Things to do with an old Apple laptop?

In My Humble Opinion
1

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7513898#post7513898

is a thread about buying a perfectly working laptop for 1$ at a thrift store… It’s an apple 150. Let’s expect the worst and say that I cannot log into the laptop because I don’t have the password and apple never put a default one into place… so I’m left with a laptop O can’t log into.

If that’s the casewhat would you do with it? I’ve heard of people taking the LED monitor and turning into a picture frame where the pictures keep rotating. Any ideas how to do that?

The computer may be completely old but it’s in great shape… What else can I do? What would YOU do?

2

1 get tools
2 turn on favorite music
3 crack beer
4 disassemble laptop, just to see how many pieces you’ll end up with

This exercise is more satisfying if you set out with the intention of not re-assembling the laptop - you will be less inhibited. I’d scrap to custom picture frame idea - we get many opportunities to build, make or repair things, but few opportunities to just take stuff apart for the sheer joy of inspecting all the little pieces.

3

I agree with Winston. Taking something apart for the sheer joy of it is rare and fun as well. After you’ve taken it apart you could do something cool and artistic with it. Get a piece of plywood and start gluing stuff togetheter. Make a Frankenstien computer. Then frame it up, put a price tag on it, and sell it on ebay.
That might actually make you some money, thereby making the cheap laptop worth more than you paid for it. :slight_smile:

4

I think a functional laptop is worth more, even if it’s “functional” in the looseset sense of the word. I recently sold a 3-year old laptop with a broken display for $300. (It was a mini-laptop with a Transmeta CPU so maybe it’s sought after for some reason, but it’s still a 3-year old broken laptop.)

5

http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/330F00DC1A3E10299AD7001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS

6

Haven’t you ever wondered what would happen to a computer if you threw it out an upper-floor window?

7

Alright: tell you what… since this is such a destructive crowd:

if I CAN’T get the laptop to work and it’s useless to me…
It will be destroyed, based on the idea that I think is the coolest way given in this thread…

AND I will tape it and post it online.

because in all honesty, I’ve always wanted to destroy the computer
throw your ideas out and may the best idea win!

8

Pull! Blam! :d

9

This is a tad complex, but in all honesty something i’ve always wanted to so/see done.

Take the laptop and secure it to a long piece of strong rope or wire and suspend it off the ground. I always thought that a street light would work good for this but what ever you have around that isn’t completely flammable and elevated would be good too. Anyway, secure the laptop so it’s hanging by the rope in the air.

Since the 4th of july is right aroung the corner go and buy yourself a couple mortar sets or just make your own with a metal pipe, the correct powders, and some golf balls and fire away from any safe distance. Hell, you could even make a game out of it with friends. points based on distance they peg the system from.

I guess it’d kind of be like a pinata…except electronic…and no candy…so maybe not quite like a pinata, but come on, who can really resist shooting fireworks at stuff with the intention of destruction.

10

I’m thinking a good soak in liquid nitrogen + shotgun = big fun.

What OS would that laptop be running? Because it might be fairly easy to find a copy of it for nothing or next to nothing, and do a reformat & reinstall to get around any password protection. Heck, there’s probably a flavor of Linux out there that will run on it, since Linux guys like installing it on everything with a processor (they’ve even loaded it onto iPods so they can play Doom on them).

11

I have no idea of the OS it runs on. But I do like your idea with the liquid nitrogen. Except, I have no idea where to get it!

12

A PowerBook 150 is an OLD 68K based Mac, the factory OS it shipped with was in the Mac OS 7.0-7.6 range…

it’s EXTREMELY limited by today’s standards, an iPod Nano has more raw horsepower, for Og’s sake…, it’s got a 33 MHz 68030 processor, a whopping 120 Megabyte hard drive, and a top ram ceiling of 40 MB, and a passive-matrix grayscale screen, built in monural speaker, and 1.44MB floppy drive…

I/O ports are similarly antiquated, ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) keyboard/mouse ports, 8 pin Mini-DIN serial port, and a 40 pin HDI SCSI port

the proprietary NiCad battery is probably dead as well…

Apple discontinued parts support for this machine well over 5 years ago, when a proprietary Apple part fails, you’ll be dead in the water…

i would put no more than Mac OS 7.6 on this machine, 7.5.5 would be the best compromise…

as a computer, you could use it for basic, lightweight word processing, if you can find a compatible printer with an 8-pin Mac serial port, play some old classic Mac games (Crystal Quest and the like) on it if you can find them

then again, seeing as it’s usage as a computer is limited, I also agree that stripping it for parts just to see how it goes together, just for fun sounds like a good plan…

you’ll need a standard T-8 Torx driver to open the case, the case clamshells apart at the bottom, and there is one major ribbon cable that connects the logic board and processor daughtercard to the inverter board and other video subsystems in the top part of the clamshell…

the 100 series PowerBooks came apart relatively easy, but they are a royal pain in the arse to reassemble

this Mac Technician’s unofficial reccomendation?..

tear it apart, see what makes it work, and have fun…