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New School year new setup

Lil Chillbil

Lil Chillbil

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 30, 2012
1,335
111
California
I recently bought a Power Macintosh G5 computer to be used all the way through high school. I also need a new PowerPC laptop to replace my powerbook 3400c that I used all through middle school as my main laptop.
I'm thinking about getting a clamshell 466mhz maxing out the RAM and putting a 60gb sdd in it and a airport wireless card for networking with my duel core.
I'm open to better options if anybody has any sugestions
 
If you plan on using for internet,don't waste your money.

Spend your money on something like a 15" powerbook G4 1.5GHz (can upgrade ram to 2 gig's) or if the added weight is issue with 15",then maybe a 12" powerbook G4 1.5GHz (max ram is 1.25 gig)...with either you will want to get for no more then $200...as for about $250-300 you could start looking at a late 2007 macbook. (with x3100)
 
Check the type of wireless security you have. On PowerPC Macs, you can only do WEP and WPA unless you have a special dongle. For the kind of stuff you'll be doing in school, you'll want something at least past the 1 GHz mark to do certain applications and occasionally Flash. I might recommend an AlBook, whatever kind, so that would cover most of the stuff at your school. You said you have a PowerMac G5, so that can handle anything your laptop can't, and at 1 GHz it can handle most things
 
Ariii said:
Check the type of wireless security you have. On PowerPC Macs, you can only do WEP and WPA unless you have a special dongle. For the kind of stuff you'll be doing in school, you'll want something at least past the 1 GHz mark to do certain applications and occasionally Flash. I might recommend an AlBook, whatever kind, so that would cover most of the stuff at your school. You said you have a PowerMac G5, so that can handle anything your laptop can't, and at 1 GHz it can handle most things
Click to expand...

PowerPC Macs can use WPA2 when using an Airport Extreme card. The original Airport card can only do WEP and WPA, but 10.3.9 is needed for WPA support.
 
It is possible to buy a USB dongle or a PC card that will allow wireless N and good security on a Powerbook. Either is available for under $30. Go with one of those rather than the internal card, and use something like tenfourfox as your browser. With a little hunting, you should be able to find a good powerbook for less than $100; I've found three in the last couple of months. You should also look for one with Leopard for your operating system.
 
mike457 said:
It is possible to buy a USB dongle or a PC card that will allow wireless N and good security on a Powerbook. Either is available for under $30. Go with one of those rather than the internal card, and use something like tenfourfox as your browser. With a little hunting, you should be able to find a good powerbook for less than $100; I've found three in the last couple of months. You should also look for one with Leopard for your operating system.
Click to expand...

The only benefit for having a USB WiFi dongle is the N speed, not increased security. Most PPC Macs won't be able to take full advantage of the increased speeds because of their slower internal parts.
 
I went with a powerbook g4 12" inch screen for $135
The specs are
1.33ghz PowerPC G4
768mb RAM
60gb ssd

It has airport extreme and has a brand new battery with charger and case for only $135
I an extremely happy:D
 
Lil Chillbil said:
I went with a powerbook g4 12" inch screen for $135
The specs are
1.33ghz PowerPC G4
768mb RAM
60gb ssd

It has airport extreme and has a brand new battery with charger and case for only $135
I an extremely happy:D
Click to expand...

wow, that is an extremely good deal
 
That is a good deal! The 12" Powerbook has always been a favourite of mine. If you want faster internet, you will find it benefits from a wireless N dongle. I've tried that myself, and it is noticeably quicker than the official card.

Congratulations!
 
Wouldn't a USB wireless N adaptor be pointless with only having usb 1.1? But to the op, congrats on the purchase :)
 
01mggt said:
Wouldn't a USB wireless N adaptor be pointless with only having usb 1.1? But to the op, congrats on the purchase :)
Click to expand...

On Macs that have USB 1.1 it would. But the OP's newly bought Powerbook G4 has USB 2.0.

Still in most cases WiFi N doesn't increase internet speeds. In nearly every American household the incoming internet connection is slower then WiFi G speeds. Even Verizon's FiOS tops out at 50Mbps where WiFi G is 54Mbps.
 
Ahh. I wish mine had USB 2.0 :) And yeah broadband is so slow to expand in the US. Neither my parents nor my in-laws have broadband where they live to this day. Both over pay to have a 5gb connection over 3g per month.
 
wow with a 60 gig ssd..you stole it!...if you could answer these question as far as ssd in pb..be very helpful

-make/model of ssd
-do you notice any lag at times? (sometimes issue with certain sandforce drives)
-boot time?
-what kinda geekbench score are you getting?

would be cool if you could do a utube video showing ssd running programs ect...
 
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