iBook G3 Snow upgrading

j@yri¢hi£ · Jul 17, 2006

i have a G3 Snow iBook 500Mhz 10GB, like 128MB RAM now what i'm unsure of if its even possible but what all can i "upgrade" on it... basically all i need to do with it is run Photoshop.

any help will do!

thanks all

steamboat26 · Jul 17, 2006

It might be possible to upgrade the processor, but that would be really expensive. You can upgrade the HD, RAM, and thats about it.

Eidorian · Jul 17, 2006

You're stuck with the processor unless you swap the motherboard. Unless you're starving for hard drive space the internal is fine. You need more RAM though. Get it up to at least 512 MB.

steamboat26 · Jul 17, 2006

10 GB doesn't seem that fine, especially if you are going to have a lot of pictures saved. You can get an 80 GB HD off OWC
for like $90 (assuming i found your ibook model correctly)

California · Jul 17, 2006

Get a 100gb 7200rpm Hitachi or Seagate HD. Bump up your ram to 640mb with a 512mb chip. That's all the upgrading you can do but you will be suprised at how much faster your little machine runs. Then when you are tired of a five or six year old machine, you can pull the hard drive and pull the memory and part out the machine and put the hard drive in a new laptop.

j@yri¢hi£ · Jul 17, 2006

theres nothing i can do w/ the CD Drive can i bump up to DVD Also or am i stuck w/ just the CD-ROM due to the processor??

California · Jul 20, 2006

j@yri¢hi£ said:
theres nothing i can do w/ the CD Drive can i bump up to DVD Also or am i stuck w/ just the CD-ROM due to the processor??

You're right you can upgrade the cd drive, I think, to a combo cd burner dvd rom drive. However, it's a tray loading drive.

If i were you, I'd check the specs for Apple drives. I think the UJ 850 Panasonic Matushita drive happens to be a tray loading drive. Do your homework and then shop for the lowest price. I've had excellent luck on eBay with optical drives. Just make sure you get them new and under Panasonic warranty. Have had no experience with Sony or other manufacturer drives. Panasonic is Apple OEM.

erikamsterdam · Jul 20, 2006

This thread makes me frown. How much money are you going to throw at a machine that is worth less than $100?
Memory, DVD drive, harddrive, you are easily talking $250 here in upgrades. That almost half a new Mac mini.
When your car is worth $500 you don't do a $1000 repair on it. At least I wouldn't.....

Macmaniac · Jul 20, 2006

erikamsterdam said:
This thread makes me frown. How much money are you going to throw at a machine that is worth less than $100?
Memory, DVD drive, harddrive, you are easily talking $250 here in upgrades. That almost half a new Mac mini.
When your car is worth $500 you don't do a $1000 repair on it. At least I wouldn't.....

True, but a mini is not a laptop. I would spend no more then $300 on this machine, I was going to spend anymore I would just buy a new machine, or get a refurb.

erikamsterdam · Jul 20, 2006

Macmaniac said:
True, but a mini is not a laptop. I would spend no more then $300 on this machine, I was going to spend anymore I would just buy a new machine, or get a refurb.

Oh yes, sorry. Some memory could help it live another year. Get an external HD I'd say, then at least you can use that for any future computer.

KingYaba · Jul 21, 2006

Untill you are ready to buy a new laptop, I recomend buying a 512 stick of RAM. There are some cheap external HDs around, so all you need to do is go to walmart or something because they sell cheap ones. Also if you ever do get a new computer, you can always use the external HD with any other computer.

The snow really isn't worth upgrading unless you feel totally compelled to do so. Money wise you won't get much return if you decide to sell it one day.

j@yri¢hi£ · Jul 21, 2006

erikamsterdam said:
This thread makes me frown. How much money are you going to throw at a machine that is worth less than $100?
Memory, DVD drive, harddrive, you are easily talking $250 here in upgrades. That almost half a new Mac mini.
When your car is worth $500 you don't do a $1000 repair on it. At least I wouldn't.....

less than 100 bucks....okay sure...but its a laptop to take to my open labs...its something small i got for a cheap price, like i said i just need photoshop and i wouldn't really buy a brand new comp when i have a G5 iMac with well over 2000 in periph's so i just want something portable and last i checked mac minis are small...but you MMMMIGHT need a screen for it....untill they start coming standard with a 8 in. pop up screen i'll keep my 100 dollar iBook....thanks... and to everyone that helped i've done my homework and gotten a cd/dvd drive hd and ram for a lil over 150....so i only spent 50 over the projected price of my iBook...i guess

California · Jul 22, 2006

j@yri¢hi£ said:
less than 100 bucks....okay sure...but its a laptop to take to my open labs...its something small i got for a cheap price, like i said i just need photoshop and i wouldn't really buy a brand new comp when i have a G5 iMac with well over 2000 in periph's so i just want something portable and last i checked mac minis are small...but you MMMMIGHT need a screen for it....untill they start coming standard with a 8 in. pop up screen i'll keep my 100 dollar iBook....thanks... and to everyone that helped i've done my homework and gotten a cd/dvd drive hd and ram for a lil over 150....so i only spent 50 over the projected price of my iBook...i guess

hey good for you. That's the spirit -- shop around until your cash outlay isn't overwhelming. I love making older lappies work. Let us know how your Snow is coming along. Great old computer.

seany916 · Jul 22, 2006

good job!

9Charms · Jul 23, 2006

After a lot of googling I believe that the newer slot load combo drives would also fit the snow ibook g3. i think they're cheaper, or at least more readily available. the only thing is the bezel doesn't quite line up flush with the edge of the machine... you might have better luck upgrading it from scavenging parts off a broken machine on ebay.

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iBook G3 Snow upgrading

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