PowerBookG4 2.0GHz CPU upgrade by Daystar

[California]

Yeah I agree. When my Applecare runs out in October or so, if I could bump from 1.33 to 2.0 for $300-$400, I might go for it. Especially if Apple continues to not include FW800 on MacBooks! And if its still going to be a few months until all the apps I use are universal binaries.

My question would be if FSB speed remains the same (I think 167 MHz) does the increased clock speed really have that much of an impact on performance? Doesn't it just kind of create a system bottleneck?

Call Daystar and tell 'em about our thread and ask them the FSB question. Then ask if you can get a discount if five other MR members get the upgrade. I can't do it now because my PB was only purchased in December, but there have got to be other people out there who'd do it.

They do very very fine work -- as I said I had three Tibooks upgraded. All great great great.

 

[Jovian9]

That is even better then the MacBook Pro 2.13GHz CTO... =.)

from www.barefeats.com

February 15th, 2006: Daystar announces up to 2.0GHz upgrade for Aluminum G4 PowerBooks.

The base price of $499 includes all parts and labor.

PowerBook G4 15": 1.0, 1.25, 1.33 upgraded to 1.92 GHz
PowerBook G4 15": 1.5 is upgraded to 2.0 GHz
PowerBook G4 17": 1.33 upgraded to 1.92 GHz
PowerBook G4 17": 1.5 is upgraded to 2.0 GHz

No upgrades for the 12" PB line

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I'm not surprised about this - Daystar has had the 1.92GHz upgrade for the iMac G4 for a while now, and they specialize in PowerBook upgrades.

It isn't very cheap but having the option to upgrade is always a good thing - contrary to what a lot of people on this board who've already written the PowerPC off think, it has quite a bit of life in it yet. Just ask all the people out there who are still using 8-year old G3 PowerBooks.

 

[California]

No upgrades for the 12" PB line

No go on the Daystar sight --- there ARE 12" PB upgrades -- they just run $699!!!

 

[daystartech]

I am more interested in what PowerLogix may have to offer. PoweLogix is supposed to be launching PowerPC G4 7448 processor upgrades that clock as high as 2Ghz and double the L2 cache to a full 1MB. The 7448 should also run considerably cooler than the current 7447 G4.

Well, Daystar has been testing, and has actually shipped (wow, before announcing... unlike PowerLogix and their PR-ware) a 7448 in a PowerBook 1.67 GHz system.

Now for some facts...

The 7448 will not work in slower Powerbooks (1.0 GHz - 1.5 GHz) due to pin-out limitations. And while on PowerBooks... note that PowerLogix has never shipped a successful PowerBook upgrade (see http://xlr8yourmac.com cpu customer reviews).

Also, just to clarify, the 7448 is limited in re-specifying to higher speeds. It is limited to 1.4v. and is currently limited to a max of 1.83 GHz. 2.0 GHz is currently unrealistic.

 

[daystartech]

No go on the Daystar sight --- there ARE 12" PB upgrades -- they just run $699!!!

The cost for the 12" is due to labor. Apple decided to put the 12" logic board completely under everything else. The price though is $599, for 1.83 GHz. Still very rich, but simply a reflection of the costs.

Gary Daily
Daystar
http://daystar-tech.com

 

[PowerbookMad]

7448 please!

A processor update is all well and good in a Powerbook and the daystar ones are quite attractive, but I would only buy a 7448. The 7447A is OLD!!

 

[tristan]

I agree with the OP - $500 for a 0.33 or 0.5 ghz G4 upgrade that voids your warranty isn't exactly the deal of the century.

Don't get me wrong - I'm glad to know its out there. With all the hype about the MacBook Pro, its nice to know that my Powerbook G4 still has an upgrade path. But 90% of us who own PBG4s will replace it with a new MBP within 2-3 years. Especially if the next generation of Intel chips are as good as is currently predicted.

 

[Tilmitt]

Well, Daystar has been testing, and has actually shipped (wow, before announcing... unlike PowerLogix and their PR-ware) a 7448 in a PowerBook 1.67 GHz system.

Now for some facts...

The 7448 will not work in slower Powerbooks (1.0 GHz - 1.5 GHz) due to pin-out limitations. And while on PowerBooks... note that PowerLogix has never shipped a successful PowerBook upgrade (see http://xlr8yourmac.com cpu customer reviews).

Also, just to clarify, the 7448 is limited in re-specifying to higher speeds. It is limited to 1.4v. and is currently limited to a max of 1.83 GHz. 2.0 GHz is currently unrealistic.

Yeah I'm definitely going to get one of those! 7448! Imagine how cool it'd be to have one of those......!

 

[Little Endian]

Well, Daystar has been testing, and has actually shipped (wow, before announcing... unlike PowerLogix and their PR-ware) a 7448 in a PowerBook 1.67 GHz system.

Now for some facts...

The 7448 will not work in slower Powerbooks (1.0 GHz - 1.5 GHz) due to pin-out limitations. And while on PowerBooks... note that PowerLogix has never shipped a successful PowerBook upgrade (see http://xlr8yourmac.com cpu customer reviews).

Also, just to clarify, the 7448 is limited in re-specifying to higher speeds. It is limited to 1.4v. and is currently limited to a max of 1.83 GHz. 2.0 GHz is currently unrealistic.

I just checked you are correct that 7448 seems to be limited to 1.83Ghz at the moment and PowerLogix has still to ship a 7448 Upgrade kit.

I still think it would have been better for Apple to ship one more G4 based PowerBook with this chip as it would have given us better performance in many cases than a Core Duo and run cooler too.

