Is a 17" Powerbook any good?

[dlisle20]

With my powerbook i find it slow generally, rubbish on games, overheats, makes odd noises from the keyboard, IS THIS NORMAL??? 😕


Powerbook 17" 1GHZ 512 RAM

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

Please don't double post

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103026

 

[Jovian9]

My 17" 1.33GHz PB 1GB RAM almost never gives me the beachball and does well with the games my wife an I play (Civ3, Sims, Sim City 4, Warcraft 3). It does get quite warm though.

 

[Mertzen]

If it really bothers you maybe you should get in touch with Apple ..

 

[blackpeter]

With my powerbook i find it slow generally, rubbish on games, overheats, makes odd noises from the keyboard, IS THIS NORMAL??? 😕


Powerbook 17" 1GHZ 512 RAM

That sizzle you hear under the keyboard is perfectly normal. See link below.

http://www.destination-life.com/sections/macintosh/articles/sizzle.shtml

 

[cluthz]

I have absolutely no first hand experiences with the first 17-incher (1GHz),
but I've heard that they got hotter than the other 17-inchers.
As for the gfx-card, it's very underpowered.

Apple unfortunately put a GeForce 4 Go card there...

 

[Mertzen]

I now recall that I worked with one of those on an on site freelance project .. I had to set the CPU setting to lowest and had to lift the back otherwise it was too hot on the palms .. but otherwise it was a fine machine ..

 

[kasei]

My 17" 1.33 GHz PowerBook with 1 Gig of RAM works fine. I have had it for almost a year now and I have not had any problems out of it. My battery did need to be replaced, but that was from normal wear and tear and believe me I use this system a lot.

As far as strange popping sounds and overheating, I have not experience these problems. I have never had a heat issue with my 17" PowerBook and find it comfortable when using it on my lap. The only time it gets really warm is if I am using Final Draft or Photoshop.

I did added some additional RAM to take me up to
1 Gig and I haven't had any problem with software. I would like to get a 1 Gig stick of RAM in the next couple of weeks though.

 

[paul84043]

I have heard some people talking about the heat issues on the "older" powerbooks, this must be what they were referring to.
It appears that they "fixed" the problem on the 1.33, and 1.5 ghz models to some degree. (no pun intended...) my 1.5 (15") never heats up to the point the it's a concern.

If it's to the point that it's unusable, you have no choice really other than to consider a trade in, or an upgrade.

 

[aricher]

My 1.33 was the best purchase I have ever made. It will get a bit warm when I'm stressing it with Photoshop (750 MB - 4 GB files) but not blistering hot. I did have the logic board go bad after about 8 months - Apple Store/AppleCare had it replaced and back to me in 2 days. My SuperDrive went bad (wouldn't eject disk) and was also replaced in 2 days. The SuperDrive problem was after taxing it for 3 days straight burning several hundred CDs and DVDs. Other than those problems, both fixed under warr. I have never had any issues with my PB. I have used it literally every day for 11.5 month now and it has paid for itself many times over with the billings from the work I have done with it.

Get as much RAM as possible - your 512 just won't cut it - especially since OS X like roughly 256 just to itself. I have 2 GB and find it much faster and more stable than when I had just 1 GB. I often work with external FW drives as scratch disks - works like a charm. Buy more RAM and you should be OK - also look into a faster HD - my guess is that you have a pokey 4200 RPM HD.