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Portables (Apple) Businesses Hardware Apple

PowerBook Upgrade and Repair Guides 156

Posted by michael from the you-break-it-you-bought-it dept.
kwiens writes "We had such a positive response from Slashdot with our Free-As-In-Beer Mac disassembly instructions last time around, we decided to do it again: We've made six more FixIt Guides, perfect for those intrepid road-warriors who refuse to trust anyone else to work on their 'Book. Now there's nothing stopping you from trying that LNO2 overclock on your PowerBook-- or just a hard drive upgrade. The new Guides have professional photos, a new GUI design, and screw guides (no, not this). Guides are now available for all iBook G3, PowerBook G3, and PowerBook G4 models (including the oft-requested 12, 15, and 17 Aluminum 'Books)."
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PowerBook Upgrade and Repair Guides More

PowerBook Upgrade and Repair Guides

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  • Short upgrade guide (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    1. Install Yellow Dog Linux

    2. ???

    3. Profit!

  • This is ridiculous. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Moofie ( 22272 ) <lee@ringofsat u r n.com> on Saturday October 02, 2004 @05:14AM (#10412108) Homepage
    Everybody knows that Macintoshes are hermetically sealed at the factory and can never ever be upgraded.

    I'm serious! There's a taser in there that zaps you in the butt if you try!

  • How about NORMAL laptops? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I need such a guide for my Asus W1n, which just broke down! Bringing it back to the store for repairs will take eight weeks, which I frankly, can't afford.

    Too much to ask?

    • Re:How about NORMAL laptops? (Score:5, Informative)

      by WiseWeasel ( 92224 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:16AM (#10412256)
      Just open the thing up and figure it out for yourself. It's not rocket science, you know. I've done a bunch of upgrades on PowerBooks without a manual or guide, and it was pretty easy, once you've located the proper screws and whatnot. If it's a simple drive replacement or something, just make sure you have a torx screwdriver set and get crackin.

  • Considering how Apple treats it's customers (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02, 2004 @05:24AM (#10412135)
    Considering how Apple treats it's customers that did not shell out the several hundred bucks for Apple care those guides are badly needed.

    At least in Germany you have to pay at least 350 Euros if you want Apple to repair your 'book that is older then one year. Of course it's very well possible that you have to pay even more if something seriouse is broken, but even if just a part costing 5 Cents and taking two minutes to replace is broken you'll still have to pay 350 bucks.

    To sum it up, I really like Apple's hardware, I really like OSX but personally I'll never buy anything from Apple again.

    • Re:Considering how Apple treats it's customers (Score:5, Insightful)

      by nordicfrost ( 118437 ) * on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:00AM (#10412225)
      I haven't paid Apple one dime in extended waranty, yet they have done more than I ever expected from a company. Once, when they screwd up a warranty replacement (it was a bit of a hassle and involved sending back the keyboard twice), they gave me a Apple Bluetooth mouse as a way of saying "We fucked up, we're sorry. Now go play with theis shiny thing". And it worked on me!

    • Re:Considering how Apple treats it's customers (Score:5, Informative)

      by Ford Prefect ( 8777 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:30AM (#10412286) Homepage
      At least in Germany you have to pay at least 350 Euros if you want Apple to repair your 'book that is older then one year.

      Depends where you get it from - not Germany, but I bought my iBook from John Lewis [johnlewis.com] here in the UK. Two year repair-or-replacement warranty for free.

      It really pays to shop around. :-)

    • The BEST BUY and COMPUSA answer to the problem. (Score:5, Funny)

      by deathcow ( 455995 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:49AM (#10412321)
      HEY, Let me tell you about our extended in-store laptop warranties! Did you know you'll need to pay the shipping yourself if you need to have it repaired? And it can take weeks!

      What?? You decline? WOW, NOBODY has EVER declined this before. Are you sure? Can you tell me why you've declined? Geeze, let me tell you about all the risks of turning this down.

      (other floor guy walks up)
      Hey, this guys buying this laptop without the extended warranty. (Glances exchanged.) No way! Yep. Does he know about all the things that could happen if something breaks. Yep, I told him but he says he doesn't want it. Wow, I don't know if anyone has ever declined it before.

