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iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY
Hey everyone.

I've been thinking about ripping open my iBook G4. (1.33GHz, 1GB RAM, 40GB HDD, Tiger.) It shuts off from time to time and takes some real persuasion to turn back on. Sometimes it doesn't charge either, my guess is the DC in board is the root of my problems.

Anyway, while I'm going through the incredibly complicated process of taking it apart to fix, I thought about sticking an SSD in there. My HDD is really slow and I'm only using about 20GB of it. Loading stuff takes forever and it gets abused a lot, because my little sister uses it too. (There is a giant cranberry juice stain on the left palmrest. :D)

Should I do it? It seems like it might make it run a lot faster for the money.

What say you?
 

bartelby

macrumors Core
Jun 16, 2004
19,795
34
Are SSDs even compatible?

I thought they were SATA where as iBooks are IDE
 

iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY
That's what I thought too, but Transcend makes IDE/ATA SSDs.

EDIT: I could use a CF card, instead, with this.
 

polaris20

macrumors 68020
Jul 13, 2008
2,490
753
I'd get the Transcend 64GB SSD; I'm about to fit one in my Dell 700m running Ubuntu.
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
I wouldn't; either they are slow SSDs or they will be too expensive to be viable; you're better off buying a larger HDD.
 

iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY
Would a 7200RPM HDD be worth the extra money?

Trying to decide if the ol' 'book is too far gone.
 

aluminumapple

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2009
247
0
what i dont get is.. 32 gb only?.. dont you think thats a little unresonable?.. i dont really download much or use alot of memory and yet iv already used about 20gbs...
 

cl0wnzee

macrumors member
Feb 6, 2009
38
0
7200 RPM HDDs are pretty loud in a laptop how I knew, correct my if I'm wrong ;-)

BTW which mac OS do you run?

-cl0wnzee
 

iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY
what i dont get is.. 32 gb only?.. dont you think thats a little unresonable?.. i dont really download much or use alot of memory and yet iv already used about 20gbs...

I have had the laptop for two years and only use 20GB. I can very easily trim that down if need be, plus I have a 200GB external HDD, assuming I can find it.

7200 RPM HDDs are pretty loud in a laptop how I knew, correct my if I'm wrong ;-)

BTW which mac OS do you run?

-cl0wnzee

Good point, and that's why I'd prefer flash.

I am a dinosaur running OS 10.4 because I tried Leopard once and the iBook was not happy.
 

skinniezinho

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2009
1,084
91
Portugal
That's what I thought too, but Transcend makes IDE/ATA SSDs.

EDIT: I could use a CF card, instead, with this.

I thought of doing some thing like this for my ibook g3..you can buy a good cf card 233x or 300x and adapt it to this thing...maybe it will be the same price of a low cost ssd but it will outperform it I think...
I'd prefer this solution over a 7200rpm hdd..the 7200rpm hdd uses more battery,cause more noise and heat...
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
You guys should get the fastest and largest IDE ATA drive made for your iBooks, the 250gb 5400 rpm Western Digital. They go for about 80-90 bucks.

They are as fast as the fastest 7200rpm ATA drives made, the 100gb Hitachi.

I know because I replaced the 100gb 7200rpm drive with the 250gb on my 12" Powerbook last year.

The SSDs are still too small for me. While you have the iBook G4 open, drop in a Superdrive dual layer burner.

When time comes to sell it, you can put back your original drives and/or sell the newer drives... or not. You also need to max out the G4 ram to 1.5gb.
 

skinniezinho

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2009
1,084
91
Portugal
You guys should get the fastest and largest IDE ATA drive made for your iBooks, the 250gb 5400 rpm Western Digital. They go for about 80-90 bucks.

They are as fast as the fastest 7200rpm ATA drives made, the 100gb Hitachi.

I know because I replaced the 100gb 7200rpm drive with the 250gb on my 12" Powerbook last year.

The SSDs are still too small for me. While you have the iBook G4 open, drop in a Superdrive dual layer burner.

When time comes to sell it, you can put back your original drives and/or sell the newer drives... or not. You also need to max out the G4 ram to 1.5gb.


But for example,for me,more space doesn't make sense..I have as main computer a HP DV9575ep with 2x160Gb HDD's wich I don't fill up,@my parents house I have my desktop with a 320Gb hdd,what I need is speed..even a 16Gb CF card would do the job for me :)
 

cl0wnzee

macrumors member
Feb 6, 2009
38
0
Would Mac OS X 10.5.6 run on a iBook with the best configuration (what would that be?) or an PowerBook?

And what about the first MacBook? Does 10.5.6 run on it good? and what do you think, would the first MacBook be enough for snow panther?

thanks ;-)

-cl0wnzee
 

skinniezinho

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2009
1,084
91
Portugal
Would Mac OS X 10.5.6 run on a iBook with the best configuration (what would that be?) or an PowerBook?

And what about the first MacBook? Does 10.5.6 run on it good? and what do you think, would the first MacBook be enough for snow panther?

thanks ;-)

-cl0wnzee

you're posting on the wrong thread for sure...
I think 10.5.6 run on ibook/powerbook g4's..
thre rest I don't know...
 

iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY
this is a ibook thread. macbook/ibook to be specific.

Get your own!

Looks like I'll be dumping her. Honestly it's more trouble than it's worth, and I think I might go the OS X netbook/custom Hackintosh route.

I will see if I can keep it for sentimental purposes though.
 

Wotan31

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2008
491
0
Would a 7200RPM HDD be worth the extra money?
LOL what extra money? Laptop HDD's are so dirt cheap these days it's just silly not to get the biggest and fastest model available.

Heck, the new Seagate 500 GB 7200 rpm drives are only $139. They're sata only tho, but you get the point.
 

iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY

Nice price.

LOL what extra money? Laptop HDD's are so dirt cheap these days it's just silly not to get the biggest and fastest model available.

Heck, the new Seagate 500 GB 7200 rpm drives are only $139. They're sata only tho, but you get the point.

I've been out of the loop since about July, forgive me, O storage master.

It's looking like I might get about $500. What could I buy with that? CD MacBook? Would that be worth it?

I might just build a hackintosh, honestly.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
But for example,for me,more space doesn't make sense..I have as main computer a HP DV9575ep with 2x160Gb HDD's wich I don't fill up,@my parents house I have my desktop with a 320Gb hdd,what I need is speed..even a 16Gb CF card would do the job for me :)

Get the SSD then if speed is what you need. However, the 250gb new hard drive is as fast as a 7200rpm 100gb laptop drive, and that was my point. I don't think they even make the 100 gig 7200s any more.

I wouldn't bother because the 250gb will be a HUGE improvement in speed over your OEM 40 gig 4200 rpm hard drive in the iBook G4, and you won't feel constrained at all with that amount of space available. It will also help resale when the time comes.
 

iMpathetic

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 7, 2007
2,547
4
IMBY
The question is, will I be able to sell it for more money than I could normally sell it for plus the price of the new drive?

I'm thinking about selling it still. I'm gonna miss it but everything is soooo cheap now and I can't see a future in which I have very much money.
 
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