History
The Pismo, the last and the best of Apple's G3 PowerBook line up, drew on the good
progress made with the Lombard and took it a step further.
These PowerBooks
came in 400 and 500MHz configurations, with a whopping 1MB CPU cache, making them
very appealing for on the go video editing. Also the maximum RAM was greatly increased to 1GB.
The Pismo was the first Mac laptop to have built in FireWire - adding to it's video
editing potential. Apple's big surprise was the addition of a wireless network socket,
called "Airport". With this (optional) card installed, it was one of the very first "wireless" laptops released.
The last feature change was an ATI 8MB graphics board,
which was a doubling from the Lombard.
The Pismo was the first Mac Power book with Mac OS 9.0.2 installed. It will also happily run all versions of OSX.
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How to Identify these Machines
The G3 Pismo looks very similar to its predecessor the Lombard. These two models can be distinguished from older PowerBooks by the colour of their keyboard, which is a translucent bronze colour.
The Pismo has 2 USB and 2 FireWire ports, the Lombard has 2 USB ports and a HDI-30 SCSI connector instead of the FireWire. The Pismo was released with a 400MHz and 500MHz CPU, the Lombard had 333MHz and 400MHz versions.
If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for
confirmation. If you want to upgrade but aren't happy to install your upgrades
then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.
Memory Upgrades
The Power book G3 Pismo has two memory sockets. Each of these can take up to a 512MB module, for a maximum of 1GB.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 3 / 5 - Reasonably easy (top slot only)
Turn off the machine and remove the power cable and battery.
The hard drive and RAM are
housed below the keyboard. To remove the keyboard release the catches at the top of the keyboard (between ESC & F1 and
F8 & F9). This reveals the internal parts.
There is metal protective plate secured with 2 screws. Remove the plate to reveal
the RAM socket. The top RAM socket is easily reached at this point.
The second slot is below the processor card. This is more difficult to reach, with a much larger danger of damaging your machine if it is done incorrectly. Mac Upgrades does sell RAM for installation in the lower slot, however we cannot provide instructions or support for installation.
We do offer a fitting service, please contact us for details.
CD & DVD Drive Upgrades
The Power book G3 Pismo came equipped with a DVD-ROM drive in its right-hand drive bay. At present we don't stock internal
CD or DVD writers which fit internally into the machine.
It is possible to use an external device via FireWire or USB. FireWire is a much faster connection so is strongly recommended.
There are no optical drive upgrades available for these Macs
Difficulty 1 / 5 Easy
Install any supplied software. Restart the machine and connect the new device.
Internal Hard Drive Upgrades
We sell a range of drives that are compatible with the PowerBook Pismo.
If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.
Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 3 / 5 - Reasonably easy
Turn off the machine and remove the power cable and battery.
The hard drive and RAM are
housed below the keyboard. To remove the keyboard release the catches at the top of the keyboard (between ESC & F1 and
F8 & F9). This reveals the internal parts.
There is metal protective plate secured with 2 screws. Remove the plate to reveal
the RAM socket. The hard drive is located to the right, housed in a caddy.
Very gently take either side of the caddy and lift up
and out towards the centre of the PowerBook. Don't move it too far as it is connected with an IDE cable.
Gently remove the
cable from the end of the drive and, with a TORX screwdriver, remove the 4 black holding screws at either corner of the drive.
Replace the drive and reassemble the machine in reverse order. Start the computer from CD and initialise the drive.
If you are unsure, please call or email our team.
Graphics Card Upgrades
This laptop can take a secondary graphics card through it's PCMCIA (Cardbus) slot, to allow it to control a wider range
of external displays that it can by default.
There are no graphics card upgrades available for these Macs
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy.
Install any supplied software, turn off the machine, and insert the PCMCIA card into the socket on the left of the machine.
Connect it to your monitor and your finished.
Expansion Card Upgrades
Your Power book G3 Pismo has one available PCMCIA socket for connectivity expansion. This port is located
to the left of the machine. The credit card sized socket allows users to take advantage of newer connectivity such
as USB 2, FireWire 800 and wireless networking.
Please note that many expansion cards will have a minimum operating system requirement.
| 1 | Requires Mac OS 10.4 or later. |
| 2 | Requires MacOS 10.3.5 or later |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Install any supplied software. Turn off the machine and insert the PCMCIA card into the socket on the left of the PowerBook. Restart the machine and away you go.
Keyboards & Mice
The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Keyboards plug into the relevant port on your Mac. Mice can either be plugged into your keyboard, or they can be plugged directly into your Mac.
Power Supplies & Batteries
Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Cables & Tools
Listed below are power cables, tools and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
External Hard Drive Upgrades
This Mac can use any of the following external hard drives.
| 1 | Requires 9.2 or later or 10.1.5 or later. |
| 2 | Only suitable for this Mac if you have added USB 2.0 or eSATA with an expansion card. Will not boot this Mac. |
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy
Install any supplied software and connect the new device.
You will need to format the drive before use. This is done with the "Drive Setup" utility, which can be found in Applications > Utilities.
