I have a 1.5gh Apple Powerbook G4 that i used constantly for work and play for 3 years. it's a great computer but about 4 months ago the backlight on the screen died and to replace was more than a new mac I really needed a work laptop so i had to get a new
Macbook Pro. I was planning on selling my powerbook on ebay but i had forgot i had it then today i noticed it sitting there and thought about what i could do with it. - the rest of the machine works fine with
external monitor - but without a extra monitor at home. i plugged my older TV in my bedroom into the S-video plug and - it doesn't look half bad for playing video. "wa-la" I have an
Apple TV .....sort of - The resolution of the mac os is a bit grainy on NTSC but with a bit of tweaking i have it quite usable. The DVD drive plays movies great and i have full internet access via airport. - plugin a USB keyboard and mouse and i can close the lid and slip the notebook into a shelf above the TV. - i use a wireless mouse and will be getting a bluetooth keyboard so i can hide all the wires.
i thought i was going to have to copy my iPod videos etc to its hard drive - then i remembered the new iTunes sharing feature. I just shared the itunes library on my office desktop G5 Mac via airport and i can view everything over the net! i am sitting here watching videos streaming from the other room. this is great since i have a ton of already ripped video that i don't need in 2 places. if i need to copy large files i can hook up a firewire drive - but since it has a DVD player it replaces the one i had in bedroom. the resolution on an older TV is just fine. So see what you can do with that old computer before you sell or trash it. have you ever done something unique with your older technology?
