More G4 Upgrade Advice
From Felix Lizarraga:
Hi Dan,
I would like to comment on Paul
Lewis' question. IMHO, for the kind of money one has to shell out
for a CPU upgrade, it's possible, and more cost effective, to get a
nice MDD that can run Leopard natively, or even a gently used Intel
mini that will chew up H.264 codecs like Wrigley's. Just my two
cents.
Anyway, congratulations on the site. I have been addicted for years,
and it just keeps getting better. Kudos to you and the rest of the
bunch.
Best,
Felix Lizarraga
Felix,
Thanks for the kind words.
You make a good point. Paul could buy a nice used MDD
Power Mac G4/1.25 GHz dual for about $600, max out RAM to 2.0 GB for
about $80, then transplant the video card and other goodies, put the
Radeon 9000 from the MDD into his Digital Audio, and probably sell it
for $300 or so with 1.5 GB of RAM and a better-than-stock video card.
Net cost could be under $400 vs. spending $400-500 for a CPU
upgrade.
Of course, he would have quite a bit more processing
power with that dual 1.8 GHz upgrade....
Dan
Hi Dan,
Wow, quick response! You seem to have it all figured out.
:-)
I personally had a bad experience with a CPU upgrade, although I
know plenty of people who use them with no issues. It was a (now rare)
dual 1.2 GHz that gave me nothing but kernel panics and freezes. OWC
eventually replaced it, but I sold the replacement on the LEM swap list - the new owner is a happy
camper to this day, so your mileage will vary.
After another horror story with a hard drive-serial-killer
Quicksilver (has it happened to anybody else?), I ended up getting a
dual 1 GHz MDD like yours. These things are rock-solid, and, boy,
are they fast. Mine has 1.75 GB of RAM, but I haven't really felt the
need to bring it up to 2 gigs.
Now, for dealing with video, no G4 CPU will give Paul the processing
power of Intel. Like you said a few days back, even the lowest of the
lowest, the Intel Solo
mini, will run circles around any G4 in that particular
terrain.
Best regards,
F
Felix,
I've had great luck with upgrades over the years:
Sonnet 68040 upgrades for the Mac
IIci, several different G3 upgrades for PCI Power Macs and Umax
SuperMac clones, and the NewerTech 1.8 GHz G4
upgrade I reviewed earlier this year.
As for my MDD Power Mac, it's rock solid - and the
only reason it has 2 GB instead of 1.75 GB is that it uses the
same RAM as my 1.25 GHz eMacs, so when one of them died, I replaced a
256 MB module with 512 MB.
Dan
7447 vs. 7448 G4 Upgrades
From John Black:
Hi, Dan,
I was just reading your 5/7/08 "Low End Mac Mailbag" entry from
yesterday. Regarding the question about dual Sonnet 7447 processors vs.
single 7448, I think both xlr8yourmac.com and OWC have tests and comparisons on some
systems, though I don't remember if there's a dual 7447 comparison.
I also have a DA
533. A year ago I put a Sonnet 1 GHz 7445 (I believe) single
processor in our DA, which noticeably sped things up. However, back in
November I read about the new 7448 processors that OWC was marketing.
After some investigation, I concluded that the 1.7 GHz 7448 offered the
best combination of price and speed. It has not disappointed. Talk
about a powerful processor, the 7448 is awesome. I've grown so used to
the power that I think I'd have a hard time doing without it. It puts
the Sonnet 1 GHz card in the shade.
I think the only real bottlenecks in the DA now are 1) bus speed, at
133 MHz, and 2) video card. Can't do anything about bus speed, but I
have replaced the stock Rage
128/16 MB video card with a Radeon 9000 Pro/128 MB card. This
card makes redraws, video clips, and graphics handling much better.
Still, however, the slow bus and limited Radeon are put to the test
with my son's upload of digital picture files from a Canon 30D. The
Macs at school are Intel iMacs, which have a lot more power for that
type of task, so his patience is challenged with the DA.
Anyone using a G4 tower ought to consider the OWC 7448 processors.
For ordinary usage, I can't recommend them strongly enough.
