PowerBook 15" Concerns

[macguymike]

I'm thinking about upgrading from my 12" PB to the 15" Combo w/backlit keyboard. Pros? Cons?

I have two specific questions also.

1. Battery life on the new 15"?

2. Heat. The 12" gets nice n' toasty (sometimes just while sitting on my desk not doing anything). I know the TiBooks got warm, do the new 15's get as hot as the 12's?

Thanks. :)

[baby duck monge]

having never had the priveliege (sp?) of using a powerbook of any size for an extended amount of time, i can't tell you how hot they get in relation to one another. what i can tell you, though, is that if you put something underneath it while it is sitting on the desk that raises part of the bottom off the table, it will be much cooler when you do have to touch the 'book for something. i don't know if that helps you at all, but it's a nice way to help keep things manageable.

[crees!]

I've heard that people with the new 15" PB say it is cool as a cucumber and quieter than ever. About battery life, I'd say if you're near an outlet plug it in (which would make total sense).

[actionslacks]

I bought the 15" 1.25 standard config.

1. It is cool
2. It is quiet
3. The screen is very nice
4. I did not care about the backlit keyboard until I got it. It is really impressive. It is delinitely worth the $69 upgrade.

You get so much more for your money when you step up to the 15".

[macguymike]

Originally posted by baby duck monge
if you put something underneath it while it is sitting on the desk that raises part of the bottom off the table, it will be much cooler when you do have to touch the 'book for something.


Yeah. There are just times when that sort of thing isn't practical. Like, when I'm sitting on the couch and want to actually have the thing on my lap.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. :)

[macguymike]

Originally posted by crees!
About battery life, I'd say if you're near an outlet plug it in (which would make total sense).


Well, of course. ;)

I'm just wondering about times when I'm not near an outlet, like at a restaurant or my local Barnes & Noble.

[macguymike]

Originally posted by actionslacks
I bought the 15" 1.25 standard config.

1. It is cool
2. It is quiet
3. The screen is very nice
4. I did not care about the backlit keyboard until I got it. It is really impressive. It is delinitely worth the $69 upgrade.

You get so much more for your money when you step up to the 15".

Sweet. What do you run on it? Is it getting good life off of the battery?

Is it simply "cooler" than the 12 and TiBook 15? Or does it actually run cool?

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to toss so many questions at ya but nobody else has answered. :)

[uptick]

Originally posted by macguymike
Sweet. What do you run on it? Is it getting good life off of the battery?

Is it simply "cooler" than the 12 and TiBook 15? Or does it actually run cool?

Thanks for the reply. Sorry to toss so many questions at ya but nobody else has answered. :)

Well guys, I'm new here, and also have been searching threads about this heat thing. I just got a 15" PB G4 1.25 and am rather surprised at the amount of heat the case emits. (I've been a user of Sony Vaio and Dell laptops, and those have never gotten to be like hot plates on your lap, or table!) I even measured the surface temp of the PowerBook with one of those digital turkey thermometers, and it has measured 100-110 degrees (F) consistenly.
I don't know if this is normal, but from glancing through some other heat threads here, it seems like Apple makes hot-to-touch laptops.
With the small rubber dots on the bottom at each corner, there's barely any clearance for airflow if the PB sits on a desk or other flat, hard surface. Perhaps the material of the casing (is it magnesium?) is a good heat conductor, and Apple has designed the whole case to be some sort of heat-sink for its internal components. But still, I've been compelled to place plastic bottle caps underneath (until I can find a better solution) to raise it up by about 1cm so that my desk doesn't act like a heatsink for the case! Not worried about the desk itself, but worried about the heat that gets built up in the case deminishing the life of the PB.

As for the battery, I haven't done much to do all that power-saving stuff, as I'll tend to use the PB plugged-in most of the time. The first-time conditioning of the battery (from full-charge to full-discharge uninterrupted) took about 1:40.

The built-in Airport receiver was easy to set up to work with my Netgear WAP in WEP mode (802.11b though..). But the range seems to be weaker than that of my other laptops.

Anyway, that's my first 24-hour review of the 15" PowerBook G4.
The heat is disconcerting, but otherwise I love the thing - it's doing an excellent job ripping up my entire CD collection!
:D ...and keeping me from doing real work...

Hope to hear other's comments on the heat issue.

