Another question from a PC user

[triton]

Still coming from PC land, I am still not caught up yet on how Apple's work. But I must say, I am starting to love everything about these sexy machines....

My question is this (now I know the g5's aren't out yet, so I'll keep this g4 orientated) - how difficult is it to switch processors in these machines? Let's just say I had a 1.0ghz dual processor g4, and wanted to upgrade to a 1.25 ghz theoritically. Is it just pop and switch? Does OS X automatically recognize it? Not that I am going to upgrade, but in the future who knows....

My concerns are more with the G5...I am just wondering how difficult it is since I have never even SEEN the inside of an Apple before. But since no one has their hands yet on a new powermac g5, I guess I am just wondering what people's experiences have been like in the past.

 

[janey]

Re: Another question from a PC user

My question is this (now I know the g5's aren't out yet, so I'll keep this g4 orientated) - how difficult is it to switch processors in these machines? Let's just say I had a 1.0ghz dual processor g4, and wanted to upgrade to a 1.25 ghz theoritically. Is it just pop and switch? Does OS X automatically recognize it? Not that I am going to upgrade, but in the future who knows....

do you mean upgrading to a faster processor? i don't think you can do that, but sonnet has some processor upgrade cards.

My concerns are more with the G5...I am just wondering how difficult it is since I have never even SEEN the inside of an Apple before....

Well why don't you go down to your closest Apple authorized reseller and ask them if you can take a look inside? Or go to a MUG meeting, or perhaps an Apple Store or a neighbor who has a Mac....
To me the most difficult desktop I have ever wanted to upgrade was the G4 Cube. I suppose that's all though, adding more ram and stuff to the G4 was relatively easy, assuming you know how to do it.

 

[Freg3000]

Upgrading the processor in PowerMacs is a very easy task, and there are many companies that make upgrade. I am not sure about upgrading dual PowerMacs, but I don't think there would be much of a problem anyway. As of now, there are no products to upgrade the G5 (when they are indeed released)....but what would you upgrade them to anyway? Additionally, it is doubtful that a G5 upgrade could be put in a PowerMac G4.

 

[ddtlm]

Freg3000:

As of now, there are no products to upgrade the G5 (when they are indeed released)....but what would you upgrade them to anyway?

Huh? Something better than what is available when the machine was produced.

triton:

At this point noone knows if the G5's will be upgradable. The problem looks a lot more complicated than with the G4's and G3's, which were quite upgradable (except for the most recent models which are not yet supported by upgrades). The problem is really that the motherboard can't be upgraded in Macs (when's the last time you did a PC processor upgrade without changing the motherboard?).

 

[triton]

Thanks guys. I just wanted to know what type of experiences you had, and how upgradable these machines were. I know RAM and HD's etc are easy, but was just a bit curious about processors.

Thank you for all the help !