PowerBook 1400 owners are in elite company, owning one of only a select few PowerBook models than can accept processor upgrades. Such upgrades make more sense for laptops than desktops since the cost of an upgrade relative to a new PowerBook purchase is so much less.
However, with the discontinuation of Newer Technology's and Vimage's 1400 G3 upgrades last August, PowerBook 1400 owners who were unable to purchase the upgrades were forced to resort to the used marketplace, where such upgrades being sold on their own is scarce. Sonnet Technologies' Crescendo G3 PB, expected to ship in May, will breath new life into a PowerBook 1400 with a 333 MHz G3 processor.
Installation of the processor upgrade is a straightforward process, and Sonnet includes a detailed two-page manual with the card. Total installation time is around 10 minutes.
The 333 MHz upgrade features 512k of backside cache running at a 2:1 ratio and provides an impressive 8x faster CPU score and 10x faster FPU score compared to the 1400's original 117 MHz 603ev processor, despite the PowerBook's limiting 33 MHz system bus.
The card is fully compatible with Mac OS 9, although for benchmarking purposes we evaluated the card running Mac OS 8.5.1, the last version to support Newer's NuPowr 603e/183 PowerBook 1400 upgrade. The card also performed flawlessly during use, without producing the unpleasant and excessive heat that the previous G3 upgrades caused.
Sonnet also claims that their upgrade, which uses a copper G3 processor, requires less power and therefore extends battery life by as much as 30 minutes. While we were unable to accurately gauge this since battery performance fluctuates depending on a variety of variables, we were able to consistently get an extra 10 to 15 minutes of use out our test unit's battery, which admittedly had lost some of its charge over time.
For $400, PowerBook 1400 owners will be able to give their machines a new lease on life, and one that should keep them performing more than adequately for years to come, assuming that you won't be needing access to FireWire or USB peripherals during that time.
