is an upgrade in the picture???

[jouerausoccer]

Hi all, I have a PowerBook G3, and I am wondering what the posibility of upgrading to a more recent os. I am currently running Mac OS 8.6. Is it possible to go to OS X??

What would I need to do? More memory?

Thanks for your help.

 

[paxtonandrew]

Hello,

Firstly, before we can tell you anything, what type of G3 is it? Is it the Kanga? (original version) If so, the best you can do is get 9.22. If you have a PDQ or better (preferably a Pismo) then with a MUCH larger HDD, and about 512 or more mb of ram, the computer will run Panther perfectly. I suggest looking on the apple Refurb site for refurbished G4 iBooks or PowerBooks, as they are more suited to Panther.

 

[jouerausoccer]

I am not sure exactly which type of G3 it is, it was just given to me from my father, but I believe he got it when it first came out, so it is probably a Kanga. Is there anyway I can check for sure?

 

[caveman_uk]

Does it have USB ports on it? Officially Panther requires a mac with built-in USB. I'd say at the very least Panther needs 256MB RAM and preferably a bit more. It's also a bit of a harddrive hog with a standard install taking about 3GB - you can cut this in half by losing the language translations and printer drivers you don't need.

If you have got a 'Kanga' or 'Wallstreet' G3 you haven't got USB so you are officially unsupported though Xpostfacto (I think that's what it's called) might help.

The later G3 (Pismo) powerbooks are nice machines and can be souped up with newer processors (up to 900MHz G3)/hard drives so they can be really quite usable.

 

[jouerausoccer]

Well, it does have built in USB ports on it, so I guess it is a later G3. That's good to know.

Is there any online Mac store where I could browse around for prices on upgrades. RAM, hardrive, etc.

 

[jouerausoccer]

I found out it is a PowerBook G3 Series (Lombard). 333MHz, with 64 MB of Memory.

How would I go about getting a newer processor for this computer?

 

[FuzzyBallz]

How would I go about getting a newer processor for this computer?

You can't this ain't a PC. And don't even think about upgrading the RAM on that old notebook, you'll just be wasting money on a slug. Save up the money towards a new iBook instead.

 

[quidire]

Reality Check

You can't this ain't a PC. And don't even think about upgrading the RAM on that old notebook, you'll just be wasting money on a slug. Save up the money towards a new iBook instead.

Really this has nothing to do with the laptop being a mac or a pc. That computer was made in 1999. There wasn't a PC desktop (much less laptop) built then that you could upgrade at this point. You'd have to rip out at least the motherboard along with the processors, at which point there isn't much left to the computer. I have no idea if one can find motherboards that use non DDR RAM anymore; you'd probably have to throw out the ram too. This is only more true for a laptop.

That computer is 5, going on 6. Time to throw it away.

For more on Lombard Powerbook G3s, click here

 

[seamuskrat]

OK. The good news:

It CAN run OS X. With a nice RAM upgrade and an possibly a harddrive upgrade it can run.

As for processor upgrades, you have some options. You can actually add a G4 chip to this model: http://www.xlr8.com/Daystar_Technol...ress/040503-PowerBook_Lombard_G4_Upgrade.html

Now for the BAD news:
The official MAX Ram is 384, but I believe it can do 512. It has no Firewire.Only 8 megs of video RAm and its a slow GPU.

Is it worth upgrading?

Maybe. The machine was introduced in 1999 and ended in 2000. So its old, but not ancient. If you have no Mac, and this is the best you will see for a while, then a small investment will let you use OS X, use Mail, safari, etc. It has a market value of a 200 to 300 dollars. So, you could sell it and put that towards a newer model. Or invest another 200 and get the CPU update.

Or you can get RAm pretty cheap, take it to 256, install 9.2.2 and have a fairly nice classic machine.

I found out it is a PowerBook G3 Series (Lombard). 333MHz, with 64 MB of Memory.

How would I go about getting a newer processor for this computer?