Aging PowerBook with Loose Teeth
Ugh. My poor little PowerBook has a few loose teeth on its keyboard. Heavy use of various keys - as well as a botched attempt at cleaning awhile back - have left a few of the "scissor" mechanisms a bit injured. I swapped some of these around to less important keys, but I'm debating ordering new parts. And that's not to mention the half-dozen or so keys whose paint my fingers are wearing through. Good thing I remember where A and S are.
Oh yeah, and my AppleCare ran out a little while ago. Hope the hard drive doesn't keel over again.
Also: I'm considering a new MacBook Pro in the next year or so. I really want to wait for favorable financial conditions, and the next revision or so of the hardware. I'd like to take better care of it than I have this 40-month-old (or so CoconutBattery says) 867Mhz G4 PowerBook 12". We have cats, so one of the nastiest things is that there's a micro-hairball woven under each keyboard scissor. Does anyone have any experience with those silicone keyboard protectors? Annoying? Worth it? Removal of the cats is not an option.
I just got a new battery for this thing, since my 45 second dashes between power plugs really annoyed me during LibraryCamp. Hopefully that wasn't a waste. Now, if I can just get the aluminum case unwarped, I'll be happier. This thing survived a car accident and got a bit buckled on one corner, so I can't complain too much about this little trooper.
Archived Comments
if there's an Apple store nearby, take it in and the Genius Bar will help you replace any sticky/b0rked keys, no charge. I've been in recently with an '02 iBook that had some bum keys and they hooked me up.
Those keyboard covers kinda sketch me out on Apple laptops, since one of the horror stories I see cropping up here and there is fingertip oil from the keys getting on the screen and crapping up the display. The fit in there is tight enough as is, and I wonder if raising that film of human goo even closer is a palatable option.
I may also know someone who could set you up with a nice deal on a recently rebuilt 17" Powerbook ;)
Naw, I'm holding out for something solid with an Intel chip in it for my next Mac. :)
I have an iSkin thing on my keyboard and I love it. Every month or so I wash it in the kitchen sink and let it dry. The inside of my keyboard is spotless and cat hair free.
I have a 1.5ghzer from last year and the keys don't brush the screen at all with the protector on. I had a 400mhz Titanium before this, so believe me, I know from fingertip oil on the screen!
Now if only they made an iSkin to cover the palm area--I must have toxic sweat or something, the way the paint's peeling off.
brian: if you've got an aluminum PowerBook like me, that's not paint - that's the metal corroding. Whatever's in my sweat has started pitting the metal on my PowerBook, and I've since covered the palm area with clear tape and bumper stickers.
I wonder if they somehow addressed that in the MacBook Pro's?
I have one of them thar iSkin thingers too. "The keyboard condom", as some people like to call it. Heh. I love it - keeps the pug fur from underneath the keys as well as crumbs, etc...
Also - I have found that iBooks in particular - the lettering on the keys TOTALLY RUBS OFF AFTER A LOT OF USE. Lame. So, I give my iBook users the iSkin, and away they go - all set.
I also had the problem with the pitting on the PowerBook Al as well. I found this place that sells palm rest protectors that totally rock ass:
http://powersupportusa.com/products/rr.php?category=pb