8890 - how much it's worth and what are the issues

Welcome,

As a happy 8890 owner myself, there's a couple things you'll need to know (before even talking about costs):

- The one you've got mentioned there is the *true* 16". Congrats on finding one (Mine is ), but see if the owner can send a good pic of the Windows screen with one of the default backgrounds. The 16" had a couple issues with dither and 24-bit graphic on some models, which is one of the reasons (other than it not being a good seller) for it to go offline within six months.

- Take good care of it, and it will last well. Mine looks mint, and I'm one of the first owners. Be especially careful around the hinge, it tends to crack (though I hear most laptops do that now). That's another place a good pic would be in order. Same goes for the 'wrist rest' area on either side of the touchpad - you'd not believe the pics I've seen on ebay over time. Also, I'm having an occasional issue with flicker, but its not been severe enough to open the case up.

- I've never used support, so I can't help you there. If you're brave enough you can get donor chassis from ebay and do your own (I'm still looking around for a spare screen myself). Search the forums, a couple folks had up the service manuals for it, including complete teardown instructions. I may still have a local copy if that can't be found here anymore. You can buy parts from any vendor that still stocks them, such as the battery. Send me a PM and I can send listing for a couple I know about.

OK, down to the final one - cost. I've recently seen a system like the one you outline go for about $700. You mention a 60 gig HDD, find out if its a 7200 RPM (this was one of the first with that). Mine (see sig) was the high-end model, and I suspect would go today for about $1000 if I'm lucky. Not selling though, it still going strong and as I said is pretty much mint condition (should be, I paid some insane $$$$ for it back in Oct '03). If you have time peruse ebay for a few weeks, they come up now and then.

Best of luck,
--TSK

These machines are really great if they are taken really good care of. Mine has some broken parts (like the headphone port and a few random screws that have fallen out of the machine on occasion.) i would still ask something between $800-900 for it, my specs are 2.8, 1 gig, 60 gb 7200 and 40 gb 4200, and it has the original 16" sxga screen. Great freaking computer, does everything i need, and i leave it on for weeks at a time. It doesn't generate near as much heat or problems that newer models seem to. So i recomend getting the one you've found, but certainly have a look around and inside to see if everything is in order!

Kimball, does having a 3.2 chip make a big difference from 2.8? i am thinking about upgrading but am just not sure if i will notice the big change. I use processor for 3d rendering, and photoshop, and everything else. cheers

Zacharac you will only notice a 10-15% improvement in performance going 2.8 to 3.2GHz. If you do upgrade, make sure the CPU sSpec code is SL6WG.