Help with Powerbook G4 upgrading

Good Day to All!

I currently work as an IT/video editor/graphic designer. In a previous life I was a vocational/computer teacher. Up until about 8 months ago, I had never owned a Mac. Now I have two and love them. Anyway…..

I have a young man who I mentor at work. He is in the 8th grade and his school offers no computer classes, which is his first love. As a favor to his parents, and because I like him, I am working with him after school. Because of my interest in learning about Mac’s, he has developed an interest.

Last month he purchase 4 Powerbook G4’s - 2 - 12” and 2 - 15”. They would turn on but that was all, no hard drives, and one 12” was really rough. We have been learning a lot together getting them up and running. We now have one 12” and one 15” running Leopard. Should be able to get the other 15” going soon.

Here is my question - is there anyway the AirPort Extreme card in the 12” be upgraded? It is an 802.11g and we would like to upgrade it to an 802.11n. From what I am reading Leopard will support 802.11n. I guess I am just checking or looking for any ideas anyone may have.

Lisa

lclev said:

Here is my question - is there anyway the AirPort Extreme card in the 12” be upgraded? It is an 802.11g and we would like to upgrade it to an 802.11n. From what I am reading Leopard will support 802.11n. I guess I am just checking or looking for any ideas anyone may have.

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Sorry...no Powerbook G4 supported wireless "n" (from an internal hardware perspective).

- Nick

Thanks Nick,

That is what I am finding out. We knew going in when he purchased the four powerbooks, that they were over 10 years old and limited as to what we could do. The lack of an Intel processor limits us to Leopard. We are just having fun learning as we take them apart and put them back together. All 4 together are cheap learning tools. Just thought I would explore possibilities.

Lisa

lclev said:

That is what I am finding out. We knew going in when he purchased the four powerbooks, that they were over 10 years old and limited as to what we could do. The lack of an Intel processor limits us to Leopard. We are just having fun learning as we take them apart and put them back together. All 4 together are cheap learning tools. Just thought I would explore possibilities.

Click to expand...

Yes...the older Mac's are fun to mess around with. And some of the faster one's are certainly still good enough for e-mail & internet. I have many older Mac's.

Wireless "n" wasn't supported internally until about the 2nd generation of the Intel MacBooks & MacBook Pro's. So even the 1st. gen of these maxed out with "g".

For what it's worth. My understanding is...many/most home networks aren't fast enough for "n". What I mean is...the internet connection is not fast enough (DSL or typical cable modem setup).

I think that the theoretical max. transfer rate for wireless "n" is 300Mbps (mega bits/sec). I just tested my home internet connection (cable modem)...and I get 15.9Mbps (pretty typical). So you can see...15.9Mbps is not even close to 300Mbps.

And for what it's also worth...I think that wireless "g" max's out at either 54Mbps or 108Mbps (depending on the hardware). So even these numbers are a lot faster than the 15.9Mbps I'm getting (for example).

Where wireless "n" can be really useful is if you are communicating between two or more devices in a home/business...where both computers have wireless "n". This is a device to device communication...nothing to do with the internet.

HTH,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

For what it's worth. My understanding is...many/most home networks aren't fast enough for "n". What I mean is...the internet connection is not fast enough (DSL or typical cable modem setup).

And for what it's also worth...I think that wireless "g" max's out at either 54Mbps or 108Mbps (depending on the hardware). So even these numbers are a lot faster than the 15.9Mbps I'm getting (for example).

Click to expand...

True. We were just exploring because we are having to download Leopard updates from Apple using my Macbook, as independent files off the support page. His powerbook is so slow using the software update.

We just were exploring options. Wondered if there were any possible cards we could modify to fit and get working. Just fun to do.

Thanks again!
Lisa

As the song goes 'They have gone as far as they can go'! That sure applies to G4's period.