Drives, RAM, USB 2.0, Keyboards... It's enough to make a girl's head spin!
February 17, 2010 8:42 AM   Subscribe

Hey MacNerds! Help me pimp my 12" PowerBook G4.

Rather than spring the $1,500 (which I don't have) to get the new Mac that I want, I've been fixing up my old one. New keyboard? Check. Now I want to do a few other things to it to make getting a new compy less mandatory.

The optical drive on my 12" PowerBook G4 (Model # M9690LL/A), 1.5 Ghz crapped out. And, coincidentally, my willingness to replace it corresponds with our getting an HDTV. I have checked iFixIt and the Apple Store, with no luck as far as their autofinders go. I think it has to be internal, because my USB is not 2.0, so it doesn't have the power to reliably support the externals unless there is an independent power source.

Which brings me to my next question. Can I replace the old USB ports with USB 2.0 ports? This would be pretty sweet if I could. Then I'd stop considering replacing the 60 gig hard drive.

Also, I've regrettably got a Powerbook processor. It only impedes me for a few programs, and prevents me from having a proper Windows emulator. I can live with that. My b/f has a PC in the house so I can use that when truly necessary. And I know I can't replace the processor (says the 'net), but is there any other way to mitigate the annoyance of said incompatibility?

Finally, anything else I might want to do while I'm mucking around in there? Its only got 512 MB RAM, and my browsing is slower than on my b/f's $350 PC, so I'm wondering if upping that might help. But I need to find out what the limit is, if there is such thing.

I'm running 10.4.11 as of right.... now.

Thanks mefite-pies. ;)
posted by letahl to Computers & Internet (18 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Congrats, you're the proud owner of a Mac Netbook. (I still have mine.)

Extra RAM will absolutely make a world of difference. Max it out.

PowerPC means you have classic capability, look into using that.

Lowendmac.com is your friend.

Get a battery now, even if you don't need it. They're only going to get more expensive.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:51 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: I'm a Mac tech, and I work on "legacy" systems like yours on a daily basis. Unfortunately, there's not much to be done with your machine, and I would be hesitant to put much more than $100-200 into it.

If you don't care about the optical drive being internal, a FireWire CD/DVD drive might be a better choice. It will most likely be less expensive, and replacing anything on the inside of a PBG4 12" is a real pain. I don't remember at the moment if there's a bus-powered FireWire optical drive being made, but I do think they exist.

No, there's no way to upgrade your USB ports- they're soldered onto the logic board, just like the processor. There's really not much else to do wrt Windows programs, either- emulator solutions like Virtual PC were always terribly slow and cumbersome.

Apple says your RAM maxes out at 640 MB (your 512 MB stick plus the 128 MB soldered onto the logic board), but putting a 1GB stick in should work, too. If you really want to put more money into the machine, that's probably the most worthwhile upgrade. I wouldn't recommend upgrading to Leopard (10.5).

Sorry for the bummer news- really, I'd save up for a refurb or gently-used Intel Mac if I were in your position.
posted by aaronbeekay at 8:53 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: About a year ago, I began looking to pimp my 12" pb. I upgraded the RAM, which helped, and the optical drive (read-only) still worked, so that was okay, but in the end, I went for a new 13" mbp (I decided to reward myself after surviving a 5-week murder trial as an alternate juror).

By the time you price out all the bits and pieces you want to pimp your pb, you're likely well on your way to a refurb macbook. Check the Apple site, of course, but I've also had good luck on powermax.com, which is where I bought my (refurbed) pb in the first place.
posted by rtha at 9:10 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer:
Apple says your RAM maxes out at 640 MB (your 512 MB stick plus the 128 MB soldered onto the logic board), but putting a 1GB stick in should work, too.
Yes. It would work. Confirmed. You'll see 1.25GB usable RAM. I did this to a 12" Powerbook machine with a processor speed of around 867MHz to 1GHz IIRC. It was noticeably snappier.

