I’m saving up for the dual intel macs, once they get the bugs worked out. I’m sure there will be bugs at first.
But until then, I’m still using an ibook g3 500, with a 10 gig drive and 256 mg ram. I want to upgrade, desperately. The machine works fine, bug free, does everything it’s ever had asked of it, and more.
My questions are:
Should I put a bigger drive in the machine, or get an external? Since the size of applications keeps getting bigger, my availiable storage sucks. It used to be fine to back up onto cdr’s but I’m getting sick of that. If I put one in the computer, how big and how fast will it handle? If I go external, any recomendations?
Ram! I believe I have a 128 chip hard wired into it, and an extra 128 added on. Maboulette is selling a 512 PC2-4200 RAM (DDR) and I’m not sure if it will work. I think it comes from a newer machine with newer technology. Will it work?
I’ve looked around the mac forums but have not seen a good answer. I will probably buy a desktop in the future and keep the ol’ Ibook for it’s portability. The Mac store at NOVA wasn’t particularily helpful (they told me Ram for my machine was no longer availiable) and tried to sell me a hard drive enclosure but I didn’t like it (I don’t trust peripheral devices that have too many ports and such.
What Ram should I be looking for? It MUST exist! I want at least 80 g’s of hdd space. That should keep me going for another 8 months.
External! More bang for the bucks unless you want it to be portable. I use a 250 gig iomega Silverline for my iBook G4 and that works just fine.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listProductLine.asp?cat=RAM&mfr=Apple&submit=Go
It may not be the cheapest but you can get the specification there and then go to your local dealer. Still, that could be a problem because as the one you’ve already visited said, its OOP. You’ll probably find a used stick cheaper on some Mac forum.
That model uses SDRAM PC100 or PC133 SODIMMs for memory expansion and can handle up to 512mb modules. Since that’s on the old side, it’s kind of hard to find.
As for disk expansion, it uses standard 2.5" ATA drives so you will be able to find an internal replacement easily. If you decide to go external, you should only consider firewire drives. This model has USB1 ports, so a USB drive will be sloooooooooow.
It’s nice to have a bigger internal drive. I have 80 in my PowerBook and always think of getting more. I cleared enough music so I’m good for now.
I think you now you really would like to have more space you can take with you. Even if it’s 40, it’s great and cheap. I think an 80 goes for 6 or 7k? A 40 for less. Sure you could get a 250 gig or more external; I did today–a Lacie Porsche designed drive. $150 off Amazon. In Taiwan, I think less than 6500.
The ram you want is a PC100 SO-DIMM. 512 should run you less than 3k. I like Transcend; you can find them at Warner Village in the food court or at K-Mall by main station.
I just upgraded my ibook hard drive to the toshiba 100g 16mb cache 2.5 HD. System came with a 60g which i use as an external now. The guys at the apple repair store did it for me for $1000, took them about 40 minutes. I suggest you let them do it. I swear he removed about 40 screws.
Ok. What is Trancend? And what is the K-mall? I was told that that type of ram didn’t exist. Taiwanese way of saying "we don’t have it in stock? And where’s the best apple store where I can get service? I want them to do a few things…
I think I’ll go for a 40- 80 g internal. That should cover me. I’ll get a big external later and have a nice transition to my new computer. I actually don’t go portable much with my ibook. I don’t like to carry it around and I don’t have wireless…Maybe I don’t go out with it much because I don’t have wireless…
Which makes me ask another question. Do I have to get an Apple wireless airport card,and base station or can I buy from another (cheaper) company that will work. I do have a nice deck that could be utilized better…Any idea what that will cost and what do I have to do?
Geez, I don’t even have Tiger yet!
Ok I’m going to spend a little money next weekend.
thanks guys
You want to go to the Apple service store on JingHua Street #201 it’s between Xingyi and Herping Rd. on the westside of DaAn park. Just travel down Xinsheng until you see the street. Everytime I have gone in their they can speak English.
Trancend is the name of a ram company. K-Mall is like Nova or a electronics mall. Don’t go there, K-Mall sucks.
With wireless I would recommend the apple wireless card, you DONT need the basestation. If you wanted to set yourself up with some wireless in your place, get some other wireless router. It’s cheaper and works the same.
If you want, you can probably just buy a USB wireless card and use that.
60g-80g will work perfect for you. After that external is the way to go.
If you want Tiger I do have an upgrade disc you can use to install it.
I am free alot this week, if you want I can help you do anything. Just send me a PM.
K-Mall does suck. So does Nova and pretty mostretail store of any type in Taiwan or anywhere in the world. But Transcend is probably of better quality than any other Taiwanese brand.
My PB has 60GB but I’m always on about or around 40GB. At the end of the semester when I’m making DVDs, slideshows, photo albums and the sort, I push it close to 60 and my PB really slows.
Where abouts did you get the toshiba hard drive? And how much was it?
Gary, you might be able to answer this question for me. I’ve been reading about notebook HD upgrades and I have a question that hasn’t seemed to be be brought up - Would a 12 inch notebook run too hot if you dropped a 100GB 7200rpm drive into it?
Let’s see. That’s a good question. Let’s find an answer:
Hitachi has said this drive is designed for internal notebook use and other than a 10% higher powerup/spinup draw, the wattage used for read/write operations per their specs shows literally identical power consumption as previous 60GB/5400 rpm models.
Oh and my HD was 5400rpm, i was scared that 7200 would cause too much heat. I bought it at GongHua(sp) for about $6000(yikes) damn 2.5 drives are always so much more money.
I’m still waiting for the day of solid state hard drives. Terrabytes, or even more, of storage, in a compact and quite state. And after that? Nano storage. Man progress just does not happen fast enough.
We even have to wait a few years for 500 gig notebook drives.
On the other hand, holographic storage may actually beat out solid state. Inphase Technologies is supposed to have the first commercial product out sometime this year. It’ll probably take at least a few years to get affordable, but it holds great promise for really dense storage.
I second the recommendation to take your iBook to the Mac store on Jin Hua. They also have an outlet a block from Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT station. Get out at the #3 exit, and turn right. At the second intersection is a Mos Burger place, which is downstairs. The Mac store is also down there. Walk straight from the stairs (avoiding the big screen tv’s) and you’ll see it.
These guys are great, and nearly everyone there has great English. We were there the other day because my wife has ants crawling out of her iBook He disassembled it (again, taking out about 40 screws), cleaned all the ants out and put it back together in about 25 minutes. I would never want to open one of those iBooks up myself…
So I went to Trancend and the mac store near jhonxiao-dunhua mrt on sunday and got, respectively, a 512k ram card and an 80 g internal drive installed. I received good, English speaking service at both stores. My little ol’ ibook seems to be running a bit faster and better, and I am also “discovering” Tiger. It looks good!
I didn’t do any comparison shopping before I went. I decided to spend some money and did it.
What do you think:
512k ram card installed= 4150$
80 g 5400 rpm drive =5000$
cleaning the inside (full of ants)= free
tiger disk =450$
total 9600$
I am happy with the results. I’m just wondering what you think. My computer is probably good for another year or longer the way I plan to use it. I hope to get photoshop soon and mess around with some of my pictures. I hope to get office and Final draft again and get back to work. I’m looking for a specific program that will help me crunch the numbers for my business plan. It’s really cool having some hard disk space.
I cleared enough music so I’m good for now.