Apple Powerbook Laptop Review - Today, SLCentral.com is taking an inside look into the Apple Powerbook 12" laptop, the smallest Apple to date. While it is the first generation (we are currently at the second generation) of the 12" model, is very much the same as the new version, so I found it appropriate to review the computer.
In the land of Goldilocks: Is the PowerBook 15 just right? - With the basic specs out of the way, let's turn our attention to what really matters in the world of laptops: portability. That's an issue that may have Macintosh fans feeling like Goldilocks as they survey Apple's offerings and try to figure out which PowerBook is too big (the 17-in. model?), which one is too small (the 12-in. one?) and which one is just right for them. It could be that the 15-in. PowerBook hits that mark dead-on
15-Inch PowerBook G4s - Apple Hits the Sweet Spot, but Machines Have Inconsistent Quality - Eight months after Apple announced its smallest and largest PowerBook G4s -- the 12-inch and 17-inch PowerBook G4s, in aluminum, not Titanium -- Apple released the laptop many professional Mac users had been waiting for -- the aluminum 15-inch PowerBook G4. With its slick performance, bright screen, and support for USB 2.0, FireWire 800, AirPort Extreme, and Bluetooth, this laptop was worth the wait. But people who've received PowerBooks with loose latches or video problems may wish that Apple had taken a bit more time to iron out kinks
Panther + PowerBook = More Battery Life - I was very please to find that installing Mac OS X 10.3, "Panther", has increased the battery run time on my 15" PowerBook G4 from 2:25 (hours:minutes) to 3:22
Wide-Open Spaces - I've never been a huge fan of huge laptops, but the recent spate of widescreen models hitting the market has made me rethink my inclination toward small and light. With my current laptop I get portability, but I give up some performance and screen size. A larger screen is important for people doing on-the-road design work, video editing and writing--and for those who just want to have bigger and bolder access to e-mail, a Web browser, word processing and their music collection
Macworld Lab: First Test Results of Latest PowerBooks - 15-inch Brought Up To Date, 17-inch Fastest Laptop Yet - Macworld Lab has been busy benchmarking the latest additions to Apple’s PowerBook line. We were able to test all four of the new models and the results met our expectations based on each models’ specs
PPC 7457 performance tweak for new PowerBooks - On my new PB15 (7457-based) I discovered that the Branch Target Instruction Cache is disabled. It was enabled on my prior Ti-Book (7450-based). I don't know why it's not enabled, perhaps the OS (10.2.8) still does not recognize the newer chip fully, and is playing it safe. Turning it back on does not appear to cause system instability, and increases performance slightly (3% on integer-intensive benchmarks)
Sleek PowerBook blasts predecessor - The Barrow we recently spent a week with a loaner aluminium 15in model. We enjoyed the experience so much we're considering a trade-in. Under the new model's bonnet is a 1.25GHz PowerPC G4 processor. That's two and a half times faster than the 500GHz chip in The Barrow's titanium model - and 25 per cent faster than the 1GHz G4 in more recent PowerBook models.
Which PC2700 DIMMs for your New PowerBook G4? - Which PC2700 SO-DIMMs do you need for your PowerBook G4? MacBidouille notes that some Kingston and Crucial DIMMs apparently won't work in the new 'Books
Japan Watch: The New PowerBooks Hit Town - Last week, they weren't a blip on the radar. This week, the new PowerBooks hit the Japanese notebook sales charts, coming in at # 14 for the 12.1" 1GHz Mini-Me, while the not-cheap high-end 15.2" 1.25GHz Aluminium PB hit # 18
Better, Late: New PowerBook Worth Waiting For - The new 15-inch PowerBook G4 -- named after its 15.2-inch widescreen liquid-crystal display -- is a particularly refined expression of Apple's design philosophy. It should quickly displace its predecessor, the Titanium PowerBook G4, in the hearts and wallets of many computing enthusiasts
Fast Forward Live: 4 New Handhelds - I wanted to do a direct comparison between the new and old 15-inch PowerBooks, but the guy who was supposed to bring his in forgot. I can tell you, however, that the aluminum model worked fine in my experience--I got all the way down a long hall from our tech services office before it lost that signal, which is as good a performance as I've seen from any laptop
The TiBook broke ground but aluminum is nice, too - While its G4 processor has been eclipsed by the new G5 processor found in Apple's latest desktop towers, the laptop has data-crunching and video-display performance to spare for all but the most demanding tasks
