This is a great how-to that can save you some bucks, (or not if you damage any material) and make your iBook 12" more powerful than it already is (it isn't that powerful actually...). What matters is that the result is good, and the new baby will turn out to be better than the iBook 14" in most specs. What you'll be doing is playing transformers and upgrade the iBook yourself, with your own material.

It might be a bit risky to do this if you're not used to disassembling laptops, (I hope you trained this with the Xbox 360) installing new hardware and all the stuff you're about to read, but there are step-by-step instructions with screenshots included. Nevertheless, read the underline part of the introduction...

Here is a list of what you'll install/upgrade:

• 1x superdrive 8x MATSHITA UJ-845S multi-formats (-RAM, -R, -RW, +R, +RW)


• 1x HD Hitachi 80GB 7200rpm 8MB cache - the default has 40GB at 4200rpm


• 1x Apple Bluetooth kit for iBook - 1.2GHz iBook models don't have this, only the 1.3Ghz


• 1x 1GB of DDR SDRAM - the default is 512MB

Introduction: Your iBook in steroids

The iBook 12" is an excellent compromise between mobility, robustness, performance and price. It can also be transformed to become a strong competitor for its brother, the PowerBook 12". However, it is impossible to equip the iBook 12" as a PowerBook 12" via the BTO from the Apple Store. So, it can be tempting to buy a basic iBook 12" model and upgrade it yourself into a highly performing mobile computer. This article is intended to provide you help to perform such transformation. This transformation is not a "piece of cake", and requires skills, knowledge and tools. So read this article many times to ensure that you understand properly each step and the action performed. If you have a doubt, DO NOT START!

This is common knowledge but it's better to quote it before anything bad happens:

As usual, those information are provided as it is without any warranty of success, and neither myself, nor macbidouille / hardmac, are responsible for any damage or mistake that can affect your material.

Continue reading the article at hardmac.com

Original source is from macdibouille.com in French