[stoid]

I can affirm now that the 15inch PowerBook functions wonderfully for portable research work. I spent the last 2 and a half hours in the campus library doing research and typing on the computer and still had 33% battery life left (if you do the math, thats just under 4 hours of battery life). Granted, I had the prefs set to longest battery life, and had the screen brightness turned down pretty low, but that is the only real use I'll have for it when I am not right next to a power outlet. Now if only they would install a WI-FI network so that I could use the built-in airport card :rolleyes:

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by uptick
Well guys, I'm new here, and also have been searching threads about this heat thing. I just got a 15" PB G4 1.25 and am rather surprised at the amount of heat the case emits. (I've been a user of Sony Vaio and Dell laptops, and those have never gotten to be like hot plates on your lap, or table!) I even measured the surface temp of the PowerBook with one of those digital turkey thermometers, and it has measured 100-110 degrees (F) consistenly.
I don't know if this is normal, but from glancing through some other heat threads here, it seems like Apple makes hot-to-touch laptops.
With the small rubber dots on the bottom at each corner, there's barely any clearance for airflow if the PB sits on a desk or other flat, hard surface. Perhaps the material of the casing (is it magnesium?) is a good heat conductor, and Apple has designed the whole case to be some sort of heat-sink for its internal components. But still, I've been compelled to place plastic bottle caps underneath (until I can find a better solution) to raise it up by about 1cm so that my desk doesn't act like a heatsink for the case! Not worried about the desk itself, but worried about the heat that gets built up in the case deminishing the life of the PB.

As for the battery, I haven't done much to do all that power-saving stuff, as I'll tend to use the PB plugged-in most of the time. The first-time conditioning of the battery (from full-charge to full-discharge uninterrupted) took about 1:40.

The built-in Airport receiver was easy to set up to work with my Netgear WAP in WEP mode (802.11b though..). But the range seems to be weaker than that of my other laptops.

Anyway, that's my first 24-hour review of the 15" PowerBook G4.
The heat is disconcerting, but otherwise I love the thing - it's doing an excellent job ripping up my entire CD collection!
:D ...and keeping me from doing real work...

Hope to hear other's comments on the heat issue.

Mine hasn't heated up at all. Usually, the case is so cold to the touch I keep my hands away from the palm rests for a while. I don't see how anyone could say it gets hot, heck, even my G3 gets hotter than this thing. I haven't heard the fans come on once in the past 3 days, either. I remember hearing people complain about how the fan always comes on and how loud it was and I was pretty worried, but as of yet, I haven't heard it go on once at all. Perhaps it is environment, though. My dorm room is usually pretty cool, along with the library. I haven't used it in a hot room, so maybe that'd warm it up a bit more. As far as battery life, I got over 3 1/2 hours Thursday night when I got it and decided to run it down to sleep mode. I turned Airport and BT off and set energy control to automatic and with maybe 50% brightness. Not bad at all, for sure. This is with the 5400 rpm HD, too. I ordered a second battery, anyway, figuring it can't hurt any. As far as the keyboard, yeah, it's pretty cool. I was surprised that it was white and not blue, though, but I think it looks better and sharper that way. I definitely love this machine, though. It is light, cool, quiet, fast, and beautiful. The only problem is that the widescreen makes it nearly impossible to fit into my current laptop case, so I will have to drop another $100 sometime soon for a new case before I take it on a longer distance trek.

[yujini]

I think battery life and heat depends on what you do on your laptop. You two are probably doing different stuff.

When just doing normal stuff like word processing, email checking,
web surfing, I think the new powerbook 15inch doesnt emit that much heat or suck up the battery power.

Probably some heavy stuff like gaming, unzipping (like a bigass file), compiling (a longgggggg code), etc will make the processor run hot.

[uptick]

Originally posted by yujini
I think battery life and heat depends on what you do on your laptop. You two are probably doing different stuff.

When just doing normal stuff like word processing, email checking,
web surfing, I think the new powerbook 15inch doesnt emit that much heat or suck up the battery power.

Probably some heavy stuff like gaming, unzipping (like a bigass file), compiling (a longgggggg code), etc will make the processor run hot.

That may be so. I have been ripping CDs into iTunes non-stop, and with the hard drive, super drive, and CPU working full-blast and in concert, that may be a reason why I have a hottie. Heck, even the square power adapter is warm.

