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The 17” PowerBook As A Budget ‘Book Alternative

Lately. I've been recommending the 12" aluminum PowerBook as a best buy in a low-end Apple laptop with enough muscle to still serve as a production workhorse computer. Prices for used 12-inchers have dropped into the $500 - $800 range depending upon model and condition, which makes these machines a relative bargain, and they are still of course the only reasonably contemporary alternative in a subnotebook Mac. If the projected 867 MHz G4 threshold holds for official OS 10.5 Leopard support, all 12' PowerBooks will be included (just), which helps make this unit an ideal low-budget portable.

However, if you have a few more dollars to spend, and or are less interested in light weight and compact dimensions for easy carrying as opposed to desktop substitute priorities, the larger aluminum PowerBooks are worthy of consideration too. Prices for some 15" models and lately even the early revision big 17" PowerBooks have now dropped well below $1,000, making them an attractive option as well for the budget-minded notebook user.

I'm speaking empirically here. Twenty months ago, I bought a 1.33 GHz 17" PowerBook G4 to replace my G3 iBook as my main production computer, and I haven't regretted it for a moment. The 17-incher, purchased as an Apple Certified Refurbished unit from TechRestore, has been both flawlessly reliable and a delight to use. While I'm not smitten with its trackpad response, and would prefer that the cooling fans ran less frequently, that's pretty much it for complaints. It's even a better portable machine than I had expected. It's bulkier and heavier than the old 12" iBook or a 12" PowerBook of course, but I find it quite reasonable to lug around on road trips, or use in the car parked outside the local library, whose WiFi hotspot is my only reasonable access to broadband in this neck of the woods.

I'm not a widescreen junkie, and am still quite content working on the 1,024 x 768 Super VGA display in my old Pismo PowerBooks, but having the extra screen real estate on the BigAl is no hardship.

From statistical reports I've seen, the 17-inch 'Books (both PowerBook and MacBook Pro) are the most reliable recent Apple portables, and my own experience doesn't contradict this. I expect that having more space to accommodate and cool the internal bits helps, and perhaps Apple applies a bit more rigorous quality control to its flagship models, although that is just a surmise on my part.

However, one fact about buying a top-of-the-line unit is that you get the most comprehensive package that Apple chose to offer at the time of manufacture - all the bells and whistles that usually take a while to appear on more prosaic hardware.

A good analogy is buying a used Cadillac or Lexus as opposed to a brand-new econo-box. I used to have a neighbor who always drove older Caddys. He would chuckle about people who would tell him that "it must be nice to be able to afford a car like that," then hop into their new Toyota or Honda that had cost two or three times as much as he'd paid for his used Cadillac.

While I could have bought a new MacBook a few months later for what I paid for the 17" PowerBook in March, 2006, I wouldn't have a backlit keyboard, or a PC Card slot, or the cachet and swish looks of the BigAl.

I also wouldn't have a built-in modem or Mac OS Classic Mode support, which are two things still important to me. While Apple frequently has Certified Refurbished MacBooks listed as low as $750, and anyone shopping in this price range should seriously consider an ACR MacBook as a pretty awesome value in terms of cost/performance, there's still a case to be made for a PowerPC 'Book for a while yet. It's certainly an alternative that has worked out splendidly for me, and with a bit of hotrod tweaking (see last week's The Road Warrior) the 17" PowerBook can be enhanced even further.

Here's a sampling of what's available in 17" PowerBooks on the used market this week.

TechRestore has a:

PowerBook G4/1.67GHz Aluminum 512MB Memory, 120GB Drive, CD-RW/DVD-R Dual Layer Superdrive, Bluetooth, Airport, Light-Up Keyboard 17-inch High-Res LCD Screen - $1,249.99

That's pretty much the ultimate 17" PowerBook. TechRestore also offers a 6-month warranty.

For more information, visit:
http://www.techrestore.com/

Over at ExperCom you will find 17" PowerBooks priced as low as $799.00:

PowerBook G4 17" 1GHz 1GB/ 60G/ SuperDrive/ AP/ BT Reseller Refurbished - $799.00

PowerBook G4 17" 1.33GHz 512MB/80G/SuperDrive// Reseller Refurb/ Scratched - $799.00

PowerBook G4 17" 1.33GHz 512MB/ 80G/ SuperDrive Reseller Refurb/ Scratched - $849.00

PowerBook G4 17" 1.5GHz 1GB/ 80G/ Super/ AirPort/ BT Refurb w/ Small Dent - $899.00

