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Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

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Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#21

Post by majormajor »

I had a Wallstreet that broke (the hinges were crap and broke, and then broke on the first replacement from Apple. Also the rubberized texture on the middle of the top case flaked) so it got replaced with a Lombard, which shared the clear brown keycaps with the Pismo. I always missed the black keycaps from the Wallstreet.

The Wallstreet also had a rainbow Apple logo under the screen like a proper Mac laptop. ;)

But if you're looking for a retro one, the Wallstreet ones had some major reliability issues that they improved in the Lombard and Pismo.

A bit silly to talk about how fast installing OS 9 on an SSD is, though. The original HD would be way slower.

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#22

Post by gumby »

I had a Pismo and it was great, but IMHO the greatest of that generation was the 2400c which was the smallest powerbook, great for anyone who spent a lot of time flying around.

It was designed and built by IBM Japan, which was lucky for me when I spilled tea into mine...while I was in Tokyo. I was able to get a same day repair by walking it over to some random shop in the Akihabara (apple sent me there) where some guy repaired it while I watched.

While massive by today's standards, it was svelte for its time, and attracted stares whenI would pull it out. Great for operating on a plane too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_2400c

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#23

Post by hoistbypetard »

classichasclass wrote: post #14

The Wally does have one advantage over the Pismo: it runs Rhapsody the best of any laptop (which is to say merely acceptably). If you're into system archaeology and don't want to allocate an entire desktop to that purpose, the Wally is a good fit. Rhapsody is neat, sort of OS X but where Platinum never died.

I would pay for a really good platinum skin for OS X.

Also, I kinda miss control strip.

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#24

Post by dhosek »

dylan604 wrote: post #13
wlesieutre wrote: post #3

Random trivia, this is the last model where the Apple logo on the back of the screen is oriented to be right side up for the user when they close the display. Their next laptop was the G4 titanium, which rotated the logo to be right side up when looking at the back of the screen while it's open.

The fact that they made it glow when open is what made the decision just so weird. The only way it would glow was when it was open. So the fact that they made it not glow when they did flip it was just all sorts of whathehuh? kind of logic.

Non-glowing logo was long after the flipped logo.

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#25

Post by [deleted] »

thinkingemote wrote: post #11
wlesieutre wrote: post #3

Random trivia, this is the last model where the Apple logo on the back of the screen is oriented to be right side up for the user when they close the display. Their next laptop was the G4 titanium, which rotated the logo to be right side up when looking at the back of the screen while it's open.

Didnt thinkpads do the same at some point?

[deleted]

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#26

Post by scrlk »

thinkingemote wrote: post #11
wlesieutre wrote: post #3

Random trivia, this is the last model where the Apple logo on the back of the screen is oriented to be right side up for the user when they close the display. Their next laptop was the G4 titanium, which rotated the logo to be right side up when looking at the back of the screen while it's open.

Didnt thinkpads do the same at some point?

The 2013 models rotated the logo on the lid. This was the year where they shipped the awful trackpoint with no physical trackpoint buttons, just a big clickpad.

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#27

Post by atdrummond »

gumby wrote: post #22

I had a Pismo and it was great, but IMHO the greatest of that generation was the 2400c which was the smallest powerbook, great for anyone who spent a lot of time flying around. It was designed and built by IBM Japan, which was lucky for me when I spilled tea into mine...while I was in Tokyo. I was able to get a same day repair by walking it over to some random shop in the Akihabara (apple sent me there) where some gu…

I’ve spent years trying to get back to the sub-12” notebooks of that era.

I’ve recently settled on using an iPad Pro 10 inch. I would prefer a proper OS but 95% of what I do I can do with iOS.

Re: Greatest “Classic” Mac Laptop: Powerbook G3 Pismo (2021)

#30

Post by usrusr »

numpad0 wrote: post #9
theodric wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The moment they went from premium computing device to status symbol? Out: YOU have a Macintosh In: $$ THIS GUY $$ has a $$ Macintosh $$

lol no, Macintosh was always a status symbol.

In the days of those early G3, every non-stationary computer was a status symbol.
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