Indeed it does run quiet, even with the drives spinning.
However, is there really a mechanical fan built-in? If so, I would imagine that the thing ought to be activated and cooling my PB under my observed circumstances. I don't hear a fan nor feel any air current from the vents at the side.

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
...As far as the keyboard, yeah, it's pretty cool. I was surprised that it was white and not blue, though, but I think it looks better and sharper that way.

I was even thinking orange - like on the iPod!
But the white backlight is unobtrusive. It's also neat how the screen dims as well when in the dark. Somewhere those ambient light sensors are hidden underneath the speaker grills. It's a sleek package!

...still discovering

[Abstract]

Some people are getting a hot system even if they're only word processing, checking their email, and surfing the net. I think those fans should turn on more often. Seriously, I wouldn't care if the fan turned on more often as long as it protected my system from internal damage.

I'm not even going to think about the 15". I'll look at the new 12". I hear that its cooler than the last model: the 867MHz 12" Firebook.

[qurlau]

As a first time user of Apple and Mac OS X, I have to admit that the new PowerBook 15" (1.25 Ghz/Superdrive, et. al.) exceeded all of my expectations.

I have been using Microsoft products since 1993 when I graduated college (I was lucky enough to go to a school that ran Solaris, but not so lucky in the workplace).

I have not felt this excited about using a computer since I wrote my first program on a TRS-80 Model III.

Aside from the fit/finish which is superb, the real gem that surprised me was Mac OS X.

I am ever more confident that the alternative to Microsoft Windows is more than just a "switch." It's a real step up and, once again, computing is cool and fun!

Oh yeah, regarding the questions about the PowerBook. I have not noticed heat problems at all. I have had my machine running for nearly 8-10 hours at a time and it's generated less heat than my previous craptop (Compaq Evo n610c). I have not tested the battery life as I have not left my house since I received the PowerBook on Saturday (27-Sep--a day that will life in infamy!).

[Powerbook G5]

What is everyone doing to get their PowerBooks to heat up so much? I usually use it on my bed and have a CD in the superdrive, doing word processing, or chat/emailing. It isn't much, but being on my bed with a CD spinning, you'd think it'd heat up a bit but it is usually still a bit cool to the touch. As far as a fan, I've heard there are now two in these new PowerBooks, but I have yet to hear any noise besides a faint mechanical sound from the superdrive when accessing or from the HD when doing transfers. If the fans are going on, I sure am not hearing it.

[KBFinFan]

I have to say mine is very quiet, I don't even know if the fans have even turned on. The most noise I heard is when inserting a DVD into the Superdrive, and that was just the disc spinning around.

As far as heat goes, the wrist rests are very cool, almost cold to the touch depending on the room you are in. The underside, on mine at least, does seem to get warm, but never anything drastic that would cause you to feel discomfort.

As far as battery goes, the computer says it is about 2 hrs when I unplug it, but I think it lasted longer than that when I was calibrating. I haven't run it down since when I got it, but plan to this week sometime for analysis and actually time it (not depending on what the OS says).

So far, I am in love with this machine, I worry about the money I spent on it and paying for it. However, this is definitely the coolest thing I have ever owned.

[rueyeet]

My TiBook tends to get hot when I listen to iTunes for any significant length of time, or when ripping or burning CDs, or basically anything that's simultaneously processor- and disk-intensive. Basic email/websurfing doesn't generally have that effect. Of course, that's a TiBook, not an Aluminum, so I'm not sure whether that would carry over.

I think I could deal with the fan coming on a little more often as well, because the thing gets pretty alarmingly hot long before the fan kicks in. I'm not using a CoolPad or anything, though.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by rueyeet
My TiBook tends to get hot when I listen to iTunes for any significant length of time, or when ripping or burning CDs, or basically anything that's simultaneously processor- and disk-intensive. Basic email/websurfing doesn't generally have that effect. Of course, that's a TiBook, not an Aluminum, so I'm not sure whether that would carry over.

I think I could deal with the fan coming on a little more often as well, because the thing gets pretty alarmingly hot long before the fan kicks in. I'm not using a CoolPad or anything, though.

Funny you would mention that, I just ordered the travel version of the CoolPad today just for the extra protection incase it does end up getting hot later on. For $20, it looks like it's a good investment at least. So far it seems to be fine, but for when it is sitting on the desk, I don't want to risk damaging it if it does heat up.

