Titanium PowerBook G4 Maxed Out with mSATA SSD

In this video we'll take a look at my Apple Titanium PowerBook G4. It's an 867 Mhz upgraded to 1GB of RAM, and I've fitted a mSATA SSD in an IDE enclosure. We'll take it apart, look at the RAM and SSD upgrades, and then put it back together and see how it gets along with the modern internet and a few awesome games.
It boots into both Mac OSX Tiger and Mac OS 9.2.2, the last and fastest PowerBook generation able to do so.
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🔧 Tool kit I use: amzn.to/31kquDi
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Here is the mSATA to IDE SSD adapter case I used: www.amazon.com...
This is the mini mSATA SSD that works well in the adapter and the PowerBook: www.amazon.com...
Note: Amazon links include an affiliate code that gives me a commission if you make a purchase. This commission helps me make terrible choices on eBay and subsequent videos from them.
#retro #macintosh #powerbook

[@foodandart5808]

Technical quibble - SuperDrive actually burned both CD and DVD.. What you have is a ComboDrive - plays DVD and burns CD's. It's a nice machine you have, thanks for sharing it with us!

[@ActionRetro]

Whoops!

[@greygoose3936]

Pretty happy I found your channel after seeing this video posted on the VintageApple subreddit. Awesome content.

[@ActionRetro]

Thank you so much!

[@thesisko3715]

One might think the TiBook looks dated now but when you showed other laptops from 2001 it really demonstrated why it was so revolutionary for its time. I personally think still looks pretty great today, and I love that the newest MacBook Pros sort of call back to the TiBook with their overall shape and design.

[@jryankennedy12]

Love your videos! Your cat makes them even better

[@supra5mge1]

I have one of these. All in intact, same as yours. 1ghz model. Still all original. It has been sitting in my closet for years. It was given to me years ago and I ignored until this morning. I thought it had 0 ports! The back door there fooled me for years! Hahaha. Guess I had a hidden gem here. I have an ssd or two floating about as well. Upgrade time!! And THANK YOU for this video and that link to the SSD adapter/enclosure! You made my Saturday good sir!

[@aa-au]

I have one of these in a box somewhere. Now I have to find it and possibly max it out.

[@WelcomeToMarkintosh]

WOW-I didn’t even remember that the back panel opened, exposing all those ports! I guess I never needed any of them when I had mine-lol

[@steaker-gi9uw]

I have a 1ghz Ti Book and it's an amazing machine. Sadly these tends to have issues with the GPUs dying and mine is one of those.

[@ActionRetro]

Sorry to hear it :(

[@laurensnieuwland4657]

Ya sure it's the gpu? Mine has a display issue where the screen is pink when booting, but turns normal after a while. This is a CCFL tube issue. It also had some display glitches, but after I ran a heavy benchmark which made it run really hot and reapplied the thermal paste, it now has no issues anymore.

[@steaker-gi9uw]

@@laurensnieuwland4657 It happens when connected to an external display as well. I do need to try replacing the thermal paste which should help with the situation.

[@alerey4363]

Apple always with bad thermal designs, specially in notebooks; another BIG and very common problem with these titaniums are the batteries; after 4 or more years they bulge and leak the internal chemicals posing a real safety danger, both electrically and to the user

[@2048Megabytes.]

That PowerBook is probably my favourite too

[@WelcomeToMarkintosh]

I NEVER knew about that magnetic latch!! That is COOL!

[@HelenHolmes_akaRaptorFace]

Lookit those purty kitties

[@jmal]

I'm a simple man. I see kitty, I like & sub.

[@brokenelectronics3665]

Great video, thanks for posting it. I got all excited about that enclosure, but, sadly , when I clicked on the link, it came up "currently unavailable". That often means that there will be no more, although I will check in on it from time to time. My PowerBook G4 is the aluminum model from 2004. It's a great machine, and, like you, back in the day, it was my mobile workstation. Today it is particularly useful for Target Disk mode, on machines with failing optical drives. By the way, for the record, I watched this on a 1 GHz iMac G4!

[@ActionRetro]

Hey, looks like they have them up on Amazon: amzn.to/3cpx2Dy

[@brokenelectronics3665]

Action Retro, Thanks for the heads up, I just got ordered a couple! :-)

[@ActionRetro]

Me too, I bet we just bought them out because it said there were only a few left!

[@zeppast]

I had one of these in college I still have it actually my parents bought one for me in 2003.

[@erezhod]

You started out learning Photoshop and web development using a PowerBook G4?! You're so lucky. I had to start on a crappy 800MHz Pentium 3 with 256mb of RAM running Windows ME.

[@smarfie]

Completely agree, this is my favorite computer. I need to find one . Love your channel!

