How to Build & Rebuild Apple Laptops
Apple Macintosh laptop computers, especially older ones, are built to be rebuilt. The components are swappable and readily available. You can take the basic body for a Mac Powerbook Pismo, for example, and build it to your liking within reason. You can't really turn it into an Intel-based, high-speed laptop, but you can make it faster and better than the stock version.
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Things You'll Need
- Phillips, Torx and flathead screwdrivers
- Pismo body
- Laptop hard drive
- 500 MHz Pismo processor
- Spudger
Instructions
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Get a Pismo body. They are available on online websites such as eBay for less than $50 if they don't work. A working one will cost between $200 and $500. The body with a working logic board, keyboard and screen can be customized with other components. Or you can get all the components and start from scratch.
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Purchase any laptop hard drive you want. You can put a high-speed, 250 GB hard drive even in an old laptop. The hard drive can be formatted for whatever Mac OS you want, from System 9 through Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4). Leopard (10.5) probably would be more trouble than it's worth because it is such a memory hog.
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Purchase a 500 MHz processor for the G3 Pismo. This is the fastest you can get without the G4 upgrade. This upgrade, from companies such as FastMac, generally can't be done at home because of proprietary considerations, so if you want to stick with the do-it-yourself upgrade within the G3 family to the 500 MHz processor, here's how to change processors:
The regular 500 MHz processor can be installed like this:
Turn the two keyboard locking screws to unlock the keyboard.
Use the keyboard spring latches to lift the keyboard.
Unscrew the silver-colored heat shield in the middle of the computer under the keyboard with a Phillips screwdriver. Use a Torx T8 screwdriver to remove the heatsink from the processor.
Use a plastic device such as a spudger to lift the old processor out.
Remove the random-access memory chips from the top and the bottom of the processor.
Insert the RAM chips in the new processor.
Reinsert the processor. -
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Replace the RAM chips. These are located on the top and the bottom of the processor. You can install up to two 512 MB RAM chips for a total of 1 GB of RAM. To remove the RAM chips, open the clamps on either side of the chip. It will pop up and you can slide it out. To put the new one in, slide it back in until it clicks. Then, push it down until the clamps lock on either side of it. Having the maximum RAM will speed up the computer.
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Take the old hard drive out of the computer. It sits in a metal carriage to the right of the processor. First, unplug the hard drive connection ribbon. It is plugged into the processor and usually is orange with a black or cream-colored connector. Lift the hard drive out and remove the ribbon, then remove the hard drive from the carriage. Replace the new hard drive by reversing the steps undertaken as you removed the old one.
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Replace the CD or DVD/CD drive. You can install a modern CD/DVD slot-load burner on a Pismo. Open the front clamp on the drive to remove it. The clamp looks like part of the computer's bottom where it curves up on the part nearest you as you would type. It's on the right. The original drive is encased in a plastic carriage. Remove the screws and remove the original drive. Install the slot-load drive into the carriage and clip it back in.
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Tips & Warnings
A slot-load DVD/CD drive may not allow you to boot the computer from it. It's a good idea to get a second plastic carriage for the original drive so you have it to boot from in case of problems with your Pismo.
References
- Photo Credit Shawn M. Tomlinson
