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Hinge Replacements for G4: "Better than it was before — Better . . . Stronger . . ."


They have the technology: David Wegener of Wegener Media writes us to say that his machinist is on schedule to complete replacement hinge mounts for the PowerBook G4. I’ve already reported, first-hand, on what happens when a hinge breaks, so this is a welcome development, especially when you consider repair costs out of warranty above US$300.

David writes, “Apple makes their hinge mounts out of pot metal–which (in my humble opinion) is a very lame idea for a laptop that’s so far ahead of the pack in every other way. Rather than duplicate this, we have developed replacement mounts out of military grade alloy, and have found them to be about 70% stronger than the Apple hinges. They are fully user-installable, and our tests show them to be approx 70% stronger than the original Apple sets.”

The replacement mounts will ship by June 15th for US$139.99 (pair of 2) with a 1 year warranty, available direct from Wegener Media. (Looking around that site, David, you guys have some great parts and used machines, as well!) We look forward to seeing how the new mounts perform; thanks again to enterprising PowerBook users coming up with the solutions Apple didn’t!

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.