laptop CPU upgrade - lets talk

[adric22]

Okay, I have a clamshell iBook 366 Mhz. Now before I hear the naysayers, let me start by saying that I am well aware the CPU is soldered to the board. I've taken these units apart many times and I know what is inside.

I really like the clamshell design, but I'd sure like it if it were a bit faster.. maybe twice as fast would be preferable, but any improvement would be great. I've already upped the RAM to 576 MB and put a 30 GB Hard drive (all the space I'll ever need) and it runs OS 10.3.9 pretty well except some games and some web-based multimedia.

Now, it occurs to me that back in the 1990's I remember a company that specialized in doing laptop CPU upgrades. You would mail them your 486 or Pentium based laptop and they would desolder the chip and install a new one that was a good bit faster. I've actually done some hacking before that involved removing surface mount chips with a heat gun and putting them back with solder paste and a heat gun. It can be done. I also have several clamshell units, and if I screwed one up, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Besides, I can always buy more off ebay as they are dirt cheap.

So I got to thinking about this and I'd like to try. But I am not sure what speeds of G3 CPU would be pin-compatble with the one found in the clamshell. ALso I'm not sure what other mods would need to be made to adjust the clock speed accordingly. I've tried googling for any info on this and have come up blank. So I'm hoping somebody smarter than me is on this forum and has any knowledge of this.

I realize there may be heat issues. but they did make a 466 Mhz unit from the factory in this form factor. So hopefully it would be realistic to look at doing 500-700 mhz?

 

[Doctor X]

I looked into this for my Widdle Pismo a few years ago. Originally, it was a G3 400 MHz.

After looking around, I chose an upgrade that made it a G4 550 MHz and could take 1 Gig of RAM. It ran 10.4.11 fine--just could not open too many operations at once! I also shut off "Dashboard."

Fine.

A lot of companies offered this upgrade with "we send you Special Box [Tm.--Ed.], you mail us PowerBook and we send back for $$$$"

Now this may or may not be applicable to YOUR Mac, but all it involved was replacing the BOARD the processor is attached to--whatever that is called. Not the processor--the board. Doing that--on a Pismo--is easier than anything. So a lot of the $$$ went into paying someone else for about 2 minutes of work. It may be that easy for you--particularly since you took it apart.

The question is, at this point, is it worth the money? You are talking about $100-$300.

Now doing some Google-Fu, it may not be possible for your model. You may take the $$$ and just get a faster used laptop.

Looking up your machine--Mactracker--the iBook Firewire "P1.5" at G3 366 is "obsolete." It came with a 466 . . . so . . . well . . . but that is a G3.

"WeLoveMacs" does not list a processor upgrade.

So . . . I think you should consider using the $$$ required to jury-rig to get a faster computer. Heck, you can get a Pismo for under $200

--J.D.

 

[adric22]

Doctor X, thanks for the reply. but I think you misunderstand. Money is not the issue at hand. If I was crazy about speed, I'd just go buy an intel Macbook. But the truth is, I love my clamshell and so far Apple hasn't made any laptop I like better. But in today's world it is getting harder and harder to find applications that will run. Even web browsing is getting to be a pain. Hence my desire to upgrade it.

What I'm proposing is definitely not going to be some upgrade you can buy. This would be a one-of-a-kind type of upgrade (unless somebody else already did it) and would require surface-mount soldering. It isn't a guess, I know, I've worked on them plenty. But the soldering isn't what I need help with, I'm good at that kind of thing. I am just not sure which CPUs are pin-compatible with the one in the clamshell. Also, in the intel world, some cpus run at different voltages, etc. So there are a lot of considerations. I'm hoping to find somebody who has actually done this mod, or thought about it.