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PowerBook 15" and 12" Disassembly
questamor writes "The ever gadget-driven among us are at it again, with a Japanese site disassembling a brand new 15" PowerBook. Of interest is dual blowers. Quite a good deal packed into that sleek Al case. An older photo article on the same site details a 12" takeapart. That's stunning for barely an inch thick. Kudos to Apple's designers for a machine that looks as well designed in as out, and to the guys willing to unscrew the screws on a machine barely 5 days into warranty."
By Tim Copperfield
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About S
the down is that the keyboard isn't removable (for those that liked swapping it out for a touch sensitive board), it's to allow for the backlit keys which are fed light from the built in display.
You insensitive clod!
The site is english.
What the fuck are you smoking.
Japs cant read english, let alone write it.
Hell, since we are on the subject of writing, japs cant even write.
Stop drooling of anything that sounds like a jap name and realize that japs are just worthless motherfuckers with tiny cocks.
Uh-oh .. there here goes his warranty .. I wonder how much extra parts did he have after putting it back together ;-)
some karmawhore really should do a mirror.
that said, there's not much in them to see, i guess if you can't figure out how to get it open otherwise the pics would help.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I would much rather have a widescreen PC notebook that's cheaper and faster (such as the Compaq x1000) than most Apple laptops, but half the price.
Anyone here actually happy that they own an Powerbook?
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
They only took the cover off. If they had compeltely disassembled the main board, reassembled it (without having parts left over) and then booted it first time I would be impressed. Does anyone knnow if its even possible to do this? I get the impression that with surfacemount technology it would be like threading elephants thru the eys of needles putting it back together again.
I'm still waiting for images of a Powerbook G5 being run over by a truck. I'll be *really* impressed to the people with the guts to do that... taking the screws out is nothing. Any volunteers?
Mac zealots' satisfaction and happiness is directly proportional to the amount of money lining Steve Jobs' pockets...
Turkeyphant
Yeah!
with Moz, I get "The document contains no data"!
Really, on the error page they need to add an extra dot point in troubleshooting---
"check site is not linked to from slashdot.org"
Karma: -2^0.5 . Mainly due to the imbibing of dihydrogen monoxide
Good to see the very same dissassembled laptop being used as a web server as well...
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
try the old 12" vs new 15" comparison it's what happens when you can't figureout where the spare parts go.. http://www.danamania.com/temp/1512.jpg
For a clickable comparison of the two machines in the above post, see http://www.danamania.com/temp/1512.jpg
Has anyone tried the new 12" powerbooks yet? I have the old one and it's a bit annoying that it gets quite hot after a while. I don't think the 15" and 17" models were nearly that hot. How about the new 12" one? Should I bother buying it or maybe switch to 15"?
Who modded this as offtopic?
C3P0: "What do you mean I'm not wearing any clothes?"
And now the server is disasembled for the pleasure of the ./ crowd :)
Really useful when ones hands are too busy typing.
http://daimaoh.kir.jp/ho/menssom.htm
The new google cache that also translates into English is here.
/ /www.kodawarisan.com/ug/PowerBook/index15.html
http://cache.google.co.jp/?translate=en&url=http:
Posted AC, I'm no karma whore.
Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,57961,00.html
political_news.c: warning: comparison is always true due to limited range of data type
What's going on with the big one? It looks like the bottom part is made out of one block...
Actually it reminds me of old Star Trek props.
URL points to a non-existant server, and clicking the link gives you gay porn results on Google Images. I don't know who the hell modded it up, but they need to be shot.
I guess not, now.
That's the new 15" powerbook. (the other is the older TiBook which was nice, but not quite as nice). That's part of the minimalist design people are really falling for.
What the original picture isn't showing is how damned fine they are to use as well as looking neat. You're certainly getting a well-refined all over package when you get a powerbook. I love mine.
