Hey folks. I finally confirmed this week that I’m going to get to go to E3 again this year, and I am super excited about that. Last year, I had an awesome time, and this works out perfectly, because since I’ve been planning the move to LA in October, I will get to use some time out there around the convention to look for an apartment. But there’s one issue: my little 12″ Aluminum Powerbook G4 performed as admirably as it could last year at both E3 and BlizzCon, but for the serious amount of photo/video editing that I need to do at a big conference, I don’t think it’s going to cut it again.

So I’m probably going to get a new MacBook (or MBP, I’m not sure yet). And to try and take a little bit of the bite out of the price of that, I’m going to try selling my Powerbook G4. It’s a real shame, actually — I love my Powerbook. It is an amazing computer in an amazing size, and it’s been perfect for sitting beneath my desktop monitor, running IM and Twitter and Vent for me while I run games or work on the desktop. It’s awesome for taking out to a coffee house and punching out blog posts or typing up code or trying to get some fiction done. Whenever I take it out, I get countless compliments on just how perfectly small it is: 12″ is just at the right point between an ultraportable (too small for me) and a hulking, ugly Windows laptop.

So if you want it, I’m selling it. Here’s the specs:

1.5 GHz PowerPC G4 (which means no, it won’t run Intel-only apps, but it runs Firefox, Twitter, Adium, Vent, iTunes, Garageband — I’ve recorded and edited audio podcasts on it without problem — Word, Skype, Xcode, and iLife ‘08 just fine)
768 MB DDR SDRAM (this is probably upgradable, but I never needed it)
80 GB HD
Superdrive (CD and DVD read/write)
Firewire 400 and USB of course
GeForce FX Go5200 (the toughest game I’ve probably run on it is WoW — busy battlegrounds were a little slow, but it’s more than enough to level with)
Built-in mic (no camera, this is before that)
Airport Extreme wireless card

The battery has been replaced once — it lost the ability to keep a charge, but Apple had a free recall running, so I got it completely replaced. The charger is as mint as they come, and I have both the cord for it and the regular plug. I have the original manuals and the OS 10.4 disks, as well as an old copy of iWork ‘05 if you want it, and I’ll reset the HD and OS (to 10.4 — I believe it’ll run 10.5 if you want, but I never actually bought it, so you’ll have to purchase/install that yourself) for you before I send it so you can start with the clean, cool feeling of a brand new Mac.

Physically, it’s in great shape — no scratches that I can see, and all of the keys and buttons work and are clean and readable. The Apple logo behind the screen shines brightly into the night — if this laptop were a comic book, I’d call it Near Fine to Fine. There aren’t even any use marks on the trackpad or palm rest. It’s not brand new, but I’ve taken really good care of it — never dropped it, ever.

So yes, if you want an awesome little Powerbook to do your minor computing tasks both at home and abroad, this is definitely the ‘book for you. Truthfully (and I swear I’m not just saying this), I’m sad to see it go. I said it was the best computer I’ve ever owned in this interview and I wasn’t lying — I bought it used a few years ago and in that time it’s never given me an issue, never crashed or complained (the battery is the only time I ever had to replace anything, and even then I just left it plugged in and it just kept chugging on, no downtime at all), never not done something I’ve asked. I’ve taken it to about six conventions and on multiple vacations, and every single time I pulled it out to do something, I got it done. I love this little guy, and I hate to see him go.

But at the same time, given that this E3 is going to be bigger than last year (and I’m going to do more video editing, something I’ve never done on this Powerbook), I think I need to move up. So he’s for sale. I see these things going online for about $700, but $550 seems like a pretty reasonable price to me, and I’ll pay to ship it to you unless you live someplace outside the USA or it’s crazy expensive for some strange reason (if you’re in Chicago, you can just come pick it up). If you’re interested, drop me a line at mike@mikeschramm.com, and if you don’t need it, but you know someone who might, feel free to pass this on to them. Thanks!

Update, in case you’re wondering: Sold it. Going to replace with a 15″ MacBook Pro.