The winter months are the hardest time to not want new stuff. We're inundated with sales, and in a few short weeks we'll be ogling next year's tech at CES. As the resident Gizmodo "no I won't upgrade my PowerBook" curmudgeon, I'm here for support. Take a look at the gear I use, and how despite its age, all (well, most of) it has plenty of life left.

I Call Him FrankenPod

No, you're not seeing things. The image above is indeed a picture of my primary media player, and yes, it is an iPod mini.

Go ahead, get the Borat jokes out of your system.

Done? Okay, now hear me out. Don't judge a book by its cover. As far as I'm concerned, this little guy can blow away nearly any other MP3 player on the market.

Under the hood, I swapped the 6GB microdrive with a 16GB Compact Flash card. I can easily change it out for a 32 or a 64GB card once prices come down. It's also running what I consider to be the most feature-rich firmware around, Rockbox. What looks like a beat-up iPod mini is actually a robust, nearly indestructible flash-based portable audio player, all built for a fraction of what a new one costs.

The mini isn't the only old iPod that's easily moddable. Considering about 118% of the United States' population has an old iPod lying around somewhere by now, chances are you've got what you need for a fun weekend project. Even if your heart's set on the Zune HD's OLED display or the Touch's app catalog, some love and a little elbow grease can breathe old life into that old iPod, and give you a great secondary PMP.

The Little Computer that Could

When I walked into Gizmodo HQ on my first day, I was nervous. Some of that anxiety was the new job jitters, but I was mostly afraid that my 12" PowerBook wouldn't cut it. Gizmodo moves fast, and my aging machine certainly doesn't. I was on the verge of upgrading, but decided to see how my old hardware fared before taking the plunge.

Long story short: It did the job. Barely. But through compromise, I made it work. I love Firefox and all of its extensions, but Safari runs at half the resource load. Photoshop Elements does what I need without the huge footprint of CS. With a little thought as to what applications I was running, which ones I didn't need, and where I was willing to compromise, my plucky PowerBook and I made it through the summer.

As much as I love the little guy, it's not like I haven't thought about replacing him. I almost pulled the trigger on a new MacBook last month. At the last minute I decided that instead of buying a computer that would last me 2-3 years, I wanted another that could feasibly last for 4+. Whenever that computer comes out, I'll probably bite, but until then I'm happy squeezing a little extra life out of my aging hardware.

Look at how you use your computer. If you're rendering all day, never leave Photoshop, or doing any other heavy computing and you need the speed, then upgrade. But the rest of us can probably hold off a little longer, even tech-obsessed gadget bloggers.

Nice Peeling Chrome Paint, Dude

I'm fairly certain I'm the only writer at Gizmodo without a smartphone. Yes, dumbphones must die, and someday I will upgrade this one. But for now, it makes calls, texts, and even has an almost acceptable music player built in that works in a pinch. Google services run surprisingly well in a WAP browser, too, so I can get email and read my RSS feeds when necessary.

Would I love to have a smartphone? Sure. (Hey Brian Lam and Jason Chen, skip down a few sentences) But it's also really nice to be disconnected sometimes. My Gizmodo email account receives a very steady stream of emails, to say the least. I like being able to walk away from the computer and cut myself off every once in a while, without my phone constantly reminding me that there's work to be done (Okay overlords, you can read on from here).

Just Because it's Old Doesn't Mean it Sounds Worse

No, this stereo doesn't do DTS-HD Master Audio. It has zero HDMI ports. But it still does 2-channel audio pretty well, more than well enough for what I need it to do.

Repurposing old stereo equipment is one of the best ways to build a great system on the cheap. The turntable and receiver are my dad's old gear, coupled with a pair of speakers I yanked off of a CD player I've had since I was 14. The setup won't win me any audiophile cred, but it definitely does a much-better-than-OK job at playing music.

Not to mention that it's pretty cool to listen on the same equipment my dad once used. When I was 17, I found his old record collection in the basement and immediately started spinning it on his long-forgotten turntable. Call me corny, but I think it's pretty awesome to know that 30-some years ago he was listening to the same records on the same deck.

