• Apple OS X

  More Memory for Editing on Powerbook G4

  Posted by Dye Gray on February 1, 2007 at 9:29 am

  I have Powerbook G4 and use Final Cut Pro. Would like to upgrade memory for more storage and to run edit program faster, if possible. It has 1 GB. I’m a little confused b/c profile says it has 1 CPU then on the next line it says 512 KB per CPU. I am not that technically inclined. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

  I am also aware that an external harddrive may be better for media storage. Any suggestions on a good model are appreciated. My last one crashed and I lost a significant project. Unfortunately, I did not have a back up drive.

  Below is System Profile:

  Hardware Overview:

  Machine Model: PowerBook5,6
  CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
  Number Of CPUs: 1
  CPU Speed: 1.5 GHz
  L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
  Memory: 1 GB
  Bus Speed: 167 MHz
  Boot ROM Version: 4.9.1f1
  Sudden Motion Sensor: Enabled
  Sudden Motion Sensor Version: 1.0

  System Software Overview:

  System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.9 (7W98)
  Kernel Version: Darwin 7.9.0
  Boot Volume: Macintosh HD

  Memory:

  SODIMM0/J25LOWER:

  Size: 512 MB
  Type: DDR SDRAM
  Speed: PC2700U-25330

  SODIMM1/J25UPPER:

  Size: 512 MB
  Type: DDR SDRAM
  Speed: PC2700U-25330

  Jeff Carpenter replied 19 years, 3 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Jeff Carpenter

  February 1, 2007 at 5:06 pm

  The “per CPU” line you’re seeing has to do with the processor cache, which is different than the RAM. It’s a function of the processor and motherboard and can’t be changed so there’s not reason to even think about it!

  As for the system RAM, you’ve only got 2 slots and they’re both filled. So to get 2 GB of RAM you’re going to have to buy 2 GB and throw away the 1 GB you have now. Kind of a pain, but that’s the way these things go. At crucial.com right now 2 GB for that model is running at $226. If you’re not going to be buying a new computer this year then this is a good investment for you…it will improve your computer. If you are going to change to a new machine this year I’d say save that money and put it towards the next computer.

  But if you are editing from the internal drive, that’s WAY more important to change than upgrading RAM! Getting an external drive will speed up your editing more for you than RAM will at this point. A new hard drive should be your priority. But the hard drive first and only get the RAM if you can afford both the RAM and the hard drive.

  If money is an object, any firewire drive will do. However, I suggest looking at the G-RAID2:

  https://www.g-technology.com/products/g-raid2.cfm

  It’s got a faster RAID inside and faster connections on the outside. Use the firewire 800 plug on your laptop…I’m nearly certain it has one, right? That should get everything you do in Final Cut moving a whole lot smoother.

  And if you plan your workflow right, an external drive failure shouldn’t be a total disaster. Store your Final Cut projects, music, and graphics on your internal drive. Back them up to a CD, DVD, or flash drive every night. Then make sure all the video you capture on the external drive was logged first and then batch-captured. NEVER use “capture now.” That way, if your drive fails you can re-format the drive and just re-capture all the video from the tapes by batch capturing again. It takes time, but you don’t have to do any extra work.

  If you follow those rules then your entire laptop AND hard drivec could melt in a fire and as long as you have your backup DVD/flash drive and you have your tapes, you’ll be good to work on any other Final Cut system in the world.

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