Updating
a G3 Wallstreet PowerBook -
June 11, 2002
If you're anything like me, you get used to the look, feel, features and quirks of things you use day to day. Your car or truck, cell phone, a shaver, your significant other half (no letters please), maybe a favorite technology toy. Some of us have a greater pension for this than others, guess that's why I still have my all time favorite car, a '76 280Z.
Mac aficionados fall into a special category when it comes to a passionate adhesion to a computer, especially a notebook computer. Hey, everyone knows that the PC crowd tires of their Intel/AMD "what-sha-ma-call-it" notebook in about six months, roughly when their model is now half as fast, in "fantasy" clock speed, as the one the manufacturer of their relic just released. PC notebooks have become "disposable" in rather short order for another good reason, they just are not upgradeable and in some cases that even includes the hard drive! I have a great little 18-month-old Compaq 1200XL that I cannot even put a hard drive in bigger than 8 GB because Compaq did not design this series with any provision for upgrading the HD, or anything else either. A disposable $1,900. PC notebook!
Fortunately for us
lovers of the Apple logo portable, in many cases our favorites have had
some paths to upgrade-ability, which brings me to the point of this series,
the G3 Wallstreet. The G3 Wallstreet PowerBook was one of Apples most
successful portable models in sales and it is our Keeping a Mac Current
subject in the portable category.
It included 13"
TFT and 14" TFT display models with 233, 250, 292 MHz processors,
66 or 83 MHz bus as Rev. 1 versions. There were also Rev. 2 versions that
were 233, 266 and 300 MHz, all of which had a 66 MHz bus. Confusing isn't
it, oh you don't know half the story. There was also a
ìPC
notebooks have become "disposable" in rather short order for
another good reason, they just are not upgradeable,
. . . î
12"
Dual Scan LCD model that looked like a Wallstreet, but it's code name
is actually "MainStreet" - stay away from these, woof - woof,
they are not upgradeable! Many of these upgrades are also applicable to
the next "Bronze keyboard" G3 and the Pismo "Firewire G3
PowerBook".
So where do we start? We start by recalling the four points in Keeping a Mac current, the series opener and choose pieces 'n parts to do the job that make sense as well as keep things financially reasonable. After all, no matter how much you love your aging G3 PowerBook, investing $2000 doesn't make sense when you could with a little more money buy a new G4 Titanium PB.
My perspective on doing this upgrade may well be similar to yours. While I'm primarily a writer-journalist, I also design web sites and have a pretty strong Mac IT background. Those interests are going to influence what I want out of my upgrades. I also love video editing and digital photography, so I'll try to make those interests part of what I would want a Wallstreet to attain to be useful for me. Get the idea? Make a list of your needs and objectives, and then have a calculator handy.
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