The late 2005 model 17" powerbooks supported external displays up to 2560 x 1600 (lowendmac.com) while the early 2005 model 'only' goes to 2048 x 1536 (lowendmac.com). Both models seem to have identical gfx hardware - can the early model's gfx card simply be reflashed to enable the higher resolution?

Also, can anyone comment on the cost of replacing a damaged 17" powerbook display (does Apple even offer service for these models anymore?) and whether or not powerbooks are noisy?

They're quiet. No fan unless it's after playing a couple of Youtube videos or something. Even then it's not that loud.

The later Powerbooks have 128MB of video ram, so, I dunno..

I tell you what about Mac owners, its they're not like the (classic) Amiga fans of old*, they never seem to experient how far they can take it. For example the Macmini has only 1 DDR memory slot, I've had a quick look and no ones slapped, say a 4 2GB http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT25672Y40B stick in to see if it works. Although at that price, I'm far to mean to try, but you would have thought, someone would have tried?

Probably because unlike Amiga you could go out and buy something new and shinny, and faster..

[ Edited by stephen_robinson on 2011/1/8 23:19 ]

[ Edited by stephen_robinson on 2011/1/9 10:00 ]

Quote:
Uhm, that'd be quite pointless as Mac mini G4 only supports up to 1GB.

[ Edited by Piru on 2011/1/9 1:52 ]

***THREAD HIJACK!***

How do you know that?

Sure that's what Apple say, but they also said that the max ram in the eMac was 1GB. Which has two slots for memory, stick in two single gig sticks and it works fine with a total of 2GB of memory under MacOS, and the typical maximum 1.5 under MorphOS.

I'm not saying an expensive 2GB memory stick would work in a MacMini, but I'm surprised no one in the mac community* seems to have at least tried.

(*I added the words mac community there, because they, unlike MorphOS, would benefit a lot from going from 1 to 2GB of memory)

[ Edited by stephen_robinson on 2011/1/9 9:54 ]

Last time I contacted Apple's authorised service, the cost of replacing a 17'' hires display was about 600$. You can however look for a matching TFT somewhere else and get it done yourself - for something like $150 tops, and even put a fullhd display there (which MorphOS won't support, but hey! it's full hd! :).

[ Edited by jacadcaps on 2011/1/9 10:47 ]

I jumped the gun by doing this but I actually ended up getting a different powerbook. But that doesn't stop me being curious about why a higher resolution panel wouldn't work in place of the original... How does MorphOS 'find' the typical external displays attached to currently supported models? Why would this process be any different on a laptop?

> they also said that the max ram in the eMac was 1GB. Which has
> two slots for memory, stick in two single gig sticks and it works fine
> with a total of 2GB of memory under MacOS

How was that found out if (as you say) Mac owners "never seem to experient how far they can take it"?

> no one in the mac community* seems to have at least tried.

"this has been asked and tried before, and the system simply doesn't recognize the 2Gb module. Last time a thread was posted on the subject, it was noted that the system failed to boot at all with the 2Gb RAM in place, giving an invalid RAM POST failure. 1Gb really is the max."
https://discussions.apple.com/message/6533977#6533977

"I tried it (about 5 hours ago) and it failed. It gave me a loud beep and nothing (except the light, which would throb twice every now and then). I'm pretty sure it was seated corrected; it was locked in good, but I tried it a couple of times anyway. I tried reseting the PRAM and booting into openfireware, but all I got was the beep."
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9184080#9184080

@ausPPC

Laptop panels need speficic timing setups. We have them hardcoded for the supported panels.

don't matter...

[ Edited by stephen_robinson on 2011/1/9 20:32 ]

The eMac works fine with 2x 1GB memory, which makes quite a difference when using OSX.

The Mac mini has, as already said, old one slot. Using a 2GB module was tested by someone. The mini already failed in open firmware sending out some beep sounds, AFAIR. So do not waste any money on that, it's useless.

Geit

> Using a 2GB module was tested by someone. The mini already
> failed in open firmware sending out some beep sounds, AFAIR.

Yes, see my links.