So lately Safari becomes unresponsive and YouTube is obviously a little laggy, would the extra ram help this? And just to be sure with DDR2 there's high and low density ram is there? When I had my iMac G4 I mistakenly bought high density ram and it wouldn't recognize all of it.
And another question, the battery is completely dead. Are the ones on eBay for $20 reliable or will they die after a year?
As far as ram is concerned, I have currently have 2 matched high density chips from Crucial installed. No issues to report, though it seems a matched pair is pretty import. This particular mac, came from the resaler with 2 unmatched chips and no matter how I moved them around I could not get passed one gig!
I have not had the issues with Safari that you describe. It's snappy and responsive even with multiple tabs open, and a smattering of other programs in the background (mainly adium, mail, screen share with my mini upstairs, iphoto and camino). How often do you purge Safari? i.e. clear the cache and history? If you are paging back to huge files, it is going to seriously bog you down.
For youtube issues? It's the onboard video that really nerfs these beauty machines. It's simply not cut out for the demands. However, there is a way around it. MacTubes.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/28608/mactubes) gets rid of the flash that bogs the hell out of damn near any machine and replaces it with QuickTime for render. So nice that I have it installed on my 2011 mini for the playlists and instant download option.
Sorry for the long post, but you have me thinking!
You might want to look at grabbing a copy of Onyx as well to give your old girl a good "look-over" (
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx). Not only is it free, but it actually works. For the love of Kane stay the hell away from MacKeeper. There are threads here that will tell you of it's nefarious ways. My Dual DA/533 was never the same after I tried that piece of *****.
On a final note, I really can't advise you on the battery. I have bought a few things from eBay, and for the most part I have had good luck. But I would think even with the "vintage" of these macs. (Damned fine machines that are still highly useful! Thanks much!) A battery for 20 bones? Seems to me that if it's a steal of a deal, it's no steal at all. I have not yet looked for a battery for mine, as it holds near a 3 hour charge unless I really push it. While money can be tight I would direct you to: (
http://www.otherworldcomputing.com) For more bang for your buck with a replacement battery.
Hope it all helps a bit here and there. And congrads your PB!
These old girls still have a ton of life in them.