If you can get a cheap, solid hard drive that fits in the machine, you'll see a nice speed boost from that, too. Whether it's cost-effective depends on how cheap you can get one for.
posted by krilli at 9:19 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: I still run a 867 MHz PB 12" from 2003 - replaced it once with a 13" MacBook but couldn't stand the plastic housing. Add a 7200 RPM HD and a 1GB stick for around $100-$120 total and you'll have done everything you can with this trusty axe.

Optical drives and this model don't get along; mine was replaced under warranty and it later died again. No chance for USB 2.0, sadly.
posted by porn in the woods at 9:29 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: You already have USB 2.0 ports, so you don't need to replace them. But you should use FireWire anyway; it's a lot faster than USB 2.0 (too bad they removed it from the newer MacBooks).

Consider replacing the internal hard drive. It will be cheaper and much faster than an external one (but not that easy to install).
posted by k. at 9:34 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: I did some upgrades on my own 12-inch PB-G4 back when that was my laptop. I did in fact replace the optical drive (from CDR to SuperDrive) as well as bump the RAM to what Krilli uses (256 + 1Gb). It wasn't impossibly hard... assuming you're comfortable working with about fifty screws and tiny parts so small that they look like they belong to a wristwatch.

I took a lot of photos along the way and labeled every part on the way out, that's for sure. There's some "now carefully thread this wire back exactly in this place" trickery, but there are a million online videos and pics to show where things should go.

It cost me about $150 to do both things a few years ago. Internal SuperDrives should be $50ish by now, and a gig of RAM is like $25. I'd do it.

No, you can't upgrade the USB controller: it's part of the motherboard.
posted by rokusan at 9:35 AM on February 17, 2010


Whoops, I missed that you have the 1.5GHz. Yep, your ports are USB 2.0. This will not matter at all for an external optical drive; the speed of the drive will be slower than either USB or FireWire. (FireWire does provide more power, more reliably.)
posted by aaronbeekay at 9:37 AM on February 17, 2010


I'm thinking of selling my intel Macbook pro (this is not a sales pitch!) and in researching current values, it looks like the 2008 MBPs (2.4 ghz, 15" screen) are going for like $850-900. That's alot of machine for a little more than half the price of the current one.

There's just not much of an upgrade path on
laptops in general, besides memory and drives.
posted by tremspeed at 9:57 AM on February 17, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks guys. I feel guided... by the force... of macichlorians.

That was terribly cheesy. I apologize.

I ordered a gig of RAM, and am wondering if you all are sure that this model has USB 2.0. Because my USB ports are AppleUSBOHCI, which I thought was 1.1, and I have to be careful about what I plug in there and whether I'm using the battery or have too many things going on (otherwise it won't supply power to whatever I've plugged in.) It only matters in picking out an external drive, if I decide to go that way. Of course I see firewire is better, but nice to know what I'm dealing with at least. (I wonder if I go firewire if I can get the blu ray compatibility...)

For future reference, I got my RAM off 18004memory for $37 + $3 tax. From lowendmac, I found ramseeker, and it seemed consistent with what I was seeing on ebay.

Also, this model has two 256 chips, one DIMM1/J31 and one DIMM0/BUILT-IN.
posted by letahl at 10:36 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: you might try a third-party (check lowendmac.com) for a refurb/reconditioned MacBook; they've been out for a while, so earlier models might be not much more cash than fixing your 12". I got my 13" MB (top-o-the-line plastic one when the aluminum MBs came out) refurb for a lot off; it's 2 years old now and I'd feel lucky to get around $6-700 for it.

if you don't want to do the external CD burner and it's not too much out of your budget, MCE Tech has a superdrive upgrade you can do for about $70 (+ $100 or so to install if you don't want to do it yourself - I'd recommend not).

the 12" machines are somewhat fetishized too, so you might be able to pick up a MacBook(Pro?) and sell the 12" and recover some cash from it, especially if it's just the DVD drive that's out.
posted by mrg at 10:47 AM on February 17, 2010


