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JazzCatDRP · Jul 26, 2005, 12:04 AM

Pretty much just like the subject says.

I have a Lombard 333 Powerbook that I'm trying to coax the last bit of life out of. When I have a fresh install of Panther on it, it runs at a decent speed, but obviously as time passes, it slows down more and more.

I really don't want to have to hassle with reinstalling everything if I don't have to, so are there any ways I can get rid of what a reinstall would, without the hassles of reinstalling?

Edit: BTW, I'm on Panther

ShotgunEd · Jul 26, 2005, 04:24 AM

There are a lot of ways to speed up your mac that people swear by, most are just myths. I'll not speculate on each, just list them, there are hundreds of posts on here that detail how to perform each.

Repairing permissions.
Updating pre-binding.
Removing old Log files.
Removing unused language packs.

But I'd stick to the following;

Try to keep a good few Gigabytes free on your startup disk. This always helps.

Maxing out your RAM is always a good idea, the more your mac can keep in main memory and the less it has to swap to disk the better. More RAM is the best way to speed up your mac.

Most laptops use 4200rpm Hard Disks. An investment in a 60/80GB 5400rpm disk would provide a noticable speed gain as well as some much needed disk space.

If you already have maxed your ram and installed a super fast HD then the best you can do is burn some incense around your mac, do some chanting and pray to the OSX gods. Or do a clean reinstall.

wataru · Jul 26, 2005, 04:41 AM

I thought Apple's laptops had 5400rpm drives. Is that not right?

msuper69 · Jul 26, 2005, 07:43 AM

Spend a bit of cash and put Tiger on it.

That should speed things up and breathe new life into that venerable Mac.

angelmb · Jul 26, 2005, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by wataru

I thought Apple's laptops had 5400rpm drives. Is that not right?

Only recent ones have 5400 RPM hard disks as standard (since 1.33GHz models though), the 1 GHz 17 inches I had some time ago had a 4200 RPM hard disk.

Macpilot · Jul 26, 2005, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by ShotgunEd

There are a lot of ways to speed up your mac that people swear by, most are just myths. I'll not speculate on each, just list them, there are hundreds of posts on here that detail how to perform each.

Repairing permissions.
Updating pre-binding.
Removing old Log files.
Removing unused language packs.

But I'd stick to the following;

Try to keep a good few Gigabytes free on your startup disk. This always helps.

Maxing out your RAM is always a good idea, the more your mac can keep in main memory and the less it has to swap to disk the better. More RAM is the best way to speed up your mac.

Most laptops use 4200rpm Hard Disks. An investment in a 60/80GB 5400rpm disk would provide a noticable speed gain as well as some much needed disk space.

If you already have maxed your ram and installed a super fast HD then the best you can do is burn some incense around your mac, do some chanting and pray to the OSX gods. Or do a clean reinstall.

If you are going to replace the hard drive, don't waste your time with a 5400 RPM drive, get a 7200 RPM drive. This, in my opinion, will be the next best thing to maxing out the RAM.

Of course, the new iBooks announced today will blow the doors off your older machine, and you could think about putting your current machine on eBay. The previous model iBooks in stock at the Apple Stores will be heavily discounted too. If you don't need Bluetooth they will be a good buy.

ShotgunEd · 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Macpilot

If you are going to replace the hard drive, don't waste your time with a 5400 RPM drive, get a 7200 RPM drive. This, in my opinion, will be the next best thing to maxing out the RAM.

Of course, the new iBooks announced today will blow the doors off your older machine, and you could think about putting your current machine on eBay. The previous model iBooks in stock at the Apple Stores will be heavily discounted too. If you don't need Bluetooth they will be a good buy.

Re: Macpilot - Can you get 2.5in 7200 rpm drives? Even if you can, i'd expect they are v. expensive.

Re: Wataru - AFAIK 4200rpm drives have been standard in all mac laptops for years. I can't say for sure that the newer models have kept this going because I haven't had a play with a recent Powerbook or iBook.

Edit: Just checked the Apple Store, iBooks still ship with 4200rpm drives, Powerbooks now have 5400rpms drives.

And in response to OreoCookie, I replaced the 20GB 4200rpm in my iBook 500 with a 60GB 5400rpm drive and it was much quicker.

It wasn't easy to replace though.

OreoCookie · Jul 26, 2005, 09:25 AM

A faster hd is IMHO wasted money. The bottleneck clearly is the cpu and the graphics chip.

Macpilot · Jul 26, 2005, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by ShotgunEd

Re: Macpilot - Can you get 2.5in 7200 rpm drives? Even if you can, i'd expect they are v. expensive.

.

Yes, you can. They are more expensive, but they match the speed of standard desktop drives.

And yes, your system has many bottlenecks, and upgrading the drive would not be a wise investment in a Mac that old. By the time you get a hard drive, Tiger, iLife 05, and more RAM, you might as well just get a new system. $500 for upgrades, or sell that machine for $100-$200, and get a new iBook.

60.0GB Hitachi/IBM Travelstar 7K60 ***7200RPM** 8MB Data Buffer ATA/6 9.5mm UltraSlim 2.5" NoteBook Drive. 3yr Hitachi Warranty. (HIT08K0939) more info... $229.99
Same Day

Millennium · Jul 26, 2005, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by Macpilot

Yes, you can. They are more expensive, but they match the speed of standard desktop drives.

Actually, they're faster than standard desktop drives. Many desktops still use 5400rpm drives as standard. You may be thinking of 4800rpm laptop drives as being slower than desktop hard drives, and you'd be right about that, but last I checked Apple didn't use those.

OreoCookie · Jul 26, 2005, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by Millennium

Actually, they're faster than standard desktop drives. Many desktops still use 5400rpm drives as standard. You may be thinking of 4800rpm laptop drives as being slower than desktop hard drives, and you'd be right about that, but last I checked Apple didn't use those.

You're right that they're faster, but AFAIK it's because the max. seek time is faster (as the platter is smaller). Those drives are not intended for most notebooks, especially thin ones, they are for blade servers mostly. (There are even 2.5" 10k drives.)

Person Man · Jul 26, 2005, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by msuper69

Spend a bit of cash and put Tiger on it.

That should speed things up and breathe new life into that venerable Mac.

You overlooked one thing. It's a Lombard. Tiger won't install on it using "traditional" means. The installer tells you it's unsupported and won't boot. My brother got it to work on his 400 MHz Lombard by installing it on his desktop machine and then cloning the install onto the PowerBook, but it really didn't run too well at all.

JazzCatDRP · Jul 26, 2005, 12:26 PM

Yeah, that's correct. Tiger isn't supported by the Lombard. I believe the Lombard is the last powerbook not supported, the Pismo being the earliest.

I'm really not wanting to invest much in this beast; I just want to eke every bit of life out of it I can until I can afford a mini (to tide me over until the Intel switch) in a few months. Then this beast will just become a "chilling on the couch, surfing the net" type of rig.

Right now, this thing is disgustingly slow. If I have a few tabs open on Safari, and I click over to the next one, there's a good 5-10 second lag (sometimes more) before it'll switch tabs.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try what I can and let you know what happens!