Mac Fallout Shelter

Lombard: A Great $400 Field Computer

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- 2005.12.06 - Tip Jar

I'm going to take you back in time. The year was 2004.

I know it wasn't that long ago, but that was an important year to me. It was the year I got deployed to Iraq. I can't go into details, other than say I spent a whole year there, mostly in Baghdad.

I had never used a laptop 24/7 in my life. Before leaving the States, I researched different Mac laptops to see which one would fit my needs and my budget. My PowerBook would become my best friend and companion.

This is what I needed:

After all my research, I had to decide between Lombard, Pismo, and the original titanium PowerBook G4.

My budget was $400 shipped. Unfortunately, I could not buy any of them before I left (due to unexpected expenses), so I took an old PC laptop that some one had given me as a gift. I used the PC laptop for a month-and-a-half before I sold it. Then I purchased a Lombard - the Pismo was around $100-150 more, and a titanium was even more expensive.

My initial comparisons (mostly based of info from LEM):

Lombard

Pros:

Cons:

Pismo Compared to Lombard

Pros:

Cons:

Titanium compared to Lombard

Pros:

Cons:

I decided to go with the Lombard. I bought it on eBay for $350 very carefully and had it shipped home to my wife. She then mailed it using FedEx, and I got it three days after that at a cost of $125. It was a lot, but they took good care of transporting it all those miles. My other option was to use normal mail, and that would have take anywhere from 3-6 weeks.

PowerBook G3Once I got it, the first thing I did was take it apart and clean everything. I like the Lombard because of the two bays: I can use two batteries at the same time, maximizing operation time. Another Lombard plus is that it has a hardware DVD decoder and the S-video port out so you can watch movies on a TV.

The sleek black case looks great along with the black rubber, making a bit more rugged. The screen was big enough for me to watch movies and surf the Web comfortably.

While the Lombard didn't have AirPort compatibility, I could add wireless networking using a PCMCIA slot.

The last best thing is that my Lombard is very easy to clean - being in the desert, there's a lot of sand and dust. All I had to do was pop up the keyboard and hit it with compressed air. I could easily reach all the important areas of the Lombard with ease.

Next week I will talk about what accessories, upgrades, and software I used with my Lombard in Iraq. LEM

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

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Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)