Hotrodded Pismo Or Newer Refurb. 'Book - Which Makes Better Economic Sense?
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
by Charles W. Moore
‘Book Mystique reader Lance Yamada wrote:
Hi,
I read your article this morning and I was pleasantly surprised that you are still using a Pismo for work. I came away from your great article with just one question. Was it more expensive to gradually upgrade your Pismo or would it have been cheaper to wait and jump to a newer model? Ok, I have a second question as well. Could you list the cost of keeping your Pismo as “up to date” as possible like you have? I’m sure it was worth every penny as I know how one can get attached to a reliable notebook.
Kind regards,
Lancep.s. I currently have a 1.2GHz iBook G4 w/ 512MB/30GB/Combo, and have been looking at the MacBook because of the widescreen and multi-core CPU.
Well, here goes:
I’m actually using two Pismos as second-string production machines behind my 17” PowerBook G4. I use them for pretty much all my laptop laptop work away from my main workstation, usually a couple or three hours a day. I much prefer the Pismo keyboard and trackpad to the ones in the aluminum PowerBook, not to mention the Pismo’s more comfortable size and weight, and what I consider the more congenial tactile feel of the polycarbonate case as opposed to the metal one.
One of the Pismos also serves as my road warrioring machine on road trips, and I do most of my scanning and a lot of my photo editing work with them. I find that VueScan scanner software and Photoshop Elements 4 both work well with the 550 MHz G4 processor upgrades. Photoshop is optimized for the Altivec vector engine, so the G4 can take advantage of that.
Both machines have 8x, dual-layer SuperDrive modules, so I do most of my disk-burning on them as well.
As for Lance's question, it is definitely debatable whether it makes economic sense to upgrade, or buy and upgrade a Pismo rather than opting for a newer machine. It really depends partly on factors that are not economically quantifiable, such as, in my case, the fact that I really like so many things about the Pismo, such as its aforementioned tactile friendliness, but also the ease of working on it (eg: installing upgrades). The removable device expansion bay is a tremendous feature - I have the Superdrives, the bay will accommodate a second battery for extended runtime, and I also have Zip drive and Superdisk (supports 1.4 MB floppies in OS 9) modules. You can get expansion bay housings to use with 2.5” hard drives, making it possible for the Pismo to support two internal hard disks.
Changing the main hard drive or the processor card is a 10-20 minute job without hurrying, requiring only simple tools like a small Philips and a Torx T-8 screwdriver.
Then there’s the PC CArd slot and two FireWire and two USB slots, S-Video out, the built-in hardware modem, Ethernet, and even IrDA infrared connectivity. None of the more recent Apple notebooks comes close to matching this degree of expandability and versatility.
Costing precisely is difficult, because much depends on whether you already have a Pismo or will have to buy one to start with, and it also depends on how much of the installation work you intend on doing yourself.
Wegener Media will sell you a 400 MHz Pismo for $299, which will make a perfectly adequate starting point if you’re planning to upgrade the processor anyway. One of my Pismos started out as a 400 MHz unit. The PowerBook Guy is currently advertising 400Mhz Pismos with 192MB RAM, a 6GB Drive (too small for OS X), and a Zip Drive for $259.95.
I’ve tested all three of these 550 MHz G4 upgrades in my Pismos, and they all are excellent performers.
I only have 640 MB of RAM in my #1 Pismo and 576 MB in the other, but I wish I had a gigabyte in both. PC 100 512 MB RAM modules are running about $100 apiece at FastMac and Other World Computing. Wegener Media currently has them listed at $89.95, and 1 GB kits at $179.99.
The Wegener install it yourself 550 MHz G4 processor upgrade is $199.00 ($80 core return required). The Fastmac Pismo 550 MHz G4 processor upgrade’s price has recently been reduced to $239.95. Daystar’s 550 MHz G4 Pismo upgrade with an $85 core rebate if you return your original processor works out to $264.00, but the user can choose to send in their Pismo’s own CPU card, metal heat sink and EMI for upgrade for $199.00 For more information, visit:
http://daystar-store.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=499
Wegeners will also put you in a Pismo with the G4/550 processor, a 40gb hard drive and a Combo drive, and 128 MB of RAM (not enough for OS X) for $529.99. A High-Capacity 6000mah battery (recommended) purchased with the Pismo adds another $69.99 Pismo (normally $109.00)
Wegeners’ 8x DVDR+/-,24x CDR,24x CDRW, 8x DVD, 24x CDROM Dual layer SuperDrive is 199.99, plus you can get $40 back when you return the core. FastMac also offers a SuperDrive 8x Dual-Layer for the Pismo at $149.95. I’ve reviewed both products and both work well. Fastmac also offers a Blu-Ray expansion bay drive for the Pismo at $999.95, but you might want to think hard about that one!
While the Pismo was the first PowerBook that was available with an optional internal AirPort WiFi card (the clamshell iBook was the first Airport-equipped Mac laptop), neither of my Pismos came thus equipped, and I have added Buffalo G54 802.11g Wireless PC CardBus Adapter from Wegener Media, which has a limited stock of these cards selling for a reasonable $39.95.
The Buffalo card supports all PowerBooks with a PC CardBus slot from the G3 series WallStreet on running OS X. OS 9, alas, is not supported.
Essentially, you just insert the Buffalo card into the PC Card slot and you’re good to go. On my PIsmo, running OS 10.4.11, Airport automatically recognizes the card and thinks it’s a real AirPort card. No driver or other software installs were necessary. It “just works.”
MCe Engineering offers the MCE Xcaret Pro-99 Do-It-Yourself Expansion Bay Hard Drive Kit for Pismo and Lombard PowerBooks for $69.00 if you have a loose hard drive left over from upgrading to a higher capacity drive, or they will sell you the Pro-99 unit with a hard drive pre-installed from 40 GB to 100 GB at $119.00 to $279.00
FastMac sells TruePower replacement batteries for the Pismo in standard and extended charge models for $109.95 and $149.95 respectively. Other World Computing has Newer Technology NuPower ‘MaxCapacity’ 81 Watt-Hour batteries for Pismo at $149.99 and NuPower 68 Watt-Hour models for $119.99.
So in terms of costing, there are so many variables it is really impossible to generalize. Here is a rundown for a nicely tricked-out Pismo at the lowest prices cited:
Pismo 400 from Wegener Media - $299
1 GB RAM, Wegener - $179.95
550 MHz G4 Upgrade Wegener or Daystar - $199.00
Western Digital Scorpio 120 GB hard drive - OWC - $73.998x Dual Layer SuperDrive, FAstMac - $149.95
6000mah battery from Wegeners - $109.00 ($69.99 if purchased with Pismo)
Buffalo WiFi card from Wegener Media - $39.99
This all comes to a grand total of $937.87 before taxes or shipping.
Apple frequently has Certified Refurbished Core 2 Duo MacBooks for that price or less at the Online Apple Store with a full one-year warranty, AppleCare eligibility, USB 2, Airport Extreme, iSight cameras and so forth, and they are in a whole ‘nother galaxy performance-wise.
Consequently, it’s very hard to make a rational case for going for a hotrodded eight-year-old machine that maxes out at a 550 MHz G4, unless you’re a consummate and fanatical Pismo fan. Doing it incrementally over a period of years as I have makes more sense, but I would be irresponsible not to recommend the MacBook or even a nice, late=model G4 aluminum PowerBook with a 167 GHz processor for the same money.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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