Macopinion

The Road Warrior Mailbag - August 27, 2007

PowerBook 1400 RAM
Upgrading Pismo HD
Happy With Toshiba And Windows
Virtual PC on Mac...


___

PowerBook 1400 RAM

From Rick;

Charles,

I just got through reading your article on the PowerBook 1400 at:
http://www.lowendmac.com/misc/02/0520.html

I came across it because I just procured a near-mint condition PowerBook 1400cs/117. I say near-mint because I know the history of the machine, and I would wager it doesn't have 100 hours of use on it total. It's not as capable as my MacBook, and the passive matrix screen leaves a little bit to be desired, but boy, it sure looks and feels extremely sturdy compared to the modern Mac laptops.

Anyway, it came with 24MB of RAM, and I'd like to increase that amount to the maximum 64 that the 1400 allows. I looked at all the regular sources that I would check out for RAM, but none have listings for the PowerBook 1400. Do you know of any resources?

Thanks,
Rick

___

Hi Rick;

Sounds like a peach of a 1400.

The PowerBook Guy has:

PowerBook 1400 48MB RAM Upgrade Kit (New) Brand New PowerBook 1400 48MB RAM Upgrade Kit $119.95

For more information, visit:
http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/RAM-Cards-price0-p-1-c-547.html

Wegener Media lists for the 1400:

16mb single stackable card 25.00
24mb Single stackable card 69.00
32mb Single stackable card 89.00

For more information, visit:
http://www.wegenermedia.com/parts.htm

Hope this helps.

Charles







Upgrading Pismo HD

From Gordon;

Greetings,

I have a G3/500 Powerbook.

There is a constant whirring noise that is rather annoying. It's been there for as long as I can remember. I'm assuming that it is from the HD. So, I was thinking of putting in a bigger, quieter HD. The Scorpio from Western Digital is supposed to be very quiet, I understand.

Question is: How do I know if it will work? If not, what ones do work? I want to use it as a HD-based music server for my Hi-Fi so need one that is as quiet as possible.

I also, may be getting my sister's old G3/500 iBook. Same questions for that one, too. Any light you can shed on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you,
Gordon

___

Hi Gordon

Some hard drives tend to get noisy with age and use. Others are better in that department.

For both the Pismo and the iBook you need a 2.5" ATA (Not SATA) hard drive. Changing a drive in the Pismo is relatively easy. In the iBook, it is quite difficult.

The 20 GB Hitachi/IBM drive in my iBook has been excellent - still whisper quiet after 4 1/2 years of use. The Seagate 100 GB drive in one of my Pismos is also pretty quiet (both 4200 RPM units, but the 40 GB Toshiba 5400 RPM drive in my other Pismo is considerably louder, and was never really quiet from new.

I have no first-hand experience with the Western Digital Scorpio drives, but Other World Computing has one listed for the Pismo:

120.0GB Western Digital "Scorpio" 5400RPM 9.5MM SuperSlim ATA Notebook Drive with 8MB Data buffer - $77.99

More info on OWC's extensive selection of drives here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

Charles







Happy With Toshiba And Windows

From John

Charles:

I thought I'd give you an update after eight months of living on the dark side. I first fired up my Toshiba laptop in December 2006 and I haven't looked back since, though I was able to finally revive my iBook by doing a clean install of all of the system software.

My daughter is now using the iBook, mainly for browsing the Web and email. To put it simply, I love my Toshiba PC. No, it isn't as cute, and the software doesn't have that slick look, but the darn thing just works hard, and that is what I want from a computer. It is wonderful knowing that just about any software I could possibly want is available, and just about any problem has a huge user base that has already solved it.

My last few years with Apples seem to have been a near constant search for some software solution that didn't exist, or a search through endless forums trying to troubleshoot some obscure problem. I know that PCs aren't trouble free, but I love the fact that no matter where I am I'll have my choice of endless numbers of techs who can help, and they'll probably have on hand any hardware or software I might need. I can now go into Best Buy, Wal Mart, and Target and pick up bargain equipment and software. There are advantages to being part of the mainstream.

Yes, I know that I could now buy an Apple with an Intel chip so I could potentially run Apple and PC systems, but why bother with the complications and expense? I think Apple has declared its intentions pretty clearly - it is now a hardware company specializing in music and phones, and probably other neat consumer gadgetry. For me, I just want a computer that works and gets my work done, and PCs do that the best.

John

___

Hi John;

Thanks for the update. I'm happy for you that you are satisfied with the service you're getting from your Windows box. Different strokes, I guess.

Personally, I simply couldn't tolerate the angularity, ugliness, clunkiness, and "Microsoftiness" of Windows, to say nothing of the virus/malware onslaught which is virtually a non-issue on the Mac. If, Heaven forfend, Apple ever stopped developing OS X I would switch to Linux. Every time I get my hands on XP or Vista, I marvel that so many people put up with it.

I do have to vigorously disagree with your contentions that a) Apple has lost interest in the computer business, and b) that PCs get your work done better than Macs.