PowerBook G4/1250: Benchmarks - he real-world benchmarks were consistent and reasonable, and some of the synthetic benchmarks were, as well, although a few results were not easily explained without a major investigation
My Preeeeccccious... 15" Aluminum Powerbook - So, it has now been a week since I got my new 15” Aluminum Powerbook , and it has been just another confirmation of how much I love buying products from Apple. Granted, unlike some recent purchasers , I did not bow down and lick the exquisite packaging and new hardware, but I gotta admit the whole procedure of getting the Powerbook out of the box and starting it up for the first time is quite a treat
Re-specced for lots of excitement - A CHANCE to review the 17in Powerbook is not to be passed up, so when Apple offered the re-specified model to have a look at, you can bet I was quick to take it on, despite having trialled the original model only a few months ago
CTO PowerBooks Pushed Back Another Week - I ordered a 15" 1.25Ghz AlBook, 60Gb HD, Combo Drive, 512Mb (2 SO-DIMMs) on the 17th of September from the UK Apple Education store. The store estimated build time for the machine to be 4-6 days. My order was accepted and confirmed in a matter of hours and I received an e-mail stating that my order would be shipped on or before the 25th of September. Fast Forward to 25th September - Powerbook still in assembly stage
Currently touring with his Remember Shakti band, legendary guitarist John McLaughlin appears on stage accompanied by a 17-inch PowerBook
Optional Hitachi 5K80 Notebook Drive Versus Other PowerBook Drives - Apple is shipping the new 15" (and 17") Aluminum PowerBooks with the Fujitsu MHT2080AT (80GB, 4200rpm, 8MB cache) drive as standard equipment. I thought this was the only brand of 4200rpm drive being shipped with the 15" and 17" PowerBook but two readers informed me that their 15" Aluminum PowerBook came with the 80GN IC25N080ATMR04 drive (80GB, 4200rpm, 8MB cache). So we got those tested and this edition has those results as well
PowerBook G4 15-Inch: Battery Life Issues - Early adopters of Apple's new 15" Aluminum PowerBook are posting to Apple's discussion boards reporting similar problems with their Macs: That the battery life they are seeing with their units is often less than half that advertised by Apple
Tricking Out Your 'Book for Desktop Duty - In some respects, the 17” PowerBook is more of a portable desktop than a serious road warrioring machine, but because its still razor-thin profile, the full potential of its expansive footprint can’t be realized and other aspects haven’t been. For example, there is plenty of room for a full, 105 key, extended keyboard, but instead the Big Al ‘Book uses the same keyboard as its 12” and 15” siblings, leaving huge expanses of empty plain metal surface at either side
PowerBook Notes - I'm also moving my virtual home -- from a Titanium PowerBook to one of the new 15" Aluminum PowerBooks. I have a mixed bag of comments about that
Apple's New Powerbook Shines - I've been waiting since the new year for Apple to refresh the 15" Powerbook model. It's an overdue upgrade. Many people saw the nifty features from the 17" Powerbook, like the light-up keyboard, Bluetooth, 802.11g, not to mention faster processor and graphics, and wanted to have them in a more practical size. The Airborne guy just arrived, so let's see if Apple's new laptop can live up to the expectations
PowerBook 15-Inch Records DVD-RW Reads DVD+R/W - had a chance to test out the new SuperDrive and see what it could do. I found that the Developer note for this machine said it could record on DVD-RW disks and I wanted to try it out. The Matshita (Panasonic) UJ-816 drive is spec'd to record to DVD-R at 2x as well
SAAB USA Prominently Features PowerBook G4 - SAAB USA, manufacturer of a product which like Apple hardware is a favorite among independent thinkers has prominently featured the PowerBook G4 (without erasing corporate branding/I.D. on the product). Images of the SAAB 9-3 sport-hatch concept car that will be introduced at the annual autoshow in Frankfurt
CSR chip at the core of new Apple powerbook - CSR’s BlueCore chip offers AFH, a system that eliminates interference between Bluetooth and other RF devices, such as WiFi (802.11) that operate in the 2.4GHz radio frequency band, by co-ordinating the frequency channels of all 2.4GHz devices
The 17" PowerBook That Got Away - Even smarter, more powerful, and more desirable, these babies are already infiltrating the few Apple retailers the UK has left, so the opportunity was opportune (ha!) to go out shopping to hunt down last week's model of the nice and shiny PBs at a significant lower price than only a couple of weeks ago
Retro Powerbooks - PowerBooks in this day and age have certainly become the computer of choice over the lowly desktop computer. But there are a growing number of consumers that have been seeking out those little known and often times thought of as defunct computers...The retro PowerBook.
