Jewish World Review July 25, 2003 / 25 Tamuz 5763
By Mark Kellner
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
There are folks who can leave well enough alone -- and then there's guys
like me. Among other computers in my home -- a friend asked, "aren't you
running out of users there?" -- is a slightly old Apple Computer
PowerMacintosh G4 Cube. It was introduced to the market in 2000, not too
long ago in human terms, but in the dim and distant past in computer years.
The Cube still worked fine after about 18 months in storage. Its G4 PowerPC
processor was not perhaps the fastest -- a mere 450 MHz in an age
when 1.2 GHz ones were available -- but it was not shabby. The computer was
in good shape physically, and it could handle the latest version of the Mac
operating system, OS X v.10.2.6.
Instead of consigning this "relic" to the scrap heap, or a page on the eBay
auction site, I thought it might be interesting to see what upgrades might
work best.
First was the operating system. Firing up the machine, I was able to install
the latest version, but not without a little heartache. The Cube's 128 MB of
random-access memory, or RAM, was woefully inadequate for the software, but
with much coaxing, the job was done. More memory would be needed, but that
would come later.
Another issue was the hard disk drive. At the time the Cube plunked onto the
scene, 20 Gigabytes was a respectable hard disk size; today, it's two-thirds
the capacity of Apple's top-line iPod device. Still, there was enough
to work with there, and I'd seen enough stories about people upgrading hard
drives.
Here, then, was the challenge: up the RAM, up the hard drive capacity, and
keep my sanity in the process. So far, I'm batting .333.
The RAM was the easy part: Crucial Technologies of Nampa, Idaho (right
outside of Boise), was kind enough to send over two 512 MB RAM modules, as
they have done in similar past experiments. The RAM pops into available
slots on the Cube's chassis, and, true to form, all went without a hitch. In
a matter of minutes, I was up and running with just over 1 Gigabyte of RAM.
Memory prices have dropped substantially in recent years, and the retail
price of the memory used in this experiment is about $130, or a little more
than $1 per megabyte of RAM. Crucial's Web site (http://www.crucial.com)
offers a handy "configurator" that got me to a list of potential memory
parts for the Cube in about three clicks.
Next was the hard disk drive. These, too, have dropped in price over the
years (in the early 1980s, Tandy Corp. boasted of offering a 5 MB drive for
around $1,000), but now, pricing is around $1 per GIGABYTE, not per
megabyte.
The fun part, for a computer reviewer, at least, is to find a "new" hard
drive that fits the unique hardware situation the Cube presents. It features
what is called an "ATA/66" hard drive data "bus," and that bus can only
handle up to 128 GB of hard disk space, regardless of the quantity of space
on the drive. The manufacturer of hard drives who was first to respond to my
plea -- a company which, for soon-to-be obvious reasons, shall remain
nameless for now -- had only a 160GB drive to send. Fair enough, I'll
sacrifice the extra capacity just to increase my disk storage about six
fold.
In brief, it didn't work. Not for long, anyway. Despite my best efforts --
and help from Mac Business Solutions of Gaithersburg, Maryland, when I hit a
couple of speed bumps -- the drive worked well at first, but, late one
night, started to stall and beep and then just lost the operating system
altogether.
So, out with the new drive and back to the old, 20 GB. I've got some other
ideas and strategies, though, that might just make this Cube a cutting edge
device. Meanwhile, before tossing a slightly-old computer, think about what
can be done to upgrade it. You might save some money over a new model, while
shining up an old friend.
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JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
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