John Black
John,
It's hard to find head-to-head comparisons of the 7447
and 7448, but I've found a good one on Bare Feats. It
compares a single 2.0 GHz 7447a, a single 2.0 GHz 7448, and a dual 1.8
GHz 7448 with the dual 1.42 GHz Power Mac G4 and a dual 2.0 GHz Power
Mac G5 (even throwing in the 2.0 GHz iMac Core Duo to show how far
behind PowerPC power is nowadays).
Overall, the 7448 beat the 7447A by 3-10% on most
tests, and the 1.8 GHz dual 7448 outperformed the 2.0 GHz single 7448
except in the Doom 3 benchmark. Two processors at 1.8 GHz was 33%
faster on the Cinebench test than one 2.0 GHz. If we normalize for CPU
speed, two processors provides 37% more power than one for Cinebench at
the same clock speed.
The single 2.0 GHz 7447A matched performance of the
dual 1.42 GHz Power Mac G4 on two of four tests - dual CPUs helped the
dual 1.42 smoke the single 2.0 under Cinebench and iMovie. As I've
often said, a dual G4 will generally match the performance of a single
G4 that's 50% faster (ignoring differences between the 7455, 7447,
7448, etc.).
With its much faster memory bus (1 GHz vs. 133 GHz for
G4 Power Macs), the 2.0 GHz dual Power Mac G5 matches or beats the 2.0
GHz dual G4 upgrade on all benchmarks, and the consumer 2.0 GHz Core
Duo iMac beats any of the G4 upgrades, showing how far we've come with
the Intel transition.
For me, it's all a question of how much the additional
horsepower will improve your productivity. If you're taxing one or two
533 MHz or 1 GHz CPUs, it may be sensible to invest $400-600 in a
high-end G4 upgrade - or it may make more sense to pick up a used or
refurbished Mac mini in the same price range, gaining Intel power you
can use alongside you G4 Power Mac.
As for uploading digital pictures, have you looked
into a USB 2.0 card for the Power Mac? They're cheap and a lot faster
than the USB 1.1 built into G4 Power Macs.
Dan
Secure File Erase for Old Macs
From Steve Lubliner in response to Deleting Files from a Performa 6300:
Dan,
Putting a file in the Trash and emptying the Trash does not delete
the file from the hard drive. The file can be recovered using "Unerase"
functions in programs like Norton Utilities (note that OS X 10.3
and later have "Empty Trash" and "Secure Empty Trash" options). The
best way to destroy secure information on a hard drive is to destroy
the hard drive, e.g. with a sledge hammer. If the computer is to be
recycled (as opposed to reused), then this is the easiest approach. If
the desire is to keep the computer functional, then the best approach
is to reinitialize the hard drive including writing "0"s" and "1"s" to
the drive to overwrite any drive data. Once that is complete, then the
drive can have a new operating system installed.
Steve Lubliner
Steve,
You make a good point. When a file is deleted, only
the pointers to it are removed. The actual data remains on the hard
drive unless you use some sort of secure delete program - and the Mac
didn't have that in the Performa era. The closest you can come without
third-party software is reformatting the hard drive and zeroing all
data - and then writing a fresh copy of the operating system to it.
Because IDE drives aren't completely cleared during formatting, this
will have the effect of overwriting much of what was on the hard drive,
making it difficult (but not completely impossible) to recover.
There are two shareware programs for the paranoid (and
we should all be a bit paranoid about personal information these days):
ShredIt (available in
Mac OS 8/9 and OS X versions - the unregistered version does not
shred) and
The Eraser Pro, which supports Mac OS 7-9 - and the unregistered
version works.
Dan
Wipe That Drive before You Give Away Your Mac
From John Carlson:
Dan-
I just read your response to Charles Jobe, who wants to delete
personal files from his computer before giving it away. (A good idea -
and one that many people don't think about. I'm surprised at how many
used computers have come my way that have personal files of some sort
left by the previous owner.) However, it's worth noting that tossing
files into the Trash and then selecting "Empty Trash" won't
totally remove the file. It can still be recovered by a file recovery
utility.
Reformatting and installing the OS from scratch is probably safer -
although I imagine that someone with the knowledge and the tools could
recover files. For the more paranoid, there are various utility
programs that do a more complete erase. Every now and then, I see an
old copy of, say, Norton turn up. (The LEM Swap List can probably help
here.)
