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Can I upgrade my G4 1.33 15" PB to have 7200rpm HD?

vita_kk

vita_kk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2004
28
0
Toronto
I found this forum really helpful. After reading different posts, I have finally decided to go for the G4 1.33 15" PB combo drive.

As ppl have said here, it's worthwhile to upgrade the HD to a faster speed. However, from what I seen in apple.ca (Canada's apple website), the only upgrade available from 60GB @ 4200 rpm to 80GB @5400rpm. Is 5400rpm good enough for graphic editing, like photoshop, illustrator etc. Or I should go for 7200rpm? Is there anyway to upgrade to a 7200rpm HD on a PB?

My other questions is, for the HD upgrade, do you think I should do it when I ordered the machine from apple.ca? Or I shall do the upgrade from somewhere else, considering that it is a lot cheaper and more choices available.
 
i too am looking at upgrading my HDD to a 7k one , i have been put off by not actually knowing if it will take one if not then i will go with the 5400 speed .

i find the stock 4k Hdd that comes with it extreamly slow not that i mind too much but it means i have to switch to my e-mac to do video editing and garageband at a normal speed .

another question to add to this as well - Powerbooks fans (as in the ones that spin around and cool it down ) ? i have not ever heard them come on , is there a way to make em come on as my powerbook sometimes get a little warm

Tom
 
if you want a 7200rpm HD you are stuck with a 60GB hitachi ( i have heard many horror storys from toshiba 7200rpm drives) as for heat and power 7200pm drives are more efficient so it should not get hot

to get one of these drives in a powerbook you can either put it in yourself which is a pain or get an apple center to do it, if you go the apple center rount you have to get them to take the HD out if somthing go's wrong so you need applecare work. go over to www.xlr8yourmac.com and check out the install and if you think you can put it in on your own you will be fine if you dont think you can just get the 80GB bto drive it's still a good drive.
 
vita_kk said:
I found this forum really helpful. After reading different posts, I have finally decided to go for the G4 1.33 15" PB combo drive.

As ppl have said here, it's worthwhile to upgrade the HD to a faster speed. However, from what I seen in apple.ca (Canada's apple website), the only upgrade available from 60GB @ 4200 rpm to 80GB @5400rpm. Is 5400rpm good enough for graphic editing, like photoshop, illustrator etc. Or I should go for 7200rpm? Is there anyway to upgrade to a 7200rpm HD on a PB?

My other questions is, for the HD upgrade, do you think I should do it when I ordered the machine from apple.ca? Or I shall do the upgrade from somewhere else, considering that it is a lot cheaper and more choices available.
Click to expand...
I think that www.barefeats.com showed a whopping improvement for the 5400 over the 4200 (I'm sure they did, I just can't find the link now). Yes, 7200 would be even better, but getting a 5400 installed and under warranty by Apple is better than going for the 7200 mod yourself - unless you really need the speed. You can do the upgrade on the PBs, in which case you'd buy the 4200 to save money (as you'd just be removing it), but, really, if you can get a 5400, you're a lot better off than a 4200 and probably just fine. For $100, it's a no-brainer.

Edit: I agree completely with Hector's post above (which posted as I was typing) - but, if you're ordering new, I think you'll be happy with the 5400. Plus, should you ultimately decide to bump up to a 7200, the 5400 will make a better external drive than the smaller, slower, 4200RPM one.
 
jsw said:
I think that www.barefeats.com showed a whopping improvement for the 5400 over the 4200 (I'm sure they did, I just can't find the link now). Yes, 7200 would be even better, but getting a 5400 installed and under warranty by Apple is better than going for the 7200 mod yourself - unless you really need the speed. You can do the upgrade on the PBs, in which case you'd buy the 4200 to save money (as you'd just be removing it), but, really, if you can get a 5400, you're a lot better off than a 4200 and probably just fine. For $100, it's a no-brainer.

Edit: I agree completely with Hector's post above (which posted as I was typing) - but, if you're ordering new, I think you'll be happy with the 5400. Plus, should you ultimately decide to bump up to a 7200, the 5400 will make a better external drive than the smaller, slower, 4200RPM one.
Click to expand...


http://www.barefeats.com/pb12.html
 
i'd just get a large firewire drive to back up to and boot from when you need the speed
 
I say get the 5400 rpm drive installed by Apple. This way you don't have to worry about voiding your warranty by doing it yourself or having to pay the labor charges if you want the drive installed professionaly to keep your warranty. From the barefeats tests it looks like you get a really significant boost from 4200 to 5400, but the difference between 5400 and 7200 isn't as noticable in regular tasks. So really I think 5400 should be OK. And, as Hector said you could always get an external firewire drive for more storage and speed.
 
5400 is fine for illustrator, photoshop etc, it's not a problem. Just get an external firewire 800 drive if you get into really heavy video editing i.e. huge files.
 
How has the 7200rpm HDD affected your ibook's battery life, and it doesn't generate too much heat?

I've usually been glad that I went with an g3 ibook instead of the revA 12in powerbook because of the heat issues.
 
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