PowerBook G4 17" 1.5GHz 512MB/ 80G/ Super/ AirPort/ BT Reseller Refurb
- $1,049.00

For more information, visit:
http://www.expercom.com

MegaMacs has a nice selection of used 17-inchers, all with 30-day warranties, but their prices seem a bit steep:

Powerbook G4 17in 1.0 Ghz/512/60GB/SUPER/Airport/Bluetooth/Used/30Day - $999.99

Powerbook G4 17in 1.33 Ghz/1GB/80GB/SUPER/Airport/Bluetooth Used/30Day - $1159.99

Powerbook G4 17in 1.5 Ghz/1GB/80/SUPER/Airport & Bluetooth Installed/ Used/30Day - $1199.99

Powerbook G4 17in 1.5 Ghz/512MB/80GB/SUPER/Airport/Bluetooth/ Used/30Day - $1149.99

PowerBook G4 17in 1.67 Ghz/1GB/100GB/SUPER/Airport/Bluetooth Used/30Day - $1579.99

PowerBook G4 17in 1.67 Ghz/1GB/120GB/SUPER+DL/Airport/Bluetooth Used/30Day - $1599.99

Powerbook G4 17in Aluminum 1.33 Ghz 512MB/80GB/SUPER/Airport/Bluetooth/Used/30Day - $929.99

Powerbook G4 17in Aluminum 1.5 Ghz/768MB/80/SUPER/Airport/Bluetooth/Used/30Day - $1109.99

PowerBook G4 17in Aluminum 1.67 GHz/1GB/80GB/SuperDrive/Airport/Bluetooth/Used/30Day - $1429.99

PowerBook G4 17in Aluminum 1.67 Ghz/2GB/80GB/SuperDrive/Airport/Bluetooth/Used/30Day - $1749.99

PowerBook G4 17in Aluminum 1.67 Ghz/512mb/80GB/SuperDrive/Airport/Bluetooth/Used/30Day - $1389.99

You can check them out at:
http://www.megamacs.com/v1/index.php?cat=10009&G=1

I'm sure you can find others with a bit of digging, perhaps on eBay if you like auction-buying.

So which is the best 17" PowerBook pick as a low-end machine? The easy answer would be the last-revision 1,67 GHz model with the high-definition display, and particularly at TechRestore's $1,249.99 price or an equivalent deal that's the one I would recommend if your wallet will stand it, although I would be remiss if I didn't suggest also considering a new or refurb. MacBook in that price range.

In lower-priced models, I'm extremely pleased with the service and performance I'm getting with my 1.33 GHz 17-incher, and ExperCom will sell you one of those for $800 - $850, albeit with perhaps some cosmetic scratches.

I've never heard anything bad about the original 1 GHz model - all the 17-inchers seem to have been pretty solid and reliable machines in general, although as with any mass-produced product, especially one as complex as a portable computer, there will inevitably have been the odd lemon, I suppose.

Here are brief profiles of all of the 17" PowerBook models.

Aluminum PowerBook G4 17" 1 GHz (January, 2003)

The 17-inch PowerBook G4 was the world's first laptop computer with a 17-inch display, the largest-ever in a notebook at the time, whose 1.3 million pixels offer the same viewing area as a 19-inch CRT monitor. Measuring one inch thick, 15.4 inches wide. 10.2 inches deep, and weighing 6.4 pounds, it was it the heaviest PowerBook since the WallStreet.

On the performance front, the original 17" AlBook had the same 1 GHz clock speed as the November 2002 high-end Titanium PowerBook, but sports a faster system bus (167 MHz vs. 133 MHz), faster RAM (PC2700 DDR SRAM vs. PC133 SDRAM), and a a faster hard drive interface (ATA/100 vs. ATA/66),.

This machine is also equipped with built-in AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g wireless networking, a high-speed FireWire 800 port, a backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor activation, and built-in Bluetooth for wirelessly connecting to cell phones and other Bluetooth equipped peripherals, and GPRS connectivity to check your email from anywhere.

The 17-inch display offers 1440 x 900 resolution in a widescreen, 16:10 aspect ratio, with a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor with 1MB of level 3 cache and 5512 MB of Double Data Rate (DDR) memory running at 333 MHz carried over from the gigahertz TiBook, an NVIDIA GEForce graphics card with 64 MB of VRAM, and a slot-loading SuperDrive for playing and burning CDs and DVDs.

