I hear ya...the PB12" has long been my favorite model, but unfortunately it's more than six years old and has problems keeping up.
First off, definitely replace that 512MB module with 1GB! That's going to be your most substantial performance increase, and it's obviously very simple to do, so I'd do that first and re-evaluate the situation from there, before taking on the more severe upgrades. Be sure you get PC2700 RAM, and that you don't slow the machine down by using anything less.
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If you didn't have the iPhone 4 requirement, I'd say downgrade to Tiger, since it's much faster, and eliminates the constant fan noise caused by the bloated mess that is Leopard. If you can get away with using Tiger, the 12" PowerBook is a very nice and snappy experience, but most of that goes away with Leopard. Maybe sync the phone with another machine, and keep Tiger on this one? With iCloud, etc., there's not a huge need to sync phones anymore, after all. There are lots of ways to reduce the size of Leopard, but I've never heard of tweaks that speed it up significantly. Who knows, maybe they exist.
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If you didn't have the iPhone 4 requirement, I'd say downgrade to Tiger, since it's much faster, and eliminates the constant fan noise caused by the bloated mess that is Leopard. If you can get away with using Tiger, the 12" PowerBook is a very nice and snappy experience, but most of that goes away with Leopard. Maybe sync the phone with another machine, and keep Tiger on this one? With iCloud, etc., there's not a huge need to sync phones anymore, after all, and in order to take advantage of iCloud features, you're better off syncing your phone with a machine that has Lion anyway. There are lots of ways to reduce the size of Leopard, but I've never heard of tweaks that speed it up significantly. Who knows, maybe they exist.
While you're putting in new paste, you could always swap the board for a 1.5GHZ. It's not a huge difference, but you seem to be eager to squeeze out every ounce of performance.
Beyond that, maybe a 7200RPM drive, although it will likely cause additional heat.
I hear ya...the PB12" has long been my favorite model, but unfortunately it's more than six years old and has problems keeping up.
First off, definitely replace that 512MB module with 1GB! That's going to be your most substantial performance increase, and it's obviously very simple to do, so I'd do that first and re-evaluate the situation from there, before taking on the more severe upgrades. Be sure you get PC2700 RAM, and that you don't slow the machine down by using anything less.
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If you didn't have the iPhone 4 requirement, I'd say downgrade to Tiger, since it's much faster, and eliminates the constant fan noise caused by the bloated mess that is Leopard. If you can get away with using Tiger, the 12" PowerBook is a very nice and snappy experience, but most of that goes away with Leopard. There are lots of ways to reduce the size of Leopard, but I've never heard of tweaks that speed it up significantly. Who knows, maybe they exist.
+
If you didn't have the iPhone 4 requirement, I'd say downgrade to Tiger, since it's much faster, and eliminates the constant fan noise caused by the bloated mess that is Leopard. If you can get away with using Tiger, the 12" PowerBook is a very nice and snappy experience, but most of that goes away with Leopard. Maybe sync the phone with another machine, and keep Tiger on this one? With iCloud, etc., there's not a huge need to sync phones anymore, after all. There are lots of ways to reduce the size of Leopard, but I've never heard of tweaks that speed it up significantly. Who knows, maybe they exist.
While you're putting in new paste, you could always swap the board for a 1.5GHZ. It's not a huge difference, but you seem to be eager to squeeze out every ounce of performance.
Beyond that, maybe a 7200RPM drive, although it will likely cause additional heat.
I hear ya...the PB12" has long been my favorite model, but unfortunately it's more than six years old and has problems keeping up.
First off, definitely replace that 512MB module with 1GB! That's going to be your most substantial performance increase, and it's obviously very simple to do, so I'd do that first and re-evaluate the situation from there, before taking on the more severe upgrades. Be sure you get PC2700 RAM, and that you don't slow the machine down by using anything less.
If you didn't have the iPhone 4 requirement, I'd say downgrade to Tiger, since it's much faster, and eliminates the constant fan noise caused by the bloated mess that is Leopard. If you can get away with using Tiger, the 12" PowerBook is a very nice and snappy experience, but most of that goes away with Leopard. There are lots of ways to reduce the size of Leopard, but I've never heard of tweaks that speed it up significantly. Who knows, maybe they exist.
While you're putting in new paste, you could always swap the board for a 1.5GHZ. It's not a huge difference, but you seem to be eager to squeeze out every ounce of performance.
Beyond that, maybe a 7200RPM drive, although it will likely cause additional heat.
Good luck!