If you aren't lucky enough to have access to your parents' old stereo equipment, it's not uncommon to find some real gems at your local thrift shop on the cheap, tossed away by someone who thought McIntosh is a cheap Apple knock-off.

Okay, so Maybe I Want to Upgrade Some of It

I do have one thing that I desperately want, and will upgrade to soon: an HDTV. I've never owned anything besides tube TVs under 20 inches. The fact that flat-panel prices are finally reasonable, combined with the digital switchover makes it prime time for me to jump the CRT ship.

I want to say that it always makes sense to hold onto your old TV after you upgrade, but in this case it might not. Television sets were at their saturation point well before HDTVs came along. In 2009 there were more TVs per household than people. By now it's likely that you just don't have room for a fourth or twelfth tube anywhere.

If you find yourself needing to dispose of an aging TV, please do so properly. Donate it. Sell it on Craigslist. Or look into electronics recycling centers in your area. An old TV may not have a place in your house or apartment, but it might find a place in someone else's home. It certainly doesn't belong in a landfill.

See? I'm Not a Total Luddite

I might roll with old stuff, but I'm not some sort of quasi-neo-luddite. Plenty of other gadgets in my arsenal are much more recent than what you see here. I have a PS3, my music gets fed to my stereo through a Squeezebox, and I do have another receiver that handles multichannel audio, albeit a relatively cheap and older one (and in case you're wondering, I did take these pictures with a DSLR, but it's not mine).

So yes, even I don't always live by the "never upgrade" mentality. Planned obsolescence and the industry's fast pace make it impossible to live by that creed. But I also think that a lot of the time we feel "forced" to upgrade we're really being driven by gadget lust, that powerful desire which makes us overlook the benefits of using old stuff.

Here's what I always think about when that ol' familiar "gotta have it" feeling hits. The biggest and most obvious perk: buy new stuff less often, save money. I don't know about you, but if I walk away from a big purchase, I feel like I've won. It's like trapping money that was trying to escape from my bank account. And if you've got a bit of the tree-hugging hippy spirit in you, you'll feel good about cutting down on your e-waste output, even if only by a little bit.

Not to mention the freedom old gear provides. I imagine it's similar to the feeling of operating the Mars rovers. I know that my gadgets have gone far beyond their planned mission length, so I throw them around without caring if they get damaged. And once that old gear inevitably goes belly up, I'll feel no remorse upgrading something that lasted for so long.

But that doesn't mean I won't be sad to lose my gadgets. I've heard other tech junkies say that we should never fall in love with technology, because we'll just end up heartbroken when it's time to say goodbye. In my opinion, that emotional connection is exactly what we need nowadays. If we all try to love our gadgets, to start treating them more like companions than disposable tools, a lot more perfectly good gear could be saved from an untimely retirement.

I know more than a few of you out there are eyeing some new toys for the holidays. I am too. But before we let upgraditis get the best of us, let's consider what we already have. Maybe it's still good enough. Maybe there's a new part that could make our gadgets better, and provide a fun modding project to boot. Take it from me: There's almost always some way to squeeze extra life out of old gear.

Now, if you'll excuse me, there's an old Dell tower around here somewhere that's begging to become a NAS.

It happened during a Pirates-Brewers game in the 8th inning to a hapless photographer who didn't even try to make a grab. Instead, he just watched as the ball pegged the computer, sending the space bar flying. Oof. Hey, maybe the laptop is a collectable now? You never know. [Macenstein]

Mitch Gewirtz of Michigan would like to give you his 17-inch PowerBook. For free. From Mitch:

Subject: I AM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!

To whom it may concern,

I recently watched the new PC ad on television the other night about "Lauren" purchasing a laptop for under $1000.00. It was a great advertisement targeting everyday PC users. My only concern is that I feel the computer "Lauren" chose will not provide an overall positive experience. I am asking for your assistance to help me locate "Lauren". I am willing to give her my 17" Mac laptop "FOR FREE" so she can decide which laptop is superior without putting a price tag on it.

I do believe everyone on this planet is "cool enough to be a Mac person".

