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The good news: Everything we're looking at hereis a G3. No more. No less. That's what 1,000 bucks will get you. And that'snothing to be sneezed at. A few weeks ago, we checked out the BestPowerBooks Under 500 Bucks.We found a few thrifty 3400s, some KoolKangas, a few warm Wallstreets and some Fours and Fives (that 1400 and5300 to you and me). Okay, enough with the alliteration already. But thesearen't enough? You want fast FireWire, active matrix screens and some seriousRAM capacity. Right? Right. And now, just weeks later, the used PB marketis even better. The rapid depreciation of these 'Books (not good for theseller, but excellent for the buyer), combined with the recent (major)revision of the PowerBook G4, has sent slightly-used G3s into a price free-fall.So the bargains out there, if you choose carefully, should be well-kept,and some may have a year or so's AppleCare. That's good insurance againstsomething going horribly wrong. Looking for a TiBook? You're in the wrong place.Not even an original TiBook 400 comes anywhere near the sub-$1,000 mark.The only way you'll get a G4 in this price range is by investing in anupgrade card, available for some of the G3 models we're looking at here. Plus, PowerBook and iBook owners like to accessorize.You might get an extra battery, an expansion bay Zip or a few extra powersupplies thrown into the bargain. Hard drives and RAM will often be wellabove spec (but don't let that stop you buying base spec machines, if they'reclean and mean). Here, we're going to check out the likely suspectsin the $500-$1,000 price bracket. Not Completely Broke. But Not Too FlushWith Funds Either. Sound like you? Welcome abroad. PowerBook G3 Series (Wallstreet)
Don't always take a 'Book at face value. Wallstreetsin particular, but the G3 Series in general, do tend to scratch easilyand scuff marks show up pretty easily. This isn't TiBook-scratched-paintbad, but it can make them look a little dilapidated. A coating of ArmorAll can usually fix this up. The reason I mention it is that the 'Bookis still worth a look, even if it's scuffed. I've bought several ex-schoolWallstreets for clients which had had their fair share of knocks and scrapes,but such is the solidity of the 'Book, that there has been no structuraldamage to any of them. So if it's scuffed, it's not necessarily stuffed.If the price is right and the Wall's structural integrity isn't an issue,it might be a great buy. Heft a Wallstreet around before you lay down thefolding: it's rugged, but that very ruggedness comes at a cost: 7.7lbsof magnesium, plastic and silicon. Don't buy if you're perpetually at airports. Other than that, Wallstreets come with a lot offruit: big, active matrix screens (the passive 12.1" is, thankfully, belowour $500 floor price), a keyboard to kill for, good 512MB RAM capacity,room for CardBus USB and FireWire simultaneously - or 100bT if you're soinclined. 10bT is built in, as is S-video and VGA out (mirror mode only),IrDA/IRTalk, analog sound in/out, stereo speakers and - my favorite - expansionbays. Okay, so you might have nothing to put in them, but a couple of batteriesis a good start. Speaking of which, budget for a new one or two. If the'Book's base spec (many Wallstreets and Rev.A (original) iBooks seem tobe), you're going to want to pop at least a 256MB RAM stick into it (probably$80). A new hard drive is good idea if 4 or 8GB is not enough for you.Any 2.5" IDE drive will fit into the Wallstreet's massive 19mm enclosure.Original 8GB IBM drives can be troublesome, but they've probably been replacedby now. The first series of Wallstreets can be good buysat less than the Series IIs. The 250 and 292MHz models, despite their 83MHzsystem buses (the fastest on any PB, including desktops, at the time) arenot as fast as the 266/300MHz models which superseded them, although theyonly have 66MHz buses. Series I only get a Rage II video card which isslightly inferior to the Rage Pro. Both have 4MB VRAM on board. You can retrofit a DVD drive and MPEG-2 PCMCIAcard decoder to any of these models, although note this won't work (atall) in OS X. The stock CD ROM drive (20x) reads CD/CDR only, not CDRW,although the DVD will read CDRW. Upgrades: There are several. PowerLogixhas a G3 and G4 upgrade with 1MB of L2 cache, with speeds up to 500MHz.Sonnethas G3s up to 466MHz, and there are also some NewerTech upgrades out there - some 458MHz G3s, some 466MHz, depending onbus speed. Twin batteries, Zip, SuperDisk, CDRW and hard drives are availablefor the expansion bay. PowerBook G3 Series Bronze (Lombard) Price Range: Probably no more than $850
