[Ti] Re: Advice/Help On a Refurb/Used Powerbook

[Kynan Shook]

OK, now *this* message is my reply to ~flipper, who can still read 
posts fine.  ;-)  Confused?  Ask him - should've included his E-mail 
address in the last post, it's lord.flipper at gmail.com.

Hmmm, what a coincidence...  I'm looking to sell my PowerBook in a few 
months.  ;-)
No Titaniums came with 128 MB VRAM.  The prior model 1.5 GHz (from 
2004) and current 1.67 GHz 15-inch PowerBooks and prior model 17-inch 
have 128 MB VRAM as a configure-to-order option only.  The current 
17-inch model is the only one with 128 MB VRAM standard.

That said, I'm not sure you need 128 MB for most things; I have a 1 GHz 
17" PowerBook G4 with 64 MB of VRAM which I use with dual displays most 
of the time.  I don't bother unplugging the second display when I play 
games, because I just don't notice a big difference by doing so.  The 
Bare Feats URL below essentially confirms that, unless you really need 
the extra 2 or 3 fps in an intensive 3D game, you don't need the extra 
VRAM.

http://www.barefeats.com/pb12.html


On Apr 12, 2005, at 9:42 PM, Kynan Shook wrote:
> This message isn't from me, but rather our dear friend ~flipper who is 
> currently having problems posting.  In the meantime, he's looking for 
> some help:
>
> At 11:11 PM -0400 4/11/05, ~flipper wrote:
>> Greetings all, it's me, Brian, back in the swim as it were, after
>> some nasty medical bs, etc.
>>
>> Without digging up too much redundant detail, my Ti 667 is past its
>> last legs, OS-wise (w/zero chance, locally, of a NetBoot to
>> re-install/upgrade), and real shaky (what with whining noises, etc)
>> hardware-wise.
>>
>> But, in a bit of an eleventh-hour shocker, an old client (from my
>> investment analysis past) has offered to pick up a used Powerbook
>> for me. The proviso being that I should stay under $2k (meaning
>> 16-18 hun US, I think.)
>>
>> I've looked around at the usual spots, even eBay, and with the more
>> brick-and-mortar spots (specifically, Powermax) I sense that the
>> middlemen are stripping out super drives, subbing combos, and doing
>> other things that make it hard to be sure a machine conforms to my
>> 'target' specs.
>>
>> What I was initially after was a Ti 15" book with 128 MB of Video
>> RAM. I can scavenge regular RAM from mine. But I can't tell if they
>> shipped any Titaniums with that much vram. Did they? Or was that a
>> 17" Aluminum-only deal (and a build-to-order option on the 15s) ?
>>
>> The problem with the aluminums is I can't use any of my current 1 GB
>> of RAM in them. Originally i wanted to stick with a dual-boot book,
>> hence the other half of my rationale for the Titanium.
>>
>> Over the last year and 3 months I've had no way to reboot from a CD,
>> so having the dual-boot ability has saved me where it comes to
>> de-fragging, and using DiskWarrior, etc. But, I suppose i could pop
>> a slimmed-down (no BSD sub-system, no Dev tools) OS on a samll
>> partition and have that 'backdoor' available on an Aluminum book.
>>
>> So, what I'd like to hear about, if possible, is a 15" Powerbook, in
>> the price range I mentioned above, with 128 MB of video RAM. I'm not
>> as narrow-minded as i might have been, so a 15" Ti with 64 MB of
>> video would serve my purposes, I suppose. But a single-boot Aluminum
>> w/out the 128 MB is a no-go proposition.
>>
>> In time I will slowly rebuild the 667. I see it as a Linux box, or
>> maybe a dual-boot Linux/OS 9 machine. (all it needs is a combo
>> drive, a keyboard, and a mother board swap <laughs>).
>>
>> Any help or advice (not to mention cllarification re: what's
>> actually out there, or likely to be found) would be greatly
>> appreciated. Thanks.
>>
>> Brian S.
>