 

[Abstract]

What am I thinking? I'm thinking that I could spend $500 in a lot of different ways than shelling it out for a 700mhz upgrade for my G4 Pbook. Here are a couple examples:

(unimportant drivel)


So the next time you try to flame me on the internet, try to use your friggin brain.

What if you have a perfectly good 1.25 GHz G4 15" PB, want a faster laptop, don't want the 15" MBP because you don't want software running under Rosetta (eg: Photoshop), and oh, you don't want to spend $2000 for a 15" MBP when it might only be equally as fast running your current software when compared to a 15" PowerBook with this $500 upgrade? That's a lot of money saved for possibly similar performance, depending on what software you use.

Doesn't sound stupid to me, genius.

Also, Farside didn't "flame" you. You're too soft if you think that was flaming.

 

[tristan]

I still think it would have been better for Apple to ship one more G4 based PowerBook with this chip as it would have given us better performance in many cases than a Core Duo and run cooler too.

Huh? I would think a Core Duo would smoke any G4 on native apps - especially since it has a real FSB.

EDIT: I just checked Mac Specs - AlBook goes back to 09/2003, when they sold 1 and 1.25ghz. So yeah, for these machines that are almost out of warranty and far below 2.0 ghz, I guess this upgrade could be worth it. And you could put 2 gigs of RAM in. But you'd still have a 167 mhz bus though, which means that real geeks would bully you on the playground.

 

[RGunner]

Gary Daily

Gary,

Thanks for taking the time to visit the Macrumors Site.. you are very welcome here!!

Best from Anchorage,
Robert G.

 

[Little Endian]

Huh? I would think a Core Duo would smoke any G4 on native apps - especially since it has a real FSB.

EDIT: I just checked Mac Specs - AlBook goes back to 09/2003, when they sold 1 and 1.25ghz. So yeah, for these machines that are almost out of warranty and far below 2.0 ghz, I guess this upgrade could be worth it. And you could put 2 gigs of RAM in. But you'd still have a 167 mhz bus though, which means that real geeks would bully you on the playground.

True a Core Duo would smoke any G4 with SMP aware Native apps on it's side.....but what if the Apps you most rely on are not native now. Some Apps may not be available natively till up to a year from now and worst yet some favorite Apps, older ones in particular may never go Universal binary. As for the Apps that do go UB of which most will, how many will require an upgrade that will cost $$.

The Core Duo is faster than the G4 in Native UB apps mostly because of it's Dual cores not because of it's FSB. The Core Duo's Clock speed advantage 1.83 vs 1.67Ghz and 4x advantage in cache over the current G4 also plays a greater role in performance than the FSB difference. Core Duo notebooks also have the faster X1600 GPU on it's side.

To exemplify this lets look at performance of a 1.5Ghz Intel Core solo to a 1.42Ghz G4 in the Mac mini.

http://www.macworld.com/2006/03/firstlooks/minibenchmarks/index.php

If we take away the Dual core advantage and GPU advantage the Intel does not perform very well as seen with the mini. In the Core solo mini Intel still has 80Mhz of CPU clock speed, 2MB of L2 cache and it's 667Mhz FSB still in it's favor over the 1.42Ghz G4 mini with it's 512Kb L2 and 167Mhz FSB. However the G4 1.42 mini beats the Core Solo Mini in all tests except "Cinema 4D" where Core Solo has a 50% advantage and "Zip archive" where it performs 15% faster than the G4 mini. Note that itunes, imovie, and Unreal are Universal Binary but the G4 still beat the faster on paper Core solo. Core for Core Clock for clock the G4 and G5 are almost on par if not faster than the current intel Chips that Apple is using.

If you look really hard into the many published benchmarks I think you will see that many users would be better off in the "here and now" with an updated Powerbook G4 from Apple via 1.83Ghz 7448 G4 w/1MB L2 cache, 200Mhz FSB and a nice X1600 GPU. I could explain further but basically if such a mythical Powerbook was built the Core Duo would only "smoke it" in SMP aware applications that are Universal Binary. In all other cases as in Single threaded apps Universal binary or not and with non native apps such a powerbook would come close to matching the Core Duo's performance if not beat it outright.

 

[Amuraivel]

How does the mod for a 12" exactly work?

Is it a chip upgrade?

Is it an overclock?

Is it a system board replacement?
(If it were this can I send you an empy 12" case and you fill it with 1.83/1.92 G4 goodness?)

 

[Anonymous Freak]

What am I thinking? I'm thinking that I could spend $500 in a lot of different ways than shelling it out for a 700mhz upgrade for my G4 Pbook. Here are a couple examples:

If this upgrade was available for 12" PowerBook G4s, I would have seriously considered this upgrade instead of buying a MacBook Pro. I have a rev.a 12" PB G4 (867 MHz,) that really does work just fine, albiet slow. Between a 2.3x processor speed increase and a 7200 RPM hard drive (that I got dirt cheap, but put in my PeeCee laptop because I knew the MacBook Pro was already on its way,) my 12" PB would have felt like a new machine. And for 1/4 the price of the MacBook Pro.

So the next time you try to flame me on the internet, try to use your friggin brain.

Love that quote, by the way.

 

[xPismo]

Interesting info. Does anyone have an upgraded Powerbook yet?

I'm on the fence. My Pismo died a sad death due to a powerlogix G4 upgrade... but 1.92 would be nice... althought I would probably down grade the speed to 1.7Ghz to get below the OEM heat & wattage numbers.

Mmm, faster and better battery life and cooler to boot? Sounds like fun.