The Big AlBook's SuperDrive burns DVDs twice as fast the SuperDrive in the TiBook. The fiber-optic backlit keyboard's ambient light sensors also control the brightness of the display and automatically regulate the keyboard backlighting. In low light, they automatically illuminate the keyboard and lower the display brightness. As light levels increase, the display brightness is re-adjusted automatically and the keyboard backlighting is turned off.

AirPort Extreme is included and the 17" PowerBook uses "Lithium Prismatic" batteries, a lithium ion battery cell in a square shape.

PowerBook G4 17" Aluminum 1 GHz (January, 2003)

• Active-matrix 17" color display (1440-by-900)


• 512 MB PC2700 DDR SRAM expandable to 1 GB


• tappable trackpad


• built-in speakers and microphone


• 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet


• Built-in 56k Fax/Modem


• VGA video output supports dual display mode and video mirroring (S-video-out requires included adapter)


• 16-bit stereo sound input/output


• slot-loading SuperDrive


• 60GB hard drive standard


• One FireWire Port


• FireWire 800 port


• Two USB ports


• PC Card slot


• built-in Bluetooth


• PowerPC 7410 (G4) 1 GHz


• 166 MHz System Bus


• 1 MB Level 3 cache


• audio line-in and audio line-out ports;


• NVIDIA GEForce graphics card with 64 MB of VRAM


• 16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output Sound


• Fiber-optic backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor activation


• "Lithium Prismatic" battery


• AirPort Extreme based on the 802.11g standard


• Weight: 6.4 pounds

Recommendation: The original 1 GHz 17" AlBook used or refurbished should be in the $750 - $850 range. Daystar offers a processor upgrade that can take you up to 1.67 Mhz with this model.

___

Aluminum PowerBook G4 17" 1.33 GHz (September, 2003)

In September, 2003, the 17" PowerBook got a 1.33 gigahertz Motorola 7457 processor but lost the 1 GHz machine's level 3 cache. However, the 512 MB level 2 cache configuration doubled the BigAl's former 256 MB level 2 cache capacity.

Other changes included bumping the standard hard drive capacity to 80 GB, replacing the Nvidia GeForce video accelerator with an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 video card and 64 MB DDR SDRAM, and upgrading the USB ports to USB 2.0, and that was pretty much it for changes from the original 17" 'Book described above.

PowerBook G4 17" Aluminum 1.33 GHz (September, 2003)

Active-matrix 17" color display (1440-by-900)

512 MB PC2700 DDR SRAM expandable to 2 GB

tappable trackpad

built-in speakers and microphone

10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet

Built-in 56k Fax/Modem

VGA video output supports dual display mode and video mirroring (S-video-out requires included adapter)

16-bit stereo sound input/output

slot-loading SuperDrive

80GB hard drive standard

One FireWire Port

FireWire 800 port

Two USB 2.0 ports

PC Card slot

built-in Bluetooth

PowerPC 7457 (G4) 1.33 GHz

166 MHz System Bus

512 MB Level 2 cache

audio line-in and audio line-out ports;

ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 video card with 64 MB DDR SDRAM

16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output Sound

Fiber-optic backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor activation

"Lithium Prismatic" battery

AirPort Extreme based on the 802.11g standard

Weight: 6.4 pounds

As noted, used or refurbished 1.33 MHz 17" PowerBooks are selling for as little as $800.00. I love mine.

___

Aluminum PowerBook G4 17" 1.5 GHz (April 2004)

In April, 2004, the 17" PowerBook got its second speed bump, to 1.5 GHz.

Other changes included a build to order option of an 80 GB 5400 rpm hard drive, an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics controller operating on the AGP-4x bus along with 64 MB of DDR video SDRAM. An ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128 MB memory was available as a build to order option, and the computer had a built-in 4x SuperDrive. Other specifications were carried over from the previous model.

PowerBook G4 17" Aluminum 1.5 GHz (April 2004)

• Active-matrix 17" color display (1440-by-900)

• a 4x SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) optical drive;

• 512MB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM;

• AirPort Extreme wireless networking and internal Bluetooth;

• DVI, VGA, S-video and composite video support;

• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T);

• two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800;

• a Backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor; and

• a 80GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive standard, build to order option is an 80 GB 5400 rpm hard drive

• 16-bit stereo sound input/output

• One FireWire 400 Port

• FireWire 800 port

• Two USB 2.0 ports

• PC Card slot

• "Lithium Prismatic" battery

• Weight: 6.9 pounds

Used or refurbished 1.5 MHz 17" PowerBooks should be selling for as little as $900.00 (ExperCom).

