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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > I added 1 GB to my PowerBook G4...

I added 1 GB to my PowerBook G4...
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TheTraveller
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Dec 10, 2004, 09:39 PM
 
Hey I just wanted to share some happy news with y'all! Ever since OS X has been out, I've always heard "load it up with RAM" but for whatever reason, I've never had a Mac with more than 512MB of RAM before.

Well, Virtual PC 7 came out, so I upgraded. I had found VPC 6 to be really sluggish and horrible, but VPC 7 for me actually works very well! The one thing, though, is that it eats up tons of memory, and I like having lots of apps open... so switching between apps was like swimming through molasses; every time I'd switch, I could see the virtual memory pages swapping furiously away, and it was a real productivity drain.

So, I bit the bullet and orderd a 1 GB upgrade card from 4-Memory.com. They gave me free overnight shipping via UPS. The chip cost $264, and no tax. Adding it to my PowerBook was easy, after I bought a #0 Phillips head screwdriver.

And now, I have 1.25GB of RAM. Virtual PC is open, and it is acceptably fast - even pleasant to use, I dare say. And Firefox, Fire, Dreamweaver, iPhoto, Mail, AddressBook, 4th Dimension, iTunes - everything is happy and snappy. Me especially. So looks like there really is quite a bit to this "load up your OS X box with RAM and watch it fly" rumor.

Just thought I'd get that off my chest.

Happy Holidays!
     
benwhanlee
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Dec 11, 2004, 09:22 AM
 
i added a 1 gig module so i have 1.25 gigs of ram. i'd have to say i've been really happy with the results. especially when using photoshop/illustrator/indesign or other processor-intensive things. it's kind of like being able to use a high-performance sports car to its full potential.
15" Al PB 1.67, 15" Ti PB 667, Power Mac 400
     
wilsonng
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Dec 11, 2004, 09:29 AM
 
Another to speed up your PB is to upgrade to a 5400 RPM hard drive. I'm tempted to swap out my PB HD for one of those Toshiba hard drives with a 16 MB buffer.

It's especially helpful when you are working in disk-intensive programs like PhotoShop, Final Cut Pro, etc.

I'm lusting for one of these and will try to sneak it in to my budget after Christmas. Gonna have to explain to the boss why I need a new hard drive. I guess I'll tell them I'll use the original PB HD as a backup storage device and put it into a Firewire enclosure.

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_It...m=TOSMK8026GAX
     
Randman
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Dec 11, 2004, 10:36 AM
 
Turn off the sound and eye candy in VPC and it'll seem even spiffier. I'm running 1.5GB of ram on my PB17.

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UnixMac
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Dec 11, 2004, 04:21 PM
 
I don't believe in too much RAM or too fast of a HD... those are basically 90% of all hardware bottle necks these days in a Mac or PC.

5400RPM and more RAM on a PB, is like adding .3-.5Ghz to it overnite!
Mac Pro 3.0, ATI 5770 1GB VRAM, 10GB, 2xVelociraptor boot RAID, 4.5TB RAID0 storage, 30" & 20" Apple displays.
2 x Macbook Pro's 17" 3.06 4 GB RAM, 256GB Solid State drives
iMac 17" Core Duo 1GB RAM, & 2 iPhones 8GB, and a Nano in a pear tree!
Apple user since 1981
     
SEkker
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Dec 11, 2004, 05:03 PM
 
heck, a 7200 rpm drive is even better...!
     
siflippant
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Dec 11, 2004, 06:33 PM
 
     
wilsonng
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Dec 11, 2004, 07:08 PM
 
wow..... Are there any notable differences in battery consumption when I slip on of these bad boys in?

Maybe the fan kicks on more?


Originally posted by SEkker:
heck, a 7200 rpm drive is even better...!
     
h00ligan
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Dec 11, 2004, 07:43 PM
 
i put one in the first week i got my 12" and you lose maybe 5 mins off a charge.. if that. no more fan activity, and the palm area is cooler with this drive.
-= H00ligan =-

1.33 GHz 12" | 60 gig 7200 rpm drive | 1.25 Gigs of ram
amd 64 3000+ eMachines m6805 (arima lappy) | 60 gig | 512 megs | almost 3400 3dMark03 and it was only $1250 :)
     
pyn
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Dec 11, 2004, 08:45 PM
 
i'm tempted to buy one of these and stick it in my PB to up it from 768 to 1.5gigs, is it worth it? i find that my apps (photoshop, flash) take a LONG time to open :'(
     
siflippant
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Dec 12, 2004, 06:38 AM
 
Originally posted by pyn:
i'm tempted to buy one of these and stick it in my PB to up it from 768 to 1.5gigs, is it worth it? i find that my apps (photoshop, flash) take a LONG time to open :'(
It's DEF. worth it... i know a friend of mine who has upgraded from 1gb to 1.5gb... you wouldn't think it makes that much of a difference, but it does! The jump from 1 to 1.5gb seems more than from 1.5 - 2gigs... (although they do say it's best to max out the ram where you can). With many apps open he still has at least @ 350mb free (sometimes more depending on the apps he is using) and photoshop is up and running in about 6-7 seconds... hope this info helps...

     
betsbillabong
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Dec 12, 2004, 04:36 PM
 
I installed 1G of Kingmax RAM from newegg when I got my powerbook, and things seem pretty fast. I just tested, and Photoshop takes 8 seconds to open.
     
SpaceMonkey
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Dec 12, 2004, 06:33 PM
 
Yeah, the only reason I haven't gone RAM-crazy with my G4 tower (running with only 384 MB at the moment) is because I'm planning on upgrading to a PowerBook in the near future and the RAM wouldn't be cross-compatible. When I do move on to another computer I plan on topping off the RAM though.
     
Lancer409
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Dec 16, 2004, 04:19 AM
 
1.25... sweet .. waiting for tiger .. dunno if i can afford the upgrade yet but .... spotlight .. wow

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