Buying more ram + harddrive

[dhan]

Hi, Im new to writing in this forum but have been a reader for a while

I just purchased a new powerbook g4 15" superdrive thru berkeley's edu discount and I'm loving the switch from the PC. But using word heavily during lectures has been eating up my battery. I heard that expanding the ram and getting a faster hd (4200 to 7200) would make battery usage more efficient not to mention improve performace. (I also run illustrator, photoshop) I also have long term investment in mind. So Im wondering:

1. Would 1 GB of ram be enough? Any recommendations on brands? Do brand names really matter (thinking of crucial, samsung, or kingston)?

2. I have my eye on the hitachi 7k60. SHould i wait for cheaper (or a greater variety of) 7200 rpm harddrives to pop out?

3. IF i did get a new hd, how do I transfer files and programs on my old hd to my new drive?

4. Am I limited to PC2700?


Thanks for your time.
-Daniel

 

[fBaran]

1) YES! I wish I had 1GB of RAM. Brands? I've only used Crucial because of the price.

4) I think so, otherwise you'd have to change the mobo.

 

[aethier]

Ram: Tiger Direct offers the best prices on pretty much anything.

HardDrive: Faster=spins more=drains battery quicker.

and yes you are limited to DDR333 (pc2700)

and i have a gig of ram in my powerbook and everything is nice and dandy

aethier

 

[dhan]

HardDrive: Faster=spins more=drains battery quicker.

does the 7200 utilize power more efficiently? plus the 8mb cache cant hurt.

 

[Rincewind42]

does the 7200 utilize power more efficiently? plus the 8mb cache cant hurt.

The 8MB cache contributes to better power usage, but the 7200 RPM mechanism requires more power. The primary advantage of the higher RPM is a faster seek time, but compared to 4200 this is typically only 1-2ms faster, whereas the power consumption can be quite a bit higher (depending on the drive model and manufacturer).

Better ways to get more battery time out of your powerbook would be to make sure the system is allowed to sleep the HD, turn down the backlight brightness, mute sound, turn off Airport and Bluetooth, and set the monitor to turn off after a short interval of non-usage. MS Word should be pretty undemanding of the HD if you allow it, so there probably isn't a point to getting a new HD.

And if you did go with a new HD, you could get a Firewire enclosure to put one of the drives in during the backup stage.

 

[0s and 1s]

But using word heavily during lectures has been eating up my battery. I heard that expanding the ram and getting a faster hd (4200 to 7200) would make battery usage more efficient not to mention improve performace.
-Daniel

Lowering the brightness to at least half will help out a lot. Also, turn off BT and AE when not in use. I constantly get 3.5hrs. of battery life when I lower the brightness on my PB.