Sincerely,
John Carlson
John,
Good point. All that's really required to effectively
clear the old data is a program that writes random data to every unused
sector. The secure delete option in OS X is more than adequate for
deleting files, and both Disk Utility (OS X) and Drive Setup
(Classic Mac OS) have a built-in option to zero all data when
reformatting a hard drive.
Dan
Dan-
Drive Setup should be adequate for removing data. I didn't remember
that Drive Setup had such an option. (I've been using Macs since System
6, and the details of what's available begins to blur after a
while!)
Another point worth bringing up for those who donate old computers
to thrift stores: thrift stores (at least the ones where I live) don't
do anything towards removing old data. Whatever is on the hard drive
when donated will still be there when the computer is put up for sale.
Thus, a person donating an old computer should take the time clean off
the hard drive. I'd do this even if I was donating to someone who
promised to clean the drive.
Sincerely,
John Carlson
John,
I am also rusty on the Classic Mac OS. I had to boot
my iMac into OS 9, launch Drive Setup, and look for the "zero all data"
option. I don't know how far that option goes back.
I agree completely on wiping the hard drive before you
give away or sell a computer - and you may even want to use it when you
move your computer to another family member.
Dan
Pismo Should Be Safe with the Lid Closed
From James Haudenshield:
Dan,
Ken Watanabe wrote:
One additional note: Once it starts or wakes up in
this mode, you can (and probably should) open the lid. The Pismo's LCD
screen will stay dark and the display mode will not change. I was
concerned about operating my Pismo with the screen down, because the
CPU heat sink is right under the keyboard and dissipates heat up
through the keyboard. Since my Pismo has a G4 in it, the heat somewhat
higher. I didn't want to damage the LCD or cause unnecessary use of the
fan. A possible warning for your readers....
I've been using my Pismo in the lid-closed mode
for quite a while, and there are a number of tech articles at Apple
that discuss it (although they've gotten difficult to find recently -
I'll forward the article numbers if I can find them tonight). I was
delighted to find that modern standard and widescreen 19" flat panel
(VGA/EGA/SVGA) monitors were fully supported at max resolution at
"millions" of colors, even though this PowerBook model is so old. The
additional resolution options don't appear in the display controls
until the monitor is attached. A couple of issues that ought to be
clarified on this process, for the Pismo, are:
- You should should use a keyboard that has a power button on it.
Connect the keyboard, monitor, and mouse while the Pismo is off.
Then power up the monitor and press the power button on the keyboard to
startup the Pismo. (This isn't for safety, it's just so the Pismo
shifts to the external monitor correctly.) It will automatically use
the attached monitor and does not turn on the built-in display.
If your keyboard doesn't have a power button, you can either get
everything connected, then hit the Pismo power button and quickly close
the lid, or restart the Mac, closing the lid immediately when the
screen goes blank during the restart.
- It is completely safe to leave the lid closed on the Pismo while
using the external monitor, with no worry of overheating. Because the
built-in monitor is not even active, it keeps relatively cool. If the
motherboard does warm up, the built-in fan may come on periodically,
depending upon your room temperature (which might startle you at first
if you've never heard it kick-in before). Worry not, the PowerBook is
designed to be used with the lid closed.
- When shopping for monitors, don't even bother asking any
salespeople anywhere about whether a particular monitor will work for
you. Even many Mac experts don't know. The salespeople at some places
will sometimes even just ignorantly say that it won't because "it's a
PC monitor". Just be assured that if it's got the standard VGA
(non-digital) connection, you can connect it and it will work (up to at
least 19" size, in my experience). If you get a monitor that has
speakers, like some HP models or some Westinghouse models, you can
connect your speaker-out port to the monitor, and it will work also
(you won't hear your built-in speakers very well because the lid is
closed and covers them). If you get a monitor that has a USB hub, such
as one sold at Staples, it is likely not a powered USB hub, so you will
have some limits on what you can plug in (some flash drives will work,
others won't).
- If you're trying to simply extend your desktop space by using
both an external and your built-in monitors, then you need to
have the lid open when powering up the Pismo. Because of the extended
desktop space, your color depth may be reduced or resolution limited
[on the external display].
