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Wow! My Ibook is *fast* again!

M

Mr. B

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 25, 2005
114
0
Hey, a little while ago I made a post about whether or not I should buy a macbook pro for when I travel abroad.

The reason that I wanted to do so was because my current computer (an ibook g4 14.1 inch screen 1.2 ghz) was moving incredibly slowly, I only had about ten minutes of batery life, couldn't even play youtube videos at a decent clip, had almost no space left, and didn't allow me to use the adobe suite at anywhere near the speed I needed.

However I was hesitant to buy a macbook, if just because I was very curious to see if any new revisions would come out after the next os upgrade.

So! I decided to see if my ibook could be salvaged for a few hundred bucks.

I deleted everything off of my computer I didn't need, I downloaded ATIcellerater 2 and set my graphics to + 15%, I ordered a new battery from New World computing (whoops, meant other world computing), ordered a gig of ram from crucial, scanned my computer with a bunch of different fixing software and used Onyx to clean all of my caches out. And finally, I got myself a Mybook 250 gig external hardrive.

All of this together cost me around 400 dollars.

Now, some of you may be shaking your heads at what seems to be wasted time and money, but my ibook now runs *very* fast.

Dock icons pop open almost immediately, photoshop works very nicely at 8.5 x 11 at 300 dpi, youtube videos stream without any lag (even while loading), and my computer now has over 6 hours of battery life.

Anyways... I urge any current ibook or powerbook owners that are considering upgrading to think about first testing out how much life their own computer still has, an upgrade really might not be necessary!
 
Yeah... last week, I went from 640MB -> 1.125GB and the difference has been remarkable. And it only cost $75. Plus I already have a close-to-new battery because of the recall (98% health @ 37 cycles). I love this thing... it's tiny and light. I don't want to give it up just yet. :)
 
Really ... I had an iBook 12" 1.2 GHz that was snail slow, which I tried to upgrade with 7200 RPM 100 GB HD and 1.25 GB RAM and it still ran like a dog for me ... even after a fresh install of OS X. I even had the Apple store check it and they said nothing was wrong.
Anyways... I urge any current ibook or powerbook owners that are considering upgrading to think about first testing out how much life their own computer still has, an upgrade really might not be necessary!
Click to expand...
Definitely try to max out your old hardware before buying anything new.
 
After G said:
Really ... I had an iBook 12" 1.2 GHz that was snail slow, which I tried to upgrade with 7200 RPM 100 GB HD and 1.25 GB RAM and it still ran like a dog for me ... even after a fresh install of OS X. I even had the Apple store check it and they said nothing was wrong.
Definitely try to max out your old hardware before buying anything new.
Click to expand...


Wow... that's really strange. I didn't even get rid of my old files and applications, just deleted the stuff I didn't want anymore.

I'm also running 10.4.10 with all of the current software updates, and on the original 60 gig hardrive (which I imagine is 5400 rpm?)

... there's absolutely no reason your computer should have been slow after you did a complete fresh install with a fast new hardrive and new ram...
 
I would have just sold the ibook and taken the extra money you put into the ibook and bought a MacBook. You probably would have come close in price by buying a refurb or something. Just my opinion though...

Nuc
 
Nuc said:
I would have just sold the ibook and taken the extra money you put into the ibook and bought a MacBook. You probably would have come close in price by buying a refurb or something. Just my opinion though...

Nuc
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the whole point of me upgrading my ibook was so I could wait out the next few months till a new macbook pro upgrade came out while still having a functioning computer.

Also I'll be able to take the mybook pro over to the macbook pro when the time comes, so in the end I only ended up paying around 250 dollars to completely fix my ibook.

But truthfully this thing is running basic applications as fast as any macbook I've been on, and runs photoshop cs at a *very* commendable speed...
 
I think it's great that the thread author opted to try to get the iBook running again. It was definitely the cheaper choice since the 400$ mentioned above include a MyBook (ext. HD) and if you subtract this cost upgrading his iBook was whole lot cheaper than buying a new MB.

Congratulations and have fun with your revived iBook;-)

byakuya

Edit: ups Mr.B was faster than me...
 
Mr. B said:
I'm also running 10.4.10 with all of the current software updates, and on the original 60 gig hardrive (which I imagine is 5400 rpm?)
Click to expand...


Nope. 4200rpm. I had the last rev iBook and that only had the slower HD.
 
I have an Ibook 12" 1.33 with a gig of ram and it is like lightning. Runs all my apps etc. I have a 320gb Mybook also (firewire). It runs Leopard just as fast as 10.4. I would not swap it for the world in fact it is my only machine. I run frontrow and it also streams to my xbox 360 in the living room.
Upgrade? why? Have you seen ebay, old Macs never die. Running an external monitor with span doctor what more do I need?:apple::D

I run onyx every few weeks.
 
