04-02-2008, 06:16 PM

Hey everyone. New in forum.
Name is Borna and im new into mac and stuff. I dont want to spend 1500$ for a new mac so I was thinking about a PowerBook, cheap and looks nice.

So, 1ghz and under 1gig ram... 15" is my goal to find a cheap PB...

I wonder, can I uppgrade it to 2 gig ram? I heard from a friend that I cant uppgrade a PowerBook G4 to 2gig ram!

Any good thing about it? Bad thing?
Only thing I need it for is, school work, making some homepages, MSN, movies, playing old games maybe and stuff like that, nothing fancy! but I dont want it to lagg if im surfing on the net.. so thats why I wondering if I can get 2gig ram...

I hope someone owns a PowerBook G4 and can tell me something about it!

I hope it works for the things I said, school work, msn, internet surfing, maybe homepages and ofcorse some music!

Yours.
Borna.A

04-02-2008, 08:59 PM

I just picked up Powerbook G4 15inch Aluminum
1.33Ghz
1GB RAM expandable to 2GB RAM
60GB HDD
Airport
Leopard

I love it very fast.

04-03-2008, 04:02 PM

Sounds nice! Can you tell me lill about it?

04-04-2008, 05:46 AM

If you get the 1ghz 15" it will go up to 2gb ram. Anything bellow 1ghz 15" will max out at 1gb ram.
I have a 1ghz 12" powerbook with 768gb ram and it still kicks butt and is a pleasure to use and multi task on. Never lags and only got better when I put Tiger on it. I use it for everything and anything you can think of. It seems every bit as fast as my macbook.

04-04-2008, 09:24 AM

i have a 15 inch aluminum and theres problems with my lower ram slot. It seems alot of people are having problems with the 15 inch. my one friend has a 17 inch and he has no problems. I bought my girlfriend a 12 and hers is doing great. http://lowermemoryslot.editkid.com/i...36b77c0cf1c4f0

I hate to talk down about the 15 inch being that its what im typing on right now since i fixed it, but its worth taking into consideration. see a 12''...the pretty sweet

04-04-2008, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by jdmdelsol97

i have a 15 inch aluminum and theres problems with my lower ram slot. It seems alot of people are having problems with the 15 inch.

I have never heard of this. I have had my 15" PB for over two years now and have never had any issue with the RAM slots. Even when I was back in college recently, there were hundreds of students using 15" PB's (design school, Macs required) nobody that I knew of ever had such an issue.
Most of these students had upped the RAM to at least 1.5 GB, never having an issue.

04-04-2008, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

I have never heard of this. I have had my 15" PB for over two years now and have never had any issue with the RAM slots. Even when I was back in college recently, there were hundreds of students using 15" PB's (design school, Macs required) nobody that I knew of ever had such an issue.
Most of these students had upped the RAM to at least 1.5 GB, never having an issue.

before it happened to me, believe me i have never heard of this either. i thought it was just me than i googled it and that petition came up. what happened was my hardrive crashed then when i bought a new HD and ram(2gigs) it would only read 1 gig so im still at 1 gig on this thing
its cool for my troubles,i got a brand new blackbook

04-04-2008, 10:01 AM

I have the same problem also I just found out got my powerbook the other day. Bought another RAM chip and it does not read it. No big deal for me I only paid $400 for the powerbook and it's still Very fast!

04-04-2008, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by bargsbeer

I have the same problem also I just found out got my powerbook the other day. Bought another RAM chip and it does not read it. No big deal for me I only paid $400 for the powerbook and it's still Very fast!

I agree very fast and i can still do my graphics, so its whatever. i wouldnt trade this thing for anything in the world. i love it to death

04-04-2008, 10:06 AM

It is sweet Mac laptops are the cadillac of all laptops.

04-04-2008, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by D3v1L80Y

I have never heard of this. I have had my 15" PB for over two years now and have never had any issue with the RAM slots. Even when I was back in college recently, there were hundreds of students using 15" PB's (design school, Macs required) nobody that I knew of ever had such an issue.
Most of these students had upped the RAM to at least 1.5 GB, never having an issue.

It's actually an issue Apple has acknowledged on certain models:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303173

But it shouldn't be that widespread (I think it was mainly the later models).

The only thing I'd consider is that the Powerbook G4 seems to hold its value really well, (which is normally a good thing). But before you spend 600-700$ on a G4, take a look at a refurbished Macbook as well - it might not run you that much more. The G4 will have a nicer screen and more sturdy build, but the Macbook will arguably last you longer.

04-04-2008, 11:40 AM

I sold a mint G4 1.67 GHz PB w/ 1 Gb of RAM and 50 charge cycles on the battery (Barely used) and a week later the owner called me and told me the machine wouldn't turn on (4 beeps & blinking led light).

Bad lower memory slot. I swapped out the stick of RAM to the upper slot and it worked fine...but you just can't run 2 Gigs of RAM anymore.

I also picked up a 1.67 GHz Dual Layer DVD PB (a step above the one I sold) and it has a NEW Apple battery, but it drains 17% of the charge each day it stays in sleep mode.

My old Titanium 1.0 GHz 15" Still runs like a champ and it can stay in sleep mode for 3+ weeks.