Intel chip into a powerbook?

[tmilless]

I have a powerbook g4 and am thinking about upgrading to a Core 2 Duo Intel chip (or would like to at least). Is it possible? If so is it really tough or tricky?

Also am thinking about getting a Mini with the G4 that I'd like to do the same thing too.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[SilentPanda]

I haven't actually looked but I'm guessing that the socket wouldn't match... so without massive soldering and board fabrication it's highly unlikely.

 

[darngooddesign]

Not going to happen.

 

[michael.lauden]

I have a powerbook g4 and am thinking about upgrading to a Core 2 Duo Intel chip (or would like to at least). Is it possible? If so is it really tough or tricky?

Also am thinking about getting a Mini with the G4 that I'd like to do the same thing too.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

um no. that isn't going to happen

however, with the Mac mini - go with a Intel Solo core. it has a socketed processor - and you can drop in a 2.33 Intel C2D.

however you be limited in RAM. if you get the late '06 version like i have you can support 2GB which is great.

do a little research. i don't think you are going to find a place that will drop a soldered in processor, and replace it with another.. they are really fragile.

PLUS heat+energy consumption come into play... and if the chipset would even accept the new processor if you COULD replace it.

not to mention you'd probably have to spend around 200 bucks to get a 2.0GHz C2D... 250 for a 2.33GHz... just to ruin it.

go the mini route - you can have a computer to use for a while, upgrade the processor after a month, and a few weeks later upgrade the RAM and put Snow Leopard on it.

 

[Consultant]

Everything is different. Not going to work at all.

In addition, laptop CPU are soldered to the board.

 

[miles01110]

They probably don't even have the same number of pins. Good luck with that one even if you have a soldering iron.

 

[michael.lauden]

Everything is different. Not going to work at all.

In addition, laptop CPU are soldered to the board.

already stated. thanks - and not all laptop CPU's are soldered. some are socketed, just onces like Apple who are trying o save on space cut it out

 

[tmilless]

Thanks guys. I was thinking it was kind of unlikely on the laptop at least.

The chip in this laptop isnt bad at all. 1.67 and Im running leopard on it. It runs fine but am looking into all this to hook a computer up to my lcd tv and have it as a cable box with the eyetv hybrid. The mini that i can get super cheap is the 1.42. Might look into that route further.

 

[mikes70mustang]

For all that trouble and expense you might as well get an old MBP. No need to try and polish a terd.

 

[dukebound85]

I haven't actually looked but I'm guessing that the socket wouldn't match... so without massive soldering and board fabrication it's highly unlikely.

its not even possible in the slightest

 

[michael.lauden]

Thanks guys. I was thinking it was kind of unlikely on the laptop at least.

The chip in this laptop isnt bad at all. 1.67 and Im running leopard on it. It runs fine but am looking into all this to hook a computer up to my lcd tv and have it as a cable box with the eyetv hybrid. The mini that i can get super cheap is the 1.42. Might look into that route further.

my Mac mini is a 1.66 and i have no problem playing 1080p movies on it. i DO get up to around 150% processor usage though. if you get a intel solo core.. you might want to upgrade it from the get go.

For all that trouble and expense you might as well get an old MBP. No need to try and polish a terd.

the OP's application wouldn't suit a MBP. why pay for the display if you are plugging it into a LCDTV? you'd get a better deal buying an old Mac mini - especially for their application.

its not even possible in the slightest

and... even though this has been stated 100 times in this post.. the comment you are quoting is possible. extremely

if you fabricate a board... you can do whatever you want. so if someone fabricates a board - i'm pretty sure they can drop in a processor they want. so congrats on adding 1 to your post count.

 

[dukebound85]

and... even though this has been stated 100 times in this post.. the comment you are quoting is possible. extremely

if you fabricate a board... you can do whatever you want. so if someone fabricates a board - i'm pretty sure they can drop in a processor they want. so congrats on adding 1 to your post count.

i suppose its possible for me to machine myself a Ferrari if i had enough time huh lol. yea a little exxagerant but it gets the point across

No, for all intents and purpsoses, its not possible in the slightest. You would have to have so much know how its not even funny.

To fabricate your own board and connections and chip isnt exactly "easy". and then to have all that legacy components interface with newer components on the same board isnt easy either. good luck making this hypothetical board and getting all the connections soldered on....

congrats to you for adding +1 to your post count

Everything is different. Not going to work at all.