Sincerely,
Mitch Gewirtz

We of course wrote back to Mitch to gauge his level of seriousness in this matter. His response:

Absolutely! I am serious!

I believe my 17" G4 powerbook is still more advanced than any PC out there today. It is a very healthy laptop that has given me a wonderful experience the last couple of years. I truly believe if "Lauren" had a chance to use this laptop she would change her mind.

Can you help me locate her?

While Apple fanboys are a dime a dozen, we like Mitch's attitude, a guy willing to put his money where his mouth is (even if that money is invested in an older machine he may be planning to replace). So Mitch, Gizmodo would like to support you on your quest to gift Lauren your PowerBook. We've got your back, buddy.

Lauren, where are you? Drop us a line (you can find my email on the side of the page). Let's make this love connection happen.

From the listing:

This is a like new Powerbook G4
there's only one light scratch on the bottom part of the case, but it's hard to see from the pictures. The LCD still works, no dead pixels, no heavy darkness etc.

So far, so normal. But then, you see this special note at the bottom:

*******SPECIAL********
Includes over 50 full length porn movies (100 hours)
From such producers as Digital Playground, Brazzers, Vivid, etc.

Given that 50% of used laptops are probably shipping with some level of pornography unintentionally, I guess you might as well advertise it. But even still, that $700 starting bid price seems a tad high for the machine...and free keyboard sterilization really should be bundled in with the offer. [eBay Thanks Ragan!]

It's those guys from that webcomic The Joy of Tech! But don't let that dissuade you, because the PowerBook looks like it did indeed belong to Woz and you can just pretend his maid stole it and posted it on eBay or whatever. Unfortunately, you guys just missed Woz's G4 Powermac. [eBay, thanks, Chris!]

And you can't even play Dead Space on it! No thank you. [MacMod via Technabob]

With new Macbooks seemingly imminent, I thought it'd be a good time to look back in time to the first Apple laptop that changed portable computing forever: the original PowerBook.

Back in 1991, Apple wasn't the company it is today. There was no iPod, no iTunes Music Store, no iPhone. At the time, laptops (or "portable computers," such as the Macintosh Portable) were niche devices, extremely expensive and not all that practical. But the PowerBook 100 made some huge steps forward for laptops.

While it wasn't the first portable computer to take what we see today as a laptop's form (that honor goes to the NEC UltraLite, above, released in 1989), it made some steps forward in the design. For example, the flat surface in front of the keyboard that you can rest your hands on? That first appeared with the first PowerBooks. It also integrated a trackball — though it's been replaced by other pointing devices, its spirit remains.. Due to these strong design elements, the PowerBook ended up selling very well, leading to high profits and a strong era for Apple (soon to be dashed by failures such as the Newton, Mac clones and the runaway overlapping product lines of the mid 1990s).

Watching this ad for the very first PowerBooks, it's funny to see Apple going hard after business users, the very same type mocked in today's Apple ads by John Hodgman. Sales reports! How very unhip. Before the MacBook became the laptop of choice of coffeshop-located freelance graphic designers, Apple wanted its laptops to be the choice of the suit set.

The PowerBook 100 was the cheapest of the three PowerBooks first introduced by Apple in 1991. Its price was $2,300, which is surprisingly close to how much MacBook Pros are today. Sure, the form factor has changed a lot, as has the hardware inside and the software loaded on it. But isn't it comforting to think that, nearly 20 years later, you're still gonna drop around $2,000 on a new Apple laptop? In an unstable time, it's nice to see some things stay the same.

But the best part may be what the designer used to create the sleek black frame around his computer screen—it's just plain old black cardboard. And to further the simple mod theme, the joystick simply pulls out from the table's built-in drawer. There's no mounting, but maybe that's actually a good thing. [Mamebook cocktail via Unplggd]

If you've got a MacBook, iBook or Powerbook made after 2005, you too can join the effort to tell people about quakes after it already happened, or maybe even act as a warning system. "Even just a few seconds of warning may be enough time for people to take cover and automated systems could slow trains and divert traffic from vulnerable bridges." And if you think that your constant table bumping from your activities at your computer will trigger The Big One over at EarthquakeHQ, "the Quake Catcher Network's software will analyze shakes sensed by a computer's accelerometer and report only big movements to the central server, ignoring the vibrations from a passing truck, a bump to a table, or even a minor earthquake." [Stanford via Technology Review]

The case is essentially just two large pieces of white acrylic separated by chrome spacers that are reminiscent of Mac Pro grating. Fun factoid: the acrylic is actually just recycled shower wall.