Why would anyone want an old PowerBook when a new one is...well...newer?
Go-getters - Strictly speaking, if the weight limit for a notebook to be considered an "ultra-portable" is 2kg, Apple's 12-inch screen PowerBook G4 would not make the cut. But that would be a tragedy, as it is the lightest notebook to include a built-in DVD burner
Fellow travellers - The first time you hook your PowerBook up to a network, connect it to a Bluetooth device or a digital camera, or just turn your CD tracks into MP3 files, you might breathe a little prayer of thanks to the most creative, most downright helpful designers in the world of computers
PB 15" 1.25GHz Delays - I ordered my PB 15" 1.25 GHz 3 minutes after the N. American store opened the day the 'books were announced. I requested a BTO book and was told it would ship on the 23rd - today. At 6:49pm EDT I received a message from Apple indicating the following
Culture: PowerBook - The Ultimate Travel Companion - On this 40+ hour road trip, my PowerBook rode right next to me in my passenger seat, and I had a cigarette-to-AC power adapter which allowed me to connect it up to my car for power. There's nothing I couldn't do with it riding shotgun next to me
Aluminum PowerBook 15-Inch: First Impressions - I'd been itching to upgrade my current 256 MB/500 MHz rev. 1 15" TiBook that I've used for over two years now, and the new 15" Aluminum was an answer to my prayers. Despite advice to never buy a rev. 1 machine, I couldn't restrain myself for more than a couple days
New 15-Inch Screen Smaller Than TiBook - As usual I purchased a screen protector to keep away the finger prints. When we tried to place over the screen we found that the viewable area is actually smaller than the Ti
The Paris PowerBooks - It was interesting to note the economy of real excitement generated by Steve Jobs’ PowerBook announcements in the Macworld Expo Paris keynote. The Mac Web and the print and broadcast media of course reported the rollout, but mostly in a matter of fact way
Want to Enhance Your Trackpad? Try SideTrack! - SideTrack is a Preference Pane that is made available through the standard System Preferences mechanism, but offers features far beyond the one's included in Apple's Mouse preferences. The only enhanced features offered by Apple's implementation are the ability to use the trackpad for clicking and dragging. Even in this respect, SideTrack goes beyond
PowerBook 15" and 12" Disassembly - questamor writes "The ever gadget-driven among us are at it again, with a Japanese site disassembling a brand new 15" PowerBook . Of interest is dual blowers. Quite a good deal packed into that sleek Al case. An older photo article on the same site details a 12" takeapart . That's stunning for barely an inch thick. Kudos to Apple's designers for a machine that looks as well designed in as out, and to the guys willing to unscrew the screws on a machine barely 5 days into warranty."
Apple turns up the power - Despite the long time between updates, Apple's "Year of the Notebook" claim does have some substance. Jobs revealed nearly half of Mac users are on portables, compared with an industry average of around a quarter – another area in which the Mac platform is a trendsetter. And Apple's notebook market share has been estimated at roughly double its overall market share
Are PowerBooks Really Ready to Replace Desktop Macs? - I think some of that confusion is the fault of Apple management when they announce that PowerBook sales are going up while Power Mac sales have gone down (second and third quarters of this year). They've made statements like "Apple is ahead of the industry in the transition to portables," and "For more and more customers these PowerBooks represent no compromise." The implication is that PowerBooks are a viable alternative to all desktops including Power Macs
G5 PowerBook 'a challenge' - Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering at Apple, spoke to Macworld UK about the Apple G5. While declining to comment on unannounced products, he did concede that the possibility of a G5 PowerBook was simply “an issue of good, solid engineering”
New PowerBooks: Backlights, PPC7457 and What's with the 15.2" Screen, Dude? - "What!" you say when you check out the tech specs on Apple's new G4 PowerBooks. "No backlit keyboard?" Well, yes. And no. Yes, if you're cashed up and can afford a 1.25GHz 15-incher or better. No (if you're not)
Apple's new PowerBooks expected to help accelerate mass market adoption of Bluetooth - CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio), a market leader in Bluetooth silicon, today announced that Apple has selected CSR's BlueCore chips with Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) to Bluetooth-enable its line of professional PowerBook G4 notebooks
PowerBook G4/1.25GHz XBench Results - MacBidouille has published a screenshot of partial XBench results for the new PowerBook G4/15.2"/1.25GHz model. The XBench results, along with Apple's published specifications, confirm that the processor appears to be a Motorola PPC7457