Taking Apart the 12" and the 15 isnt as much of a bear as one might thing. Granted, its always exciting when someone does it at home and posts a site about it in japanese. However, the machines have been available in the U.S. for a while, and people have been breaking them for a while. What does this mean? All of us Portable Certified Techs that work for Apple Specialists have been taking the damned things apart for months. They're gorgeous on the outside, but a pain to crack open.
Figure this.
There's tons of screws, none of them magnetized, all of them small. Its like keeping track of ants.
The top case is flexible so there's the possibility of bending it or damaging it when removing or reinstalling it.
The innards arent really designed from a repair perspective. On the 12" powerbook, the retainer tabs for the optical drive are UNDER the logic board. So, to remove the cd-r, you much gut the machine.
There are about a dozen tiny phillips head screws that hold the keyboard in place on the 17" they are stamped metal, not polished and finished like all the other screws on the box. the bottom of the top case is unfinished as well. SO, the screws get turned into place by a machine, and then are almost unremovable after the fact. You go after them with a small phillips and they strip like butter. then you have to bust out the screw extractor and waste 20 minutes, only to have the one next to it do the same thing.
when the systems first shipped, the rubber feet were not classified as a seperate part. They were part of the bottom case. SO, if you lost your rubber feet, you would have had to order a new bottom case. Luckily, they fixed that
So, now that I'm done ranting, you all know what I found wrong with the new powerbooks. if anyone wants photos, I might be enticed to post them on www.modyourmac.com, but someone is still gonna have to ask.
Kudos [...] to the guys willing to unscrew the screws on a machine barely 5 days into warranty.
Can Apple (or any other manufacturer, for that matter) tell if the laptop has been opened before; possibly by someone who wasn't supposed to do that? Unless there are any labels over the screws, that you would need to break, how could they?
It looks a lot like the manual on how to hook up my VCR!
William
---- perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(
I have to say it, but I owned one of those older powerbooks and find it a much more appealing machine than the newer ones. They actually have some design to them, and a silver keyboard just doesn't do it for me. The new one looks like a block of solid aloominum with a keyboard drawn on top.
I'll be keeping my TiBook thanks!
Actually, that's an old 15" and a new 17". There's no 12" in that picture.
There are no tiger attacks in my area and it's all because this rock I'm holding keeps the tigers away.
Here's a quick translation of the Japanese captions on the four pages of pictures:
PAGE 1
* The smallest and easiest to obtain model, the PowerBook G4.
* Required tools: cross-slotted #00 screwdriver and 1/16" (1.5mm) hex wrench. An anti-static guard and a corner-beam (the small angled tool in the picture) are also good to have.
* First, remove the battery. It's the same as the iBook's battery.
* Unscrew the memory model's panel.
* Remove the memory card. Be careful of static electricity.
* Unscrew 8 screws from the side of the PowerBook.
* In order to remove the screws beneath the keyboard, remove the F1, F2, F11 and F12 keys. It's best to use tweezers to pry the keys out from the bottom.
* Peel off the seal concealing the screw.
* Unscrew the two screws holding the keyboard in place.
* The keyboard can now be removed, but be careful of the ribbon cable. The iBook and PowerBook G4/15 are the same in this regard.
PAGE 2
* Underneath the keyboard, top of case. The internals of the computer are still completely obscured, but there's an interesting magnet secured with electrical tape.
* Peel off the aluminum tape and remove the keyboard connector. As in previous models, the keyboard is not meant to be removed easily by the user.
* Remove the keyboard connector and the attached ribbon cable. Don't worry, the ribbon cable won't separate from the connector even if you do it wrong.
* Peel off aluminum tape from two places and remove three connectors. If you neglect to do this it's possible you might break some wires when removing the top of the case later.
* Remove screws in order: first, the 12 +-slotted hex screws. The screws are of different sizes, so be careful.
* The top and bottom sections of the case are fastened with claw latches on the front left and right corners. Slide a credit card through the gap between the top and bottom sections and carefully unfasten the latches.
* The latches securing the top and bottom sections. The picture shows the two places near the battery slot. The latches are made of resin and attached to the aluminum so they break easily.
