Best laptop Ive used.
Written: Oct 30 '01
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Pros: Fast, great screen, reliable, ports, easy upgrade.
Cons: Keeping it clean
The Bottom Line: The best laptop I've ever used. I forget that computers ever have problems because this one doesnt, ever.
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| duc996's Full Review: Apple PowerBook G3 (M7308LL/A) Mac Notebook |
I have been using Mac since the 80's and I do prefer them. I am not comparing this to PC laptops as I did not even consider them.
I had one of these Powerbooks at work for a while but then had to return it to my office.
One day I saw an ad at J&R Computer World for a 400MHz Powerbook for $1999 with a free 128MB upgrade, so I went down there and bought it.
The computer came with an AC adapter, s-video adapter, telephone cord, battery, battery empty pack, etc.
There were different versions of this Powerbook. There was the original G3 Powerbook which came out in 1999, I think. Then there was the 2000 G3 Powerbook, which came with a SCSI port instead of Firewire ports. The one I bought was the final version of the G3 Powerbook, and it comes with Firewire ports instead of that 30? pin SCSI port.
The computer came loaded with Mac operating system 9.0, which is one of the better Mac OS's I've used. Later I upgraded to 9.1 and then now 9.2.1.
Anyway, it worked perfectly from the first day. I bought the computer the evening before I was going on a trip to Florida with the family. I wanted to bring it to edit our trip video while down there. Thats how easy and reliable this computer is. I pulled it out of the box, started it once, and then packed it for the trip. Everything I needed to use the computer, download the video and edit it came in the box. iMovie is the free program from Apple that I use for home videos.
The computer design is perfect. The screen is large and bright. It is a beautiful screen.
The keyboard is placed perfectly so that you can rest your palms on the lower part. Though I prefer trackballs, the track pad works well.
The pwer button is placed well and it cant be pressed by mistake.
All the ports are on the back and there are plenty: Firewire(2), USB(2), audio in and out, S-video out, monitor port, modem tel connector, ethernet connector and the PCMCIA slot on the left side.
The CD-DVD drive is on the right and its removeable for an extra battery. The primary battery loads from the left.
The speakers are embedded and located above the keyboard, and they sound great.
One of the great features of the layout is the access to the internal components. Using 2 tabs, the keyboard pops out in 2 seconds to expose the memory boards and hard drive. So doing upgrades like memory is so easy. I installed the extra memory in less than 5 minutes.
The computer is very fast. Before I never really used laptops as an alternative to desktops because of the screen and power. But this computer is powerful enough to do just about anything. Of course, the most important thing is memory. Get as much memory as possible and that will affect the speed.
The computer plays DVD's very well.
The firewire port is great. I download my DV videos to the hard drive and edit them with iMovie. It works perfectly and it is so easy.
no drivers to worry about, and the movie editing program works perfectly with the hardware. Other firewire devices work perfectly. I use a firewire CD rom burner and its fast and easy.
USB devices work perfectly. I use it for my Palm Pilot connection, aftermarket trackball, Apple external keyboard, USB scanner, digital camera and compact flash card reader. I have all of them plugged in at all times without any conflicts or problems.
The Powerbook comes with a 10/100 ethernet built in. Apples all come with ethernet. The ethernet works perfectly without any problems. Apple's networking has always had the edge over the PC's. All you do it plug your ethernet cable into another mac or a hub and you have instant networking. No loading drivers, etc.
Just open the chooser and click AppleTalk and it will display all the computers in the network.
Internet access is just as easy. The built in modem will allow you to connect via dialup. Or plug your ethernet cable into a cable modem or DSL router and thats all. Or if your network is already connected to the internet, just make one setting in the control panels and you're connected.
I cant say enough about this computer, or Apple Macs in general.
It has everything you need. It can take the place of any desktop computer and do everything you need it to do.
It has enough ports to add tons of gadgets and devices.
Whether you're a Mac fan or not, its hard to beat this computer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1999
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
duc996
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Location: CT, USA
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 0 members
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