old ibook what to do?

[trendkiller]

Ok I have an old ibook G4 1.33ghz 512mb and 40gb hd and it hasn't had much use apart from internet browsing, since I bought a new imac in the new year, I'd like to use it for something useful but I have no idea what....

so any ideas?

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

I'd bump the RAM upto the maximum 1.5GB capacity. That will give some more life to the machine. I remember fairly recently, somebody was comparing the new Atom powered netbooks, and the 1.33ghz iBooks benchmarked about as well as the 1.6ghz Atom powered netbooks.

As for what to use it for...not sure, but that's how you could make it a little quicker at least!

 

[trendkiller]

yeah I was thinking that, bumping up the ram via crucial.com costs around £45 which isn't too bad.

would it be possible to use it as a server? I have no idea about servers what so ever, but I could really do with one!

 

[mgridgaway]

It would work... but you could build a much better server for much cheaper.

Why not use it as a backup when you travel or are in a pinch?

 

[trendkiller]

yeah I use it every so often when I'm out and about but more often than not it just sits under the sofa, (also becasue the battery last about 40mins!)
until I fancy using the net when watching tv. I just feel I should put it to some better use, but I dont know what!

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

 

[clyde2801]

I've had good luck using a last gen 12" pb for a netbook. With the ram maxed out (and a hd upgrade), it's a pretty capable machine for browsing, emailing, word processing and the like.

You may be able to coax a little more life out of the battery by wrapping it in a paper towel, sticking it in a sealable baggie and putting it the freezer for a day or two. Another option is ebay, craigslist or 3rd party repair shops for a spare battery. I goosed a little more life out of my existing battery after one or two stays in the freezer, and got a spare battery a 3rd party shop used to use for repair purposes and didn't need anymore-it had 98% original capacity!

And, there's a couple of sites online about maximizing an older mac's performance using tiger or leopard by disabling unnecessary processes and unneeded eye candy.

I'm not sure if your ibook's gpu can handle online video on the likes of youtube. My pb had a slightly better processor with twice the video ram, and it can barely handle sd video-HD is out of the question.

My dad recently bought a 1.07 ghz 12" g4 ibook, and it allows him to browse and pursue the mobile iLife fairly well with 768 mb of ram.

 

[trendkiller]

thanks for that info.

Thats one avenue about updating the hard drive, I never considered..will looking into that for sure!


thanks guys!