In addition, laptop CPU are soldered to the board.

exactly

 

[mikes70mustang]

my Mac mini is a 1.66 and i have no problem playing 1080p movies on it. i DO get up to around 150% processor usage though. if you get a intel solo core.. you might want to upgrade it from the get go.



the OP's application wouldn't suit a MBP. why pay for the display if you are plugging it into a LCDTV? you'd get a better deal buying an old Mac mini - especially for their application.



and... even though this has been stated 100 times in this post.. the comment you are quoting is possible. extremely

if you fabricate a board... you can do whatever you want. so if someone fabricates a board - i'm pretty sure they can drop in a processor they want. so congrats on adding 1 to your post count.

Im saying cut your losses, sell the PB and get a MBP, doesnt have to be an new one, im sure youd be happy with one of the very first mbps to come out.

 

[groove-agent]

I have a powerbook g4 and am thinking about upgrading to a Core 2 Duo Intel chip (or would like to at least). Is it possible? If so is it really tough or tricky?

Also am thinking about getting a Mini with the G4 that I'd like to do the same thing too.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

You'd have to change so many components on your PB you might as well just buy yourself a MBP.

 

[mikes70mustang]

You'd have to change so many components on your PB you might as well just buy yourself a MBP.

And really, it wouldnt be a powerbook anymore, b/c the lack of the ppc you wouldnt have. But your bacially trying to turn it into a mbp. If you wanna use snow leopard your pretty much gonna have to ditch that PB

 

[fteoath64]

Well, here is a crazy idea for the hard-core thinkerer. I got a a PB 1.67HD and loved it to death. But its a bit dated in speed. If the logic board dies, I would really want to build a FrankenMacBook but transplanting a whole MacBook guts into the PB casing, cutting any alumimum pieces that gets in the way and building support hangers with rivets, then using the wonderful PB keyboard, trackpad and screen. That would make the MacBook usable and cure its biggest issue with having a poor quality screen. I guess the LVDS plug should be the same ?. Anyone know ?.

 

[alphaod]

Well, here is a crazy idea for the hard-core thinkerer. I got a a PB 1.67HD and loved it to death. But its a bit dated in speed. If the logic board dies, I would really want to build a FrankenMacBook but transplanting a whole MacBook guts into the PB casing, cutting any alumimum pieces that gets in the way and building support hangers with rivets, then using the wonderful PB keyboard, trackpad and screen. That would make the MacBook usable and cure its biggest issue with having a poor quality screen. I guess the LVDS plug should be the same ?. Anyone know ?.

I think for the amount of worked you'd have to do, it might actually be cheaper if you hired someone to build you a unibody PowerBook.

 

[michael.lauden]

i suppose its possible for me to machine myself a Ferrari if i had enough time huh lol. yea a little exxagerant but it gets the point across

No, for all intents and purpsoses, its not possible in the slightest. You would have to have so much know how its not even funny.

To fabricate your own board and connections and chip isnt exactly "easy". and then to have all that legacy components interface with newer components on the same board isnt easy either. good luck making this hypothetical board and getting all the connections soldered on....

congrats to you for adding +1 to your post count




exactly

it's not about what you know. it's about who you know. he could very well know the computer manufacturing plant manager in town and give him 700 bucks to machine him a board. there isn't anything to argue here. the question wasn't if HE would be able to - it was if IT was able to be done.

 

[Consultant]

it's not about what you know. it's about who you know. he could very well know the computer manufacturing plant manager in town and give him 700 bucks to machine him a board. there isn't anything to argue here. the question wasn't if HE would be able to - it was if IT was able to be done.

To custom make a computer MOBO takes a team of engineers MONTHS of time and a lot of investment. Good luck in finding someone who would spend months of time and does it for peanuts.

 

[miles01110]

it's not about what you know. it's about who you know. he could very well know the computer manufacturing plant manager in town and give him 700 bucks to machine him a board. there isn't anything to argue here. the question wasn't if HE would be able to - it was if IT was able to be done.

Silly us for thinking that this:

I (have a powerbook g4 and) am thinking about upgrading to a Core 2 Duo Intel chip (or would like to at least). Is it possible?

implied that the OP wanted to know if it was possible to perform himself. I highlighted the sentence structure the rest of us were able to see and use to make this assumption for you.

