leepinions's Full Review: Apple PowerBook G4 17 in. (M8793LL/A) Mac Notebook
My first mac was a 512e, and have had plenty since. I really like the new aluminum PowerBooks. The new operating system is so much better than anything else available. The ease of use is incredible and for me it does everything well, and there is not the confusing clutter of superfluous options, buttons and inconsistency that plagues other operating systems.
The simplicity is truly awesome, the user experience is not interrupted by an endless array of annoying are you sure you want to insert your stupid question here pop up boxes. While excellent standard applications for things like mail, photos, music, contact management, calendar and basic video production are included, they are not embedded into the operating system which leaves you the option to freely use something else if you so desire to perform these tasks.
The design is simple and clean, I think it is the best looking laptop with the exception of the Sony Vaio X505, I am sure you will agree that these are completely different machines. Apple has addressed all of the design issues I had with my previous Titanium PowerBook, most notable refraining from using painted plastic on the case, bad idea. Some people have complained that the ports on the sides can get in the way when you try to use the machine with a mouse plugged in.
The speed is excellent, the computer boots about as fast as Linux or Windows, I am adding a little time for Windows as they give you a log in screen faster, but continue to 'start services' in the background making the machine unusable for the first 30 seconds. Applications launch quickly, and rarely crash, rarely as in maybe once a month. The operating system itself has only crapped out once in a year, and I use this computer every day, so that is really saying something! While the Mac OS is based on BSD UNIX, Apple has done a wonderful job of developing NeXT's previous operating system into what it is today.
Unfortunately my PowerBook has been plagued with screen problems, it been replaced twice, as the first as well as its subsequent replacement developed white splotches after a while. The screen that I have now has a couple of dead pixels, and when I called Apple about it, they basically said 'that is the way it is, enjoy'.
In my experience this is typical of and has always been their attitude, Apple has never been a customer centric company, however I feel they design the coolest stuff and offer the best package so you have to be willing to take the good with the bad. There is a reason that they only have 5% of the market, but that 5% is extremely loyal. Really I like the operating system better than the hardware, if I could run Mac OS on a ThinkPad in native mode, I would.
The battery life is claimed to be 5 hours, as rule of thumb with Apple products I just cut their claimed battery life in half and that is the real number, this applies to the iPod as well.
I would recommend that anyone buying one of these computers take it out of the box and start it up checking the screen for flaws before laying out their dough! I purchased a PowerBook from CompUSA in Florida and they had no problem with doing just that.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3000 Operating System: Macintosh Processor: PowerPC G4 Processor speed: over 1000 Screen Size: 15 inches RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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