Recycled Computing

Death of a PowerBook: Time to Go Intel?

- 2011.11.29

It's Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for family, friends, andMacs.

The power plug from the PowerBook G4
The power plug from the PowerBook G4.

However, my 12"PowerBook G4 may be down for the count. I have a power adapterissue. My old power adapter plug broke off inside the DC in socketinside of the G4.

Apple's yo-yo power adapter
Apple's yo-yo power adapter.

I bought a new power adapter and took apart the PowerBook. I manageto fish out the broken piece of the power adapter tip, but when Ibuttoned the old gal up and tried to power up, nothing happened.

Now I should give it one more try, but taking the old PowerBookapart is not for the faint of heart. As the accompanying picturesdemonstrate, it is a major hassle. It's even a three ice cube tray job.(I sort the parts out in ice cube trays as I disassemble thecomputer.)

Disassembled 12-inch PowerBook G4 Disassembled 12-inch PowerBook G4
Disassembled 12" PowerBook G4.

I'm going to see if anything else in the power department is notkosher, but it has me making plans to pick up an Intel Mac.

Ice cube trays are great for holding small parts
Ice cube trays are great for holding small parts.

About time, right? Yes, it is. I have to buy at least a Intel Core 2Duo, since Apple requires at least that to run OS X 10.7 Lion. I'm not to sureabout upgrading from OS X 10.5Leopard to Lion, but I'm more than willing to give OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard ashot.

I have some misgivings about Lion, and it is a stubbornunwillingness to give up AppleWorks. I guess I'mnot all that excited about the touch interface on a Macintosh. I don'tuse Dashboard, whichhas been around since OS X 10.0, on Leopard, and I don't useSpaces so I can havemultiple desktops. I just am a real pedestrian computer user and don'tlike change.

I might like some of the iCloud features, but I don't thinkthat Apple is making a full effort for adoption of iCloud, whichrequires iOS 5 on your iDevices and Lion on your Macs. I've beenthinking all sorts of positive thoughts, but I really feel that Appleshould make an effort to bring iCloud to Snow Leopard. Right now, I canonly conclude that Apple is somewhat halfhearted about the iCloudservices. If you are going to do something, go all the way.

So on to the future, although with reservations. LEM

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