cobra

The 1.67 GHz 15 inch aluminum PowerBook G4 is a hot-running laptop that has seen better days. It is my go-to computer for burning CD-ROMs.

Specs

Model ID

PowerBook5,6

CPU

PowerPC G4 (1.2) @ 1.67 GHz

L2 Cache

512 KiB

Bus Speed

167 MHz

Boot ROM Version

4.9.1f3

Sudden Motion Sensor

Version 1.0

Optical Drive

Matshita DVD-R UJ-84SE (burns CD and DVD)

Storage

74.53 GB Fujitsu MHT2080AH

Audio Codec

Texas Instruments TAS3004

Bluetooth Firmware Version

1965

FireWire

800

GPU

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700

VRAM

64 MiB

Resolution

1280x854

Memory

2 GiB (2x 1 GB PC2700U-25330 DDR SDRAM)

Wi-Fi

AirPort Extreme

Quirks

• The bottom left corner of the palm rest refuses to snap in place, so it is always slightly raised.
• The hinges aren't the best. The display wobbles when opened.
• Rarely, the computer will repeatedly put itself back to sleep immediately after waking up. The only solution is to restart the computer.
• The power adapter that shipped with the computer needs to have its plug inserted at the angle where the black scratch on the plug faces up at the user. Otherwise, it doesn't work.
• Rarely, the computer has been known to have a garbled display that is fixed when the computer is restarted.
• The computer doesn't remember Wi-Fi passwords when waking up sometimes.
• Sometimes, the Bluetooth adapter falls off the face of the planet.

History

• 2020-01-08: The computer arrives at my parents' place from an eBay seller.
• 2020-04-06: 📈 The single 512 MiB RAM stick is upgraded to two 1 GiB RAM sticks (0.5 -> 2).
• 2020-08-??: The computer is transported to my apartment.
• 2020-09-27: A key on the keyboard is reseated to resolve an issue where keys would repeat or get dropped.
• 2023-05-29: The computer is temporarily transported back to my parents' place.
• 2023-09-18: The computer is transported to the new home.