Powerbook G3 400 and OSX

steve666 · July 18, 2003 4:36PM

My friend is looking to sell his Powerbook G3 400. It has the current version of OSX 10.2 already loaded. My question is, would this Powerbook running OSX be appreciably faster than my current Powermac 8100 100 mhz running OS9? Or would it be actually slower? If it isnt going to be faster I wont bother.

I would like to get into OSX but cant afford much right now. I thought this powerbook might keep me going for a year or two. I currently mainly use my computer to go online. Thanks............................................ ..........

stream this · July 18, 2003 7:33PM

I'm using a PowerBook G3 400 Mhz (Lombard) w/ 10.2 now and it's fine for all things internet. Do not expect stellar performance on apps that require muscle. iMovie 3 is unusable and iTunes 4/iPhoto 2 are tolerable. The thing that really sucks about my Lombard is the lack of DVD support in OS X. I wish I could get away from 9.2 totally, but the DVD player keeps me tethered. I hate that I am stuck with my crappy Rage Pro graphics as well. I guess it'll have to do until the 15" AL hits the street.

applenut · July 18, 2003 7:36PM

yea, that would piss the hell out of me.

I don't understand why it is such a problem for Apple to add support for hardware decoders into the OS X DVD Player. Is it really that much work?

steve666 · July 18, 2003 8:11PM

His Powerbook doesnt have a DVD player so that wont be an issue. I just dont want to use OSX at the same slow pace that the 8100 uses in OS9. ........................................

bogie · July 18, 2003 9:59PM

I am running 10.2.6 on a PowerBook G3 400 [FireWire/Pismo/2000] not a Lombard, there are a lot of differences such as drive controller, system bus speed, RAM speed, graphics system, etc ...

A Pismo also uses software DVD decoding rather than hardware DVD decoding like the Lombard model does [the Lombard is the same form factor but has SCSI on it].

You can expect 10.2 to run much better on a Pismo than on a Lombard. Having lots of RAM helps too. I am running with 768MB but it ran fine when I had 320MB [faster now of course ...].

I use iPhoto, iTunes, some iMovie use but not much. Lot of web browsing, server administration, general productivity work.

steve666 · July 19, 2003 8:27PM

I forgot to ask-what do you think would be a fair price for that Powerbook G3 400? My friend just taold me it has firewire and he's going to check on the graphics card..........................

bogie · July 20, 2003 10:35AM

If it has FireWire then it has Rage128 mobility graphics with 8MB of VRAM and 2x AGP. Its a FireWire/Pismo/2000 model PowerBook G3. Its an excellent Mac. Right now I am running 10.3 on mine. It is running faster than 10.2, they were holding at $1000 forever but now I sometimes seem $700 depending on the configuration.

steve666 · July 20, 2003 7:01PM

Do you think it has enough RAM? It has 192 Mb RAM. I'm surprised its fast enough since it doesnt have the recommended graphics card and its only a 400 mhz G3. But its good to hear from someone who actually uses one since I wouldnt have thought it would be peppy enough. Thanks..............

Quote:

Originally posted by Bogie

If it has FireWire then it has Rage128 mobility graphics with 8MB of VRAM and 2x AGP. Its a FireWire/Pismo/2000 model PowerBook G3. Its an excellent Mac. Right now I am running 10.3 on mine. It is running faster than 10.2, they were holding at $1000 forever but now I sometimes seem $700 depending on the configuration.

luca · July 20, 2003 7:05PM

192 MB is just adequate, but you really want a minimum of 256 MB for good performance. Eventually, because it's a slow processor and graphics card, the benefit of extra RAM will diminish. I'd say if you put more than 512 MB of RAM in, it won't really help enough to be worth the expense. But something like 384-512 MB would be certainly better than 192 MB. The more the better... so even just upping it to 256 MB should help a bit.

steve666 · July 20, 2003 7:09PM

Thanks, I wonder how much more RAM would cost for a Powerbook?........................................ ...........

