Recycled Computing
Pismo! Pismo! Pismo!
- 2011.03.09
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Short link: http://bit.ly/hAkQ69
Recently, both Charles Moore, in WallStreet Was Great, but Pismo Is the King of Expandable 'Books, and Low End Mac's über-editor Dan Knight, in Too Much Focus Means Too Few Mac Expansion Options, posted articles about the Apple PowerBook G3 Pismo, and I felt I had to add my two bits.
I still have my battery dead,
pink screen Pismo, but I have moved all my work to my 12" PowerBook G4.
Still, I really miss some of the features that the Pismo provided, and I really think that Apple should give the tiny minority of totally fanatical Pismo owners some sort of bone.
I know that you should never give the controls of the company over to loyal "cult of Mac" users. Apple has made a fortune by ignoring the peanut gallery and sticking to its design protocols and business model. So why listen to me?
I have no clue, but I would love to have a 17" MacBook Pro with removable modules like the Pismo. Ever since I got my Pismo, I lost my interest in desktop computing. A laptop gives me freedom, and a 17" MacBook Pro has as much computing power as many desktops, if not more.
Why tie your self down to a desk? Get up and roam around!
Flexibility
The Pismo has survived so long because of its versatility and its ability to upgrade to meet new hardware and software challenges. The interchangeable modules - batteries, floppy drive, optical drive, hard drive - are part of that, but so is the PC Card/CardBus slot. I have USB 2.0 ports on my Pismo, thanks to a PC Card, while my 12" PowerBook G4 is stuck at USB 1.1. I know that the 17" MacBook Pro has an Express Card slot, but the aftermarket is chock full of PC Cards that provide connectivity or storage options.
Sometimes old tech is full of possibilities not open to newer stuff.
The Pismo, introduced in
February 2000 and the first PowerBook with FireWire, also has an easy
processor card to remove and replace. There are still G4 processor
upgrades available for the Pismo. You just pop out the old card and put
in the G4 card. An even greater idea would be having a removable
graphics card.
At this point, you're thinking that it's getting a little crowded under the hood, but with removable modules, you don't need to put in an optical drive. You don't even have to make a DVD module yourself. Did you know that the aftermarket has produced a Blu-ray module for the Pismo?
This is just a pipe dream, of course. Like a shark, Apple is always looking forward and moving forward towards the next big thing. Right now, it's portable (or post-PC) devices.
But here at Low End Mac, I don't think we should be blamed for
looking backwards. Someone has to.
Further Reading
- Low End Mac's Compleat Guide to the Pismo PowerBook
- The 'Pismo' PowerBook Is a Great Value and Handles Tiger Nicely
- The 1 GHz Pismo, the Fastest G3 Notebook Ever
- Pismo PowerBook a Good Value, but Better than Lombard?
- WallStreet and Pismo Processor Upgrades: Do They Make Economic Sense?
- Interested in acquiring your own Pismo? Check out Low End Mac's Best PowerBook G3 Deals.
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