Get that old PB moving again?

[c-Row]

Are there any ways to get some speed back into my old PowerBook G4 1.25 ? It's running for four or five years now, and although OS X doesn't clutter as much as Windows XP, I got the feeling that things were a bit snappier at the beginning. I already put in some more RAM (768 MB), but that was some time ago.

What are my possibilities? On a Windows machine, I would do a defrag, I would delete the contents of the temp folders etc. but I never did anything like that on my Macs. The PB is mostly used by my wife, who was her own iMac as well, but she just can't take that to bed.

Any tips or recommendations are welcome!

 

[mad jew]

After four or five years, I'd be thinking about a quick reformat of the drive. Of course, this'll delete everything so make sure you're well backed up, then chuck the OSX discs in, reformat and reinstall.

 

[c-Row]

After four or five years, I'd be thinking about a quick reformat of the drive. Of course, this'll delete everything so make sure you're well backed up, then chuck the OSX discs in, reformat and reinstall.

That would be the Windows approach then...

I would like to keep that as the last option, but I agree that it would certainly be the one which brings the best results.

 

[mad jew]

True, but other than a reinstall, you'll just be doing mild fiddling at best. Defragmenting happens on the fly, the temporary files and caches are cleaned out regularly and automatically and you don't have a registry to worry about.

If you don't feel like a reinstall (which is admittedly probably overkill) then use Disk Utility to verify your drive (repair if necessary), open a new user account and manually reconfigure the account. This will give you a fresh Home folder without the hassle of possibly losing something. I can't say it'll necessarily help all that much. The good thing is that if it doesn't help you can delete the new account in System Preferences and be back at where you started without having lost any data and only a few moments of your life. Reinstalling the relevant OS combo update can also sometimes help clean things up a touch.

 

[Applespider]

Not to be pedant, but that model only came out 3 1/2 years ago so it's not quite 4 or 5 years worth of junk. It's what I'm using and why I know its age. Bear in mind that when you first got it, it probably was relatively snappy compared to other machines. Now, it might not really have slowed down but if you're using other newer machines, it will feel slower in comparison.

Depending on how long you're planning on keeping it, more RAM might help. I've got 1.25GB in mine and it does make it feel speedier than a pal who only has 768MB. But there's little point if you're not going to keep it much longer.

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, I wouldn't spend much money on it, personally. Stuff like extra RAM doesn't increase resale value.

 

[c-Row]

Not to be pedant, but that model only came out 3 1/2 years ago

Yes, you are right... it just felt like 4 or 5 years. Time flies when you have fun.