[agreenster]

My 1Ghz TiBook is COLD if (as in, below room temp, cool to the touch) I'm doing basic stuff like typing invoices, editing text, running iTunes, etc. But when I'm gaming, watching a DVD, doing intensive 3D stuff in Maya, or even Photoshop work, it does heat up. It doesnt heat up as much as my 550 TiBook would, but it still gets warm.

It ALL depends on what you are doing. Intensive video card stuff can heat up the laptop as well.

[uptick]

Excuse my newbie ignorance, but you guys here are great at answering questions and much faster than I would be able to research them...

1. So is the Powerbook G4 that I (& anyone else) purchased this past weekend made of Aluminum or Titanium?

2. Are there fans inside? How do you know for sure if it is/they are working (is there an OS indicator or something to check)? What activates the fan (i.e. actual temp reading, type of activity, processing power usage, etc.)?

3. Anyone have a link to some diagram/ "x-ray" picture of the internals so I can be clued in on where the components are located, and thus what is causing the heat? Again, my observations are that the underside of MY PB gets hot; not the keyboard/palm side. The LCD panel also is normal.

I am trying to figure if my particular PB is over heating and need to get it serviced, or if this operating temperature is normal for the application (iTune ripping) that I have been using. (oh, it's a pleasantly brisk 65 degrees here in NYC! :cool: )

[Abstract]

I don't even own one, but I'll try to answer your questions anyway. ;)

1. They're Aluminium. Before Sept 16th, the 12" and 17" were both Aluminium while the 15" was stuck at Titanium. The titanium casing had paint chipping issues, although people were generally happy with the design and whatnot. After Sept 16th, they all use the Aluminium casing.

2. I hear there are 2 fans inside. I don't know why they come on so infrequently. If they're getting hot, they should come on more often so as to not damage the internals of the machine. Its just piece of mind, thats all. :o

The fans are controlled by OSX.

3. I hear that the 15" Pb gets hot on the underside of the system, but only near the back.

For other systems, its different. In an iBook and 12" Powerbook, it gets hot on the left palmrest near the trackpad because the HD is located there.


You had also mentioned that you measured the tempurature with one of those turkey-thermometer thingies, and got 100-110 F temperatures. Isn't that normal? Don't most computers normally operate at around 35-40 celsius/95-104 Fahrenheit??

[uptick]

Originally posted by Abstract
...You had also mentioned that you measured the tempurature with one of those turkey-thermometer thingies, and got 100-110 F temperatures. Isn't that normal? Don't most computers normally operate at around 35-40 celsius/95-104 Fahrenheit??

yep, that's an unscientific, touch-the-probe-to-the-case reading. I could only imagine it being much hotter inside that slim case...

maybe with a more precise measuring device I'd avoid undercooked turkey and overcooked G4 !?:D :p

[uptick]

according to Apple's tech spec pdf, "Operating temperature: 50 to 95 degrees F (30 - 35 C)"
I interpret this to mean that the environment (room temp) in which the PB operates should be within the op temp range. I don't think it means the PB generates heat in that op temp range? Certainly mine is hyper...

[nickfit]

For the most part, I find that my new 1.25ghz Powerbook runs warm, although ertainly not uncomfortable. Increase the demand on the processor, then increase the heat. I have been able to kick in the fan a couple times, and although it is audible, I would not consider it loud. Basically, though, given processor speeds, all current laptops, regardless of manufacturer, are going to run warm.

As far as layout of components, there was a post here with a link to pictures. Here is the link to the website http://www.kodawarisan.com/ug/PowerBook/index15.html. The cpu and gpu are toward the back, which is where most of the heat is produced. The battery, under the left front, gets a bit warm as well at times. Again, not uncomfortably so.

The battery life is not that good. Although it is better than the battery indicator says. I got it down to 5 minutes remaining, and it did not go to sleep for another 30 minutes. You can probably expect about 3 hours of light to meduim use form one charge. I know that 10.2.8 affected battery life, maybe 10.2.7 does as well. 10.3 is supposed to help battery life, but that is yet to be seen.

All and all, I think this is a wonderful machine. I upgraded from the g3 Powerbook (Pismo). I was happy with the Pismo, but I am really happy with this machine.