15" PowerBook G4/1.25 compared to others - Apple finally completed my dream PowerBook with the new 15 inch "AlumBook." I know you're curious about the performance what with faster clock speed, faster graphics chip and missing L3 cache
PowerBook updates confirm Panther model code leak - Apple provided developers with an early version of Panther at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last June. Soon after, it emerged that a plug-in within the new OS' AppleMacRISC2PE kernel extension listed new PowerBook model numbers
Apple banks on laptops - The technology research firm IDC has said Apple's overall share of computer sales is around 2 percent worldwide. But in the second quarter, Apple had captured 7 percent of the U.S. laptop market and 4.1 percent worldwide
Apple Bumps 12" PowerBook To 1 GHz, Bumps 17" To 1.33 GHz With Lower Price - We like the 33% speed increase in the 17" model, and the bump to 1 GHz for the 12" model should make it more attractive, as well. The price drop on the 17" unit is perhaps the best aspect of today's announcement, however; US$2,999 is more competitive with the large screen units from Wintel vendors that cropped up after the 17" PowerBook was originally introduced earlier this year
Apple Releases New 15.2" Aluminum PowerBooks: Faster, FW 800, USB 2.0, More - We like the 25% increase in speed on the new models, and we certainly think it's high time Apple offered two FireWire ports on its professional PowerBook models. The FireWire 800 and FireWire 400 combined are the perfect combination. USB 2.0 is also a welcome addition, again, even if it is belated
Apple revamps 15in PowerBook, adds Bluetooth - Belatedly, Apple has finally introduced a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse ($69 a piece), although some might be disappointed that it didn't use the occasion to introduce its patented 'rotary' mouse , which according to documents filed with the USPTO, has a circular scroll dial. Logitech has championed wireless peripherals for over a decade, but these have more utility now that the personal computer is used for watching home entertainment.
Apple polishes off titanium line - Apple Computer on Tuesday replaced the last of its titanium PowerBooks with aluminum versions, as it updated its entire line of high-end portables. The new PowerBooks were unveiled by CEO Steve Jobs during a keynote speech at Apple Expo Paris
Apple bets on strong demand for powerful laptops - A series of powerful new laptops will help Apple Computer Inc. generate more sales from portable computers than desktops, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Tuesday. The revamped notebook computers, with 12-, 15- and 17-inch displays, faster processors and CD and DVD burners, will be available from Tuesday, well ahead of the key end-of-year holiday and sales periods
No outlet? Little cable lets laptop recharge cellphone - There you are in an airport, in a cab or somewhere where there's no AC power. Fortunately, your trusty notebook computer has a full charge. Unfortunately, your trusty cellphone is about to die. What to do? Too bad you couldn't somehow take the power from your notebook and channel it into your cellphone
Rumor: Dual G4s in PowerBooks Before G5s? - O'Grady's Powerpage claims that Apple may resort to Dual G4 CPUs for the PowerBooks, according to a flowchart obtained by the site
15" LCD Display Dermand Exceeds Supply: Impact on PB Prices, Shipments? - Demand for 15" LCD panels has led to a shortage of these monitors, which has pushed prices up. As a result, PC makers are facing a shortage of standalone 15" LCD monitors as notebooks gobble up most shipments
Laptop vs. Desktop - It used to be that laptops were financially out of reach for most tiny businesses, but with the advent of the iBook, that’s changed. You can get a very capable laptop for about $1000. For another grand, you can get a top-of-the-line computer, or what would have been considered a supercomputer a decade ago. The fact that laptops are affordable just makes the decision all the more difficult
Aluminum PowerBook 15 Update - Easily the hottest question in the PowerPage in-box (and via IM) is "Where is the PowerBook 5-Inch update?" While we don't have a precise announcement date we can tell you that it isn't likely to be announced at Apple Expo in Paris later this month
Is 17-inch PowerBook too big? - As I packed up the the 17-inch G4 PowerBook I had been testing and sent it bak to Apple the other day, I realized again just how much I like my own (still-being-paid-for on my credit card) 12-inch PowerBook . The 17-incher is just too big
Airport Extreme for Extremely Ancient PowerBooks - Well - not that ancient. They need to be OS X-capable and running 10.2.6 for starters. However, if you've missed out on the Airport Revolution, Sonnet is offering you the chance to get yourself a seat
G5 vs Powerbook, One Tough Call - Now that the G5's are shipping, I've got new computer fever in a bad way. All the symptoms: massive envy, eight gigabytes worth of lust, bugs crawling on my skin. Skip the last one, that's hygiene issue. I don't need a G5 anymore than I need a Hummer . Which is: not at all. But I want a G5, you know, for the coolness factor.