Response by poster: OK, cool. I talked to the MCE people and ordered the superdrive upgrade. $77 with shipping.
posted by letahl at 11:13 AM on February 17, 2010


Best answer: USB 1 vs 2.0 doesn't have anything to do with power, it's speed. PowerMac's cute little quirk is that they don't supply enough power to run a USB powered hard drive. So you need a USB Y-cable which draws the power from 2 ports, or an enclosure with a standalone AC adaptor or, what I came here to suggest, a powered USB hub. Seriously don't know how I lived without this thing before. It's cheap too, and I can charge my bluetooth headset and phone with it.

My 17"PB G4 was "totaled" by screen death, and I was really glad I bought a new monitor for it, extending it's life for several months. (It would still be useable, but I got a MBP). Screen real estate is important with the work I do, so your milage may vary, but what I really like about this upgrade is that it remains valuable for your next computer as well. It also allowed for a more ergonomic set up with full size keyboard and correct monitor height.

You're also going to want to start considering hard drive failure. It comes to all hard drives eventually. A good way to think about it is expecting a hard drive to die at age 4. It might live for much longer, but you should add an exact drive duplication to your backup routine. A firewire external drive (in a size equal or greater to your current HD) and a copy of SuperDuper makes this easy. I don't know why, but firewire drives are $30 more than USB. It's worth it as firewire drives can become your Boot drive, meaning no downtime between HD death and functioning Mac. With USB you've got to crack it open and stick the new drive in (about $50 of work at WorstBuy). Before TimeMachine, I used Mac Backup and did twice daily incremental backups on work files, and weekly incremental backups of system files, and a weekly SuperDuper duplication.

If your battery is still going congrats! Also expect that to die soon.

All in all, a USB hub, monitor, SuperDuper, and FW HD are all money that won't die when your laptop does.
posted by fontophilic at 1:24 PM on February 17, 2010


If you have the 1.5 ghz Powerbook G4, you definitely have USB 2.0.

Maxing out the RAM will make the biggest difference in speed and is definitely worthwhile.

I replaced the hard drive in my 12" powerbook, which involved unscrewing and keeping track of a LOT of little screws. At this point, I'm not sure that I'd sink all that much money into a G4 Powerbook-- even though Apple doesn't make the 12" size anymore-- instead of saving for a new computer.
posted by andrewraff at 2:00 PM on February 17, 2010


I would not spend any more than the approximately $100 you've already spent, counting the RAM and optical drive replacement. Seriously, used/refurb MacBooks are just too cheap, and outperform this machine by leaps and bounds enough to justify replacing the machine.

Have fun replacing the optical drive in that machine BTW. I hate working on 12" PB's so much. Such a huge PITA to take apart.
posted by BryanPayne at 8:34 PM on February 17, 2010


Response by poster: I understand why some people say "Oh just get a new one," but there are philosophical considerations as well. I don't want to be one of those Americans who is just always buying new stuff because they lack the initiative to figure out how to do useful things, like replace a CD drive. Plus, I like fixing things, and it is more cost effective as a general policy than just being a mindless consumer, buying whenever the man says buy.

I am really excited about the improvements, guys, thanks you! Last night we got some old speakers we are going to fix up and it will be nice to be able to use my computer to rock out to music, whether in MP3 or CD form.

So thanks for all of the positive feedback, peeps!
posted by letahl at 12:27 PM on February 18, 2010


Response by poster: I replaced the RAM and it has helped a lot. I thought I had issues with the internet connection before, because streaming video dragged quite a bit (even though it didn't on the PC laptop in the house). There are no problems now, no lagging. Yay!
posted by letahl at 7:25 PM on February 23, 2010


Response by poster: Received and installed the optical drive. Took 3 1/2 to 4 hours for someone who is handy but has not opened a computer before. You literally have to take apart the entire computer in the process. Used the guide at ifixit.
posted by letahl at 10:50 PM on March 1, 2010


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