New to the Apple scene: Upgrading iBook G3

[trellabor]

Hello, i'm pretty new to Apple computers, and i recently bought an iBook G3 on eBay. I've fixed it up and installed OS X Tiger on it, which i must say i am very pleased with so far.

However, i really want to upgrade my iBook, with more RAM and a larger hard drive. My question is this....can i use ANY RAM that is 144-pin PC100/133 SODIMM, 3.3V up to 512MB in size? By the same token, can i upgrade my hard drive with one from, say, Western Digital(120GB) or Seagate(100GB) or does it have to be Apple proprietary? Please forgive my noobness. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

 

[amacgenius]

My question is this....can i use ANY RAM that is 144-pin PC100/133 SODIMM, 3.3V up to 512MB in size?

Yes you can, 512 is the max if your iBook has 128mb builtin RAM for a total of 640mb (which Tiger runs good on).

By the same token, can i upgrade my hard drive with one from, say, Western Digital(120GB) or Seagate(100GB) or does it have to be Apple proprietary?

Now this I don't know, because I don't know what kind of hardrive the iBook takes.

 

[Willis]

crucial.com (.co.uk if in the UK) can guide you in what ram to purchase. For the HDD.... Im not entirely sure. I dont think they are user replaceable (i could be wrong here, ive never been a iBook owner)

Welcome to Apple/OS X

 

[yellow]

Any 2.5" HD that fits the formfactor will work.
One formats it for HFS+ post installation. A 120GB is the largest you're going to be able to use, and you should consider the possiblitiy of heat issues on "faster" RPM drives.

 

[emptyCup]

RAM from Apple is very expensive and I doubt if they have any for the G3 iBook anyway. Buy from a decent company, though. Many of us like Crucial. Go for the 512MB. OS-X loves RAM and that is the max you can add.

Apple doesn't make drives, so you can buy one elsewhere. I've never done that so I will leave advice on makes and models to others.

Best wishes.

 

[WildCowboy]

RAM from Apple is very expensive and I doubt if they have any for the G3 iBook anyway. Buy from a decent company, though. Many of us like Crucial. Go for the 512MB. OS-X loves RAM and that is the max you can add.

Please don't support Crucial and their overpriced RAM and unsavory business practices. I trust OWC and DMS for my RAM purchases...many others here do too. Both companies are Mac-knowledgeable, have good prices, and have excellent customer service and warranty support.

 

[California]

I wouldn't worry about heat issues on new hard drives. Three or four years ago, that may have been a factor, but you can run 7200rpm drives on your iBook NO problem.

As for the ram, I have an extra 512 chip out of a g4 powerbook i can sell you that I guarantee to work.

As for the hard drive -- get the fastest 7200 drive you can find Hitachi or Seagate. Get one new. When you are done with the iBook, swap back the original drive and keep your hard drive which has either a three year warranty (Hitachi) or the Seagate with its five year warranty.

At 640mbs of ram and at 7200rpms you will have speeded up that little ibook to be really fast. Good luck and if you need the ram, let me know.

Oh, and i don't know if its true the biggest hard drive is 120gbs on a g3 ibook. I don't think that is true. But the fastest and largest laptop drives are only 100gbs. The 120 and 160gb laptop drives are only 5400rpm, but that's still faster than your stock drive. Plus the larger the drive, the faster the discs spin, so the 160gb hard drive at 5400rpm is pretty fast.

 

[yellow]

Are you sure?

I have no idea how well the old G3 iBooks cope with heat, heat related issues, how strong the fan is, and if the current fan can cope with that much added heat.

I'd check http://www.xlr8yourmac.com for more info.. surely someone has slapped a fast(er) HD in an old iBook and written about it.

 

[California]

Are you sure?

I have no idea how well the old G3 iBooks cope with heat, heat related issues, how strong the fan is, and if the current fan can cope with that much added heat.

I'd check http://www.xlr8yourmac.com for more info.. surely someone has slapped a fast(er) HD in an old iBook and written about it.

Yes. Technology has actually made the new hard drives as cool as the older ones. xlr8yourmac.com is an excellent site -- I think I read on there how someone had put a 60gig 7200rpm Hitachi laptop drive into an old CLAMSHELL iBook 366mhz that worked great!

 

[trellabor]

I wouldn't worry about heat issues on new hard drives. Three or four years ago, that may have been a factor, but you can run 7200rpm drives on your iBook NO problem.

As for the ram, I have an extra 512 chip out of a g4 powerbook i can sell you that I guarantee to work.

As for the hard drive -- get the fastest 7200 drive you can find Hitachi or Seagate. Get one new. When you are done with the iBook, swap back the original drive and keep your hard drive which has either a three year warranty (Hitachi) or the Seagate with its five year warranty.

At 640mbs of ram and at 7200rpms you will have speeded up that little ibook to be really fast. Good luck and if you need the ram, let me know.