* A picture with the top case removed. You can see something resembling the iBook DualUSB port apparatus. The tape securing the cables casts a bit of doubt on the product quality...
* Once disassembled to this point, it's possible to exchange the hard drive. It takes a while to get to this point, though.
* The hard disk is secured with two screws so exchanging it is easy. All you need to do is remove the left and right hard disk fasteners and you're done.
PAGE 3
* Made by Toshiba.
* The modem can be removed, but the cabling is a bit convoluted so just leave it as is.
* Remove the huge heatsink. The spring-loaded fastener screw makes it a bit of a struggle! Must have been a missed deadline in manufacturing...
* Heatsink and cooling fan. The cooling pipe is well-connected to the fan so the cooling efficiency should be really good.
* Now we've gotten to the motherboard. The wiring here is especially tricky and convoluted.
* Removing the frame from above the motherboard. Be careful of the differences in screw sizes.
* The frame is removed.
* The motherboard is attached to the bottom of the case by 3 screws.
* Remove the motherboard by pulling diagonally.
* Remove the cable coming from the back of the LCD from its connector.
PAGE 4
* The front of the motherboard.
* The back of the motherboard.
* The bottom of the case and the combo-drive. The construction here makes it very difficult to completely disassemble everything. Too bad...
* The power supply is on a separate circuit board. It fits the design of the motherboard well. One difference from the iBook is the four screws securing this board.
* The heatsink and fan are attached to the motherboard by five screws. The middle two are special spring-loaded screws.
* The power-saving mode circuit.
* The back of the top of the case. It's eas
I'm not crazy about the fact that the hard drive is directly under the trackpad - some people like to tap the pad instead of using the button. I can imagine that taping while the drive heads are reading/writing could turn out disastrous!
Then again, I'm sure they put some sort of safeguard in place to prevent that from happening (I hope).
Sound waves should be free!
There's no 17" powerbook in that picture. a 17" powerbook looks like this. Note the position of the power button and the proportions of the trackpad.
The aluminum powerbook in the comparison picture is definitely a new 15"
On the right is a Photoshopped old 15 (note the two-tone case edge and black keyboard) to make it the size of a 12.
The owner of the site specializes in making "vhacks": photoshopped dream Macs.
Live simply, that others may simply live. -Gandhi
disassemble! disassemble!
I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.
I don't know what that is on the right side, but it's definitely not a powerbook of any kind.
As I look through the pictures of them taking those machines apart I can't help but think
"Stop! I'll give you my first born for that laptop! Why are you so cruel!"
Then I realize I have to get laid first...
He said dual blowers. Huh huh, that's pretty cool.
Whoa! Heh heh. Yeah.
You got the perfect strip dance for geeks! Would you like a lap dance from an IBM Z990?
Go to Dell Support and you can get detailed instructions on how to take apart and service your laptop from the manufacturer. Apple, wheres' your service manual?
... for $2k. The comparable Apple is nearly $3k... and only has a 1ghz processor. While I realize the mhz rating isn't a direct comparison, a 2.6ghz intel is surely faster than a 1ghz ppc. I've seen that HP and Toshiba now have 3ghz 15 wide screen laptops for $2k.
As for everyone espousing the Apples price / performance... maybe for the low-end units, but not for the high-end "desktop replacement" models. Compare a 15" wide screen power book with others like the Dell i8500, or models from HP or Toshiba.
I got an Dell i8500 2.6ghz 15" wuxga+ (1920x1200)
Battery life is very good in the Dell, I can get about 3.5 to 4 hours, and thats with using wifi, which tends to use more power.
open up a g5 case... it's amazingly clean! it looks like a lab or a ferrari engine compartment. i love the lian-li cases, but these put everything else to shame. as with all things mac, ymmv.
Actually, that *might* be an intentional part of its design. Using the metal shell as a heat conductor probably helps save the innards from as much heat stress as you'd have otherwise. It may be unsettling as a user to get constant "feedback" on how hot the system is running - but I'd rather have that than a system burning up inside that feels fine on the outside.