[nickfit]

Uptick, if you are ripping cd's, you are doing one of those heat producing activities. The cd drive will produce heat, and it is a relatively processor intensive task. I have not, though, noticed the fan kicking in while I was ripping cd's. It did make the machine much hotter, though, compared to simply writing replies to these posts, or maybe writing my dissertation (which of course is what I should be doing).

[uptick]

After reading this doc at apple support:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30612

..I suppose I shall not worry about the heat.

I especially like this: "You should avoid prolonged physical contact with the bottom of the computer when it does get warm."
-- like someone could get burned with prolonged physical contact?!:D

Also the fan "comes on within a temperature range that is selected to ensure proper operation of the computer." whatever that may be... :confused:


Nickfit, thanks for the link to the pics. However, could you tell from those where the fan is located?

[Toeknee]

I just totally love this powerbook. I've carried it to school and gotten looks from people, its awesome. The 'book runs ultra cool.... except when I have it on the power adapter. Which doesn't surprise me. It gets especially hot over the left speaker grill, and above the Function keys. But other then that its super, battery life is excellent about 3 hours for me but I really haven't put it through its paces. Yeah, I will also remember the day that my powerbook got here...see I was born on Christmas day and well the Powerbook got here on 9/25 so I guess Xmas and my bday came early for me this year :-D !

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Toeknee
I just totally love this powerbook. I've carried it to school and gotten looks from people, its awesome. The 'book runs ultra cool.... except when I have it on the power adapter. Which doesn't surprise me. It gets especially hot over the left speaker grill, and above the Function keys. But other then that its super, battery life is excellent about 3 hours for me but I really haven't put it through its paces. Yeah, I will also remember the day that my powerbook got here...see I was born on Christmas day and well the Powerbook got here on 9/25 so I guess Xmas and my bday came early for me this year :-D !

Yeah, the only time I noticed it get kind of warm was when the battery was charging, but besides that, it is normally cool to the touch.

[Counterfit]

You guys get about 3 hours? Man, either I'm doing something wrong, or my estimator-thing is way off.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
You guys get about 3 hours? Man, either I'm doing something wrong, or my estimator-thing is way off.

I've only used the battery twice, but I've gotten 3 hours and 40 minutes the first time and just over 4 the second time. I am not doing anything major like video work or CD ripping, though. Just simple homework and web surfing.

[mrdrumbum]

my 1.25ghz seems to run fairly warm using simple everyday apps like mail and ichat. i've heard both fans in the computer turn on when i was compressing a 1 gig movie using quicktime. when both fans are on you can definitely hear the difference. once the compression finished both fans stopped. seems like the fans are only used during cpu intensive operation. this definitely runs a lot hotter than my previous 1ghz tibook, but is a lot quieter.

[Ben Sheehan]

I don't understand folks saying these new PB's are running hot. I ditched my 667 DVI for the new 1ghz, and it's been like moving from the equator to the antarctic. I can't believe how cool the thing runs, whether it be ripping CDs, running from the adaptor or whatever. Battery life seems to be very similar, so I can't fault the unit there either.

I seriously suggest anyone worrying about the heat of the new pb's to go back and try out any of the Ti's on their knees. Heck, my 600mhz ibook was 10 X hotter than the new 15". There were no problems with the latch on mine either - overall it's a far more robust PB this time round, far nicer keyboard etc. The 1ghz runs cooler than any portable I've owned.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Ben Sheehan
I don't understand folks saying these new PB's are running hot. I ditched my 667 DVI for the new 1ghz, and it's been like moving from the equator to the antarctic. I can't believe how cool the thing runs, whether it be ripping CDs, running from the adaptor or whatever. Battery life seems to be very similar, so I can't fault the unit there either.

I seriously suggest anyone worrying about the heat of the new pb's to go back and try out any of the Ti's on their knees. Heck, my 600mhz ibook was 10 X hotter than the new 15". There were no problems with the latch on mine either - overall it's a far more robust PB this time round, far nicer keyboard etc. The 1ghz runs cooler than any portable I've owned.

Yeah, my 1.25 GHz PowerBook is a lot cooler than my 400 MHz G3 was to the point of the case being literally cold to the touch about 80% of the time. As far as the quality, this thing is like going from a Saturn to a Mercedes. It's really wonderful.

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
I've only used the battery twice, but I've gotten 3 hours and 40 minutes the first time and just over 4 the second time. I am not doing anything major like video work or CD ripping, though. Just simple homework and web surfing. iTunes?

