[kmarketing]

Hi,

I've had tiger installed on my rev a powerbook (in the sig) for quite some time now. I don't use the nice new features over panther but I do notice that tiger seems to make my powerbook run warmer and the fan comes on more often, especially when plugged in. I use it on the lower energy setting when plugged in so that the fan doesn't come on, but was wondering if there is something else I can do.

Do you think that if I was to return back to panther that things would be better? If Tiger is a keeper, can you please help with how I can manage the system better (some have said that I can turn off certain programs to lighten the cpu load, how do I go about that)?

I realy only use the powerbook for browsing, typing, some itunes, etc.

By the way, this powerbook is still unbelieveable to me. I am awaiting a 1ghz aluminum from ebay, but I'm not sure if I will just end up keeping my ti400. I'm impressed at how well it has held up, and with the screen brightness reduced, my battery reading says 6:10. I know I never got that with the aluminums that I had. These apple machines are amazing with their longevity!!

Please let me know with any advice. Thanks so much!

[amazing]

I still miss my old Ti-400, but I go visit it from time to time since I sold it to a friend...

Meantime, how familiar are you with OS 9? From your list of activities, OS 9 would work just as well, but I wouldn't recommend going there unless you're familiar with its quirks and have the necessary software (like Office 2001 or Appleworks, etc.) The only thing that might be a drawback is that you might need a more modern browser? Now that Opera is free, there's a version for OS 9 that might meet your needs.

The reason I say this is that I immediately noticed how noisy my Ti-400 got when I switched from OS 9. Disk access and fan speed were the main culprits. As a matter of fact, I never knew my Ti-400 had a hair dryer speed until I switched to OS X. Later versions of OS X had better power management for the older laptops, but whenever I started up in OS 9 I always marvelled at how quiet it was.

[kmarketing]

Hi,

Yeah, this titanium really is a wonderful machine, and it does everything I need a laptop to do. I even ended up selling my aluminum powerbooks when I got this one.

I go into the world of apple with panther, so i don't know anything else. I've tried os9 and jaguar, but it may be just aesthetics, but I just don't see how i I'll be able to go back that far.

I have to say, my hard drive is quiet since it is an upgraded hard drive. The machines fan is not loud at all, I just notice that it is on more than it was with panther. Changing the setting to energy saver definitely resolves most of the fan issues, but I was reading that it could also be that some of the newer tiger programs may be causing the processor to work harder.

Which programs would be okay to turn off (if this is a simple solution), and how would I go about that?

Thanks for your reply!!

[amazing]

You definitely need to be used to OS 9 to live with it's now-antiquated quirks, so that's obviously not going to work for you (and probably just as well...)

I've used Onyx (free) to turn off Dashboard, because badly-written widgets can drive up CPU-usage and add heat--plus I don't use them. I've got Meteorologist in the menubar, and that's plenty for me.

Meantime, fire up Activity Monitor (Utilities folder) and set it to "All Processes" and monitor your CPU usage by clicking on the "% CPU" column header. Just check from time to time to see what's hogging the CPU. Many people have mentioned how poorly Safari manages Flash content on webpages, but that's site-specific and I haven't really noticed because my main sites don't use a lot of Flash stuff. It's definitely getting more prevalent, though. Since Opera is now free, I'm gonna try it for awhile...

I presume you're not using Classic? It's a real "heater" when left running with an application in the background.

Meantime, your sig says "excellent airport reception" so I presume you're using a PMCIA wireless card? My Ti-400 had terrible reception with the internal card until I added first a Cisco Aironet 350 (11b) and later a Buffalo Airstation card (11g). The difference was night and day: With the internal card I got maybe 25 feet (and slow at that distance) whereas with either PMCIA card range and reception was excellent. With the internal card I couldn't even see my WAP on my patio, but I got full bandwidth with either PMCIA card. I took the internal card out and it now lives happily in a 14" iBook where it's got fantastic range.

[kmarketing]

Hi,

Thanks for all the great info, I will definitely keep track of what's going on in activity monitor.

So I will need a special program to disable dashboard and spotlight, etc.? I just don't use them much at all. If it's just some of these programs that are warming up the powerbook, then I guess I'll just stick with tiger then and try to remove these programs, or keep an eye on them.

As for my powerbook, it actually had good airport reception with an internal airport card which is just abnormal. But I ended up selling the airport card since I was able to get $100 for it. I then got myself a $25 pc card to go wireless, which is wireless g. My total cost of the powerbook was lowered to less than $250. Much better than what the aluminums cost.

Thanks!

[amazing]

Yes, you can download Onyx for free from versiontracker.com. It's a great utility for doing stuff like running the cron scripts or repairing permissions and stuff like that. The main thing that I've used it for are putting up-and-down arrows at both ends of any window (comes in very handy) plus disabling Dashboard.

I'd leave spotlight alone--haven't heard any bad reports about it, once it's done its indexing.

Wow: that is indeed an oddity! a Ti-400 with excellent internal airport range? Good for you though on coming out ahead on exchanging for a PMCIA wireless card!