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12" PowerBook HD dead, replace with SSD?

Which drive to replace my crashed HD?

  • 32 Gb solid state drive

    Votes: 9 30.0%

  • 250 Gb regular hard drive

    Votes: 21 70.0%
  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
iToaster

iToaster

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 3, 2007
1,742
0
In front of my MacBook Pro
Much to my dismay, my PowerBook's upper left corner ground to a painful terrifying halt today, but I love the little guy, so I'll definitely be doing a little transplant (don't worry about my data, important stuff is on the Mac Pro). I was doing a little looking around and it looks like there are actually some 2.5" IDE SSDs out there... certainly it'd be cool to have a SSD PowerBook, and certainly as my secondary machine I could live with it having 32 Gb (too cheap for 64), but would it really be worth it or should I just go with the 250 Gb Western Digital? Either way, I'm gonna keep the little guy, I can't afford a new computer, nor would I be willing to give up the 12" form factor just yet.
 
I'd say take the $1000 for the SSD drive and combine it from selling your 12" powerbook and get a 15" macbook pro with 4gb of RAM.

Ok didnt see that you said 32gb.. I'd say save your money because I had a 64gb samsung sata-II and only boot speed was fast and noticable but everything else felt pretty much the same as my hitachi travelstar 7k200 @7200rpm hdd. Plus getting more space is great. Maybe you can go for the new 7k320 with 320gb @7200rpm hdd for more than half the price of the 32gb ssd.

Also ssd drive runs as hot as the 7200rpm drive and I remember osx had sleep issues where it froze from wake on the mbp with the ssd drive.
 
I'm guessing the reason you want the SSD is 1)it would be cool!:) 2) it would be faster.

I'm with you with 1, but Its a lot of cash just for bragging rights.
regarding 2, will it be a lot faster? The 250 gig drive you want to put in will be pretty quick too.

I'd probably go for the 250.. (and put the money towards a laptop in the future)
 
For the money you spend on an SSD does not give you benefits your machine specs would give you, therefore a larger HDD is better.
 
Are you also sure you can get a 250 ide drive that will fit in the powerbook?

I could only find 160gig ones (I didn't look that hard though, but thats all I could see when I upgraded my ibook..)
 
With all the other stuff that is slow on a PowerBook by today's standards, a SSD would be a complete waste of money. You won't get the full use of one because some other component in a 3-year-old (at least) notebook is going to cause a bottleneck. There's absolutely no need to drop $1,000 on a hard drive, especially with a technology so new.

Spend about $150 and get a 300GB hard drive.
 
I figured as much, I knew from the start SSD was pretty much pointless on my dated (yet fantastic) hardware. I've found a 250 Gb on OWC's site that's IDE and ordered that, as it is old, but I want to keep it going until (hopefully) we see a 12" MBP (as the previous owner of a MacBook and MacBook Pro, they do not compare to the 12" PowerBook where I need it).
 
iToaster said:
I want to keep it going until (hopefully) we see a 12" MBP (as the previous owner of a MacBook and MacBook Pro, they do not compare to the 12" PowerBook where I need it).
Click to expand...

Agreed. I see no reason to replace my fantastic little 12" PB until Apple comes out with a proper replacement. Perfect form-factor, and arguably the best laptop they ever produced. Killing it off was the wrong thing to do. Here's to hoping we'll see a new 12" MBP someday...
 
Wild-Bill said:
Agreed. I see no reason to replace my fantastic little 12" PB until Apple comes out with a proper replacement. Perfect form-factor, and arguably the best laptop they ever produced. Killing it off was the wrong thing to do. Here's to hoping we'll see a new 12" MBP someday...
Click to expand...

I hope to see a 12" mbp as well.. but I highly doubt they will make a 12" mbp as the mba pretty much replaced it. I know the 12" powerbook had a dedicated gpu but it was inferior to the powerbook's gpu anyway thus being pretty much the same as the differences between a mba/mbp.
 
In complete agreement

Wild-Bill said:
Agreed. I see no reason to replace my fantastic little 12" PB until Apple comes out with a proper replacement. Perfect form-factor, and arguably the best laptop they ever produced. Killing it off was the wrong thing to do. Here's to hoping we'll see a new 12" MBP someday...
Click to expand...

The 12 in PBG4 is iconic:apple: Apple, make yourself some $$$ and bring back the 12 inch with MBP specs
 
Wild-Bill said:
Agreed. I see no reason to replace my fantastic little 12" PB until Apple comes out with a proper replacement. Perfect form-factor, and arguably the best laptop they ever produced. Killing it off was the wrong thing to do. Here's to hoping we'll see a new 12" MBP someday...
Click to expand...

I agree, the 12"PB is a fantastic size, mine is going on four years of heavy use. Won't ever give this baby up.

But you will have a reason way before Apples provides a "proper" replacement: your G4 will become increasingly sloooow as Leopard advances and other SW is aimed at Intel-based machines. A 12" MBP *may* appear someday, say after war and cancer are eliminated, but as another poster mentioned, now it seems like such a Dreambook would encroach upon the MBA's niche.
 
Tensakun said:
I agree, the 12"PB is a fantastic size, mine is going on four years of heavy use. Won't ever give this baby up.

But you will have a reason way before Apples provides a "proper" replacement: your G4 will become increasingly sloooow as Leopard advances and other SW is aimed at Intel-based machines. A 12" MBP *may* appear someday, say after war and cancer are eliminated, but as another poster mentioned, now it seems like such a Dreambook would encroach upon the MBA's niche.
Click to expand...


has anyone tried to hack a mac mini board into one of these? Normally I wouldnt think of trying this on a notebook but I really like the look and build quality of this notebook. And yes - a retro 12 inch powerbook running a core 2 duo would be the coolest notebook in existence.
 
The hard drive in my 12" G4 Powerbook (867MHz) also died over the weekend. It had a 40GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive with 4200rpm. Am I able to install a new one that's SATA and move up to 5400rpm or 7200rpm?

Also, to other owners, any tips in reducing the heat (especially on the left side)?
 
I am a 17 inch powerbook and now macbook pro owner.

I love the resolution of the screen, the ability to travel and still retain a real monitor, etc.


However - I picked up a 12 inch yesterday and I wish I had one. The size seemed perfect for traveling, etc. I owned a black macbook and really liked it.

But the 12 inch seems it would be perfect. I'd roll with a 24 inch monitor at home and work and be all set.


Finally - Go with the 250 or even 320. Save the $ for a 30 inch dell monitor.
 
Save your money and get a 250GB. SSD is way too new and expensive for the consumer and who knows if it will work with the PB. With the money you would spend you could sell your PB and just buy a MBP/MB.
 
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