Good machine, but not that fast
Written: Dec 25 '02
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Pros: Sleek design. Large Screen. Combo DVD-R/CD-RW drive
Cons: Price, hard to connect to a standard projector
The Bottom Line: This machine is recommended. Apple has fixed many of the minor flaws from the 500 and 667 machines.
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| drw3773's Full Review: Apple PowerBook G4 15.2 in. (M8859LL/A) Mac Notebo... |
Finally, a 1 Ghz machine from Apple! I couldn't wait to place my order in November. For over a year I had patiently waited to upgrade my 500 MHz PowerBook with at least a 1 Ghz machine. Apple unleashed this machine in early November and I was online that day to order my new computer.
The PowerBook took almost four weeks to arrive. When it did, I took it out of the package and fired it up. Since I was familiar with Apple products and the PowerBook in general, I was on the Internet in less than five minutes.
I am not going to review this machine in comparison to a Wintel machine, as I have owned a Mac for almost 10 years now and it would not be fair to compare this machine to something I do not know as well. I will compare this machine to previous PowerBooks and iBooks.
For anyone considering whether to buy a 12" iBook or PowerBook, there is no comparison, simply because of the size of the screen. Even if one goes with the 14" iBook, the PowerBook is a much better value. This is because:
PowerBook - 15.2" screen - iBook 12" or 14" ADVANTAGE: PowerBook
Max Hard Drive - 60 Meg on PowerBook - 40 Meg on iBook ADVANTAGE: PowerBook
Video Card - 64MG with the ATI Radeon 9000 on PowerBook - 32MB with ATI Radeon 7500 on iBook ADVANTAGE: PowerBook
PowerBook has an airport card and is gigabit Ethernet ready. An airport card is optional and 10/100 Ethernet is standard on iBook. ADVANTAGE: PowerBook
RAM - PowerBook has a max of 1GB and the iBook has a max of only 640MB ADVANTAGE: PowerBook
Drives - Powerbook has an option of SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) - iBook has option of combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) ADVANTAGE: PowerBook
There are three areas that I believe the iBook does excel over the PowerBook - wireless range, durability of case and use with a projector.
For whatever design reason, all iBooks have longer wireless range over a PowerBook. Apple has explained this to be the way the antenna is located on each machine, but it you place an iBook and PowerBook side by side you will notice the difference.
The second area where the iBook excels is in the case. The PowerBook case is titanium, what Apple calls "the exceptionally strong and exceptionally light metal used to manufacture supersonic aircraft engines." The iBook is made of ultratough polycarbonate — the same material used in bulletproof glass — and has an internal magnesium frame for added strength. This body and the white color allow the iBook to be really abused without showing much damage. The case of the PowerBook can be dented easily, but not the iBook. Scratches on the PowerBook are easily seen and ugly, but they do not show well on the white color of the iBook. Don't get me wrong, the PowerBook is one beautiful machine, but it shows the dings much more than it's little sister.
The final area where the iBook shines over the PowerBook is the ease of which an iBook connects to a projector, TV or other output device. The PowerBook requires an adaptor to do the same work.
When you compare all the great options available only with the PowerBook, take into account the shortcomings compared to the iBook, it still makes sense to spend the extra dollars for the PowerBook.
In previous versions of the PowerBook there were several areas that needed improvement - speed, video speed, hard drive space, a cooling fan that sounded like a 747 taking off, a case that was prone to hairline cracks and no SuperDrive. I am happy to report that Apple has attempted to solve all of these issues.
Older PowerBooks had terrible video cards/memory, requiring the main processor to do the work. This resulted in slow screen refresh rates, downloads on the Internet (screen) and slow work when working with large documents or high res documents. The new PowerBook has the ATI Radeon 9000 with 64megs of RAM. Compared to 8 Megs on my old PowerBook, this is quite an improvement and I have noticed the difference.
Hard drive space has doubled from a maximum of 30MB to 60MB. If you are doing a lot of digital video work, downloading music, etc. you will appreciate the extra size of the hard drive. One can NEVER have enough RAM or hard drive space!
The new cooling fan in the 1Ghz Powerbook is a dream compared to its’ predecessor. The old fan was VERY noisy, while the new fan is quiet. The old PowerBook ran very hot, but the new one is cooler to the touch. You can actually keep this one in your lap for hours without burning you skin!!
The addition of a SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) is a huge improvement over the old combo drive. I can now take my iMovies straight to a DVD and burn them in a matter of minutes. Burning CD’s is much faster than in my old machine (probably due to the faster processor and speed of the drive). The new drive also “feels” tighter and not as cheap as the previous drives.
I had to send my old PowerBook in three times because the light color shell around the inside of the computer kept cracking. Finally after getting it back for the third time and having it start to crack again, I gave up. I am happy to report that the new PowerBook does not have this problem. Although the case looks the same, whatever was causing the problem has been fixed.
Finally, Apple has move to the 1Ghz speed (finally!!). I have to admit that I really expected this, along with the new video card and ram to show a HUGE speed difference in my daily work, but while I can notice a speed difference over my 500Mhz machine, it is not as dramatic as I had hoped it would be. At work I use a 1.2Ghz, dual processor computer and it is quite a bit faster than this machine, even on daily tasks. I suspect that it has as much to do with the system bus as with processor and video cards.
All in all, if you are shopping for an Apple laptop, this is the machine for you. Apple has solved many of the little problems with previous PowerBooks and now has a machine that you will fall in love with…now if we can just get a 2Ghz machine…
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2999
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: SuperDisk
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
drw3773
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Reviews written: 3
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