MacUpgrades.co.uk offers a wide range of fixed price upgrades and repairs for your Apple computers. You can drop in to our offices in Sawston, Cambridge or if you are not local you can either have us collect or send in your computer yourself. Sameday fitting is available for most items, contact us for details. We also offer on site installation services and training on your premises.
Macupgrades offers a wide range of on-site services for your Apple equipment. We offer all of our upgrade services, and most of our repair services too.
All our engineers have at least 15 years of experience with Apple hardware and software
Enter your serial number into the box below for specific upgrades for your machine. Each upgrade has been tested in the machine we list it for. Compatability is 100% guaranteed or your money back.
How to find your serial number in software
You can find your Mac's serial number in Apple System Profiler: Select the Apple Menu > About This Mac, then (depending on the version of OSX you are running) click the System Report button or the More Info button. This brings up System Profiler, and on the Hardware Overview that is displayed by default you should see your serial number, and be able to copy/paste it. The procedure does vary slightly between different versions of OSX.
If you can't boot your Mac
If your Mac is not working, the serial number is printed on the computer casing but the location varies. Here are the main locations of serial numbers on Apple computers.
Unibody MacBook Pro - Laser etched onto the base.
MacBook, Early MacBook Pro, PowerBook G4 - Inside the main battery bay. Remove battery to locate.
iBook (White) - Under the keyboard. To lift keyboard, pull back on the release tabs between the F-keys.
Intel iMac, iMac G5 - Underside of the foot/stand.
iMac G4, iMac G3 - Underside of the iMac.
Mac mini - On the underside of the Mac mini.
Mac Pro 2006-2012 - On rear of machine near graphics card ports.
PowerMac G5 - On lower chassis under side panel. To remove side panel, lift lever on rear of Mac.
PowerMac G3, PowerMac G4 - Label on the back of the Mac.
Your Mac's Model Identifier can be found in System Profiler. You can use the drop-down menus above to be taken to a page that displays upgrades specifically for your exact model.
This tool is also available on its own page, with a list of all Model IDs here.
COVID Update: We are still processing and shipping orders placed online, and operating our mail-in repair and upgrade service. But our premises are closed. Phone, email, and chat answered 9am - 5pm, Monday - Friday.
PowerBook G4 Aluminium 17" Upgrades
This page covers all the upgrades we sell for the PowerBook G4 17". Choose the type of upgrade you are looking for from the tabs below.(Not the
right Mac? See here for
more PowerBook G4s, or here for
all Macs.)
If you want specific upgrades for your exact model, choose it from the Model ID links below, or enter your serial number here:
This page covers all versions of the PowerBook G4 17" - which have a silver
keyboard and a 17" display.
In January 2003 Apple revamped the PowerBook
range and brought the biggest available LCD, with a
resolution of 1440 x 990 pixels, to this top of the range offering.
These machines were designed as powerful
desktop replacements, aimed at digital video and design professionals.
There
have been several different models of the 17" machines - with an increase in CPU clock speed each time.
All the units use DDR or DDR2 RAM and have USB, FireWire, Ethernet, Airport Extreme and a front
mounted slot loading SuperDrive. The later models have USB 2.0.
The first PowerBook G4 17" was released in January 2003 with a 1GHz CPU, Apple specs here.
An upgraded model with a G4 1.33GHz processor, a better graphics card, and USB ports replaced with USB 2.0, was released in September 2003, Apple specs here.
In April 2004 the 17" PowerBook G4 moved to a 1.5GHz CPU, an upgrade graphics card and SuperDrive as standard. Apple specs here.
January 2005 the processor was upgraded to 1.67GHz. Apple specs here.
The last model of the PowerBook G4 17" was released in October 2005. This was a major update, with a higher resolution screen and a move from DDR PC2700 memory to DDR2 PC4200. The processor speed remained at 1.67GHz. Apple specs here.
How to Identify these Machines
The G4 Aluminum 17" has a silver keyboard and a 17" display.
There were also 12" and 15" models made - to tell them apart without measuring, look at the edges of keyboard. If there is no gap then the machine is 12", if there is a 1" gap between the keyboard and the edge then its a 15", if its more like 1.5" then you have a 17" PowerBook.
Apple System Profiler (Apple Menu>About this Mac; click on "More Info") can be used to tell what processor speed you have. Clicking on the PCI/AGP Cards item in Apple System Profiler will also tell you what resolution your PowerBook runs at.
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 PowerBook G4 17" Aluminum has two memory sockets. Models up to and including the 1.67GHz running at 1440x900 resolution accept up to 2GB in RAM in two 1GB chips.
The October 2005 revision of this PowerBook changed from DDR to DDR2 RAM. These PowerBooks also run at 1.67GHz, but can be distinguished by the fact that they run in 1680x1050 resolution. Clicking on PCI/AGP Cards in Apple System Profiler will tell you what resolution your PowerBook runs at.
There are none available.
Difficulty 3 / 5 - Reasonably Easy
Turn off the machine, and remove the power cable and battery.
The sockets are underneath the
machine - turn the machine over on a soft cloth. There is a plate held in place with 3 screws remove these
to reveal the RAM sockets.
Place new chips in sockets and reassemble the machine.
Blu-Ray is not fully supported in OSX. Disks can be mounted and read, but movie playback requires third party software.
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 5/5 - Very Hard (internal)
The optical drive on the PowerBook G4 17" is not classified by Apple as a user installed part. Mac Upgrades can install drives for you, please contact us for details.
You can purchase the drive for installation yourself, but Mac Upgrades cannot provide instructions or support for the install process.
Internal Hard Drive & SSD Upgrades
This range of drives will work in your PowerBook G4 17", although user installation is advised against.
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 5 / 5 - Very Difficult
The PowerBook 17inch's internal hard drive is very difficult to get to and is not classified by Apple as a user installable part. Installing a replacement drive during warranty will void any remaining warranty.
Mac Upgrades does sell drives for user installation, but we cannot offer instructions or support for the install.
We do offer a drive fitting service, but this is for out of warranty machines only. To preserve warranty, a drive must be fitted by an Apple Authorised Service Centre.
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 PowerBook G4 Aluminum has one available PCMCIA socket for connectivity expansion. The slot is located to the left of the machine.
These credit card sized sockets allow users to take advantage of newer, or additional, connectivity.
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 machine.
Restart 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.
Cables & Tools
Listed below are power cables, tools and related products
we supply for this Mac.
Only suitable for this Mac if you have a version with USB 2.0 built in, or if you have added USB 2.0 or eSATA with an expansion card. Will not boot this Mac.
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.
There are none available.
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.