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
iTunes?

I used iTunes once but found that I couldn't get the music store to work, so that has been the end of that. I am wondering if the school somehow blocked that like they blocked all the P2P networks, too.

[tizza]

Originally posted by yujini
I think battery life and heat depends on what you do on your laptop. You two are probably doing different stuff.

When just doing normal stuff like word processing, email checking,
web surfing, I think the new powerbook 15inch doesnt emit that much heat or suck up the battery power.

Probably some heavy stuff like gaming, unzipping (like a bigass file), compiling (a longgggggg code), etc will make the processor run hot.
Yep definently. I have the new 1.25G 15", and when I've been ripping CD's for a while or playing a 3D game that's when it really gets cooking hot underneath - not so bad on the top. I don't use it much on my lap so it's not much of a problem for me

[agreenster]

Originally posted by Counterfit
You guys get about 3 hours? Man, either I'm doing something wrong, or my estimator-thing is way off.

Did you optimize the battery? You HAVE to do that. Read about it in your owner's manual, but the basic gist is you have to let the battry run all the way down in the first week you own it without shutting it off, and as soon as it goes to sleep to conserve power, you charge it all the way up to 100%.

If you dont do this, your battery may only last half as long as it could.

[Counterfit]

I did, about a week after I bought it, but it didn't seem to change anything. Well, I'm gonna watch a movie so I'll see how long it really lasts.

[actionslacks]

Originally posted by agreenster
Did you optimize the battery? You HAVE to do that. Read about it in your owner's manual, but the basic gist is you have to let the battry run all the way down in the first week you own it without shutting it off, and as soon as it goes to sleep to conserve power, you charge it all the way up to 100%.

If you dont do this, your battery may only last half as long as it could.

I thought I did this, but I am only getting 2 hours. Any way that I can re-optimize my battery?

[Toeknee]

It really depends on how you want to use it. For school when im taking notes (yeah i know overkill) and such i turn Bluetooth, Airport, and the screen to the minimum. and it lasted me through the whole 1:15 min class, with plenty time to spare to go through another 1:15 class. One thing you gotta realize that the gauge on the menu bar isnt exact. If you notice when you charge the battery it tells you lets say 0:10 min... and it just stays there for like 2-3 min. So don't worry if the gauge says 2 hours... make it prove to you that its true.

[Counterfit]

I've noticed that my gauge is rather accurate. And that's not really a good thing, as it usually says less than 2 hours :(.

[TheFallGuy]

I'm having some heat issues with my new baby.

It does get hot on the bottom and stuff, and I'm just running iTunes, word-processing, and power point.

How do I know if my fans are kicking on? I can't hear them, or never heard them (I keep the music down low), or they're not kicking on.

How do I get them to kick on more often?

[uptick]

Apparently, ripping CDs into iTunes is an intensive task that causes the PB to run much warmer than usual. (That was my initial concern when I got the PB last weekend, but now am just getting used to it, since I'm not the only one experiencing this.)

I think the way I finally got to know when the fun turned on was: starting with a cold PB, begin to rip cds paying close attention to how the superdrive sounds. Then at some point, an additional whir kicks in (somewhere under the left palm rest) and figure that must be the internal fan! Of course it helped to not have any tunes playing that might drown out the generally quiet operation of the Powerbook ;) .

[syclone]

does anybody know anything more about optimizing the battery? i'd love to read up on it, but apple screwed up and sent me a spanish manual, so im kinda screwed right now.

p.s. My new baby gets warm on the bottom, sometimes hot when I'm playing games, but its not too bad. Maybe a little discomfort when I actually have it on my lap. The last portable I owned was a Duo 280c which got so hot after a while you couldn't use it even on a desk because the palm rests got so hot. Never did any damage to it tho. Plus this thing cools down super quick - its like cold to the touch when I open it in the mornings. Must be the aluminum.

[Powerbook G5]

Open your HD and go to Documents, just about everything in the manuals is on the PDFs in that folder if you need to learn about using your new PowerBook, OS X, etc.

[KBFinFan]

Here's my little quip about battery life as posted in a similar thread:

Ok guys, I have been totally unproductive this morning. I just sat around and waited for my battery to drain.

