Ways to increase PowerBook G4 performance.

PowerGamerX said:

I have the 12" 1.5ghz model as many of you know. While a great machine, and fast enough for most things, I'd like to get a little more omph out of it. I can't use Tiger by the way. My school's software requires Leopard.

I have click to flash already as I know that will be a common suggestion.

Thanks for any advice you have.

-Ryan

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Max out the RAM and install a 7200RPM hard drive.

i too would suggest to put as much ram inside as it can take , especially with leopard on board , and you could try a faster harddrive , thats really all you can do apart from some simple things
disabling spotlight which eats performance too ,so do the dock features
so only scale effect and no animation ,and disable dashboard too as it eats ram and performance even when not used , all the flashy stuff in leopard eats a bit performance ,even the backround picture one solid color please , and it ads up, here some percent processing power there some ram ....

dont know how to disable spotlight or dashboard under leopard ? here read further down that site
http://www.appletell.com/apple/comment/top-15-leopard-hints/

and here for dashboard
http://www.ehow.com/how_4509666_disable-dashboard-mac-os-x.html

but maybe you want one dashbord widget , no problem put it on the desktop it eats less there then in dashboard
http://www.ehow.com/how_4524899_make-dashboard-widgets-available-desktop.html

SSD + max out RAM. It will fly

666sheep said:

SSD + max out RAM. It will fly

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UltraATA-100 SSDs are really pricey. Better to get a 7200RPM hard disk and save the SSD for the next MacBook.

In theory you could get an OptiBay and put a SATA SSD in it and transfer it to a MacBook(Pro) whenever you get one.

iThinkergoiMac said:

In theory you could get an OptiBay and put a SATA SSD in it and transfer it to a MacBook(Pro) whenever you get one.

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Unfortunately not. No SATA bus on those Powerbooks.

SuperJudge said:

Unfortunately not. No SATA bus on those Powerbooks.

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Not exactly. There is optibay for PB with SATA to PATA interface. http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/...duct_Code=OB-PBG4&Category_Code=STORHDOPTIBAY

666sheep said:

Not exactly. There is optibay for PB with SATA to PATA interface. http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/...duct_Code=OB-PBG4&Category_Code=STORHDOPTIBAY

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I stand corrected. I would be curious to see exactly what kind of difference it would make in HD speeds. A nifty gadget, though, and possibly worth it.