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How to improve Powerbook performance

M

martin.pretty

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2013
1
0
I have just acquired a Powerbook G4 - model A1046

I am looking for any ways to improve the performance of it.

The RAM is already maxed at 2GB.

Thinking of a HDD change as I hear this can help. But not sure what sort of drive I need . System profiler seems to suggest its an ATA drive but I can't really find these for sale anywhere.

Also it seems to get very hot underneath. Is there anything I should check or can do to help?

Thanks
 
If you upgrade the hard drive (PATA), you are pretty much there in terms of hardware performance. Software comes next:

Monolingual
XSlimmer
Turning off dashboard/spotlight if you don't use them

Web browsing:
choosing an optimized browser such as Leopard Webkit, Aurorafox, Tenfourfox, Camino, Roccat
Removing Flash if you don't need it
Installing Glimmerblocker
eyoungren has a thread with some optimizations for his web browsing, I'll try to find it.
 
For replacement HD's, the 7200RPM ATA drives are becoming harder to come by. I would check out OWC, they have WD Scorpio drives for 150 for a 250GB 5400RPM or 180 for a 320GB 5400RPM ATA Drive (pricey, but getting harder to find):

http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Se...ve&Ntk=Primary&Ns=P_Price|0&N=6885+4294967075

They also make Legacy Pro ATA SSD's, which depending on how much space you need, might be a better option for the money (I got one of these for my '05 PB G4 12, and love it):

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Legacy_Pro
 
xslimmer
disable spotlight and dashboard
mac secrets
aticcelerator
webkit
you can overclock them (google macxtreme) since posting links is illegal
you can also turn the resolution down



I don't think investing in a new hard drive is worth the money , since it will probably be as much or half of what you paid for your ppc mac. Also you can clean out the dust if any in the fans by either taking it apart or pressing some key combination I can't remember when booting to make the fans run at 100% for a short time.
 
theclassicmac said:
As far as the heat you mentioned, I use G4 Fan Control to help with controlling the fan on my PB. It allows you to set when the fans kick in depending on the temps from HD, CPU, or GPU. Here's a link to that as well:

http://www.andreafabrizi.it/?g4fancontrol
Click to expand...
Just a note about G4 fan control. I have two 17" PowerBooks G4s and I have NEVER managed to get this app to work on those Macs. It's either been blank when loaded, unresponsive, or took input but did not change anything.

Also note that the developer is non-responsive and does not answer questions on his site.


Not trying to trash the program - it works very well for those it works for. Just mentioning my experience is all.
 
Probably the best thing you can do it put a PATA SSD in there. That's going to be expensive, though, as in more than the entire PowerBook is worth... so bear that in mind.

I put a 480GB OWC Mercury Legacy Pro in my 1 GHz TiBook because it's worth it to me since I use that PowerBook for writing. No fans and no HDD spinning = absolutely dead silent. It definitely sped a lot of things up significantly, even on that old as heck PATA interface.
 
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