Apparently the most difficult proposition was mounting the motherboard with all of the drives attached. The modder explains:

The tolerances inside the slim drive are so tight, even the slightest deformation of the case will have a detrimental effect (i.e. I broke one!).

Pretty great idea. Excellent execution. [macmod via technabob]

Tiger: 40 seconds to login screen and 9 seconds to shut down.
Leopard Install: 1 hour, 14 minutes, 23 seconds (about 2x what it was on my Macbook Pro, but short compared to the 3+ hours it initially reported).
Leopard: 50 seconds to login screen and 11 seconds to shut down.
Basic use: Using Cover Flow with Safari, iChat, and iTunes open and it's choppy. (Quick Look works well, though.)

That's not bad at all, but of course we have to wait for more exhaustive testing to draw any real conclusions. I'd say you're safe if you've got an older mac. RAM will help, but if you're counting the iLife and Leopard costs, you might just want to put that ~$200 towards a new Mac. Just saying.

So, Lord Steve of Jobsworth carries his Lenovo in leather does he? Cough. I reckon he's more likely to use this, the MacTruck case (not that I am saying that you are clumsy, your Lordship, oh no, I am waiting for a SF ballet company to debut Black Turtleneck, the story of Jobs told through the language of contemporary dance).

Well, if I'm going to be completely honest, there are reasons for and reasons against why our favorite Occasional Beard (that's what I love about Keynotes, it's the Will He, Won't He Have Used A Razor-ness of it all) might have a MacTruck rather than a Lenovo in a swanktastic embossed leather pochette.

PROS
If he buys the aluminum one, it will go with his lovely Mercedes. If he doesn't think that his shoes should match his handbag (and please understand that here I am speaking metaphorically), then he can always go for the graphite-colored one.

I can understand him having a Lenovo (or, hell, any other rival product) as he needs to test out the opposition and see what he can improve on. But I don't think he would advertise it— after all, Lord Steve knows that when it comes to Apple's PR, he is pretty much most of the story. Also, he's a vegan—perhaps the kind of vegan that doesn't do leather.

It costs from $199 to $299 and we all know he's got the cash—although, given my previous point about Steve doing the best PR for Apple, RadTech probably sent him one for free.

Can I mention the 5mm air channels in the bottom of the case so that whoever uses it on their lap won't burn their penis? Okay then, I won't.

CONS
Does it matter if he smashes up his laptop? I mean, it's not as if Apple are going to be stingy with their overlord, and quibble over a sale date, is it?

Steve is a lover, not a fighter, so why would he have need of a super-tough briefcase (unless he practices self-defence with his personal trainer and uses it to whack the punchbag with the picture of Steve Ballmer on it when he's working on his bi- and triceps). This MacTruck seems to be built for people who take their laptops to war zones.

How many Apple employees do you think offer to carry Steve's things to and from his car each day (a rough estimate will do.) Does he really need a carrying case? – Ad Dugdale

Product Page [RadTech via New Launches]

Using it on a G4 iBook (whose battery was replaced last year in that recall), it took about three hours for it to charge from empty to full. That's pretty much the same as the official charger.

The only difference is that the official ones from Apple cost $79, and the one from FastMac costs $35. And there's no orange/green glowing ring where the charger connects to indicate whether it's still charging or already full. But if you can live with the fact that the chargers look a bit more "PC" than "Apple," these are the way to go. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Fastmac]

The sub-notebook is being designed with an eye toward the Japanese market, a place where Apple isn't doing too well. Expect to see lots more on this as we approach the WWDC. – Nicholas Deleon

Apple to re-enter the sub-notebook market [AppleInsider]