[@amdintelxsniperx]

i just rebuilt mine . the bnottom case had seperated from the plastic so i used strong ca and epoxy to reattach it . ive oiled my hinges so it wont break :) i just need to find a new battery

[@MarshallSmith27]

I had the 1Ghz model and I miss it all the time. I still have it but it was dropped by my sister and the hinges broke and the metal screen panels started to come apart because of it. I used it like that for about a year. I finally retired it in 2009 I think or maybe 2010 when I got the i7 2.66 15 mbp with the hi res option. those are my two favorite computers I've ever had. they both still work but the 2010 I left uncharged for 6 months when I left the country and I came back and the battery had swollen. stupid on my part. but the ide drive in the powerbook failed one day and I spent about 6 MONTHS booting it constantly TRYING to get my data off and one day it finally booted after probably 1000 tries and I started the backup that took days via USB and somehow it didn't crash or kernel panic. It never booted again with that drive :( I also had a 1.33 powerbook that I think was from 2003 that was quite a nice laptop

[@nineties_skaterdude2635]

Great video! I recently got myself a TiBook 1 GHz for cheap in great condition and intend to also put in an SSD. I will however go the IDE to SATA (not mSATA) route - that is taking out the board of the enclosure of a 2,5" SATA SSD and hook it up via a small PATA to SATA adapter. I have one question for you though - did you replace the thermal paste (or rather thermal gunk) in your TiBook or isn't it necessary? Does yours get hot? And yeah it's amazing how these TiBooks hold up aesthetically. I believe hardly anyone would guess that this is a 2001 machine if they aren't Apple enthusiasts like we are.

[@Lei_D]

Huh. Didn't know these PowerBooks were so capable. I didn't know running large 3D games were possible on those things.

[@TheSulross]

Gee, I left my G4 Mac behind (still have it - just isn't used anymore) and didn't even know they could run the older Mac OS-9. Maybe you should do a video on how to fire up OS-9 on these G4 Macs for the clueless, such as myself. (Might even go and resurrect my old G4 if could do some actual retro spelunking.) The harddisk on my old G4 was pitifully slow, though, so first thing it really needs is an upgrade to modern solid state storage...

[@ActionRetro]

Great idea! One of the reasons I love the TiBook so much is that it's the last PowerBook that could natively boot into Mac OS9. Here's a list of the last versions of each Mac that could boot into Classic - everymac.com/mac-answers/mac-os-9-classic-support-faq/last-macs-to-boot-startup-macos-9.html

[@frankiii9165]

I've got one of these for my birthday, pretty good condition but the hard drive is dead. As I got the machine as a gift I'm very motivated to make it work again. I'm watching your videos to get some ideas! Also, I'm very impressed, the battery still holds some charge too! I like the fact you can see preview the charge with the battery out - I think they're very useful if you're several days out, you wanna carry some of these, so when one drains out you can swap with another. I don't know if the newest Macbook Pro lets you swap batteries...

[@givenchyhomme8694]

Mac OS X looks so freakin good on this machine. As a matter of fact, it would look good on any machine. Big Sur doesn’t hold a candle to this design. Imagine the old versions on a Retina display. 🤤

[@GuillermoPaulman]

I would like to buy one but they are so rare. All the PowerBook G4s on eBay are the later aluminium ones.

[@InfernosReaper]

Rest in Peace TenFourFox

[@exosine]

Just dug out my old 667mhz tibook that I repaired the screen of in 2014 after watching this video, playing fallout 2 on it now, great memories!

[@ActionRetro]

Nice!

[@davwlk7]

Thank you Action Retro for posting this video .I have To powerbook Model A1025 with 1ghz. I got it off EBay in 2011. I recently picked it back up I knew I could upgrade the ram but didn't know if I could change the HHD to SSD. OS Leapard was already installed. I have a question. If I change to SSD will I have to reinstall OS Leopard?

[@ActionRetro]

Yeah you will have to reinstall the OS when you install the SSD.

[@SuperGachet]

Hey Sean, do any of your SSDied PowerBooks/iBook have issues with sleep? Like, does the system freeze when being woken up?

[@mopeybloke]

I wish you had mentioned the screen resolution and what resolution the games were at.

[@FrankCastleTIG]

How would this handle h264 in VLC? Would 540p and 720p play?

[@GuillermoPaulman]

How do you connect the TiBook to the internet? Do you use ethernet cable or is there a way to connect it to modern WPA2 WiFi?

[@melchieor]

Hi Shawn, euro from forkbomb podcast here. I continue to always enjoy your content :) Wanted to get your opinion on this laptop if it only had Mac OS9 loaded . Would the higher spec version be worth it compared to let’s say an iBook G3 or even lower end G4 550 PowerBook Ti? Or do you think OSX Tiger with Classic on an Aluminum PowerBook be same or better? Thanks !

