[G4] Airport Original and upgrades.

[Richard Klein]

On Nov 22, 2006, at 5:41 PM, Erin Owens wrote:

> Hey all:
>
> I just got my first Mac ever, a PowerMac G4 400mhz with 2  
> harddrives (one 10gb and one 20gb).  And I absolutely love it.   
> (Its was upgraded by the previous owner to have 768 ram)  The  
> processor is a bit slow, but its great other than that. (my old  
> computer was a windows 98 home-build that I helped put together  
> myself with no sound card - so anything is awesome compared to that!!)
>
> I have two questions:
>
> One: I'm looking to get an airport original for it from ebay.  Does  
> anyone have experience in installing one and what has your  
> experience been?  Easy or hard?  I've never cracked open the  
> computer case yet, so I dont quite know what I'm gettting myself  
> into.  What type of tools should I need other than a screwdriver?   
> Is it anything similar to a pc inside?
>
> Two: I'm also looking to possibly upgrade the processor and  
> harddrive.  Where would I go about looking for the correct hardware  
> for this?  I know it has to be specifically mac compatible, but  
> does it absolutely have to be manufactured by Apple?  And is this  
> economical at all - or should I just leave it as is?  I only paid  
> 100 for the whole computer with 10.3.9 and keyboard/mouse and  
> speakers plus the 60 or so for the airport.  Is it worth upgrading?

Erin,
	Your Mac is generally pretty easy to work on.  It takes standard IDE  
(aka ATA or PATA) hard drive, just like most Windows PCs.  It's  
limited to 120GB or smaller hard drives.  There are ways around that  
limit, but it's easier just to stay under that limit.  If you want a  
larger drive, though, other people here will be glad to tell you how  
to do that.

	You can get a faster processor off eBay.  Your safest bet there  
would be to stick with processors that were available in your Mac  
from the factory.  For instance, if your Mac is the Gigabit Ethernet  
model, it was available with up to dual-500MHz processors (you can  
look that stuff up here: http://support.apple.com/specs/powermac/).   
You may be able to use processors from other models, but you'll have  
to do more research on that.  You can also buy new processor upgrades  
from companies such as Sonnet (http://www.sonnettech.com/),  
PowerLogix (http://www.powerlogix.com/), Newer Technology (http:// 
www.newertech.com/), or OWC (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ 
accelerators/).

	This page can help you identify which Mac model you've got (http:// 
docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58418), or type in your  
serial number on this page (http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/ 
applemodel.html).  You can find your serial number on the label on  
the back of the computer, or click on the blue apple in the upper  
left corner of the screen, select "About This Mac," and then click on  
"More Info..."

	Finally, Apple has really good instructions for replacing components  
like hard drives.  Look here: http://www.apple.com/support/diy/ and  
select your model from the list under "Installing DIY Parts."

-- 
Rich