Apple's iDVD and any external DVD burner. iDVD only supports internal APPLE DVD drives. You can use other software to burn DVDs on external DVD-RWs just not Apple's free iDVD.
I run Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, Omnigraffle, Canvas and numerous X11 Unix applications with no problems at all. OS X is finally very stable and easy to use although you will want to be careful about your printer choice.
This is an excellent powerbook and if you are looking for a used Apple portable this is one of your best choices.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): < 1000 used
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G3
Processor speed: 501-600
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
datkinso
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Reviews written: 11
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