- Jim
PS: Admittedly, Ken's Pismo has a G4 in it and he might well worry
about increased heat - I don't mean to suggest that such modified
machines can't benefit from additional cooling. But standard G3 Pismo
owners oughtn't worry. :)
Jim,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll again update
the Pismo profile, noting that it is designed to function in closed lid
mode, although it may overheat due to a G4 upgrade or high ambient
temperatures, in which case opening the lid should improve cooling.
Dan
Tiger on 500 MHz iMacs Is Great
From Frank Powell:
I have one of those 500 MHz slot loaders but I loaded "Tiger" on it
and it works great!
Don't know what to do with it, but it's fun to play with from
time.
Frank Powell
Frank,
I have a 400 MHz ruby iMac (my favorite color) with
512 MB of RAM next to me. I have a couple external drives connected to
it so I can readily boot into Mac OS 9, 10.2, 10.3, or 10.4 to do
things like compare YouTube performance with different versions of the
Mac OS, different resolutions and bit depths, and different browsers,
among other things. (Those external drives are also quite a bit faster
than what's inside the iMac's case.)
Another thing I do is rip choir CDs to iTunes on the
iMac and have it run them on a loop to familiarize myself with the
music - no drain of power on my G4, no problem finding and deleting
tracks afterwards, and built-in stereo speakers.
I also have a 450 MHz or 500 MHz indigo iMac, which my
youngest son is using to finish up his senior year of high school. With
a 512 MB upgrade, they run pretty decently under Tiger.
Dan
iMac DVs in Action
From Micah Seymour:
Just read your
retrospective on the iMac DV. To many it would bring back memories,
and it does for me as well. Memories of this morning....
Here's one of my current labs in action. 25 iMac DV 500 MHz machines
all running Tiger.
Micah,
What are 6-to-8-year-old Macs to the modern school?
And it gets worse - at the school where my wife tutors, there are three
Macs in the room: a great white eMac (2002-2005), an indigo iMac (circa
2001), and a Bondi blue iMac (1998). I don't know what's in the rest of
the classrooms or whether the school has a computer lab, but our
children are rarely exposed to up-to-date technology in school.
(Remember film strips, 16mm projectors, and early video recorders? I
experienced them all.) I understand that schools like to get all the
mileage they can out of their computing dollars, and I'm glad you have
Tiger running on your, but a lot kids are going to grow up thinking
Macs have small screens and a quaint operating system from the
1990s.
A lot of us use low-end Macs by choice. Too many
students don't have that option.
(I hope it's okay to post the photo with your letter
in the mailbag. I have fuzzed out the two faces that might be
recognized.)
Dan
We're a rural K-12 unit district (all grades levels in one "big"
school). We have a lab of 20 PPC Mini's with 19" LCDs (HS business
lab), a lab of 25 eMacs (JH lab), and the elementary lab pictured. I've
also got at least an iMac and an eMac in every classroom, and the
teachers all have either a 12" iBook or a MacBook (teacher's get a new
machine every three years, so I'm about to have a bunch of iBooks that
I'll have the terrible problem of figuring out what to do with
;) I've used your site extensively to figure out what I can
and can't do with the hardware. So thanks for that.
For me, the lack of processing power rarely hampers my ability to
teach. About the only thing I can't teach that I'd like to is some
video editing via iMovie. Most of our necessary software is web-based,
and I recently switched the district from Office X to Google Docs
via Google Apps for Schools for our productivity suite. The teacher's
still have a choice of Office 2004 or Google Docs, but most of them
have switched to Google Docs.
All that said, I cannot wait to get my hands on my 25 seat mobile
MacBook lab next fall. It's doesn't do much for the screen size
problem, but it will be nice to get them computers that are as sexy as
their iPods.
As for the picture, please post away, I'll show my students that
their lab is "famous" in the retro Mac world.
Micah Seymour
Micah,
I'm glad we're helping you get the most out of the old
Macs - that was the goal when I started this 11 years ago. The low end
has moved, but it will always be with us.
Those 13.3" 1280 x 800 MacBook screens should be a
nice step up from 1024 x 768 on G3 iMacs - and shows nearly as much as
1280 x 960 on those honking big eMacs.
Look for this in Friday's mailbag.
Dan
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
