C5ALIVE Forum
Other Interests, Hobbies and Sinclair Products => Other interests and hobbies => Topic started by: copendriver on 27, July, 2011 - 12:43:52
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Hi All
Wonder whether any of you mac users have any suggestions as to improve the speed of my aging mac lap-top in the short term, as maybe a temp solution until the financial climate improves and I can move on to a newer machine?
When I've multiple web applications open, it used to be fine, but over the last 12 months it's timing out showing the circular rainbow & I'd like to throw it out of the window!
I know you can de-frag and de-clutter a PC but I'm clueless how to do this on a mac, or if indeed it's even required? Maybe I should be running a few different checks? Any ideas, most welcome.
I've also had problems getting my updated i-phone 3 (from 2) to synch with my old mac, which alas still runs on MAC OS X. I looked into updating to Leopard but I have the Pre-Dual core processor model & it's not able to run the correct operating system, which is needed for the compatible i-tunes download which is required.......
Think I am asking a bit much of a machine that's 5 maybe 6 years old, but with the backlit keyboard & silver finish it's visually streets ahead of most PC laptop styling, isn't it?
Thanks
Neil
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I guess as I've had no replies here that the future of my Powerbook is bleak and I'll just have to stump up some dosh and modify / replace it.
Just as I thought really. Neil ???
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What spec is it? I'd be tempted to fit a solid state hard drive, more memory and reinstall the OS. I used my dual 500mhz Powermac for ages till I had to upgrade to something newer for youtube vids etc.
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Hi Van
Mine's a pre-pentium dual core processor spec & I think that's the trouble?
Neil
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Do you know the actually mhz and name? Power PC cpu?
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Eeek!
We are now getting a little technical for me!
So I've a delve into about this mac.
It's a PowerBook G4 17" Model = Powerbook5,7
CPU type = PowerPC G4 (1.2)
CPU speed 1.67GHz
Does this help?
Neil
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That spec should still be fine, do you know how much memory it has?
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Hey!
Couple of suggestions.
1. Add more RAM
2. Reinstall the operating system
PM me if you have any Mac/Apple Questions.
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That spec should still be fine, do you know how much memory it has?
The mac has 512MB DDR SDRAM of memory
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Hey!
Couple of suggestions.
1. Add more RAM
2. Reinstall the operating system
PM me if you have any Mac/Apple Questions.
Hey thanks for this suggestion, is this something I could tackle myself & I'm guessing I can purchase extra RAM at Maplin's or something like that? I could reinstall the operating system too, & this would then all help to speed my machine up.
What then about it's capability to synch with my i-phone 4? This needs the latest copy of i-tunes which is not supported by my old operating system & needs leopard at least?
Thanks Neil
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If it's like the ibook I had, the 512mb is on board and you can fit an extra 1gig behind the keyboard. It's got a small circle lock that you turn with a small screwdriver.
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Things that slow down macs.
HDD Running out of space make sure there is Gigs of space left on the HDD
Upgrade the RAM to 1.5Gb by adding 1 GB
Replace the HDD as if the drive is old it may have developed scratches and this will slow the system speed down (lots of rainbow circles)
If running tiger install leopard (Not snow leopard).
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Hey thanks for the pointers!
Would like to hold onto & improve the machine I have until I can afford an new model.
Neil
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clear all items from the desktop (or atleast the ones you think you can afford to lose)3
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Hi Coppendriver.
Don't put in any OS higher then 14.9 in there. Since it is a G4 Power processor it is not going to work beyond that. 512 MB is much to low for this machine. It supports DDR2 memory up to 2GB.
• The PowerBook G4 (17-inch Double-Layer SD), only, uses PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM
SO-DIMMs, with a maximum height of 1.25-inch (30 mm).
• The PowerBook G4 17-inch series uses PC2700 (also called DDR333) DDR
SDRAM SO-DIMMs with a maximum height of 1.25-inch (30 mm).
(go with the mouse over the Apple in the left top corner, choose "about this mac" from the pulldown menu, It shows you a window that tells you what kind of memory kind is used in yours.)
Re-installing the OS won't do much good, and certainly you don't have to change the hard drive. Those are solutions for a windows environment.
There is a application on board your macbook called disk-utility, you find it via the search on your disk (press ⌘f), here you can restore owners-rights and clean up your disk. Choose the "control and repair" option for your hard disk. It takes a minute or two. (do this once a month or so)
Don't worry about defragmentation on a Mac. It takes care of that itself. ;D
The nice aspect of your macbook is that it can also run the old apple programs in "classic mode", nice extra, but if you don't use it, be sure it is turned of since it is memory-consuming, you do this by going with the mouse over the Apple in the left top corner, choose system-preferences, choose "classic" and put the switch on off.
Always keep minimal 10% of space free on your hard disk. In your case that would be 12.8 gigs.
Keep your desktop empty of heavy data. Drag it to your hard disk and (if you want) leave just an alias.
Sorry, i didn't catch this topic early-er. if you want I can sent you the service manual for your machine. It is 19,8 mb big so I can send it to you by wetransfer if you sent me a Email address.
greetz
Frank
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yep - what frank says ;D :D ;)
.....as a complete technophobe I wish I even knew what you were talking about !
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As an extra reply I could add. This Macbook is so beautiful and, as Copendriver stated, so ahead of its time, (like a Sinclair C5) be very careful with it. It's a gem.
The 1,67 Ghz processor is a really fast one. And the 17 inch monitor on a laptop. Great.
The only thing that could go wrong on a macbook like yours is that the battery gets emptied faster as in the beginning.
Greetz
Frank
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I've got an old G4 - It's so bashed and damaged you wouldn't believe. No longer has a battery, airport card and the casing is falling apart but still runs pretty well. It's my GFs now. A friend once had one that was even worse - had to plug it in to the tv because it had no screen!
Plenty of RAM and leave the old OS and you'll be fine for years.
However I have a new Unibody one now that is my pride and joy!.
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I have quite a few macs G3 G4 G5 and the latest intel offerings. I'm going to have to be the bad boy here and advise you to chuck it, better to upgrade sooner than later, the Power PC area has long finished and apple no longer support any PPC programs having removed Rosetta from OS X.
Even my G5 Power Mac, the quad core 2.5 Ghz with liquid cooling won't out run a late 2009 intel mac mini. I bet (correct me if I'm wrong) it struggles to play videos on youtube ?
If you really need to keep it, like the others said a bit more ram, and a reinstall of the OS that shipped with it is the best option. On a side note who's trying Mountain Lion ?
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I recently bought a Dell Mini 10v and put osx 10.6.7 on it
Wasnt as straight forward as just bunging the disc in, but wow, what a little machine! Runs way better on osx than windows or linux ever did!
As far as Macbooks go, the new airs are just lovely.
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I have 10.7.3 installed. Works nice for me, but had a little trouble with the altered ownership-rules as well as the changed drivers you need. I do have some great scanners but I can't use them no more since the scanner manufacturer does not suply new drivers. As far as I know there is only a beta version from mountain lion out this far. My advise, wait a little while till it is well tested. (it looks nice, makes interacting with social media, smart phones etc easier, (I-Cloud))
But hey, I try to stay away from these "WTF" applications so I will see what it brings more, before I switch over.
(WTF is short for WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook ::) )
greetz
Frank