But if you want to get technical, yes I suppose it's "possible" in the purest sense of the word. A partial list of things you have to do is:

1. Remove the existing chip from the board. This involves desoldering several hundred small, machine-soldered pins fractions of a millimeter apart without damaging the pads or causing a short. This would probably "only" take a few tens of hours to do.

2. Assuming the board survived, you then need to figure out a way to match the pins on the new chip to the pads on the old since they've got different numbers of pins. If you thought about it and were careful, this would probably only take a few years.

3. Solder the new chip to the old pins. (tens of hours)

4. Rewrite Mac OS X so that it can receive instructions from the bootlegged chip that you've jury-rigged to the motherboard. (years)

So yes, it's "possible" just like a rock spontaneously levitating is possible.

Oh, by the way- reverse engineering a motherboard is also bordering on impossible. You'd need to give your technician the board design so he or she could attempt to manufacture it. Since Apple isn't nice about labeling their parts correctly, you'll need to identify the part number and/or values of each component on said board. You'll need to solder the components on yourself or pay a ton of money to have a machine do it for you- the advantage of the machine is that it's faster and saves you a month or so of soldering. Not to mention Apple won't give you their designs, so you wouldn't even be able to enjoy your Intel chip while you're sitting in jail for corporate theft.

Citing the semantics of the English language is idiotic, especially if you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[michael.lauden]

the part that sticks out in my mind is the fact taht the question stated was

is it possible.


not CAN I DO IT TO MY COMPUTER.

 

[dukebound85]

it's not about what you know. it's about who you know. he could very well know the computer manufacturing plant manager in town and give him 700 bucks to machine him a board. there isn't anything to argue here. the question wasn't if HE would be able to - it was if IT was able to be done.

no the question was if HE could do it.....

anyways, its about as possible as me making a hole in one for every hole on an 18 hole course. or the fattest guy in the world being able to play in the NBA.

also, it would cost a heck of a lot more than 700 bucks to even do this....

Silly us for thinking that this:



implied that the OP wanted to know if it was possible to perform himself. I highlighted the sentence structure the rest of us were able to see and use to make this assumption for you.

But if you want to get technical, yes I suppose it's "possible" in the purest sense of the word. A partial list of things you have to do is:

1. Remove the existing chip from the board. This involves desoldering several hundred small, machine-soldered pins fractions of a millimeter apart without damaging the pads or causing a short. This would probably "only" take a few tens of hours to do.

2. Assuming the board survived, you then need to figure out a way to match the pins on the new chip to the pads on the old since they've got different numbers of pins. If you thought about it and were careful, this would probably only take a few years.

3. Solder the new chip to the old pins. (tens of hours)

4. Rewrite Mac OS X so that it can receive instructions from the bootlegged chip that you've jury-rigged to the motherboard. (years)

So yes, it's "possible" just like a rock spontaneously levitating is possible.

Oh, by the way- reverse engineering a motherboard is also bordering on impossible. You'd need to give your technician the board design so he or she could attempt to manufacture it. Since Apple isn't nice about labeling their parts correctly, you'll need to identify the part number and/or values of each component on said board. You'll need to solder the components on yourself or pay a ton of money to have a machine do it for you- the advantage of the machine is that it's faster and saves you a month or so of soldering. Not to mention Apple won't give you their designs, so you wouldn't even be able to enjoy your Intel chip while you're sitting in jail for corporate theft.

Citing the semantics of the English language is idiotic, especially if you have no idea what you're talking about.

Thank you

the part that sticks out in my mind is the fact taht the question stated was

is it possible.


not CAN I DO IT TO MY COMPUTER.

Did you even read the original post? Even if it was done, it would cost a little more than the measly cost of just buying a new laptop, not to mention saving a hell of alot of time

here it is again

I have a powerbook g4 and am thinking about upgrading to a Core 2 Duo Intel chip (or would like to at least). Is it possible? If so is it really tough or tricky?

Also am thinking about getting a Mini with the G4 that I'd like to do the same thing too.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Anyone should be able to tell he is asking if he could do this "upgrade" on the fly by himself for his computer. you can tell as he tells us what he has

 

[jjahshik32]

Not going to happen.

Not in a Billion Years.

 

[interconnect]

omg, this is ridiculous. it can't be done. end of story.