PowerBook and iBook Parts And Repair Services - Portable computers are more of a challenge to service and repair than desktop machines, which of course makes things more expensive, as well as difficult to access. ‘Book owners in large cities will likely be able to find local shops that can service PowerBooks and iBooks, but out in the hinterlands, it may be a problem
Evidence mounts that Apple is clearing inventory to make way for new PowerBooks - Numerous readers claim to have ordered PowerBook 15" models from Apple's Online Store in the past weeks (as early as August 16) and being given the estimated shipping date of the week of August 25. As of yesterday this changed to September 10. This would seem to reinforce rumors this month regarding imminent PowerBook updates.
IDC report: Apple grabs 7 percent of U.S. notebook market share - Statistics published Tuesday by IDC show that industrywide notebook shipments rose by 22.4 percent globally on a year-over-year basis during the second quarter and grew by 1.5 percent from the first quarter. Meanwhile, shipments in the United States grew by 18 percent year over year and by 8 percent sequentially
Get Better Battery Life from your iBook or PowerBook - If you are trying to conserve battery life on your laptop computer (say, while hanging out waiting for a delayed flight at an airport), use a light-colored background screen instead of a dark-colored one
The Next Big Thing: Megaportables - Portable computers are again closing in on and surpassing the 10-pound mark. At a time when almost every feature that road warriors desire can be slid, snapped, or screwed into a notebook of 5 pounds or less, a compelling case can be made for heavier notebooks. And the heavier the better
17" PB/Kensington anti-theft compatibility - MacNN reader "Cory" let us know about an incompatibility between Kensington's laptop anti-theft device and the 17" PowerBook G4
Fixing Your PowerBook G4 15" - We've talked about some of the wear and tear that can occur on the Titanium PowerBook G4 15" laptops, especially early models. Our friend Troy Kingsbury at Small Dog Electronics has figured out how to repair Titaniums that come unglued, have latch problems, or get scratched so you can finally make your Ti as good as new again. I liked his tips so much I got special permission to reprint it here on the PowerPage.
Not Titanium, Not Aluminium, it's the Magnesium PowerBook - Apple, Dell, HP and Samsung are among the notebook makers who employ magnesium alloy sheets to ensure strength and rigidity in their portables
Post subject: PowerBook and Cell Phone - How can I use my cell phone as a modem for my PowerBook G3 Firewire? I have seen kits for Wndow Laptops but none for Mac's. Can it be done?
OK, So Where Are the New 'Books? - Last week, MacNet2’s John Manzione posted a commentary asserting that Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Expo declaration of 2003 as “the Year of the laptop” is a bust. More like last winter was “the season of the laptop,” says John, noting that we have now gone nearly eight months without a PowerBook upgrade --10 months for the TiBook which got its last speed bump last October
Forbes speculates on PowerBook, iMac updates; wireless Bluetooth keyboards and mice - "Now that Apple Computer has officially started shipping some of its PowerMac G5 computers, attention is shifting to forthcoming updates of other product lines. The Apple grapevine, which has largely been quiet since CEO Steve Jobs pulled the trigger on the June announcement of the G5, is starting to warm up again,"
College students crave laptops that'll be obsolete before graduation - So let the compromises begin - at $1,500. That's the strict ceiling (taxes not included) I placed on the four companies that provided student notebooks for this roundup, though in some cases prices were achieved with help from a rebate. Students with valid IDs may get bigger breaks on the prices shown here. All the laptops I looked at boast wireless capabilities, the Apple by AirPort option
Laptop chronicles - In May, for the first time, the dollar value of laptop sales nudged past that of desktop computer sales — and it doesn't look to stop growing anytime soon. These signs of life in an otherwise sluggish market have manufacturers excited enough to show some signs of life of their own. While desktops haven't changed much over the past year, except for sporting lower price tags, this year's laptops look and work a lot differently than last year's.
When's the Right Time to Buy a New 'Book? - It’s impossible to generalize about the appropriate time to upgrade one’s ‘Book to a newer, faster machine. There are just too many variables. I expect that there are a few stalwart folks out there still happily of word-processing on 100 Series PowerBooks, and more than a few using 500 Series and 5300s. It is evident from the mail I get that there are a lot of PowerBook 1400’s still in everyday use, some of which of course have been upgraded to G3 power
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