PowerBook G3 Pismo Upgrades
G3 Pismo Front

This page covers all the upgrades we sell for the PowerBook G3 Pismo. Choose the type of upgrade you are looking for from the tabs below.(Not the right Mac? See here for more PowerBooks, or here for all Macs.)

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If you want specific upgrades for your exact model, choose it from the Model ID links below, or enter your serial number here:


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G3 Pismo Open

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.

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.

There are none available.

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/Blu-ray 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 & SSD 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.

Installation Services

INSTALL SERVICE - Clone Original Internal DriveStock: Available£25.00 + vat (£30.00)
INSTALL SERVICE - Fit Customer Supplied PartStock: Available£17.50 + vat (£21.00)

Internal SSD Drives to Replace Main Hard Drive

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 Cards and Displays

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.

INSTALL SERVICE - Expansion Slot Card in a Laptop MacStock: Available£15.00 + vat (£18.00)

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.

Trust 3 button USB Optical MouseStock: Available£6.75 + vat (£8.10)
Cherry Strait 3.0 USB Keyboard - UK Mac LayoutStock: Available£32.00 + vat (£38.40)

Power Supplies & Batteries

Listed below are power supplies, batteries and related products we supply for this Mac.

There are none available.

Cables & Tools

Listed below are power cables, tools and related products we supply for this Mac.

Cables & Adaptors

FireWire 400 - 800 Adaptor Cable M/M (6pin - 9pin) 6 ftStock: Available£11.00 + vat (£13.20)

Tools

Precision Screwdriver Set, 31 Piece - Phillips/Torx/TR6Stock: Available£12.50 + vat (£15.00)
Anti Static Wrist StrapStock: Available£8.50 + vat (£10.20)

External Drives & Enclosures

This Mac can use any of the following external hard drives.

3.5" USB Enclosures

2.5" USB Enclosures

Complete Machines - Refurbished

Any complete machines of this type or similar that we have for sale are listed here. Please note that these are refurbished models with a 3 month warranty, and that delivery is likely to take 3 - 5 working days. These can be purchased online with the standard website courier delivery charge for the mainland UK only. Please contact us for a quote on shipping to other areas.

Repair Services for this Mac

Here are the various repair services we offer for this Mac. You can have us take the machine in for evaluation, or book a fixed-price repair if you already know what the fault is and the service is listed below (for services without parts, please see the relevant tab on this page for compatible parts that we sell). If you know what the fault is, but we don't have a fixed-price repair listed below, please contact us for a quote.

Evaluation Services

Mac Repair - Evaluation ServiceStock: Available£39.00 + vat (£46.80)

Installation Services (parts not included)

Collection ServiceStock: Available£24.68 + vat (£29.62)
INSTALL SERVICE - Clone Original Internal DriveStock: Available£25.00 + vat (£30.00)
INSTALL SERVICE - RAM in an Apple LaptopStock: Available£10.00 + vat (£12.00)
INSTALL SERVICE - Expansion Slot Card in a Laptop MacStock: Available£15.00 + vat (£18.00)