There little I don't like about the Lombard. Whilethe 14.1" XGA display - in both resolution and quality - is now yesterday'snews, it's still has excellent brightness and I rarely need to go beyondthe dimmest setting. It's also tougher than it looks: two bad falls ontoparquetry and a wooden floor have resulted in no damage. A few keycapshave come off, but they've been put back, once you ignore Apple's instructionsand figure it out yourself. The command key's label is wearing off. Butthat's about it. It lacks little, once a cheap FireWire card isadded (IBM cards can be had for under $30, as can Newer cards. And LombardCardBus FireWire is no slower than Pismo motherboard FireWire. Of course,you can't power peripherals like iPods and small hard drives with the Lombard,but it's no catastrophe. It's video capturing abilities are good: I canget 16-bit MJPEG-B at 720x542 analog video with no dropped frames, whilecapturing from a DV cam via iMovie or Final Cut Pro is a snap. Playbackis also smooth. The Lombard also restores a PowerBook 5300 feature:extended desktop. Whereas the Wallstreet and earlier 'Books are mirrormode only, the Lombard not only operates with the lid shut, but lets youuse two displays as a virtual desktop. The video card supports resolutionsup to 1280x1024 on an external monitor. It's usable, but not blinding (what is?) in OSX. The bottom line is it's perfectly serviceable and apps run at adequatespeed for most productive work. The dual USB ports are a useful addition,while SCSI, for me, is still important, as I have a number of SCSI peripherals,such as a scanner and CDRW. Dock mode for those with SCSI desktop Macsis also useful. Eventually, I'll go all FireWire, but SCSI performanceis good and the Lombard can easily write to SCSI or FireWire CDRWs at upto 10MB/ps. Like the Wallstreet, IrDA, S-video out, VGA out, 16-bit audioI/O, twin battery support, and a 56K modem is standard (the modem was adelete option on Wallstreet). 10/100bT Ethernet (an upgrade from 10bT onthe Wallstreet) is a nice addition for those of us on fast LANs. The 333MHz model is a bit of a steal. It doesn'tfetch the price premium of the 400 model. And, if you can live withoutDVD-ROM, it's probably the one to get, as it sacrifices little in speedto the 400. If it comes with some nice peripherals - many have Zips, harddrives or other extras in the expansion bay - you won't be disappointed.At only 5.9lbs, it's the same weight as a 14.1" iBook and only a littleheavier than a TiBook (5.3-5.4lbs). Like the Wallstreet, G3 and G4 upgrades up to 500MHzare available, at present available only from PowerLogix.A wider range of expansion bay devices is available for Lombard, and almostall work with the Pismo. A DVD-Video kit is available for the 333MHz model(doesn't work with the Pismo), as well as a DVD/CDRW Combo drive, CDRW,and various capacities of hard drive. Unlike Wallstreet, there is no internalfloppy drive option (no great loss), but a USB one is simple to add, oryou can get a VST SuperDiskexpansion bay drive, which reads/writes both floppies and 120MB SuperDisks.Lombards also accept any of the biggest hard drives up to 60GB - it takesany 2.5" HD up to 12.7mm tall. The major problem which is not a quality cintrolissue, is the early revision CPU on some Lombards (usually built pre-September1999). Early ROM CPUs demonstrate RAM compatibility problems in OS X, particularlywith third-party RAM, but sometimes even with genuine Apple RAM. This hascaused people to pull perfectly good RAM to run OS X. Apple has not provideda fix for this problem. Make sure your RAM vendor will back up their RAMto the hilt. Note also that Lombards and Wallstreets use PC-66 RAM; Pismoand other PC-100 RAM won't work correctly, so ensure you get RAM that isguaranteed to work. Many reputable vendors will provide this assurance. Bottom line: if the budget doesn't quite stretchto a Pismo, a Lombard is the one to get. There's virtually no speed differencebetween the Lombard and Pismo 400s, and even the 333's a decent performer.It's an excellent refinement of the G3 Series, shedding weight and gainingpower, supporting longer-life batteries and a wider variety of expansionbay peripherals.. Importantly, as testswith an Oxford 911 bridge chip IGM have published demonstrate,its Grackle PCI controller is vastly superior to that of Wallstreet, providingmuch better FireWire performance on the CardBus slot. PowerBook G3 Series FireWire (Pismo)