Screen brightness @ Half
Energy Saver @ Long Life
Using iTunes, Safari, iChat.. simple things in my opinion.
Airport Ex off
Bluetooth off

The tool bar said 2:15.. but what I actually got was 3:00 exactly.. and then plugged it in with 5% left.. so maybe could have squeezed 5-10 more minutes.

Overall, I am pretty happy with it

[Counterfit]

Then I must be working it too hard to get the full life. I usually let it run run down while watching a DVD with iTunes paused in the background. It almost made it through Supertroopers, and it probably would have if I didn't check some of the extra's out at the beginning. Same goes for Young Frankenstein last night.

[brutus]

Just read a review in the most important and serious german computer magazin. They tested a old and a new 17 pb and and an old 1000 ti book and a new 1000 alloy pb.

results are really disappointing. Batteries in the 15 alloy only last 2:15!!! due to smaller battery and 2:30 in the 17". This is really a bad joke. My old one lasts 4 hours.

benchmarks are bad as well. The only real advantage the new ones show in cinebench2003. all other benchmarks are close or equal especially for the 15 alloy!!! Game performance in quake was even better for the 1000 ti than for the alloy.

the lack of level 3 cache was somehave equaled by a bigger level2 cache so that didn't seam to be the problem.

I own a 15" 667 ti and ordered a 12" pb today. Hope I won't regret that decision.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by brutus
Just read a review in the most important and serious german computer magazin. They tested a old and a new 17 pb and and an old 1000 ti book and a new 1000 alloy pb.

results are really disappointing. Batteries in the 15 alloy only last 2:15!!! due to smaller battery and 2:30 in the 17". This is really a bad joke. My old one lasts 4 hours.

benchmarks are bad as well. The only real advantage the new ones show in cinebench2003. all other benchmarks are close or equal especially for the 15 alloy!!! Game performance in quake was even better for the 1000 ti than for the alloy.

the lack of level 3 cache was somehave equaled by a bigger level2 cache so that didn't seam to be the problem.

I own a 15" 667 ti and ordered a 12" pb today. Hope I won't regret that decision.

That's way off...I get a consistent 3 1/2-4 hours of battery and the performance is vastly better compared to the Ti models from looking at benchmarks. My CPU always cranks out at least 150 for CPU and in the 140-170s in graphics, which is a lot more than the xbench scores I've searched on the older Ti models. I dunno, it just seems a little odd that they found the new aluminum PowerBooks *that* slow...especially with an updated processor and a vastly faster graphics chip. As far a battery life, it is always dependent on what you do so that is up in the air.

[chancellor]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
That's way off...I get a consistent 3 1/2-4 hours of battery and the performance is vastly better compared to the Ti models from looking at benchmarks. My CPU always cranks out at least 150 for CPU and in the 140-170s in graphics, which is a lot more than the xbench scores I've searched on the older Ti models.

Could you post your settings for brightness, processor (reduced/automatic/highest), sound, airport (on/off), bluetooth (on/off), and optimization for battery life/performance?

I've been planning to switch for about 8 months and will be buying a 15" PB soon. I'm debating whether the 1 GHz or the 1.25 GHz is better suited for me. Battery life is, in general, more important that performance for me.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by chancellor
Could you post your settings for brightness, processor (reduced/automatic/highest), sound, airport (on/off), bluetooth (on/off), and optimization for battery life/performance?

I've been planning to switch for about 8 months and will be buying a 15" PB soon. I'm debating whether the 1 GHz or the 1.25 GHz is better suited for me. Battery life is, in general, more important that performance for me.

1.25 GHz and 5400 RPM HD config

Settings: Reduced Power, HD set to sleep whenever possible, BT and APE off, screen about 50%, sound off, and battery optimized. I get between 3 1/2-4 hours doing Safari, Mail, iChat, and Word tasks.

[Grokgod]

Heat is bugging,, is it possible that each Powerbook has different heat properties?
Of course would be rather strange.

A my Ti was sometimes loud with fans but the palm rest was always cold to the touch.

I had a new Alu and it was cold to the touch and ran great but the plastic ring had some issues so I exchanged it for another one.

Now i find that I have heat issues under the palm rest. it gets rather toasty and I dont like that at all!!

Any one else have this situation?

TIA

EDIt: I was only writing this tidbit on macrumors not running anything else..
I still havent heard a fan other than the usual circuit board running, the first ALU had the fan come on earlier. I find all this strange... any ideas?