Reader Review of Daystar G4 1.75GHz CPU Upgrade
for PowerBook G4
Posted: 7/10/2006
(from a reader's Rate Your CPU Upgrade db report, mirrored here)
CPU Upgrade: Daystar G4 1.75GHz upgrade for PowerBook G4
Rating: (1-10): 10
System: 2003 AL PowerBook G4 15.2", 1.25GHz (originally)
Cache Size: 512KB L2 (onchip)
System Details: 2003 AL PowerBook G4 15.2", 1.00GHz, 1GB third party RAM, Combo Drive, Hard Drive upgraded to an Hitachi 80GB 7200 RPM Drive, OS: 10.4.7
Software: Vanilla, all commercial, properly licensed, no hacks and all apps and OS updates applied.
Pre-Upgrade Notes: Rock solid, no crashes, panics, glitches or gremlins when I sent it in.
Length of time using upgrade: 2 weeks - continuous operation, normal loads and extended test loads.
Reason for the upgrade: My PowerBook was one of the first Aluminum PowerBooks shipped. It has been the best machine I have ever worked with or owned. However, after 3 great years, it was beginning to feel a bit pokey and Virtual PC (which I sometime need) was never a top performer. Time to buy a new MacBook Pro? Love to, but based on my current needs, $2K+ was just a bit much.
The Daystar upgrade at $400 to $500 would give me the performance I wanted and extend the useful life several years. Now, which upgrade - 1.75, 1.83 or 1.92GHz?
What was important to me was not all out performance, but reliability and battery life. For that reason, I chose the 1.75GHz upgrade. In talking with Gary and reviewing the web site, this option preserved battery life, kept operating temps "normal" and gave me a 75% boost in CPU speed.
(I asked if he considered selling the PB G4/pooling the upgrade fund and getting a new MacBook)
yes, I thought about a MacBook but you start adding it all up, Parallels, more mem, and it's three times as much $$ for a bit more real world performance and no FW800. I'll get a couple of more years out of my AlBook.
The nice thing about this business, the longer you wait, the faster and cheaper they get :-)
Pros:
Gary and Diane Dailey - Gary answered my initial questions about the upgrade and Diane (customer service) kept me informed of progress and answered some questions after the upgrade. - straight up and responsive
Shipping process - Absolutely painless - Carton shipped with a prepaid return label. It doesn't get easier or smoother.
Quality of the work - My PowerBook was returned clean, and fully functional with no problems.
Performance and stability - Performance was as expected. Rock solid stability.
Battery life and Temp - as promised, no substantial change from the stock 1GHz configuration based on before and after testing
Cons: None
Recommendation:
If your criteria is similar to mine (a conservative (status quo heat and battery life) 75% performance upgrade) I would strongly recommend this upgrade.
-JLP
(FYI: don't assume a 75% increase in clock speed alone is going to mean 75% improvement in all your real-world apps use.)
There's a previous page here with a few reports on the Daystar 1.92GHz AL Powerbook upgrade.
I welcome other reader reviews of CPU Upgrades (any type), send me the details, rating, any performance comparions, notes on stability, etc. Thanks.
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