PowerBook G4 1.5ghz 17" SSD - how it went!

[paulcross22]

Hi All,

So I posted recently about my revived Powerbook G4 - and I'm now finally (almost) there with the upgrades!

I've owned this PowerBook since September 2010 and I used it for the final part of my GCSEs and the best part of my A-Levels to do photoshop on a write a lot of coursework. So this mac has seen it all and I've honestly never felt so much love to a computer in my whole 22 years of being on earth. So a massive thanks to Apple for making this computer.

These are the repairs/upgrades I've performed:-

1. RAM upgrade to 2GB
2. Completed screen replacement (Dad's dog managed to step on the screen busting it)
3. Speaker replacement - the right speaker stopped working!
4. Upgraded the HDD to an SSD finally!

So basically the install of the SSD was painless. I bought a 2nd hand SSD off of eBay for £33 including postage. Got here next working day too. Sat down with a cuppa this evening whilst watching archer to install it.

Once installed I got my upgrade disc. If anyone ever does this upgrade just get an upgrade disc like I did. The option to install was greyed out (as it couldn't find any trace of mac OS on the SSD) so I did that nifty little trick of going to time machine and going as far as I could, then went back to the main screen and it gave me the option to continue!

The installation was slow... so so so so so so so so slow. I waited 2 and half hours for it to be completely installed on the drive.

Once installed (and all updates were installed) I decided to do a boot test with a fresh install.

Boot speeds:-
HDD (4200rpm 80gb): 2 minutes 40 seconds to get to desktop
SSD Kingspec 60GB: 50 seconds!!

This upgrade is so worth while so please consider it before throwing out that sexy beast of a machine!!

Going to tweak with Mac os now to make it quicker still and lighter. YouTube works well now and is a bit less choppy!

 

[iModFrenzy]

2 hours?! jeez! It does not take that long, it didn't take that long on my PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz anyway.

2mins and 40 seconds for the boot time? That's way too long, mine takes less than a minute. I guess I'll time it and see what it is exactly.

All you people getting SSDs in your PowerBooks are making me jealous .

EDIT: My boot time is 1:18, little bit more than a minute.

 

[eyoungren]

I am extremely passionate about the 17" PowerBook, particularly the A1013 as that was the very first one I ever bought for myself. The seller let if go for $150 because he thought it was on it's "last legs". Little did he know.

That Mac lasted from November 2009 until about mid-2014 when the LB failed. A LB swap failed in late 2014 and a $40 replacement I took a shot on was so bent in the bottom pan and with a faulty trackpad ribbon connector I just gave up on it. I replaced it last year with a perfect A1013.

The A1013 by the way is the first 17" 1.0Ghz. I have the max, 2GB ram.

The 17" is pretty much the only G4 laptop I truly have any appreciation for.

Glad you got yours working!

 

[paulcross22]

2 hours?! jeez! It does not take that long, it didn't take that long on my PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz anyway.

2mins and 40 seconds for the boot time? That's way too long, mine takes less than a minute. I guess I'll time it and see what it is exactly.

All you people getting SSDs in your PowerBooks are making me jealous .

Yeah I was concerned at this- but it did take a long time. And the boot speed on the HDD could be due to the fact it was an old install that had so much rubbish accumulated!

Join the cult of SSD- we'll welcome you with open arms

 

[eyoungren]

Join the cult of SSD- we'll welcome you with open arms

I'd love to join that group. Unfortunately, the entrance cost is extremely high for the capacity of SSD I would want to use.

 

[128keaton]

I'd love to join that group. Unfortunately, the entrance cost is extremely high for the capacity of SSD I would want to use.

If you don't use your CD drive, remove it, put a 'data doubler' esque adaptor, and use a SATA hdd in conjunction with an PATA->mPCIe SSD setup. You could RAID them together OR just have one with aliases for larger, less used applications.

Another option, I don't know if this works, but I found a small PATA-> SATA adaptor, it increases the length, not the height, and some cheaper SSDs (Kingspec, Sandisk) are, in reality, quite small, they don't take up the physical space of the casing. I've ordered the adaptor from China, so it could be a while, but I have the El Cheap SSD waiting. My main proponent for this was, recently I attained a X41 Thinkpad that used a half-length PATA drive. Ouch. So, let the grand experiment begin .

 

[eyoungren]

If you don't use your CD drive, remove it, put a 'data doubler' esque adaptor, and use a SATA hdd in conjunction with an PATA->mPCIe SSD setup. You could RAID them together OR just have one with aliases for larger, less used applications.

Another option, I don't know if this works, but I found a small PATA-> SATA adaptor, it increases the length, not the height, and some cheaper SSDs (Kingspec, Sandisk) are, in reality, quite small, they don't take up the physical space of the casing. I've ordered the adaptor from China, so it could be a while, but I have the El Cheap SSD waiting. My main proponent for this was, recently I attained a X41 Thinkpad that used a half-length PATA drive. Ouch. So, let the grand experiment begin .

I have in mind to do the mSATA thing with the PATA enclosure. It's just been a matter of having the kind of cash on hand that is required to buy an mSATA SSD or 500GB or higher capacity.

 

[128keaton]

I have in mind to do the mSATA thing with the PATA enclosure. It's just been a matter of having the kind of cash on hand that is required to buy an mSATA SSD or 500GB or higher capacity.

Yeah, thats why I suggested getting a smaller SSD for essential stuff, and having a 'cold storage' drive in a DVD bay.

 

[eyoungren]

Yeah, thats why I suggested getting a smaller SSD for essential stuff, and having a 'cold storage' drive in a DVD bay.

Well, I use the optical drive so great idea, but I can't really implement it. I'd also rather wait to get exactly what I want instead. I may wait a long time but I generally get what I'm after.

Took me over a decade to get the QS I've always wanted – but I got it!

 

[paulcross22]

Well, I use the optical drive so great idea, but I can't really implement it. I'd also rather wait to get exactly what I want instead. I may wait a long time but I generally get what I'm after.

Took me over a decade to get the QS I've always wanted – but I got it!

I don't think I could give up the optical drive - still use mine for too many things

 

[TedLange]

I am extremely passionate about the 17" PowerBook, particularly the A1013 as that was the very first one I ever bought for myself. The seller let if go for $150 because he thought it was on it's "last legs". Little did he know.
J
That Mac lasted from November 2009 until about mid-2014 when the LB failed. A LB swap failed in late 2014 and a $40 replacement I took a shot on was so bent in the bottom pan and with a faulty trackpad ribbon connector I just gave up on it. I replaced it last year with a perfect A1013.

The A1013 by the way is the first 17" 1.0Ghz. I have the max, 2GB ram.

The 17" is pretty much the only G4 laptop I truly have any appreciation for.

Glad you got yours working!

I am extremely passionate about the 17" PowerBook, particularly the A1013 as that was the very first one I ever bought for myself. The seller let if go for $150 because he thought it was on it's "last legs". Little did he know.

That Mac lasted from November 2009 until about mid-2014 when the LB failed. A LB swap failed in late 2014 and a $40 replacement I took a shot on was so bent in the bottom pan and with a faulty trackpad ribbon connector I just gave up on it. I replaced it last year with a perfect A1013.

The A1013 by the way is the first 17" 1.0Ghz. I have the max, 2GB ram.

The 17" is pretty much the only G4 laptop I truly have any appreciation for.

Glad you got yours working!