Just last week it was reported that Apple now has 17.6 percent of the notebook computer market and has vaulted past Gateway as the number 3 computer manufacturer behind Dell and HP, and that's without competing seriously in the enterprise market that represents a large proportion of those two companies' sales. Apple hasn't had personal computer market share like that since the early '90s. Certainly doesn't seem a sign that Apple is abandoning the computer market. Indeed, computers represented the lion's share of their profit in the last quarter.

It isn't for nothing that Macs consistently have the highest rate of user satisfaction in survey after survey, including those conducted by Windows PC-oriented magazines. "It just works" has certainly been my empirical experience over 15 years on the Mac.

Fair winds,
Charles

___

Happy With Toshiba And Windows

From John

Charles:

Thanks for the thoughtful response and all the help in the past. Unfortunately, myself and apparently 83% of the market seem to think PCs are more useful. The restarts when you install new software are annoying, but much less so than the frequent complete system freezes I've experienced with Apples. I can only recall maybe one or two freezes that required a restart on my PC in eight months, while on my Apples they were a daily occurence.

I think there are just Apple people and PC people. Some people wouldn't be caught dead in an ordinary Chevrolet, while that's what I drive because it gets me to work more reliably and definitely much more cheaply than my neighbor's Saab, which looks totally cool. When the Saab is working right it definitely would be a much more enjoyable drive than my Chevy. Similarly, when the Apple was working right it worked great - I loved it, but I don't love fiddling with obscure problems that nobody can solve, which seems to be the lot of Saab owners.

I'm happy there are choices. The world would be pretty dull if we only had one choice.

Cheers!

___

Hi John;

I have to say that you must have had the mother of all lemon experiences with your Mac(s?). Back in Mac OS Classic days, especially with Systems 7.x and 8.x, crashes were a drearily frequent occurrance, although I don't think worse than with the contemporaneous Windows versions. In my experience, OS 9 was a quantum improvement. I once went more than three months on my WallStreet PowerBook running OS 9.2.2 without a restart, and when it cmae only to install a new piece of software - not due to a crash or a freeze. That was with two or three hours of daily use throughout.

Since moving up to OS X on my production machines five years ago, I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of system freezes requiring a restart I've had, although I did get occasional kernel panics on my iBook associated with certain USB peripherals. That ended completely when I installed Tiger, and had pretty much petered out with the later builds of Panther. The only time this 17" G4 PowerBook I'm typing on has ever locked up was when connected via Target Disk Mode to another Mac that had a serious hardware disorder, which crashed and took them both down.

My production Mac runs 8-10 hours per day, I usually have 20 or more programs open, I test a lot of beta and alpha grade software, and I have all of my I/O ports plus a full USB hub connected to peripheral stuff most of the time. I restart every two or three weeks to clear the memory and empty the swapfiles. This performance has been the norm with my two Pismos, the iBook, and the 17" PowerBook.

If you were getting daily (or even weekly or monthly) hard crashes with a Mac, something was seriously wrong, perhaps a hardware issue. That is emphatically not typical Mac OS performance.

Since you were (at least most recently) using an iBook, I'm inclined to suspect you may have been afflicted with the dreaded iBook motherboard issue.

This week my wife's employer issued her with a Memorex USB thumb drive to transport work between work (where she is stuck with a Windoze PC) and her Mac at home. The instructions for installing Windows drivers takes up half the first page of the quickstart guide. The Mac instructions are one sentence: "No driver installation necessary." After the rigamarole the IT person at work instructed her was necessary just to safely eject the USB drive from the Windows box, with dire warnings about data loss if she deviated from the ritual, she could hardly believe it when I told her that all she had to do with the Mac was highlight the disk icon and select Eject from the menu.

As for cars, You're right about SAABs, but Macs aren't like SAABs. More like BMWs, or even Toyotas. I drive an ancient Toyota Camry. Like my Macs, it just works.

Charles






Virtual PC on Mac...

From Jim Dickey

Let me tell you of my latest Windoze experience!! I bought XP Pro SP 2 (whew!) to run the educational testing program my wife needs to use and installed it under Boot Camp on daughter's MacBook - good so far. 'Doze works great on it (if that can be said). I only installed ONE program on Windows and had to restart SIX times yesterday! Not counting the one time it froze requiring a forced restart!! Total of seven restarts in one day!! This was on a clean, fresh install, no internet connection, no worms, viruses, lizards, snakes, or other possible infections. I finally connected to the internet and installed the 36 required updates, and had to restart again! It completely baffles me how people can keep using that junque... When you actually use it, it is much worse than a Mac user can believe.

The infamous "right click" that EVERY Windows user I have talked to keeps saying the Mac doesn't have? Well, one of the about 15 ways to do a right click on the Mac running 'Doze is put two fingers on the track pad and then click... Mac simple and easy. Needless to say, it pained me deeply to have to buy M$ Windows just to run one program. Oh well, maybe it will give me a little more ammunition when trying to sell Macs to my 'Doze suffering friends.

Jim Dickey

***



cmoore@macopinion.com

Provisionally, you can access The Road Warrior Archive to Jan. 16, 2006 by clicking here.

Note: Letters to The Road Warrior may or may not be published in The Road Warrior Mailbag at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context.

If you would prefer that your message not appear in The Road Warrior Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published.

CM