      (trying to get to check out with laptop in escort, manager walks up.)
      Hey, Bob told me you are passing on the extended warranty. This is a very expensive items so there are a few things we have to cover before you buy it. Do you know if it breaks you'll have to cover all shipping expenses to and from the service center? That laptop has lithium batteries so there are hazardous shipping charges involved. It can take weeks to get it repaired. It's very odd for someone to turn down the extended warranties. Are you sure? Well, I have to inform you of all the potential risks of buying without the extended warranty.

      • Re:The BEST BUY and COMPUSA answer to the problem. (Score:5, Funny)

        by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @07:39AM (#10412415)
        "Hey, Bob told me you are passing on the extended warranty. This is a very expensive items so there are a few things we have to cover before you buy it. Do you know if it breaks you'll have to cover all shipping expenses to and from the service center? That laptop has lithium batteries so there are hazardous shipping charges involved. It can take weeks to get it repaired. It's very odd for someone to turn down the extended warranties. Are you sure? Well, I have to inform you of all the potential risks of buying without the extended warranty."

        (talking to salesdroid)

        Well, I realize it is helpful, but I'm already spending 2000$ on this laptop, $350 for a warranty is out of my budget...

        (salsedroid)

        Well, I can knock $150 off of the laptop,,

        (me)
        deal...

        (1 week later)
        I'd like to return this warranty ...

        (them(

        Ok, we've credited $360 to your account...

        Motto:

        Use the force. Like...

      • (me, to salesguy and his manager)

        If this thing is such a piece of crap that it breaks so often that you guys think the extended warranty is going to be a good deal, I'll pass. Can you direct me to the location of your nearest competitor, please?

    • Re:Considering how Apple treats it's customers (Score:5, Insightful)

      by cerberusss ( 660701 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:53AM (#10412328) Journal
      At least in Germany you have to pay at least 350 Euros if you want Apple to repair your 'book that is older then one year

      I don't see how this is different from other products that have a one year guarantee.

    • Re:Considering how Apple treats it's customers (Score:5, Interesting)

      by boaworm ( 180781 ) <boaworm@gmail.com> on Saturday October 02, 2004 @08:58AM (#10412592) Homepage Journal
      Considering how Apple treats it's customers that did not shell out the several hundred bucks for Apple care those guides are badly needed.

      My PowerBook (a 550) had several dead pixels, and I reported this to my local apple reseller after 18 months. They told me to call apple support, so I did.

      I talked for 5 minutes to a lovely girl on Ireland, she mailed me an "extended warranty" something paper, and then Apple (through my local store) replaced my screen for free. The warranty had expired 6 months ago, and they still did it for free.

      The lovely irish girl only asked one question, "Were there any dead pixels on the screen before the warranty expired", and i (truthfully) answered yes. End of discussion.

      Apple does take good care of non-Apple-care customers as well.

  • That's just wrong. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02, 2004 @05:27AM (#10412143)
    I hack PC hardware all the time. Build my own boxes. I have an old "server" hanging on the wall like a painting, with no case (hurry up and die already please so I can throw it away...)

    But I ain't taking apart my 17" powerbook. No way. I can't even stand looking at those pictures of somebody's grubby hands taking apart that powerbook, and all the sensitive guts exposed.

    I know, it's just a motherboard and a hard drive, and all the stuff that's in my other computers. But no there's got to be something magical in there too, something you can't see, something that escapes when you open it.

    And what if I were to get a screwdriver near it and .. it .. SCRATCHED it.. OMG I can't stand this any more, I'm going to go hold my powerbook for a few minutes to make everything better. It's so warm and cuddly.

    Stop looking at me like that!

  • Love it... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Amiga Lover ( 708890 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @05:32AM (#10412163)
    especially this link [pbfixit.com]

    I don't know how many times in the last six months I've heard idiots on IRC claim powerbook 12 inch models don't have fans because apple skimped on the design.

