Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PowerBook G4 acquisition

jrsx

jrsx

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 2, 2013
1,057
18
Tacoma, Washington
I got my 2004 12" Al PB today! It's equipped with a PowerPC G4 clocking in at 1.33 GHz, it's maxed out at 1.25 GBs of RAM, has a 60 GB 4200 RPM HDD, a SuperDrive (CD+-RW, DVD+-RW burner), and installed was Mac OS X v.10.5.8 Leopard (Upgraded from Panther).

Overall I am pretty impressed at this thing! Although it heats up like nobody's business (after an hour, with only one or two apps open at a time, it got to 130* F), it runs pretty well under Leopard. It has twice as much VRAM (64 MB) as my iBook G4, so things like expose and spaces work very well. I wish it could take more RAM, but whatever. It's in pretty good condition, except the bottom, but even that was better than my first iBook. It has very few visible scratches, most of which are on the bottom, so that's nice. Everything is in working order, even the microphone which I was afraid wouldn't work, and didn't at first, until I found that it had been disabled in Audio Midi Setup in /Applications/Utilities. It is also thinner than my iBook, and actually smaller although it has the same screen size. Another thing. The fans are really nice! They are much much quieter than my iBook's fans, which is good since: A.) they come on often, and B.) I really hate loud fans! LOL

Here's some pics (sorry for bad quality):
Snapshot_20140402.JPG

Snapshot_20140402_1.JPGhttp:

Snapshot_20140402_2.JPG

Snapshot_20140402_3.JPG

Snapshot_20140402_4.JPG

Snapshot_20140402_5.JPG

Snapshot_20140402_6.JPG
 
Last edited:
My favorite Apple portable of all time is the 12" PowerBook. I use my 1.5 more than any other laptop I own, and it feels faster than my 17" 1.67 HiRes PowerBook. It certainly got better too, as the 867MHz ones I had got SUPER hot and the fan ran constantly in those.
 
UPDATE: Well, I think I may need a new battery. :D
The current one holds about 20-25 minutes tops.

Also, this thing really rockets while installing stuff. I installed iLife 08', which took about 10-15 minutes, and by the time I finished, the CPU top was 140*! It cools down fast, though, being made of metal, and having pretty good fans.

I do have one question for someone: My AC adapter indicator never changes colors from orange to green, except when I first plug it in, then it quickly goes back to orange from green. Even when the software says, "Battery is charged," It stays at orange. Is this normal for an almost dead battery? Also, does it take a 60 wat AC adapter or a 45 wat? Both the ones I have are 45 wat, and work fine with my iBook. Could this be the cause of the orange light on all the time?
 
Last edited:
jrsx said:
UPDATE: Well, I think I may need a new battery. :D
The current one holds about 20-25 minutes tops.

Also, this thing really rockets while installing stuff. I installed iLife 08', which took about 10-15 minutes, and by the time I finished, the CPU top was 140*! It cools down fast, though, being made of metal, and having pretty good fans.

I do have one question for someone: My AC adapter indicator never changes colors from orange to green, except when I first plug it in, then it quickly goes back to orange from green. Even when the software says, "Battery is charged," It stays at orange. Is this normal for an almost dead battery? Also, does it take a 60 wat AC adapter or a 45 wat? Both the ones I have are 45 wat, and work fine with my iBook. Could this be the cause of the orange light on all the time?
Click to expand...
The 12" PBs all take 45W chargers. You can use 65W though, it will simply step down. Don't know about the light thing though.

As long as the PB is not shutting down on you (happened to me a few times) then you're in the safe zone as far as heat. If it gets too hot you'll get thermal shutdown. One moment it's on, blink, next moment it's off.
 
Earlier this year, I bought a 867MHz 12" one to replace my 800MHz iBook G3. These are beautiful laptops - the best Apple has ever made in my opinion. It's not particularly fast, but after I upgraded the memory to the full 1.12 GB it runs a lot smoother.

One thing I didn't realise until I got it was how much smaller and lighter it is than the iBooks - which is perfect as I can take it with me all the time now.
 
jrsx said:
UPDATE: Well, I think I may need a new battery. :D
The current one holds about 20-25 minutes tops.

Also, this thing really rockets while installing stuff. I installed iLife 08', which took about 10-15 minutes, and by the time I finished, the CPU top was 140*! It cools down fast, though, being made of metal, and having pretty good fans.

I do have one question for someone: My AC adapter indicator never changes colors from orange to green, except when I first plug it in, then it quickly goes back to orange from green. Even when the software says, "Battery is charged," It stays at orange. Is this normal for an almost dead battery?
Click to expand...

Try resetting the PMU:
  • Shutdown your Mac normally (>Shutdown)
  • Press and hold the following keys for one second then release all of them at once - Control + Shift + Option + Power
  • Wait 5 seconds
  • Press the power button to power the Mac on normally

That may fix the issue. Alternately it could, and more than likely is, an older consumed or otherwise flaky battery.

gavinstubbs09 said:
If you get a chance, tear the thing down, clean it and apply new thermal paste. You'll notice a difference right away :)
Click to expand...

These little guys are a nightmare to work on. I wouldn't hesitate to replace the DC/SATA cable in an iMac, swap the power supply in a PowerMac G5, perform any repair in any other Apple notebook... But these... They're just a pain. You're absolutely right, cleaning it out will make a big difference as it's surely chock full of dust/debris. I (as a very seasoned technician) wouldn't even consider doing so if it was my own Mac though, not unless there was an actual issue first.
 
