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PowerBook / iBook G3 Speed Fast Enough?

A

applefan1997

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 2, 2005
423
2
Koreatown, Los Angeles, California
OK, I had a 400MHz Pismo about 3 years ago, and it was a really great computer. It was pretty fast on the web, and I want to get one again.
I don't know how it is nowadays though. If I get a 400/500 model, and max the RAM, how would it do under typical web browsing. I have an 800MHz iMac (256k cache). Will a Pismo with 1MB Cache be painfully slower?
Offer advice, esp. those who own them.

I also owned a 500MHz iBook, and want one too. How do those hold up as well?
 
B

bobnugget

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
411
185
England
Pismo 500

Hey, I have a 400 Mhz Pismo boosted with a 500 Mhz CPU, 1 Gb RAM and a 40 Gb HDD.

It is usable, but a bit slow for web browsing (using FF3 with adblock plus and a couple of other extensions). Flash videos and the like do not work.

I mostly use it for playing Classic games (I have it dual boot 10.4/9.2) and had just pimped it for fun.

Your wireless card makes quite a lot of difference too. I find the original Airport card is very good, as is a belkin 54g Wireless PCMCIA card (which uses Airport Extreme drivers - so no driver trouble there). However, using a RaLink Wireless-n PCMCIA card, I get faster downloads, but very high CPU usage when using the wireless.

The upgrade that made the most difference (well, after initially upgrading the RAM from 64 Mb to 512 Mb) was the 40 Gb HDD, the original 6 Gb one is mega slow - the Pismo seems a lot happier with a faster HDD.
 
eRondeau

eRondeau

macrumors 65816
Mar 3, 2004
1,165
389
Canada's South Coast
I used my friend's 900MHz iBook G3 and it was pretty sweet until it died due to the well-known video display problem. :mad: And I own a 600MHz iMac G3 running Tiger and it's likewise quite usable for general surfing and email. However video and even flash advertising brings it to its knees. My recommendation would be to avoid the iBook G3 (unless you KNOW it's had the video board fixed) and look for a G4.
 
B

bobnugget

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
411
185
England
Well, I can probably pull it out later and upload a quick video of surfing on it if you want - it will run iTunes (haven't tried 8.0 yet, but apparently it will work).

You'll have fun if you do try iApps - i believe the latest iLife suite it will run is 04, which I don't have - tried 06 but none of it will install!
 
A

applefan1997

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 2, 2005
423
2
Koreatown, Los Angeles, California
That would be helpful if you could. I'll probably install a 30GB in it and a 256MB (then possi. 1GB). I know there will be a speed difference from my HP. It's a 1.6GHz. The only problem is that the LCD cable / hinges snapped, and I don't have an external display. I'm actually trying to trade my laptop for a G3, which might sound strange to some (any takers here?;)).
 
C

coupdetat

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2008
451
0
There are some Pismos out there with G4 upgrades to 500 or 550mhz. Try looking for one, I bet someone on LowEndMac will have one available.

My 600mhz iMac G3 is fine for web browsing, but I leave Flash blocked. When I want to watch videos, I use a program called DownloadHelper to directly download the Flash videos, then play them with VLC. KeepVid.com is also a good option for watching YouTube, but it is not compatible with all flash video sites.

Also, I used this terminal command I found to disable font smoothing, which made things MUCH faster. It's not much slower than my Powerbook G4 1.33ghz for regular web browsing, except for Flash.
 
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