    It's nice to be able to show proof. All hail intarweb.
    • Yeah, and the fan is right under the keyboard, so when you wife drops a cup of coffee on the keyboard, it hits the fan and gets sprayed all over the motherboard. Great design!

      • Re:Love it... (Score:3, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        But when you drop it in your swiming pool the fan acts as a propeller and keeps the iBook afloat until you can dive in and save it.
        Sounds like perfect placement to me.......

        I think you need a new wife not a different laptop.....
    • don't have fans?

      This fucking thing is TAKING OFF right now.

  • Do NOT follow this guide! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02, 2004 @05:32AM (#10412165)
    I have followed it 100% and I have LOST MY WARRANTY! Please be smarter than I was.

    • Re:Do NOT follow this guide! (Score:4, Funny)

      by FireFury03 ( 653718 ) <slashdot@NoSPAm.nexusuk.org> on Saturday October 02, 2004 @07:14AM (#10412364) Homepage
      There's something quite Darwinian going on here. Of course you're going to lose your warranty if you rip apart your laptop, duh! Or are you one of the people who needs labels on the mains power sockets telling you that if you stick a fork in each hole and hang onto them you might get a shock?
      • Or are you one of the people who needs labels on the mains power sockets telling you that if you stick a fork in each hole and hang onto them you might get a shock?

        Maybe we need a howto for that.

    • Re:Do NOT follow this guide! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by WiseWeasel ( 92224 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @07:55AM (#10412453)
      I've done HD replacements in a PowerBook that was still under warranty at the time. It was even a thicker HD than the ones Apple uses (12mm instead of 9.5mm 2.5" drives) so it was pretty obvious that it wasn't the default drive. Drives are not part of the CIPs for PowerBooks [apple.com], so technically, it may have been something I shouldn't have done. The FireWire port (on the motherboard) was fried about a year later (just shy of the 3-year warranty period), and Apple gladly replaced the entire motherboard free of charge with fast turnaround (through an Apple Reseller). Apparently, if your upgrades don't break something through your ignorance, Apple doesn't really care what you do. The take-home lesson here: go ahead and tinker all you want, just make sure you don't break something where you're not supposed to be. Warranty shouldn't be negatively impacted.

      • Re:Do NOT follow this guide! (Score:5, Informative)

        by pyite ( 140350 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @10:10AM (#10412873)
        There's a reason they fixed your motherboard without question. They're legally obligated to (at least in the USA). From the Magnuson-Moss act 16 C.F.R. 700.10 section 102(c) [gpo.gov]:

        "No warrantor may condition the continued validity of a warranty on the use of only authorized repair service and/or authorized replacement parts for non-warranty service and maintenance. For example, provisions such as, 'This warranty is void if service is performed by anyone other than an authorized "ABC" dealer and all replacement parts must be genuine "ABC" parts,' and the like, are prohibited where the service or parts are not covered by the warranty. These provisions violate the Act in two ways. First, they violate the section 102 (c) ban against tying arrangements. Second, such provisions are deceptive under section 110 of the Act, because a warrantor cannot, as a matter of law, avoid liability under a written warranty where a defect is unrelated to the use by a consumer of "unauthorized" articles or service. This does not preclude a warrantor from expressly excluding liability for defects or damage caused by such "unauthorized" articles or service; nor does it preclude the warrantor from denying liability where the warrantor can demonstrate that the defect or damage was so caused."

      • Not to mention the PowerBook User's Guide (the one for the average user) provides instructions for opening your PB and replacing the hard drive.
        • Wow, no kidding... That would have saved me some time... How fiendish of them to have hidden away those instructions in the user's manual, of all places.
    • It all depends on who you take it to. If you take it to an apple store or send it to them, Yes your warranty is voided. If you take it to an authorized service center and they do it in shop, as long as theres no physical damage or spillage, they can swap out the part for ya. Its not hard to tell when someone's been playing in there. Theres thermal pads etc. Plus the drives have little apple logos on them.
    • of course you are going to lose your warranty.... anytime you do anything other than proscribed in the manual voids the warranty. you only do this as last resort.... not some upgrade fancy... unless you already are out of warranty.
    • I have followed it 100% and I have LOST MY WARRANTY!