Mirror #1: HTML PDF
Mirror #2: HTML PDF
Mirror #3: HTML PDF
...it was spelled Japanese. Note the capital, too.
MacRumors notes that Kodawrisan was able to identify the G4 as a 7447 (despite Apple hinting at it being a 7457). It seems the only difference between the two is that the 7457 supports an L3 cache (which was noticeably absent from the new PowerBooks and attributed to a new architecture)
From what I can tell, doing routine repair on the 12" powerbook (such as replacing the hard drive) looks about a million times easier than working on the current iBook. What a nightmare that is. Believe me, I know.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Bah! Packing square parts into square cases isn't all that interesting.
Putting square parts into dome shaped cases is more exciting.
Why is all the good step-by-step disassembly stuff in Japanese?
I was wondering what was up with that Titanium. I knew the left one was a new 15, and I knew the right one was an old 15, but the sizes just didn't match (the heights are the same though). He took the speakers off of the sides of the Titanium to make it smaller.
Someone took apart a laptop. This is news? Shit, Extra Extra Read all about it: I took apart a stapler today. Does anyone want the digital pictures? And to make it worse, I uploaded them from a Windows box...ooooooo
If this was an Intel-based machine, no-one would give a toss...
Apple laptops are effectively unusable for unix users.
I am a long-time Unix user. That means I need to have the Ctrl key to the left of the A key. This is a genuine need, not merely a want; it is based upon ergonomics. The Ctrl key is heavily used in unix, and it must be easily accessable. It cannot be off in the lower left corner of the keyboard where it is difficult to get at, and where it distorts the position of your left hand such that you can't easily type other keys while holding the Ctrl key down.
Apple desktop keyboards are now all USB. They are all OK. The CapsLock key can be re-mapped into a Ctrl key.
Unfortunately, even in this modern age, all Apple laptops have built-in ADB keyboards. The ADB keyboard is broken-by-design. It is, in general, not possible to remap the CapsLock key into a Ctrl key.
There are some exceptions, but they are horrible kludges. They are horrible kludges because the original design of the ADB keyboard was a horrible kludge. The correct solution would be for Apple to re-design their laptop motherboards to use built-in USB keyboards. This hasn't happened yet. If you run Linux, use Debian's solution. For Mac OS X users, uControl works. There are no solutions (that I know of) for either NetBSD or OpenBSD. Please note once again that the "solutions" above are in fact kludges, because of the original bad design of the ADB keyboard.
Apple provides a technical note on how to remap the keyboard, but provides no solution to the hardware problems caused by the design of the ADB keyboard. This tech note helps foreign language users, but does nothing for the CapsLock/Ctrl problem.
Apple is (currently) ignoring Unix users! This is not merely speculation on my part. In an on-going email exchange I am having with an Apple employee (whom I won't name) in their marketing department, the Apple marketing person directly stated to me that Apple was catering to their historic Mac customers, and is purposely ignoring the Unix market. He also claimed that Apple would soon start paying more attention to the Unix market. I won't hold my breath. Apple has been ignoring Unix users for more than 13 years. I expect that trend to continue. (Also note that my Apple contact indicated that Macs would never ship with a 3-button mouse, even though Apple intended to port almost all X-window software and deliver it either on a CD/DVD or installed directly on each Mac's hard drive. How Unix friendly is a 1-button mouse with X programs that often require 3 buttons?)
Apple has now lost two opportunities to sell me hardware. I really wanted an Apple laptop for their superior battery life, and for the PowerPC with Altivec CPU. (The Altivec is vastly superior to the x86 line for DSP.) Because I can't live with the broken-by-design built-in ADB keyboard in all Apple laptops, Sony and IBM sold me laptops instead. If Apple fixes this problem, they will sell me a PowerBook next year; if they don't, I'll still be running OpenBSD on x86 hardware, and wishing I could use a Mac.