Quote:

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

192 MB is just adequate, but you really want a minimum of 256 MB for good performance. Eventually, because it's a slow processor and graphics card, the benefit of extra RAM will diminish. I'd say if you put more than 512 MB of RAM in, it won't really help enough to be worth the expense. But something like 384-512 MB would be certainly better than 192 MB. The more the better... so even just upping it to 256 MB should help a bit.

bogie · July 22, 2003 12:56AM

Its not too bad, look it up at http://www.owcomputing.com

They generally have decent prices.

doktorfaust · July 22, 2003 1:45PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bogie

If it has FireWire then it has Rage128 mobility graphics with 8MB of VRAM and 2x AGP. Its a FireWire/Pismo/2000 model PowerBook G3. Its an excellent Mac. Right now I am running 10.3 on mine. It is running faster than 10.2, they were holding at $1000 forever but now I sometimes seem $700 depending on the configuration.

I have a Pismo, G3-500, and find that it runs OSX at just the right speed: not too slow to be annoying, unlike my Beige G3-300, and fast enough to get things done without too much of a wait. So based on these two data points (G3-300 and G3-500), I suspect G3-400 would be borderline speedwise, IMO.

Just to throw a wrench into the spokes here, why not consider a new iBook? I ask only because if you're looking at a price range of 700-1000, a new iBook is a much better deal. Assuming you're not in education, then the baseline model is $1000 and comes with a G3-800 (which would be twice as fast). It has the same screen resolution as the PB you're considering now, but otherwise a more modern architecture. Plus, you get the one year warranty with it. A quick look at ramseeker.com and dealram.com suggest that you can get a stick of 512MB of ram for only 82 (that includes shipping). Oh yeah, and the HD would be much bigger at 30 gigs. Now that's a G3/800, 640MB ram, 30 gig HD, much faster video card, total cost at 1,081 everything shipped to your door.

anyway, something to consider...

doktorfaust · July 22, 2003 1:57PM

...if you want even cheaper and don't care about portability, look at Apple's special deals section:

eMac 700MHz/128MB/40GB/CD-ROM - Refurbished $599.00

Refurbished, yes, but it does come with the one year warranty... That's a G4 with 17inch monitor, IIRC.

anders · July 22, 2003 4:39PM

If you are seeing this on a Pismo please don´t scroll down. It will hurt him as the doc would say

I second the iBook. Had a Pismo and have a 800 combo now.

Much more durable, better screen IMHO, FASTER and can utilize QE. Only downside is missing PCMCIA (or whatever) card slot, can´t go 1 Gb and doesn´t have two Firewire ports. If those points are moot for you go iBook.

Loved my Pismo especially its curves. But this is so much more functional

steve666 · July 22, 2003 5:19PM

The only problem with the low end ibook is its 12 inch screen. The Powerbook has a 15 inch. Can you hook up an external monitor with the low end ibook?

The emac for $599 sounds like a good deal but I think I want to go LCD finally. I originally favored CRTs but I think my eyes could use a break.

I am also hoping my friend undercharges me for the Powerbook. It all depends on how much he wants for it. If it gets close to $1000 I may as well spring for a new machine. Why cant I win the freaking lottery (or get a decent job!)........................

doktorfaust · July 22, 2003 5:28PM

Quote:

Originally posted by steve666

The only problem with the low end ibook is its 12 inch screen. The Powerbook has a 15 inch. Can you hook up an external monitor with the low end ibook?

I think the Powerbook has a 14 inch screen, and gives you 1024 by 768. With my Pismo I can hook up and external display and really crank up the resolution.

The iBook has a 12 inch screen, but still gives you the same 1024 by 768 resolution. I believe that you can hook the iBook up to an external display (with adapter), but you can only video mirror, so the external display will still be stuck at 1024x768 and won't really buy you anything.

So they both have the same amount of real estate, but the Powerbook might be easier on the eyes....

Quote:

Originally posted by steve666

I am also hoping my friend undercharges me for the Powerbook. It all depends on how much he wants for it. If it gets close to $1000 I may as well spring for a new machine.

I guess I would think somewhere around $500-600 would make it a reasonable deal, but I wouldn't spend more than that...

DF

steve666 · July 22, 2003 5:33PM

I just checked out the ibooks and I really dont want to shell out a grand right now. If my friend would sell me his Powerbook for $500 I think it would be worth considering, especially since he said he would send it to me to try out first. I have a hard time buying things so if i bought the ibook I'd probably wonder if I should've bought the Powerbook, or the now discontinued G4 Tower 1Ghz which Ive seen for $1149. I could always keep the Powerbook around as a second computer also which wouldnt be bad. Decisions..............

Powerbook G3 400 and OSX

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