      You lost your Warranty? Maybe it's in your sock drawer. That's where I keep all my important paperwork. Where do you last remember seeing it?

    • Re:Do NOT follow this guide! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by coolgeek ( 140561 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @12:02PM (#10413451) Homepage
      It never ceases to amaze me how someone posting a helpful link on /. turns into a bunch of self-professed "experts" commenting on something with which they obviously have absolutely no experience.

      I would like to point out not a single one of the "it will void your warranty" people relay an account of being denied warranty service on an Apple computer. It's all just a bunch of hypothetical neck-talk.

      What we do see in the realm of actual experience is that cracking the case in fact did not void Apple's warranty. I would like to add my actual experience here.

      With my old TiPB, I actually followed the instructions in the manual for replacing my hard drive. I installed a non-factory 7200 RPM drive (not even offered on the PB I had), without an Apple sticker on it. While I was in there, I completely disassembled the unit, just to feed that kid inside me that wants to take everything apart. Put it back together, no screws left over, btw.

      Months later, I sent it DIRECTLY to Apple for a warranty repair. It was repaired and sent back to me. In less than 3 days, I might add (that was a jab at all the other "experts" that say Apple doesn't repair quickly). Not once did they mention the user-servicing of my system. Oh, and they did throw in a new battery because the foot had come off the battery.
      • I would like to point out not a single one of the "it will void your warranty" people relay an account of being denied warranty service on an Apple computer. It's all just a bunch of hypothetical neck-talk.

        You're right. Before buying my Powerbook, I asked one of the salesdroids at the local Apple store if replacing the hard drive on my own would void the warranty. He emphasized the point that I could take it completely apart and it would not void the warranty. However, if I damaged it in the process of

  • Seems to be missing from the list :) But most of those wouldn't be out of warranty yet.
    I will be doing a hdd upgrade at some point though.
    • Be careful if you do! My co-worker (apple certified) breaks the power button connector on about 1/2 the one's he's done. He's been fixing macs for 5+ years. He's good... its just poor craftsmanship. Kinda like the speaker connector on the older thinkpads.. my nemmisis. I'm not overly fond of cracking ibooks... and cracking is the right word =)

  • Not for unexperienced users (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:06AM (#10412240)
    "Hey, this heatsink takes up loadsa room and it must really cut the airflow! There, problem solved" :)

  • 12" Powebook noise level reduction (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Kingpin ( 40003 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:07AM (#10412241) Homepage
    When my fan kicks in (playing a movie or similar), it sounds like a small jet. Anyone hear about ways to reduce the noise level of the fan?

  • NO2 is nitrogen dioxide; nitrogen is N2 (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    would be awesome to cool one's computer with liquefied smog though

  • iBook G4 upgrades? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Catullus ( 30857 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @06:47AM (#10412316) Journal
    I bought an iBook G4 fairly recently, and I'd like to upgrade the hard disk. I note that my laptop isn't included in the list on pbfixit.com. Does anyone know if it's feasible to do home upgrades on a recent-model iBook? Or if not, is there anywhere (in the UK) that will do it for me? :)
    • Sure it is (possible to do it at home). Just open the sucker up and go for it. It's really not hard to figure out. Make sure you have a torx screw driver set for the HD screws. Just make sure you group the screws you take out by type and location so you don't misplace any. It looks like the screws to get inside the case are under the feet. Get info on how to remove the feet here [apple.com] (foot and socket instructions).
      • Thanks (to both of the people that replied). I'll give it a go sometime that I'm feeling brave. Removing the feet should prove easy - one of mine's fallen out and gotten lost already, grrr...
        • If it's under warranty, call Apple and they'll send you a feet replacement kit. Called at 1PM and it was on my doorstep when I got home from work the next day... a little box containing eight feet and a small tube of crazy glue (loctite).
    • There's pirated copies of the official Apple service manuals floating around on p2p networks, but if you're extremely careful and have a good memory, you shouldn't need them. You'll need a Torx T8 screwdriver, a Phillips #0, and a flathead (not used for screws, but it's very helpful in cracking the case open).