Mr Rabbit said:
These little guys are a nightmare to work on. I wouldn't hesitate to replace the DC/SATA cable in an iMac, swap the power supply in a PowerMac G5, perform any repair in any other Apple notebook... But these... They're just a pain. You're absolutely right, cleaning it out will make a big difference as it's surely chock full of dust/debris. I (as a very seasoned technician) wouldn't even consider doing so if it was my own Mac though, not unless there was an actual issue first.
Click to expand...
Oh, I so agree with this! My wife's 12" PowerBook was had for $50 because the previous owner let it roll down a flight of stairs, thus breaking the LCD. So. I ordered an LCD with it and swapped it out when I got it.

The spaces inside the 12" are highly confining and very small. I broke two parts just trying to swap the LCD. One wire stripped out of a connector and a keyboard key. I much prefer working inside my 17" PowerBook over these Macs.
 
OK, and I though iBooks were hard to get into! That one power connecter by the left speaker is stuck in HARD to the motherboard, and I have broken it before on my first iBook. :(
The PowerBook G4 12" guides at iFixit make it look 10 times worse than the ibook guides!
 
jrsx said:
OK, and I though iBooks were hard to get into! That one power connecter by the left speaker is stuck in HARD to the motherboard, and I have broken it before on my first iBook. :(
The PowerBook G4 12" guides at iFixit make it look 10 times worse than the ibook guides!
Click to expand...
The absolute WORST part is that one small connector that is plugged into the logicboard right under the keyboard.

It's slightly more than a half inch rectangular space and if the connector is stuck on hard then good luck getting it out without ripping the wires out or the socket off the logicboard. I was lucky and it came out pretty easy, but I had to use a dental pick. There's no way to get your fingers in there. And that connector has to come off if you want to get the top case off.
 
....And the top case has to come off if you want to take it apart. lol
Yeah, I read on iFixit the best way to get them off safely is with a spudger or flathead screwdriver, and gently twist it, pushing down on the plug, while pushing up on the connector. It seems to work for most people. Sometime I'll give it a go.
 
Intell said:
The little fan in those are quite, but they can get fairly loud at 8,000-9,000 rpm.
Click to expand...

Yes, they seem to begin to get loud at around 5,000 RPM - 6,000 RPM.

I'm now fully updated with Mactubes, iTunes 10, and iLife 08'. What is the difference between Safari and Leo-Webkit? I don't notice a difference in anything, but I am told that the security is better. How does this affect it?
 
Leopard Webkit, because it uses a newer version of the Webkit framework, renders sites more accurately and is compatible with a greater number of websites than plain Safari. As you said, the security is also better.
 
harrymatic said:
Leopard Webkit, because it uses a newer version of the Webkit framework, renders sites more accurately and is compatible with a greater number of websites than plain Safari. As you said, the security is also better.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I never really new the difference, but used it anyway, because it seemed slightly faster than Safari, and people (ahem, Intell) always say that it's much more secure.
 
Last edited:
jrsx said:
Thanks! I never really new the difference, but used it anyway, because it seemed slightly faster than Safari, and people (ahem, Intel) always say that it's much more secure.
Click to expand...

My name has two L's. But for maximum security, you should use TenFourFox. Leopard's SSL implementation has problems with some of the newer SSL encryption standards.
 
eyoungren said:
That's short for Intelligent, not the PC processor company by the way. ;):D
Click to expand...

Some people would dispute that. But thanks for the compliment.

jrsx said:
Of course. Why would he want Intel in his name? How could I forget? :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Many years ago, I did want the name of the CPU maker as my username. But it was already taken. So I just added an extra L and stuck with it. I wanted that name because that's what my sister named the orange Muppet at left I made as a high school art project. His name has since retroactively been given a second L.
 
Mr Rabbit said:
These little guys are a nightmare to work on. I wouldn't hesitate to replace the DC/SATA cable in an iMac, swap the power supply in a PowerMac G5, perform any repair in any other Apple notebook... But these... They're just a pain. You're absolutely right, cleaning it out will make a big difference as it's surely chock full of dust/debris. I (as a very seasoned technician) wouldn't even consider doing so if it was my own Mac though, not unless there was an actual issue first.
Click to expand...

Pfft. The G4s are a piece of cake compared to the SnowBooks.
 
With the exception of the colored clamshell iBooks the G3 and G4 iBooks are some of the easiest Macs to work on. Your first few repairs with them are tough because it feels like you're breaking them as you separate the case, similar to when you open a MacBook for the first few times, but once you've done it a few times they are not bad at all. People seem to complain about the number of screws in them but they're all pretty unique sizes, making reassembly pretty easy.
 
I just think snowbooks are slightly easier to get into, although I will say that the insides are pretty much the same. Just less plugs to disconnect than the g4.
 
So as I said earlier, my current battery only holds about 15-20 minutes. I just left it asleep for a couple hours at 100%, and it dropped to 87%. Would anybody have any suggestions for a new 1third party battery? I couldn't find any new Apple ones. Also, preferably I would like it to be under $30. :)
I found some decent deals on eBay and Amazon for new batteries, but I would like to see if anybody has any experience with this. The one I have has no brand, it is aftermarket, and was replaced in 2008. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back