PowerBook Upgrade
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- CincodeMayo
Howdy folks. Got a question for you Mac pros out there.
I have a 12" PowerBook at home, G4, about 3 years old, and it's time for an upgrade. It runs really slow, still works, just really slowly.
What do I need to do to get it to move faster? Upgrade the memory? Any suggestions on how much I should get (or am capable of getting) and where I can order it from?
I just bought an external memory drive, and while I can use more memory internally, I'm fine with the drive for now. But all my apps are slow as a mofo.
A little help? Thanks Newsies.
- Engage0
probably cheaper to buy a new one
- ribit0
'an external memory drive' ?
Are you running 10.4? Might be a good start..
- ribit0
See About this Mac, check your current installed RAM, then go to http://www.crucial.com/
- tkmeister0
yeah, probably cheaper to just get a macbook.
- CincodeMayo0
Sorry...meant to say an external hard drive.
And I'm running 10.4, which might be why it's SO SLOW.
- CincodeMayo0
Well it ain't cheaper for me...I was broke when I bought my PB (still am) so I financed.
Financing was a BAAAAAAAD choice.
Oh well...saving up the cash to get out if it, but in the mean time I gotta upgrade this puppy.
- ribit0
RAM is about all you can do to speed it up. You can change the drive, but thats just if you need more storage... Sounds more like you might need to solve system or installed software problems?
- CincodeMayo0
Thanks for the help ribit.
For the computer being as old as it is, is still runs, and it runs pretty well. But iTunes takes a while to load, and when it plays movies it's jerky. And things like Mail and Illustrator take a while to load up to.
I've uninstalled a lot, but my tiny 40GB internal drive is just about full. Do you think it'd speed up if I emptied all my music onto my external drive? I have the space on it...just not sure if it'll make a difference.
- ribit0
I'm not sure what the required size really is, but you do need to keep about 1GB free for virtual memory or whatever applications need for scratch space.... but once you have the required few GB free, making more drive space free after that doesnt speed things up...
- CincodeMayo0
Yeah, I have just about 1GB free, and it's starting to tell me that my startup disk is almost full.
I would say media (mp3's and videos) take up at least half if not more of my hard drive, and the other is design files and apps, so maybe I should toss my media files on the Ex. HD and see what happens?
- HelixDnB0
Deffinately dump some of the mp3's and files that you don't need onto the external. That should clear up some swap space and help the PB run quicker.
- Carty0
get your music off your machine, put it on the external, point itunes there.
max out ram to 2gs. do all necessary software updates.
flip it, get off that lease bullshit and get a macbook.
- rafalski0
..or sell it while you still can get something for it and get a refurb white mb from apple, starting from $850
- rafalski0
they're not going to be worth this kind of money forever..
http://search.ebay.com/search/se…
- ********0
ooooooh, pity those who attempt to buy a laptop on eBay!!
- Leigh0
i'm having the same problem... i have the first gen of the 17" powerbook.... Running really slow. Would'nt get more than £600 now i guesss o it's not worth selling it.
- rafalski0
a refurb 17" intel mb pro is £1600.. then 15.4" ones start at £900
My guess is, old macs prices will hit bottom when adobe cs3 ships.
- cacoe0
You can't max out the ram to 2gb, the max a powerbook 12" can take is 1.2gb
But to be honest, I have one too, it runs fairly smoothly. I can assure you taht you'll need more hd space and personally, would just do a fresh install. That'd make it run as smooth as butter. After, just install the stuff you actually use. Don't go crazy with the amount of fonts you install and if you need to use lots of fonts, get something like the free linotype app to manage them. Do regular maintinece too with something like onyx. That'll keep it slick too.
- CincodeMayo0
Thanks for the help guys...
So last night I redirected iTunes to my Ex. HD, which is fine, I guess I'll just manually have to drag what I want when I need iTunes for the road. But it's cool, I freed up like 30GB. Things seem to be a little better.
I looked into selling it a while back and it just didn't seem worth it. That's why I figured I could really fix it up as best I could and eventually use it as a media hub or something like that.
As for the design stuff I have, I actually don't have too many fonts running, and to be honest, I work full time now so I rarely do freelance at home. But I do it occasionally, so I don't want to get rid of the programs. Plus I acquired some of the software from my previous job (with permission of course) so I don't want to do a fresh restart. Is it possible to just drag the apps from my PB to my Ex. HD and just let them sit there til I need to use them, and then just drag them back? Better yet, can I run the apps off of the Ex. HD?
Thanks for the help guys.
Oh, and honestly, do you guys think that upgrading the memory will help speed things up? Will it make a noticable difference?
- alkanenine0
Oh, and honestly, do you guys think that upgrading the memory will help speed things up? Will it make a noticable difference?
CincodeMayo
(Dec 6 06, 09:06)totally. going from 512mb to 1gb is a nice jump. the more you get the better. (I can't go any higher then 1 gig)