A notebook PC is your best investment -- because people are crazy

After going through my 10th or 13th eBay auction for old PC laptops that, if the world wasn't crazy, should be selling for $100 and often less, but usually sell for $150 to even $250. Even 233 MHz laptops with 5 GB hard drives, 64 MB RAM, Windows 95, no USB ports and no onboard Ethernet are bringing $150 to $200. THAT'S A DOORSTOP, PEOPLE. It's not worth more than $30. But the demand is out there, on Craigslist AND on eBay. You don't see anything older than a Pentium I, and barely even those. It's mostly Pentium II-class, and if it's running more than 400 MHz, look out -- it's going to cost you.

What's wrong with you people? You can get a freaking Dual Core notebook NEW for $500 if you wait for the right sale at Staples or Circuit City. An 8-year-old has-been piece of crap should NOT be selling for $150 to $200. Have you all lost your minds?

I got pissed enough to fire up This Old Mac -- the 117 MHz PowerPC-based Powerbook 1400, circa 1996, that forms the basis of my relationship to old computers.

Now don't get me wrong. Nobody's paying big money, on eBay or anywhere else, for PB 1400s -- and with good reason: They max out at 64 MB of RAM (I've got 48 MB stuffed in mine) and have a hell of a time running Mac System 8, let alone OS 9 -- and forget about OS X. That will never, ever in a million years happen. I'm running System 7.6.1, regarded by many as the perfect OS for this laptop. The only mail program that works with today's POP and IMAP services is Netscape 4.x. and it's damned slow. I always say you've got to use apps tuned to the system, apps which are processor-speed- and memory-appropriate. Well, that would be Claris E-Mailer, and it plain doesn't work. Same is true for MS Office 6.0, supposedly rewritten for PowerPC at the time of the 1400's release, but which takes forever to load. Again, ClarisWorks is a better fit, and WriteNow even better still. But neither offers credible Word-compatible formatting.

All I'm saying is that a PC-compatible laptop running at 300 MHz is better than the 1400, but not THAT much better. And if you skipped over that line -- NOBODY IS PAYING CRAZY PRICES OF ANY SORT FOR POWERBOOK 1400s. Now Pismo and Walstreet laptops still command crazy prices, and that holds true for other Powerbook G3s and G4s. But they all cost about $1K new. There's no new $400 or $500 Mac laptop ... so it takes them that much longer to get down below $200 ... or so goes the theory.

But the silver lining is ... if you either already own a laptop or are considering buying one, your investment is safe. Three to five years from now, or even longer, you can turn it around on eBay and get a chunk of money for your trouble. Capitalism, baby ...