      IIRC, you need to start by removing the memory shield under the keyboard and any memory that may be in there, and then removing the keyboard itself. You'll have to take off the bottom case (this is wh

  • I've replaced the case on my aging rev-a 400mhz (hacked to 500) tiBook .. you know, the one with the Firewire bug, heat problems, etc.

    You 'new-skool' alBook (HATE that moniker, and the new PB case) don't know how good you got it .. replacing the case on the orginal tiBook without knowing what you're doing is like gutting a dolphin and expecting it to do backflips and beg for fish immediately post-op .. *not* for the faint of heart!

    I keep 'wanting' to upgrade (as if I could afford it) to a new powerbook, b
  • This is quite cool.. when I bought my clamshell iBook (used) years ago, it was very cheap because of a damaged DC-in power jack. The soldering had come loose on the inside, and you have to apply pressure to the plug to make it charge (I use rubber bands to charge it - very ghetto). Apple wanted hundreds of dollars to fix the jack, as the computer was out of warranty when I obtained it.

    Rubber-banding it all this time, I'd been planning on a hack to solve the jack problem - but this site has complete instr

  • Color (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I want my next iBook to be matte black, white is so unsuitable for a geek like me.
    • You can actually fix that very quickly:

      See the following link:

      http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/ibook_mods/ib oo k_paint_mod.html

  • One Piece of Advice (Score:5, Informative)

    by Templar ( 14386 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @07:55AM (#10412451) Homepage
    I recently disassembled my wife's 12" PB to extract a cup of coffee that she deposited in it. Nothing was particularly tricky, although it was very time consuming, but I followed the advice of a friend, and I'm really glad I did --

    Use an ice cube tray (or two) for all of the screws, separating them by size, and draw detailed charts and notes as to where each one came from.

    If you don't do this, you won't get it back together. Good luck!

    • Re:One Piece of Advice (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Even better: use double-sided tape to keep the screws in place on your charts and notes.
      Worked great for me, i only had two screws left when i finished reassmebling my iBook.

    • Different methods will work for different people - my prefered method when working on a new model would be:

      1. Make sure you have plenty of clear flat space - preferably 3-4 times the footprint of the device your disassembling.

      2. As you remove screws from the device place them relative to the component you are removing - so if I'm going to take the base off, I will put if above where I'm working with the screws around where I will be putting the base, with the top left screw next the top left corner, etc..

  • Comments on Opening a 15" AlBook (Score:5, Informative)

    by Aetrix ( 258562 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @08:21AM (#10412497) Homepage

    I recently opened up my AlBook (15") to hopefully to upgrade from a combo drive to a super drive. Lemmie tell you - opening up this case is HARD! Undoing all of the right screws is nothing, but removing the top deck with those tabs [pbfixit.com] - It's murder. I scratched the heck out of my computer and even when I took it to my Apple-Certified technicians (Yes, they claim there's a special tool for unclipping those little metal tabs.) they scratched the heck out of my computer and bent the bit of metal above the CD slot.

    If anyone knows more details about a magic tool to help "pop the top" on an AlBook - Please, let the world know about it. Otherwise, I strongly recommend you get a thin plastic-coated pry bar for popping those tabs, and DON'T use a lot of force.

    • Re:Comments on Opening a 15" AlBook (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You're supposed to get in there from the bottom... it's really not hard.

    • Re:Comments on Opening a 15" AlBook (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02, 2004 @10:29AM (#10412956)
      We are an Apple Service Specialist and as such can work on just about anything that Apple has ever made.

      AFAIK, there isn't a special tool to get that damn tab to pop the Service Source take apart guides don't indicate that there is one either. Even harder is putting it back together.

      We took a long, sharp, pushpin and put a 90 degree bend on the last 1/4 " or so of it. Now we can reach in through the CD slot and hook onto the tabs with less cursing, swearing, and yelling.

      FWIW, we have a list of people at Apple (like "The guy who designed the 12" PB" and such) that we plan to punch in the face if we ever meet them.

