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ITEM 171: Apple PowerBook G4
Found on: 7/20
Materials: titanium, plastic, missing battery
Damage/wear: top is detached from bottom, small pieces falling off, scratches on the outside, 
Provenance: Taiwan
Production details: For details on Apple, see Item 150: Apple Macintosh PowerBook 140. The G4 is technically part of the same line (PowerBook) as Item 149, and the last item in the line before Apple switched to making MacBook Pros. Apple manufactured the PowerBook G4 between 2001 and 2006. t 1 inch thick, it was much thinner and lighter than other laptops at the time. This, and the fact that (from 2001 to 2003) it was made out of titanium, made quite a stir when the PowerBook G4 was introduced at Macworld 2001. “It’s MADE out of TITANIUM…” Steve Jobs said. “Like the spy planes.” Titanium PowerBook G4s were given the nickname “TiBook.” But after 2003, Apple switched to aluminum, probably to cut costs – even though in the TiBook intro Jobs had stressed that titanium was stronger and lighter than aluminum.
Apple began working with Foxconn, a multinational electronics contract manufacturing company, in 2002. Foxconn is based in Taiwan and while most of its factories are in mainland China, as of 2013 (according to an annual report) it did have several factories in Taiwan. So it’s possible this laptop was manufactured by Foxconn. (If not, it was likely a similar contractor.) Foxconn was established in 1974 by Terry Gou in New Taipei, originally as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. It was contracted by Intel in 2001 to make computer chips and has expanded to manufacture for Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Dell, and many others. It currently manufactures in Asia, Europe, Mexico, and Brazil, with plans to move into India. It (along with Apple) has also faced criticism after the infamous Foxconn worker suicides from 2010-2012, with workers citing exhaustion and administrative abuse.
Date or date range: 2002
Still in production: no
Rare: no
Still attainable from: 15″ version from eBay
Value: laptop $120 used, $200 with original packaging
Use: This was a portable personal computer that was used to access the internet (with the SoNNet Aria Extreme 54mbps network card still inside). It may have also been used to play or create CDs and DVDs; the PowerBook G4 was the first laptop with a slot-load SuperDrive for burning CDs and DVDs. “Geez, you’re just gonna so want one,” says the original 2001 commercial.