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PowerBook 1.5GHz Lucky find.

tom vilsack

tom vilsack

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 20, 2010
1,880
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ladner cdn
So yesterday I was browsing my local craigslist and thought I would see if anyone placed any ppc mac's under "electronics" section. Sure enough there was a 15" Powerbook 1.5GHz,1 gig ram,80 gig 5400 hd,good battery (2+ hrs),great body and screen,ac adapter ect...seller said os wouldn't load....For fun I offered $20cdn.

Here she is (fresh install of leopard)...think I got very lucky this time :)

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Ya I was kinda blown away when I got home and had a better look at what I got.

I took the top off this evening to see if the insides were dusty,and you could eat off it in there...I'm guessing wasn't used very much.

So far I've installed.

-All updates 10.5.8 ect
-Quicktime 770 (needed to get itunes 10.6.3 to work after updating)
-WebKit 600.5.15
-Firefox 3.6.28
-Open office 3.2.1
-MS office 2008 + update
-VLC 2.0.10
-Mactubes 3.1.6
-Paintbrush 2.1.1
-Seashore 0.5.1
-Geekbench 2.2.7 (scored 877)

future plans are to max ram to 2 gig's and maybe install a ssd/ide 120 from OWC....
 
Altemose said:
I would switch out Firefox 3.6 for TenFourFox but otherwise that appears to be a nice collection of software.
Click to expand...

I mainly use WebKit...I had found tenfourfox getting slower lately,but yes perhaps Ill give it another try on this machine...

Also this morning I partitioned the drive and installed Tiger alongside Leopard...Tiger is certainly more snappy,but limited by what software it can use....
 
tom vilsack said:
I mainly use WebKit...I had found tenfourfox getting slower lately,but yes perhaps Ill give it another try on this machine...
Click to expand...
A default install of T4Fx tends to be slow. Cameron Kaiser (and Mozilla) has to consider a lot of variables for the machines the browser is used on so they tend to stay conservative on the settings.

That, along with some of the code that Kaiser has had to write to make the ever increasing complexity of the program work on PowerPC contributes to the overall general slowness. Then of course you have the fact that with all the junk on websites out there it gets harder for our G3/G4/G5 processors to handle.

But if you are comfortable with making changes in about:config you can optimize the connection to perform better.

If you are interested in trying some of that just follow the link in my signature.
 
Things just got even better...I just assumed it came with standard 64mb on the Mobility Radeon 9700...Running OnyX to speed things up, I check final tab under info...This puppy has the optional 128mb Mobility Radeon 9700! :)

note: Think I found 2 sticks of 1g ddr on craigs...so hopefully this week ill max out the ram.
 
tom vilsack said:
Things just got even better...I just assumed it came with standard 64mb on the Mobility Radeon 9700...Running OnyX to speed things up, I check final tab under info...This puppy has the optional 128mb Mobility Radeon 9700! :)

note: Think I found 2 sticks of 1g ddr on craigs...so hopefully this week ill max out the ram.
Click to expand...

I look forward to hearing about the upgrades to this machine!
 
I'd personally test out two sticks of ram first before you buy the 2gb as the 15" Powerbooks especially the 1.5/1.67ghz models are plagued by the issue of having only one working ram slot. In my powerbook before the logic board was replaced, if I installed two sticks of ram, only one would be recognized by the computer.

This is another reason why 1.5/1.67ghz powerbooks are so common with only 1gb of ram (only one 1gb stick of ram)
 
Orizence said:
I'd personally test out two sticks of ram first before you buy the 2gb as the 15" Powerbooks especially the 1.5/1.67ghz models are plagued by the issue of having only one working ram slot. In my powerbook before the logic board was replaced, if I installed two sticks of ram, only one would be recognized by the computer.

This is another reason why 1.5/1.67ghz powerbooks are so common with only 1gb of ram (only one 1gb stick of ram)
Click to expand...


I know about that issue...but right now it has 2/512mb sticks in it, so both slots do work....
 
Today bought my 1.5GHz a friend :)

1.25GHz,1.25g ram (now 768 as put the 1g stick in 1.5 pb),80g hd...original manual and restore cd's (putting on image of leopard),extra battery beside one it came with (like new) adapter.....invoice show's $3,417cdn...(I payed $25)

So two nice 15" pb for a total of $45 cdn...gotta love craigs ;-)

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I'm pleased.....Notice it's running hotter then I would like,so like it's big brother (who is now using some of baby brother's ram...total 1.5g) I will be taking it apart and cleaning out fan's,and redoing the thermal paste....

Leopard is now on it (having a clean updated restore image on a usb stick is so helpful!...20 min restore with all updates ect)...for only a 1.25GHz and now having only 768 ram,leopard is running quite well.....
 
tom vilsack said:
Today bought my 1.5GHz a friend :)

1.25GHz,1.25g ram (now 768 as put the 1g stick in 1.5 pb),80g hd...original manual and restore cd's (putting on image of leopard),extra battery beside one it came with (like new) adapter.....invoice show's $3,417cdn...(I payed $25)

So two nice 15" pb for a total of $45 cdn...gotta love craigs ;-)

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Click to expand...

Please, can I have the wallpaper of the PowerBook on the right? Thank you :)
 
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