DVD was made standard across the 400 and 500 modelsand, for the first time, the high-end and low-end models had CPUs withthe same amount of L2 cache, same memory bus, same 14.1" XGA screen andvideo card. What you really paid for with a 500 was a bit more power andextra RAM and hard drive capacity. Pismo increased RAM capacity to a whopping 1GB,and the original 6 and 12GB hard drives were replaced by 10 and 20GB drivesin September 2000. Some models may have the built-to-order 30GB drive,but it takes mere minutes to drop in a 40-60GB drive. Ditto as far as RAMis concerned. Unlike iBooks and TiBooks, all these G3 'Books are exceptionallyeasy to get into and out of and all major components are accessible. Unlike Lombard and (some upgraded) Wallstreets,the Pismo shifts to software MPEG-2 (DVD) decoding, a scheme retained throughoutthe Apple range. This means that DVD playback is supported in OS X on Pismo,while hardware decoding does not work on the earlier G3s. Any FireWire device, provided its power requirementsare not excessive, can be powered off the FireWire ports. This means iPods,but not 3.5" hard drives, which will need a mains power supply. Althoughit's by no means slow, Pismo FireWire is last generation and any icy iBook(May 2001 onwards) can hose off a Pismo for FireWire performance. If youneed absolutely the best FireWire speed (few people do, particularly forrelatively slow CDRWs, which demand only a few MB per second), then youmight need to reconsider the Pismo, but 12-16MB/ps sustained write speedsshould be enough for most purposes. Problem areas appear to be relatively few at thisstage: the yo-yo power adapters, also found with original iBooks and earlyPowerBook G4s, are unreliable and break internally. Unfortunately, they'restandard issue in Apple's AC adapter recall, which applies to the 'black'oblong adapters which came with Wallstreets and Lombards. Some Pismos havebeen known to suffer 'pink screen' syndrome, where the tinting of the LCDis off, but many, if not most, of these have been cured/replaced underAppleCare during their first year. Out of warranty Pismos might be curedusing ColorSync or other screen calibration software. For bargain spotters, the 400, like the Lombard333, might be the one to buy if it's significantly cheaper than any 500you can find. However, those who want G4 performance might want to considera Lombard with an upgrade. There has been no G4 or G3 upgrade for the Pismo,although it is theoretically possible with its removeable daughter card.And, no, in case you're wondering, none of the daughtercards in the Wallstreet/Lombard/Pismoare interchangeable between models, although cards may be swapped easilybetween comparable models (say, a 500 CPU into a Pismo 400). Conclusions: Given the price/performance/featurescombination of these G3 Series models, you really can't go wrong, regardlessof which one you choose. Do not buy sight unseen if possible and you arelikely to get a reliable, tough, strong performer which should last youa few years at least, if early PowerBooks are anything to go by. Partsare plentiful, if sometimes costly - PRAM batteries can run to $40-50,and models with healthy batteries should be considered as these can add$100-180 to the purchase price. Extra power adapters are also worth getting,but also consider a PowerBook Duo, 1400/3400/Kanga AC adapter, which workjust as well, and can be much cheaper than a new, lousy yoyo (and theytake standard plug leads; all the better). RAM and hard drive prices arerelatively low, and while PowerBooks, iBooks and all PC portable experiencesignificant depreciation, you shouldn't think of these as financial investmentsas much as investments in your own productivity. Just ask MacOpinion'sCharles Moore:his family has one edition of each of the G3 Series. You'll get a lot more personal value out of these'Books than what you paid for them. Not to mention a lot of fun. Relax.Enjoy. Coming soon: The Best Bargain-Basement iBooks
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Theheavy-weight, heavy duty Wallstreet was available for around 13 monthsduring 1998-99, and there are a lot out there. That gives you bagsof choice and there's no run on them, so you can take your time and choosecarefully. A good Wallstreet will reward you; an indifferent one will plagueyou. If you find a guy with a museum of every Mac ever built and a spareWallstreet, he's the one to buy from. Failing that, there's always ebayand reputable second-hand Mac dealers. Generally, PC places can be eithergreat or lousy places to buy from. If they actually notice it's a Mac,they might just whack a ludicrous price on it. Alternatively, if they don'twant it, they could price it to sell.
Thefirst of the New World ROM PowerBooks and last of the SCSI dynasty, thisis my personal machine. Mine's a 333 with a 400MHz daughtercard, so ithas no DVD decoder on the mobo, but does have the extra speed. It's hada number of upgrades: 30GB hard drive; 512MB RAM; 10GB expansion bay harddrive; Newer FireWire2Go CardBus card; New Motion USB->ADB adapter; iRezCapsure PCMCIA card; and a sundry flash media cards for instant backupand data transfer.
Certainly,this is the pick of the sub-$1,000 PowerBooks. Again, Apple refines theLombard's slim design and adds enhancements which are usually visible onlywhen you lift the keyboard or boot it up. A newer and better ATI Rage 128video card lives under the hood, which is supported under OS X. The systembus is boosted to 100Mhz. SCSI is finally dropped, and two FireWire portslive on the back end.
