I am using a Powerbook G4 1.67MHZ Aluminum running Leopard OS X 1.5 without a hitch. You can probably find one of these used within your budget. I traded down from a Macbook Core Duo since I used it as a desktop so I sold it for a good price $900 and bought a cheaper Mac Mini 2009 and went to a Powerbook for away from home.
The Powerbook G4 is fine for web surfing, watching videos, YouTube without any performance gaps. The 12" Powerbook G4 is also a great small form factor and I have one of those too for travel. For an 11 y.o. the downside I see is that the Aluminum Powerbook is quite delicate, it can be easily damaged and is prone to dents if one is not careful. If it drops on the floor or falls off a table it is probably a goner. These also are prone to water spill damage, if a glass of water spills on the keyboard the motherboard will get fried. You might even consider a Pismo 500, iBook G3 or iBook G4 since these are quite rugged machines. I had a Pismo fall out of a backpack onto a wood floor and not a scratch. Older machines can be upgraded to at least Tiger which runs applications good without any major latency issues. They are also cheaper. And if you buy used you can probably sell it for nearly the price you pay if you decide its not what you need. Good Luck Terry Irvine CA 92612 On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 9:42 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > My 11 year old niece wants a laptop. They have a G5 iMac for a desktop. > They can only budget about $500-600 for the laptop. I've been checking out > Apple's refurbished MacBooks, but they are out of the budget. > > What do you think of just getting her a PowerBook? It's not the latest and > greatest, but it is a solid laptop. Will it run 10.5? Comments and opinions, > please? > > Jane > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Low End Mac's G-Books list, a group for those using G3 iBooks and PowerBooks (we run a separate list for G4 'Books). The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g-books?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
