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"Ancient" G4 'Books

Q

Quad 2.5 G5 =)

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 29, 2009
319
0
Why are some people constantly hating on PPC 'Books?
I was lucky enough to find all 3 last gen. PowerBooks, 1 in each size.
They are slower than the new MBs and MBPs, but if you have a PB or an MBP or any other mac , can you tell me what you love/hate about it. (Aside from the slowness);)
Also, what is the fastest processor upgrade available today.
(This is my 2nd post, so if I put this in the wrong forum or anything else, please tell me.)
 
12" 1.5 ghz pb, 1.25 gigs of ram, 250 gig hd. Love the shape, size, scrolling trackpad and build quality.

Perfect for hauling around the house to surf, email and write documents. Runs safari 4 beta, and snappy, too. I'm not going to encode videos on it, but it's the perfect apple netbook.
 
Ppc :)

clyde2801 said:
12" 1.5 ghz pb, 1.25 gigs of ram, 250 gig hd. Love the shape, size, scrolling trackpad and build quality.

Perfect for hauling around the house to surf, email and write documents. Runs safari 4 beta, and snappy, too. I'm not going to encode videos on it, but it's the perfect apple netbook.
Click to expand...

+1

My favourite machine by Apple by a long way. Simply beautiful. Everything about it - even the concave keys rather than the chicklet keys nowadays.

I am hoping to find a decent SSD to put in mine, will raise the effort soon.

F
 
Count me in as a 12" lover as well; 1.5GHz, 1.25gigs RAM, 80gig HDD, Leopard, it's a good sport of a notebook. I'm a full-time student, and I value the small footprint of the 12" PowerBook G4 for fitting on the horrifically small desks that the lecture halls tend to have. It has more than enough power to run all the stuff I need while I'm out and about, and it's just the perfect size for me. I can't count how many people have seen it (there's very few PPC 'Books around campus thee days) and asked "Is that the one that fits in the envelope?" :D
 
Cassie said:
I <3 my 12" 1.33 GHz iBook G4. Great little machine, good for most any task you throw at it. Though it is starting to show its age a bit...
Click to expand...

I love mine too. There's not much left of the original iBook now. The screen was replaced back in 2006 after I accidently put my knee into it, another 1GB of RAM was put in, the battery was replaced because of the fire thing, all the casings were replaced a few months ago, and then fairly recently the hard drive failed and it was replaced with a new 250GB one.

I'm pretty fond of it.
 
I don't think anybody responded to your processor upgrade question.

I'm almost certain you can't upgrade the processors on these machines, unless you want to just swap out the logic board. They're soldered in.

The processors hit 1.67ghz before they switched to intel. I think the 12" only go to 1.5ghz.
 
My "current" everyday machine is a 500mhz 512mb 20GB Ti PowerBook G4. I bring it to work everyday, give presentations on it nearly daily and use it for word processing and going on the internet. I like to think of it as an awesome netbook at this point. I'm finally going to buy a new MB or MBP but don't know if I can deal with the smaller screen and would be the only reason I want/need a MBP. People I work with get new Dells and are always wish they had my Apple because it looks so good compared to theirs and are shocked that it is nearly 8 years older than what they just got. It really is a good looking machine to this day and thinner than most laptops.

And yes...it is slow as hell for most things but it just won't quit.
 
Cassie said:
I <3 my 12" 1.33 GHz iBook G4. Great little machine, good for most any task you throw at it.
Click to expand...

Same computer. Last rev so all the kinks were ironed out, ridiculously well built (especially compared to the macbooks that replaced them), lighter than the macbooks that replaced them (by very little, but my bag is very heavy), fantastic size, runs Leopard like a champ, most reliable computer I've ever known and lovely bouncy keyboard that's really easy to type on.

Also, you're always only 4 screws away from being able to change the colour of the apple on the lid, which is a nice mod when you're surrounded by white macbooks :) Mine's is currently sporting a pink apple :)

I am ridiculously fond of this computer . . .
 
Probably the negative to the G4 laptops is their limited graphics processors in this video intensive world we now live in. While they are workhorses for basic education and business applications, they do hit the wall early when streaming video or accessing video intensive sites, particularly if Leopard is hogging system resources.
 
instaxgirl said:
Same computer. Last rev so all the kinks were ironed out, ridiculously well built (especially compared to the macbooks that replaced them), lighter than the macbooks that replaced them (by very little, but my bag is very heavy), fantastic size, runs Leopard like a champ, most reliable computer I've ever known and lovely bouncy keyboard that's really easy to type on.

Also, you're always only 4 screws away from being able to change the colour of the apple on the lid, which is a nice mod when you're surrounded by white macbooks :) Mine's is currently sporting a pink apple :)

I am ridiculously fond of this computer . . .
Click to expand...

Same here. It is a very well built machine. My DC board is giving me a few problems, and the hinge is getting weak, but other then that, fantastic machine. Sadly, I might be selling it to my mom soon because I need the money, but I'll buy it back as as soon as I can. :)
 
FireArse said:
+1

My favourite machine by Apple by a long way. Simply beautiful. Everything about it - even the concave keys rather than the chicklet keys nowadays.

I am hoping to find a decent SSD to put in mine, will raise the effort soon.

F
Click to expand...

Try mtrons or if you can find one in the US, photofast IDE V2. I put a 32gb transcend in my 12" PB 1.5ghz and it is running so smoothly now. I just wish that getting to the HDD was a lot easier, removing the screws inside the keyboard is a pain.
 
MTI said:
Probably the negative to the G4 laptops is their limited graphics processors in this video intensive world we now live in. While they are workhorses for basic education and business applications, they do hit the wall early when streaming video or accessing video intensive sites, particularly if Leopard is hogging system resources.
Click to expand...


At least the 12" PBs actually have a separate GPU than the Intel GMA 950 "graphics card" in the first MBs and the older mini's.
But you are right, the little GeForce FX 5200 card is not much these days.

BTW...does anybody like the 15" or the 17"?
I love it when somebody sees it and says "Wow, thats so cool that you have all that money to spend on a new MBP"
I just nod and say yes while I think "yeah, I did spend a lot of money, it took me years to save $600 for it"
 
Cassie said:
I <3 my 12" 1.33 GHz iBook G4. Great little machine, good for most any task you throw at it. Though it is starting to show its age a bit...
Click to expand...

Didnt you just have a post a few days ago about trading it in for a netbook? Sounds like you decided against :D
 
Quad 2.5 G5 =) said:
At least the 12" PBs actually have a separate GPU than the Intel GMA 950 "graphics card" in the first MBs and the mini's.
But you are right, the little GeForce FX 5200 card is not much these days.

BTW...does anybody like the 15" or the 17"?
I love it when somebody sees it and says "Wow, thats so cool that you have all that money to spend on a new MBP"
I just nod and say yes while I think "yeah, I did spend a lot of money, it took me years to save $600 for it"
Click to expand...

The FX5200 with 64MB of video RAM is going to be no better, if not worse, than a "modern" GMA 950, and certainly worse than a 9400M.
 
peskaa said:
The FX5200 with 64MB of video RAM is going to be no better, if not worse, than a "modern" GMA 950, and certainly worse than a 9400M.
Click to expand...

There is no comparison between the FX5200 and the 9400M. Also I would think that the FX5200 would beat, even by a small margin, the GMA 950 because the 950 is an integrated card that uses 64MB memory off the main RAM. The FX5200 is a independent card with its own (64MB) memory.
 
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