[@joshanderson9243]

I just installed this same adapter and solid state hard drive 120gb and it’s not being read by the laptop. Any help please

[@user-xr3rb6pn9m]

Sorry for pointing that out, but, in "Id Tech", "Id" is pronounced like [id] and not [ai di], as "Id" in this case comes from a German word for "it" (also one of the terms from psychoanalysis) and not from "ID card". Otherwise, I really enjoyed the video! Really want to purchase a similar machine one day, very surprising how much it is capable of even today :)

[@ActionRetro]

Hah, thank you!

[@ct1660]

I have a 256GB m.2 ssd on my TiBook, 128gb for OS 9/10.4 and the other 128gb for 10.5,

[@grantrettke7932]

Very nice video thanks so much for sharing that. Question does your Titanium's PRAM hold a charge? My two do not. I'm investigating ways to deal with this.

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

Nice Video Good Job

[@snip3rm00n]

Will the mSATA to IDE adapter and SSD modules you used in this work on the iBook G4?

[@SebastianSegura1138]

I was actually thinking of doing the same thing, what kind of SSD did you use and how does it perform?

[@LongNguyen-ev4zc]

powerbook g4 be browser expired how come I update

[@txm100]

Cool video, thank you!

[@halnor777]

Hi just saw the video. Enyone knows where to buy refurbished battery for this?

[@staysharpbraingames9518]

Great niche!

[@TyTytheCat2004]

Imagine if you were able to upgrade it to a fast G5 processor

[@lunaside]

i enjoy these videos

[@ActionRetro]

Thanks!

[@lunaside]

@@ActionRetro no problem, I’ve been watching a lot of your videos lately! I’m really into old Macs and stuff like that

[@gilclaudio3078]

Thanks for the post. I still have one, with a broken monitor. How do I connect it to an external monitor. Also, how do I clone the current HD to the SSD? Thanks a lot.

[@ActionRetro]

Fortunately connecting it to an external monitor should be pretty simple. It uses a DVI connector, and DVI to HDMI cables are pretty cheap on Amazon - amzn.to/34fSNTa Mirroring the hard drive to a new SSD will be slightly more involved. The method I use is to connect the new SSD as an external drive first, and use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the original hard drive to the new SSD - www.macintoshrepository.org/10441-carbon-copy-cloner-2-x. Then, I swap the SSD with the internal drive and it's good to go. The only hiccup might be what adapter to use to connect the SSD externally. This is the one I have to connect IDE drives to USB - amzn.to/3bZpBTh

[@gilclaudio3078]

@@ActionRetro Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply. Much appreciated!!!

[@ActionRetro]

Any time!

[@gilclaudio3078]

I did exactly as you told me. It was a success. Thanks.

[@ActionRetro]

😁😁😁

[@goclunker]

It can’t do anything online thanks to no flash for ppc. Forced obsolescence. Ppc machines could still be decent if it wasn’t for that flash cutoff

[@lepidotos]

Well, Adobe solved that problem for you.

[@goclunker]

@reeder 76 before flash became obsolete, the entire internet stopped working on ppc when they decided to not release an update. That was the forced cutoff

[@goclunker]

@@lepidotos …ppc is incapable of rendering modern web quickly or well, but it was more then capable of running flash versions until flash was cut off from it, and now, that flash had been discontinued

[@goclunker]

@reeder 76 its not usable. Single core ppcs could of kept up until about 2014, but now they are best for vintage software. They were cut off early in 2009 via the flash abandonment for ppc.

[@MstanhopeTX]

Apple has always made classy sexy products.

[@skysurfer6870]

I don't mean to be an internet troll but once again what's the point of upgrading the ram and the HD to ssd if you don't install a newer OS, this machine supports Mac Os X without upgrade. When you install Mac Os X on this machine it's quite slow, it would interesting to see the comparison before and after. In my opinion the hardware upgrade is only worth it if you can make a newer OS running smooth and fast.

[@lcaise]

yeah the same here.... It's classic machine and trying to use it novadays is bit funny :D Love powerbooks but as they are, without upgrades to ssd and trying to watch KZbin 1080p.

[@Pilotgeek]

SSDs and Ram are cheap, so why not? Mac OS X does a pretty good job of using available ram unlike OS 9 and earlier. The version of Firefox he's using is a modern version ported to older systems, and modern websites likely will use all that ram especially with multiple tabs. Again, an SSD will still improve loading times on random loads of small files or disk caches.

[@mike445]

Awesome!, Keep it up, Also, Let's be friends Xd