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Seek Pismo opinion.

Seek Pismo opinion. Hardware 36 posts Jul 30, 2007 — Oct 11, 2007
I can pick up a Pismo configured as:

Powerbook G3 400MHz Pismo

768 MB RAM

New 40GB 5400 RPM HDD

DVD Rom

Apple Power Adapter

Powerbook G3 (Original Apple) battery (holds a great charge)

Mac OSX 10.3.9

Microsoft Office 2004

for $250.

It's for my wife to do email and web. Whattaya think?

MacNoob

not a bad price really. i sold my pismo for $350 a few months back it was a 500mhz/1gig ram/60gig hd/dvd-crdw combo drive/3 batteries/1 expansion bay 12gig hd/floppy drive/ac adapter

dude, go for it!!! i managed to get my pismo for $150 back in '06 base config. i cant wait to resurrect it!

For $250, try to get a newer computer with wifi and combo drive!

For $250, try to get a newer computer with wifi and combo drive!
agreed. Pismo's do have wifi but for that much money i'm sure you can find something better.

its not worth $250.

offer $200 ish and see what they say

Offer $175, then 200...

10 months ago I picked up a Pismo that was perfect... I mean it was PERFECT! NO marks, no nothing - mint screen, mint keyboard. 384MB RAM, wifi card (NOT airport) , DVD drive and a great battery

Sold it on ebay for $400

I say $175 as well, $250 is really high. A year ago I got a pismo/500 for my dad with 512mb RAM and no HDD off the LEM swap for $125. If you wait, you find good deals.

I say $175 as well, $250 is really high. A year ago I got a pismo/500 for my dad with 512mb RAM and no HDD off the LEM swap for $125. If you wait, you find good deals.
true just depends on what u are willing to pay for it
I don't agree. Look at the amount of RAM and the HD, and the DVD drive. $250 seems fair to me.

IMO $250 is fair for the machine config listed. That being said I would offer $225 and see if they bite. The only other thing I would do to that Pismo would be to pick up a second battery.

I used to have 2 batteries in my old Pismo. Man that laptop could run for 8+ hours on battery alone. Sadly I sold it to help pay for the Ti that this post is being made on.

Pismo's are great machine, I'd be all over that deal if I didn't have my Ti.

When all is said and done, a Pismo is just a G3, and I don't know if DVD movie playback works under OS X. Last time we needed batteries for a older machine (Lombard) it still cost around $100 and it turned out to not hold a charge very well because it had been sitting around Micro Center for years.

On the other hand, fresh batteries for white iBooks are definitely available, and because of the recall a few months ago, it's even possible yours will have a fairly fresh one.

huh? the DVD playback works perfectly. at least on my pismo it does.

I don't know if DVD movie playback works under OS X
On my G3 tower it does work but is not really smooth enough. In OS9 it locked the whole machine up when I tried to play a DVD, possibly because of the hacked Apple DVD Player that I had to use (on OS X I didn't need a hacked one for it to work).

why did you have to use a hacked version of Apple DVD Player?

Because I have a non-Apple-logoed drive and the non-hacked one gave an error about supported DVD hardware not being found when I tried to run it. The OS X one works fine with no hacking though, and the drive is pretty Mac-compatible as it can boot from it and everything.

weird...i have a lite-on dvd-rw drive in my digital audio g4, i'm curious to see if it will play a dvd in os9. i've not used os9 as a daily os since 10.2 was released :p

a DVD drive in a pismo is nothing special, it came standard.

I love my pismo. I have 640mb of ram, an airport card, and 10.4 everything runs fine except flash video(like youtube). i get about 8 hours of battery life just websurfing

i got my replacement pismo battery from the seller "wholesalelaptopbatteries"

Here's one for sale on their website

The batteries are fairly freshly made too, less than a month old.

I took that pismo I had to class and I liked it a lot. Very solid machines - even by today's standards. Got a lot of attention from profs and at work. Would've kept it but I needed some cash...

The Pismo is just an awesome machine in any configuration. Lots of upgradability, but also still very relevant in standard form. I know a lot of people who didn't buy a new Mac laptop in between the Pismo and the Macbook because the Pismo is just that good.

no...it really isn't. i own a 500MHz Pismo and i can safely assure you that anybody who would buy that over a G4 or newer intel machine as an everyday laptop is a fool.

I still haven't bought it. I've been busy every weekend and evening and haven't been able to go see the guy. Maybe tomorrow night unless wifey has something planned for me.

a while back i put a pioneer tray load dvd burner in my pismo, and i had to make no hacks, in dont think anyways, in os 9

no...it really isn't. i own a 500MHz Pismo and i can safely assure you that anybody who would buy that over a G4 or newer intel machine as an everyday laptop is a fool.

I have used the G4 and intel laptops, and I would still take the Pismo over them. Maybe drop in a CPU upgrade and max the ram, along with a fast hard drive. My Pismo is so nice and comfortable to use, but the new ones feel like cheap crap in comparison. I even like my Wallstreet II laptop better than the Pismo for that reason.

no...it really isn't. i own a 500MHz Pismo and i can safely assure you that anybody who would buy that over a G4 or newer intel machine as an everyday laptop is a fool.
I didn't say I knew anyone who bought one over a G4. I said I knew people who bypassed the G4 entirely and kept their existing Pismo until the Macbook was released. With all the reports of G4 machines that stop powering up or that stop recognizing half their RAM, I feel better with a rock solid G3 Powerbook with upgrades.

This thread makes me want to go even older than the Pismo and pick up a working 3400c or something. Something purely for Classic without the distractions of OS X.

This thread makes me want to go even older than the Pismo and pick up a working 3400c or something. Something purely for Classic without the distractions of OS X.
Like my PB 3400c/240 with the ram maxed out? [;)] ]'> [;)] ]'>

The 3400 was really nice in it's day. The fastest laptop ever until the G3 came along and knocked it off.

This thread makes me want to go even older than the Pismo and pick up a working 3400c or something. Something purely for Classic without the distractions of OS X.
and agod awful gui

minute usb compatability

zero current day comptability

extension conflict corrupted drives

wonky memory managment

and its as stable as a teabag

yeah i so want to go back to clssic

mp.ls