Macopinion

The Road Warrior Mailbag - June 25, 2007

Back To The Future Pismo
Upgrade a Pismo, or get a new MacBook?
"New" Pismo
A Safe Cleaning Liquid for Mac Portables?
Re: Back To The Future: My "New" Pismo
Back To The Future: My "New" Pismo

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Back To The Future Pismo

From Luis V.

Hola Charles,

It's relaxing to read your sensible options for "upgrade". I remember very well when I was working on a Pismo, some years ago, and the feeling of quality it gave to me.

What about "smell" in this used machine? In the photos you show it "out-cased".

At present I've taken the BigAl 17" way too, although in Intel iteration. A lot of out-home work to play -and the display resolution greed- gave me the obligation to let my beloved LittleAl 12" for my wife.

I expect you and your family living at the best. In our home we have a new little Lys, our son from 15 days ago.

Greetings.
Lys

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Hi Lys;

Great to hear from you again.

First, a big congratulations on the family upgrade. Great fun you're having I'm sure. It's been 22+ years since our youngest was born, but it was a wonderful time in our lives.

As for the "new" Pismo's smell, it hasn't any that I can detect. The serial number indicates that it was built in January, 2000, so it's had plenty of time to thoroughly gas off.

Actually, the only one of the seven ( I think) Apple laptops currently in the house that I'm obliged to use in an isolation case is the BigAl.

Charles

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Upgrade a Pismo, or get a new MacBook?

From Vinod Srinivasan

Dear Mr. Moore,

Once again I write to solicit your opinion on a problem, one that you have been an authority on. I'm hoping your recent acquisition of a Pismo will further help in answering this.

I have a University-owned 400 MHz Pismo that I got rather cheap, and I've been able to bump up RAM to 768 MB rather cheaply, as well as install an 80 MB Western Digitial 5400 rpm hard drive. I'm now considering adding a G4 processor upgrade, since it is a bit of a slug in OS 10.4.10. I've disabled Spotlight, but Camino seems to take a while to load. Things were so much faster in Panther (I upgraded to Tiger a week ago). Before I bought this, I did consider going the whole hog and buying a Macbook, but video RAM is a non-issue for me; I mostly run Camino, Adobe Acrobat, Mail, and X11 (for connecting to the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute).

The question I have is, do you know of any differences in specifications between the various processor upgrades offered by vendors (Daystar, Wegener, Fastmac)? They all seem to be 7410LE chips, optimized for Altivec etc. but the performance enhancement over a G3 (if quoted at all) seems to be different. I know you have had a good experience with Daystar's 550 MHz upgrade, and so have I with a 433 MHz Lombard upgrade that I ordered a few years ago on an office machine. But the price difference between a Wegener and Daystar upgrade kit is of the order of $100, which is a lot for a grad student like me. It would be worth it if I were convinced that there definitely is a performance enhancement in the Daystar upgrade.

I have to say that the MacBook option seems so much more attractive, just because of the thrill of owning a new Mac. But I'm convinced I don't need it. I have no intention of upgrading to Leopard on the Pismo (assuming it will even be possible): for browsing, word processing, and checking mail, Tiger seems to be perfectly fine. For work of a more technical nature, current versions of the software I use (Bibdesk, Texshop) for my research seem to be more than adequate on Tiger.

I'd be interested to know what you think of the processor upgrade market. Beyond anecdotal evidence of how upgrades have fared, would you know of any technical differences between the offerings of these vendors?

Thanks,
Vinod Srinivasan

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Hi Vinod;

Based on your description of your needs and the fact that you have a partly hotrodded 400 MHz Pismo that you like, I would say you are and ideal candidate for a processor upgrade. Going from 400 MHz G3 to a 550 MHz G4 is going to give you a more substantial boost than going from 500 MHz G3.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by how lively Tiger in on my 500 MHz G3 Pismo, but as you say, Panther was even livelier.

A new MacBook would of course be a whole different dimension, but you're the best judge of whether the cost would be justified by the higher performance for you.

Upgrading a Pismo to G4 power can certainly give it a new lease on life, as I can attest from experience.

As for performance differences between the Daystar, FastMac, and Wegener upgrades, I doubt that any would be noticable. As you know, I've been more than satisfied with my Daystar upgrade for nearly 3 1/2 years now. I can't speak to the others form hands-on experience, although I'm expecting to get my hands on a Wegener G4 upgrade to test soon.

Back in 2004, Mike Lowdermilk noted to me that the G4 chip they use in their Pismo upgrades is a 533MHz G4 7410 Chip running at 550 MHz, not a 500 up-clocked to 550. However, that was more than three years ago and I don't know what chips the three vendors are using respectively today.

Charles

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"New" Pismo

From David Anasco

Charles,

Enjoy your new Pismo. When you mentioned the fire sale Wegener Media was having on Pismos, I was very tempted to get one myself. My Pismo 400 is now being used by my wife, still running strong, and I currently am using a Powerbook G4. I could not justify the expense. Glad to see you got your hands on a pretty good machine. I hope my G4 lasts as long as my Pismo.