Aluminum PowerBook G4 17" 1.67 GHz (January, 2005)

Along with the rest of the PowerBook range, the 17" PowerBook got a substantial refreshment at the end of January, 2005.

The form factor remained unaltered, but the hard drive spec. was bumped to 5400 RPM, and SuperDrives to 8x, plus a couple of completely new features - both Apple patent-pending technologies - a scrolling TrackPad and a Sudden Motion Sensor.

The scrolling TrackPad works with every application and document. To implement the feature, you touch the trackpad with two fingers instead of one to scroll or pan within the active window.

The Sudden Motion Sensor technology integrates what Apple calls "a tri-axis accelerometer" to help protect your spinning hard drive if the PowerBook is accidentally dropped.

Also enhanced was the backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors for working in low-light conditions, up to 10 times brighter than previously.

A 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 processor became standard on the 17-inch PowerBook, as did an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor with 128MB of VRAM, and Dual Link support to drive Apple's 30-inch Cinema HD Display as an external monitor.

PowerBook 17-inch 1.67 GHz (January 2005)

• 512MB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, with one open slot, expandable up to 2GB;

• a 100GB (5400 rpm) Ultra ATA/100 hard drive and Sudden Motion Sensor;

• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics with 128MB video memory;

• DVI (Dual Link for 30-inch support), VGA, S-video and composite video support;

• AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g WiFi fast wireless networking and internal Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T) and 56K V.92 modem;

• two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800;

• optical digital audio input and output;

• a scrolling TrackPad; and

• illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor

This model should be selling used/refurb. for around $1,250.00.

Aluminum PowerBook G4 17" 1.67 GHz (January, 2005)

Along with the rest of the PowerBook range, the 17" PowerBook got a substantial refreshment at the end of January, 2005.

The form factor remained unaltered, but the hard drive spec. was bumped to 5400 RPM, and SuperDrives to 8x, plus a couple of completely new features - both Apple patent-pending technologies - a scrolling TrackPad and a Sudden Motion Sensor.

The scrolling TrackPad works with every application and document. To implement the feature, you touch the trackpad with two fingers instead of one to scroll or pan within the active window.

The Sudden Motion Sensor technology integrates what Apple calls "a tri-axis accelerometer" to help protect your spinning hard drive if the PowerBook is accidentally dropped.

Also enhanced was the backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors for working in low-light conditions, up to 10 times brighter than previously.

The 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 processor became standard on the 17-inch PowerBook, as did an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor with 128MB of VRAM, and Dual Link support to drive Apple's 30-inch Cinema HD Display as an external monitor.

PowerBook 17-inch 1.67 GHz (January 2005)

• 512MB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM, with one open slot, expandable up to 2GB;

• a 100GB (5400 rpm) Ultra ATA/100 hard drive and Sudden Motion Sensor;

• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics with 128MB video memory;

• DVI (Dual Link for 30-inch support), VGA, S-video and composite video support;

• AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g WiFi fast wireless networking and internal Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T) and 56K V.92 modem;

• two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800;

• optical digital audio input and output;

• a scrolling TrackPad; and

• illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor

This model should be selling used/refurb. for around $1,000.00 or so

___

Aluminum PowerBook G4 17" 1.67 GHz (October, 2005)

In October, 2005, the G4 17" PowerBook received it's final makeover, with a higher-resolution 1680-by-1050 pixel display (36 percent more than the previous generation), a a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support, up to one hour more battery life, and a 120 GB hard drive.

The 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 processor remained standard on the 17-inch PowerBook, as did an ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor with 128MB of VRAM, and Dual Link support to drive Apple's 30-inch Cinema HD Display as an external monitor.

PowerBook 17-inch 1.67 GHz (October, 2005)

• 512MB of PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM running at 333 MHz, expandable up to 2GB;

• a 120GB Ultra ATA/100 (5400 rpm) hard drive with Sudden Motion Sensor;

• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);

• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics with 128MB video memory;

• High resolution 1680-by-1050 pixel widescreen display

• DVI (Dual Link for 30-inch Cinema HD Display support), VGA, S-video and composite video support;

• AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g WiFi fast wireless networking and internal Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;

• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T) and 56K V.92 modem;

• two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800;

• analog and optical digital audio input and output;

• a scrolling TrackPad; and

• illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor.

Used/refurb. prices should be in the $1,250.00-up range for this high-res display, last-revision 17" PowerBook model.

If you decide to go with a 17" PowerBook, make sure to check out my The Road Warrior column on hotrodding these machines. To check it out, click here.


***



cmoore@macopinion.com


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