  • Oops, no mention of CPU thermal transfer tape need (Score:5, Informative)

    by ankhank ( 756164 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @11:13AM (#10413218) Journal
    In the G3 Pismo guide, only one I checked, they tell you how to pull the heatsink OFF, make no mention of the quiet little popping noise you'll hear when you do (it's the double-sticky thermal transfer tape, a tiny little rectangle on top of the CPU that fails when the heatsink is moved even slightly).

    And they say to replace the heatsink. just do the reverse.

    Well, NO. Apple made it very easy to break the contact between CPU and heatsink, even accidentally, and once that's impaired overheating is going to become a problem.

    Look for posts in MacFixit forums, about G3s, Powerlogix, heatsinks, thermal transfer -- best advice I've seen has been put together by a fellow named Bruce Miller.

  • Quietness (Score:3, Funny)

    by pab89 ( 818470 ) on Saturday October 02, 2004 @11:15AM (#10413232)
    I like to keep my Powerbook silent and cool by placing it in a medium-sized ATX tower. Then I hook up the display to my CRT monitor which I place on my desk. Finally I attach an external mouse and keyboard and it's ready to roll!

  • third party... (Score:2, Informative)

    by null-sRc ( 593143 )
    my laptop came with a 3 year limited warrenty...

    the laptop cost $2k canadian.

    i was a little worried about theft and if i dropped it since those weren't covered.

    so i got third party insurance from an insurance company that covers EVERYTHING for about $100 one time payment. (lasts about 2 years)

    much cheaper than most extended warranties :)
  • I had to replace a dead optical drive in my G4 12". If I had only followed the recommendation to tape the screws to the boxes on the screw guide it would have gone a bit faster and I wouldn't have 3 screws left over :)

    These fixit guides greatly simplified and illuminated the process.

    Not that it is hard to generally take things apart and put them back together, but when you are trying to make a decision on wether to pry something up or not... it is nice to know someone has gone through the trouble of telli
  • So, anyone find a faster (8x +), dual format (DVD +/-), and hopefully dual layer DVD burner that will fit in a PowerBook? I love my SuperDrive, but being able to only use DVD-Rs and only at 2x is kind of a drag when a full-size DVD burner that costs less than $100 can do +/- at 8x or higher.
    • Do you really need a faster drive "on the go?" External firewire and USB 2.0 drives are much faster, much cheaper and more likely to have +/- RW support... And you can swap it between computers.
  • I checked, and the hard drive in my PowerBook 165c is a 3-1/2" SCSI drive.

    So much for a hard drive upgrade. Good luck finding a SCSI laptop drive at any reasonable cost.

    I guess my PowerBook will just remain as it is.

  • In the butt? (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by trudyscousin ( 258684 )
    Do you normally take apart your laptop computer with your ass cheeks?

  • It's not the fastest laptop on the planet, but a Combo (DVD/CD-RW) drive [pbfixit.com] is about the only thing I miss on my circa. end-of-2001 iBook G3 600 MHz (I've upgraded it with additional RAM [pbfixit.com] and an Airport card [pbfixit.com].

    Does anyone know if there are other suppliers of Combo Drives for the G3 iBooks? Australian suppliers would be preferred, but not essential.

  • Besides instructions on how to upgrade and repair Apple notebooks, at TuxMobil there are disassembly guides for laptops and notebooks [tuxmobil.org], dissection pictures of PDAs and handhelds [tuxmobil.org], take apart manuals for mobile (cell phones) [tuxmobil.org], as well as images from the inside of mobile media players [tuxmobil.org]. Guides on how to maintain other mobile electronic gadgets will follow.
  • The biggest thing I think is missing is....

    AIRPORT ANTENA UPGRADE!!!

    The biggest issue I have with my "slow" 400 Mhz G4 TiBook, (Generation 1 celebrating it's 4 year birthday in January) is not the graphics or the CPU, it's the 802.11b range. With a high-gain antena upgrade to the base station, it is better, but how about some upgrade to the laptop antena too!

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