Keep up the great work,
David

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Hi David;

I hope my G4 PowerBook lasts as long as my original Pismo, but I'll be surprised if it does. Clear sailing so far though. Not a hiccup in17 months of intensive use.

Charles

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A Safe Cleaning Liquid for Mac Portables?

From Anthony Connors

Dear Mr. Moore;

As I have so many times(sorry!) in the past, I am turning to your store of Mac Knowledge before I make a mistake. Thanks in advance!

My problem specifically is I am wondering what type of cleaner solvent will remove fingerprint smudges and general unattractiveness from Apple's iBook G4 ivory finish. Since I would probably need to clean a TiBook silver finish as well, I figured ask the professionals. I apologize for bothering you!

Sincerely yours,
Anthony Connors

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Hi Anthony;

Don't apologize. Answering questions like this is what The Road Warrior Mailbag is for.

The most widely acclaimed cleaning fluid for Apple notebooks (et al.) is iKlear.

Here's the company's blurb:

Protect your Apple Products from the Real World with iKlear Apple Polish by Klear Screen, the World’s Most Recommended Screen and Case Cleaner for Apple Products. Whether cleaning off dirt, dust, or fingerprints, iKlear will be there for all your cleaning needs at work, at home, or on the go.

iKlear’s unique formula and polishing cloths are made from the finest materials to meet the specific cleaning needs of all your Apple Products. Our revolutionary, washable and reusable Micro-Chamois and Micro-Fiber polishing cloths are optical grade and will not scratch your display screen when used in conjunction with our formula.

iKlear’s anti-static, alcohol and ammonia free formula is safe to use on all your Apple Products, and is the formula most recommended by Apple Computer.

The Klear Screen formula used in all iKlear products has been the world’s #1 recommended LCD and Computer Screen Cleaner for the last 14 years. iKlear products are made from the highest quality and environmentally friendly materials in our own California facilities. The iKlear and Klear Screen Solution is nontoxic.

RECOMMENDED BY
APPLE TECH SUPPORT,
THE APPLE STORE GENIUS BAR
AND USED BY APPLE CARE

For more information, visit:
http://www.klearscreen.com/iKlear.aspx

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Re: A Safe Cleaning Liquid for Mac Portables?

Dear Mr. Moore;

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly!

That was PRECISELY the info I needed!

I doubt I'm the sole case of Mac finish maintenance on any Apple product finished with 'Fingerprint Smudge, Dust Magnet Ivory or Silver.' Especially the iPods!

(Bookmarking the iKlear website, and including others who HATE dirt)

Sincerely,
Anthony Connors

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Re: Back To The Future: My "New" Pismo

From Patrick Abe

Just when I'm set to upgrade the 1.25GHz G4 AlBook's single-layer-only SuperDrive, I see that Ye Olde 640K RAM Pismo can join the DVD burner's club! Yes, I recall the old days (before OS X 10.4.x) when things were silky smooth and fast enough on dialup with Ye Olde Pismo. I've since upgraded to 768K/sec. broadband and replaced a dying VHS VCR with a DVD+VHS recorder, which have made the G4 AlBook the go-to machine until now. Well, the 3GHz P4 Windows XP Home tower unit can also do DVD+R DL without having to bake the AlBook in Hawaii's Summer heat. As for the cool running Pismo...

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Hi Patrick;

Actually, I've had a DVD-burning SuperDrive in my Pismo for more than two years; first a 4x unit, later upgrading to an 8x model. My G4 PowerBook has a SuperDrive too, but I like the "feel" of the FastMac unit in the Pismo.

Of course, these days Fastmac can sell you a Blu-Ray drive module for Pismos (and other Apple notebooks and desktops). The economics of putting an $800 drive in a laptop worth maybe half that are debatable of course, but it would be cool.

Charles

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Back To The Future: My "New" Pismo

From Les

From one Pismo fan to another I heartily agree with everything you've said. I'm no raving Nerd but as far as I can remember, I've changed the hinges, PRAM, screen, memory, hard drive and battery - and have had the G4 processor upgrade done. So it's a seven year old machine running the latest OS, and able to cope with Lightroom, Lightzone and Photoshop - although not all at once! Can't recall any other laptop where so many things can be done to keep things running.

The only criticism I can make, is that you've probably bumped the price of used Pismos on eBay.

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Hi Les;

Yes, the Pismo is the Apple laptop hotrodder's dream machine. My old one needs a new screen backlight tube to get rid of the pink tinge on startup, but it's otherwise in fine fettle, with a G4 550 MHz processor, a 5400 RPM HD, 640 MB of RAM (could use more), a FastMac 8X SuperDrive, and a Miglia Alchemy FireWire 800 PC Card adapter. I'd like to have a USB 2 adapter, and a Blu-Ray drive (FastMac again) would be a trip.

Charles

*** cmoore@macopinion.com

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