Accylad said:
I have an Ibook 12" 1.33 with a gig of ram and it is like lightning. Runs all my apps etc. I have a 320gb Mybook also (firewire). It runs Leopard just as fast as 10.4. I would not swap it for the world in fact it is my only machine. I run frontrow and it also streams to my xbox 360 in the living room.
Upgrade? why? Have you seen ebay, old Macs never die. Running an external monitor with span doctor what more do I need?:apple::D

I run onyx every few weeks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the only real downside is that you can't buy new applications (and since mac has gone intel the support for powerpc is dribbling away), but it's easy to forget how fast your computer was when you first got it, and that it can be that fast again with a bit of polishing...

Yeah, powerbooks still sell for a ridiculous amount of ebay...
 
I just hope I can do the same with my 867MHz 12" PowerBook. I originally planned to buy a MacBook in early August, but now I have decided to wait till Christmas and hopefully get a newer MacBook.

With the PowerBook, I plan to upgrade the RAM from 640MB to 1152MB, get a new battery, reinstall Tiger and clear as much old stuff from the hard drive as possible (I have to restart it every day to keep 1GB free on its 40GB hard drive :eek:).
 
Tom B. said:
(I have to restart it every day to keep 1GB free on its 40GB hard drive :eek:).
Click to expand...

I absolutely recommend the RAM upgrade, but you should fix this NOW. For free, you'll get an immense improvement in performance if you can squeeze out at least five consistent GB of free drive space. I try to keep my iBook at 12-15. I know it stinks, but it really helps things. Of course, I can keep extra files on my iMac. :eek:
 
Seriously, get an external hardrive as well.

You can use it with the next computer you get, and you'll be able to store large files on it.

Also it will be quite a bit faster than your current computer if you get a 7,200 rpm one, so accesing files on it won't be a slowdown. (assuming you use firewire anyway...)
 
I keep around 6 gb free on my MacBook Pro (occasionally dips below), but since I've had my dad's MacBook (MBP in for service), this thing is SO much quicker, and it's got 35 gigs free (Boot camp partitioned).

Free hard drive space + clean filey stuff is a good way of speedalising up your computer :D
 
OK, thanks for the advice guys. :) I'll definitely get an external hard drive soon, probably in about 2 weeks. Is there any particular model that any of you recommend? I want at least 250GB and 7200 RPM.

I was thinking about this one as I'll be ordering a new battery from there too.
NewerTechnology miniStack v2
 
Hey Mr. B,

I have the exact same computer as you and I've already done some of the stuff you suggested: OnyX, ATIccelerator II. I'm wondering what else you did, as in what other specific scan and fix programs you used.

By the way, I spent several hours today tearing through my apartment trying to find my original iBook system disks so I could repair a problem with my hard drive that OnyX alerted me to. That has made a huge difference in how this computer runs.

Also: does ATIccelerator make your computer run hotter? Just curious. I can't really tell with mine. It's always been pretty hot.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions.

Oh yeah, you wrote something about "New World Computing" for a battery. I couldn't find a site for them. You didn't happen to mean newegg.com did you?
 
Wirelessly posted (LGE-VX9900/1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

very cool, its good to hear i/powerbook users getting some more life out of their machines. 400 is a little steep, but some of the stuff you got will carry over to your next computer (like the mybook)
 
My iBook G3 800 MHz is showing it's age for sure. However, it is running 10.4.10 with only 256 MB of RAM fairly well, with about 15 GB of it's original 30 left.

Unfortunatly, it has the infamous logic board problem, and the video scramble's and such, sometimes the screen doesnt turn on. I bought it secondhand, so i'm not eligable for the repair program. (Unless i am; someone correct me otheriwse, that would be awesome) But it's still kicking along. Writing this post with it right now.

G3's, and PPC in general are still very good computers.
 
Excellent news

Good to hear, I was hoping to use my fiance's iBook G4 (1.33 Ghz, I think) for the first year or so of my PhD work, as opposed to buying a new Macbook or better. Her battery seems pretty good, and I am unwilling to rip the guts out of the computer for a new HD. However, if I can get a good deal on RAM I might as well try to max it out at 1 Gig if I can.

She has it completely full of photos right now, so I'm hoping she gets around to using that 250 Gig external I got her for Xmas.

Thanks for the insight!
 
i put a extra gig in my ibook in march and its so snappy, i personally think it faster than my sisters macbook, it a great computer, i just wish the battery was better, ive has it for a year and 3 months and ive gone through 240 cycles!
 
My iBook G4 1 Ghz is still great, but after hearing the testimonies about more RAM, I'm off to get myself a 1 gig chip. I love my iBook. It is one sturdy little machine, and I've dropped it 6 times. I've never had one problem with it, despite that.
 
Dropped mine too and spilt wine into the keyboard! The ibook is a great machine. I have about 17gb free on the hard drive, with all my big files on the Mybook. It has bluetooth and wireless and has webcam, ipod, keyboard, bluetooth mouse all running sweet with no power issues. Frontrow runs nice and with a Wii remote you have everyhting you need. :D
 
I would recommend screen spanning doctor also. With this app you have some of the features as a more expensive powerbook.
 
wow this is really amazing. i am going to try some of these things on my dad;s iBook...he already has maxed the ram tho. 14gb free on the HD i think. the airport card is bogus dont work from anymore that 20m away
 
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