I have a 1400c which now sits because it was replaced with the Ti G4. The 1400c is a nice laptop but these days it's a bit slow. When the 1400c was my primary computer I used it until the speed (133mhz) started slowing me down. So I went and bought a Sonnet 400mhz G3 upgrade (back when it was fresh on the market) at the cost of about $400+tax. The 1400c upgrade made a world of a difference, almost making it feel like a new machine. These are some of the tests I did.....
CPU: Stock Powerbook 1400c/133 - 150 Sonnet 1400c 400/G3 - 995 CPU: Stock Powerbook 1400c/133 - 250 Sonnet 1400c 400/G3 - 938 As you can see, it was many times faster than stock. And because of the chip Sonnet uses, I gained battery life. All in all it was a good buy. That was until problems started popping up. Even though the upgrade was great, all in all I would never buy from Sonnet again (personally I hate them)! For some reason I wasn't able to use any OS after 8.5 (that means no 8.6+). And even 8.5 was unstable, it would crash on occasion. Using 8.6 or higher would only allow me to use the computer for a few minutes before it locked up. When I called the company they pretty much told me to shove it and that it was an Apple software problem and not there's. Ok, so here are the important things (I used that 1400c for a few years). First is the speed, I know the stock processor is dog slow and it's pretty much useless these days. Sure it would make a good computer to write on but photo/video/internet can be a bare. If you upgrade it with a G3 you can do video and photo now (though it can be buggy) and the internet now is livable but you are still limited to using old software and older OS's. The main reason is the 64meg ram limit (which was the main reason I stopped using it). You can't do anything with 64meg ram and using VM makes the problem worse because of an extreme reduction in performance. The video is very poor. Your stuck with 800x600 in thousands of colors (a real burden) and the frame rate with anything is SLOW! If you ask me, use it for simple stuff or as Geoffrey said, give it to some kid. Otherwise I'd save the money to buy something a bit snappier. Something like a Lombard or Pismo at the minimum. These days there fairly cheap and a bargain compared to upgrading the 1400c with a new processor, maxing the ram, larger hard drive (1-2gb fills very fast) and a ethernet (broadband) and/or 56k (dial up) PC card(s) to connect to the internet. Also I'd like to note that the 1400c has some serious issues with PCMCIA cards and them working. It's much better to get a computer that has them built in already. But again that's just me. Jake --- Geoffrey Loeffler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > All depends on what your trying to get out of the > book, I have the 400 > upgrade and it made a huge difference, just don't > get in a hurry to buy > the upgrade. I have seen them for $35 to $50 on Low > End Swap. Ebay > well just do not get in a bidding war. > > I does make a huge difference. These books are still > good for email, > writing and light web use. I love the keyboard, > solid and sturdy sums > it the whole design. > > The max ram however is 64 megs, that's the real > short fall. You have to > stack the ram unless you lucky to find 48 meg > single, made by Newer > Tech. > > If you do not want to upgrade give it to school or a > kid who can use > it, dig up a printer. You would be surprised at how > many kids do not > have a computer and even the 1400 once the most > powerful computer, > faster then a desktop has use today. > That's what makes Mac a Mac, my wife used Turbo Tax > last year to check > our accountants figures and found gold, do that on a > wintel this old on > NEW software. Of course time marches on and she will > need to use one of > my pismos or Apple blow me away with a cheap iBook. > If the machine fits > your needs then do it, I run 8.6 is very stable. > Pare the system down > Good Luck > Geoff > > > > > On Nov 7, 2004, at 2:29 PM, John/Judy Hixson wrote: > > > Has anybody on this list got a feel for or an > opinion about the > > subject of > > "diminishing returns" for processor upgrades on a > PB1400? What I'm > > wondering > > is whether a Sonnet 466MHz G3 upgrade is mostly > wasted money because > > the > > 33MHz system bus can't use any (or much of) > processor power above a > > certain > > level anyway. In other words, maybe a 233MHz G3 > upgrade gets most > > (>90%) of > > the performance improvement that a 466MHz upgrade > would get because of > > the > > very low system bus speed. Anyway I'm open to > hearing your opinions on > > the > > topic. Thanks. John Hixson > > > > > > > -- > PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> > and... > > Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com > | Enter To Win A | > -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 > | Free iBook! | > > Support Low End Mac > <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> > > PowerBooks list info: > <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> > --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; > Send list messages to: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To unsubscribe, email: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For digest mode, email: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subscription questions: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> > > Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! > http://www.applelinks.com > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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