Oh, and i don't know if its true the biggest hard drive is 120gbs on a g3 ibook. I don't think that is true. But the fastest and largest laptop drives are only 100gbs. The 120 and 160gb laptop drives are only 5400rpm, but that's still faster than your stock drive. Plus the larger the drive, the faster the discs spin, so the 160gb hard drive at 5400rpm is pretty fast.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, some very useful info. I am interested in that RAM you have for sale, please PM me with your asking price. I'd need it shipped to 95670 California by USPS if possible.

I was hoping i could use any brand HDD as long as it is 2.5" ATA interface. I'd really like to go for either a 100GB 7200rpm or a 120GB 5400rpm but i was worried about heat, this thing as it is now really warms up my lap after about 20 mins. of useage, but like you said its an older HDD so new ones should improve upon the faults....are the stock drives 4200rpm?

 

[mmmcheese]

Yes you can, 512 is the max if your iBook has 128mb builtin RAM for a total of 640mb (which Tiger runs good on).
...

Well...not ANY stick...you have to make sure it is short enough to fit in the bay. If you check out the service manual, or one of the related sites, it will tell you the maximum height of the DIMM. There are some sticks out there taller than will fit (typically the super cheap, or old stuff). So be careful.

I would have to debate the "Tiger runs good" part though...although it's probably acceptable, 10.3 runs much better on the G3 iBook.

 

[deebster]

Yes, the stock iBook hard drives were 4,200 rpm.

It's not an easy job replacing the HD though. There are something like 40 screws to remove and some of them are tiny. I changed my iBook's combo drive and it worked OK after but it took a few hours.

I'd recommend you do a bit of searching for the Apple service manual and any online guides where people have put up instructions and pictures after having done it. They will help you, I promise.

Have fun.

 

[California]

Thanks to everyone for the replies, some very useful info. I am interested in that RAM you have for sale, please PM me with your asking price. I'd need it shipped to 95670 California by USPS if possible.

I was hoping i could use any brand HDD as long as it is 2.5" ATA interface.

Stick to Seagate or Hitachi for hard drives. Five and three year warranties respectively. As to the ram, I'm in LA where are you?

 

[gallagb]

i know there are a few guides out there
(to upgrade the HD)
just glancing @ google
i found:

http://www.zathras.de/angelweb/blog-ibook-disassembly.htm

and

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iBookG3_14inchUserGuideMultilingual.PDF

i know when i first did my g3 ibook HD upgrade i did it w/o manual & just figured it out
however the 2nd time around i found an awesome guide
but i cannot seem to locate it right now

the first of the 2 links provided is good 'nuff to replace the HD
the key is figuring out where the screws go when u re-build it

however- more than once i've had extra screws laying around
so long as u don't tell anyone... no one will know...

machine always worked fine afterwards

 

[trellabor]

Yeah, i have looked into it and i know it's no walk in the park upgrading one of these things, but i need to replace the LCD cable because if you open it too far, the screen goes out. So i figure while i am in there i might as well do everything i want while it's opened up.....maybe even paint it a different color.

Stick to Seagate or Hitachi for hard drives. Five and three year warranties respectively. As to the ram, I'm in LA where are you?

I'm here in Sacramento, CA, zip 95670. I saw your 'box' post in the other thread, you don't happen to have a G3 iBook box, eh? I'd like to find the original manuals and stuff too but....i know thats a long shot.

 

[ftaok]

Nobody has mentioned this, so I will.

G3 iBooks (actually all iBooks) will not take the 12.5mm 2.5" HDDs. The 9.5mm ones are fine.

ft

 

[tshep2242]

iBook RAM upgrade woes

I too bought a G3 iBook on ebay. I love this 12" notebook, which runs OSX 10.3, but it only came with 256 MB RAM. So I bought a 516 MB RAM card from 1-800-4-memory, removed the existing 128 MB RAM card and installed it. I booted fine and the memory in "About this Mac" indicated 640 MB but soon after opening any application (Word, browsers, etc), I would get the spinning rainbow and be forced to it shut down. I ran some memory testers without any errors, but my apps continued to crash. I finally removed the 516 RAM and put the original back in, and everything has been running fine, though again with just the iBook's original 256 MB RAM.

I should add that 1-800-4-memory has promptly acted on my complaint, giving me an immediate return authorization for a replacement card, but I am concerned that maybe the problem isn't a defective RAM card but maybe a basic incompatibility. My original 128 MB RAM was manufactured by Samsung; I'm pretty sure that this 516 RAM was not.

Has anyone else had this experience? Is this common with iBooks?

Thanks,

tshep2242

However, i really want to upgrade my iBook, with more RAM and a larger hard drive. My question is this....can i use ANY RAM that is 144-pin PC100/133 SODIMM, 3.3V up to 512MB in size?

 

[ftaok]

snip

Has anyone else had this experience? Is this common with iBooks?

Thanks,

tshep2242

This is not common, or at least I've never really ran into or read about it.

I'm sure 1-800-4memory will send you a new 512MB chip. It should work out fine. If not, you could get your money back and get a chip from OWC or Crucial. I have a Crucial 512MB chip and it's been fine for years.

ft