So, I bought a 15.2"...if anyone cares...

[Fall]

Apparently 41% of machines being sold in Australia are 15.2" PB's...good figure that. So with that in mind, I doubt anyone cares that I bought one too.

I'm just damn excited - my first mac.

He upgraded the hard drive for $15? I don't know why. He says "I can take 125 off the 132 if you want..."

Yes, yes I do.

So anyway. It's the 1Ghz Combo with the uber-hip backlit keyboard.

*excited*

[dswoodley]

Would you mind posting how hot it runs? Most posts say its ok, but a few have said it is not too far off from the heat generated by the 12" pb.

Congrats!!! I think any Mac with OS X is a good purchase..

[dabirdwell]

Battery life stats too, please! Buying tomorrow!

[Fall]

Don't get it for another 3 weeks :(

[Counterfit]

I got one last Thursday. I got the 1.25GHz with SuperDrive. It gets very hot, but only on the back of the bottom. It oddly gets hottest while sitting on my desk. Battery life isn't much, I vary from 1:35 so about 2:10 depending on settings and use.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
I got one last Thursday. I got the 1.25GHz with SuperDrive. It gets very hot, but only on the back of the bottom. It oddly gets hottest while sitting on my desk. Battery life isn't much, I vary from 1:35 so about 2:10 depending on settings and use.

Did you calibrate the battery? Also, are you using full processor speed and all that or the reduced power settings to only get 1 1/2 hours?

[MacRumorSkeptic]

Congrats! I just bought a 17 inch yesterday. I'm really impressed with how quiet and cool they run.

[Counterfit]

The 1 1/2 hours is with AE going, and usually doing something like stuffing or unstuffing a DVD. And I have yet to get the hang of changing the energy saver settings quickly, as this is my first laptop.

[Counterfit]

And no I didn't calibrate the battery, like I said, I'm very new to laptops. Also, I'd like to know if you have any problems with the latch not catching right or a static-like sound coming from either internal or external speakers. I have a case number with Apple support about those two issues, but I still have to call back and find out whether they dtermined it to be a defect or a known problem.

[beefcake]

If you weren't aware of this, Counterfit, you can change power settings for Power Adapter and Battery separately. Although things like brightness are universal for both power sources, sleep time and processor speed will change automatically when you plug or unplug the laptop.

[Counterfit]

Yes, I know. But for various reasons I change them to suit what I'm doing at the moment.

[applemacdude]

Congrats on your new ,mac

[dswoodley]

Does anyone know if the AlBook will suffer from the same keyboard imprints left on the display as the TiBook did?

[Hugin777]

Originally posted by dswoodley
Does anyone know if the AlBook will suffer from the same keyboard imprints left on the display as the TiBook did?

As far as I know this is the reason Apple has put som air between the keyboard and the screen (http://www.toddbuchanan.com/albook/image/15albook71.jpg) (and thus added 0.1" to the new PowerBooks).

[nickfit]

The gap between the screen and keyboard is certainly welcome. I have a Pismo (soon to be replaced by a new 15incher) and the screen got marks before I got protection. I certainly don't want marks on my new machine. But, I would think that Apple would have put rubber pads on the top/front edge of the screen. I've heard that it latches fine, but that the lid wiggles from the remaining gap.

I recall somebody making pads for the tibooks, I suspect that these pads would work for the albook. But again, for the kind of money I am spending, you would think that Apple would throw those in. Nevertheless, can't wait for it to show up, gap or no gap.

[Grokgod]

Counterfi~

Thanks for the heat info.

Could you elaborate more on that please?

EG: is it hotter than the Ti's

Does the fan come on often?

More information, puhlease.

[Fall]

They guy at the apple store said, that if you ever used a pentium 4 laptop, then the 15.2" is not hot at all.

[Nik_Doof]

Originally posted by Fall
They guy at the apple store said, that if you ever used a pentium 4 laptop, then the 15.2" is not hot at all.

Or a P133 Thinkpad from years ago....damm me they got hot (yes i actually burned my legs once, fine only small blisters...but thats what i get for using the lappy with shorts :))

[Counterfit]

It is definitely not as hot as a Ti, and being aluminum, it cools off faster. If the fans (yes, there are two apparently, go see those disassembly pics), ever come one, I never notice them. they are silent. The loudest part of the PB is the speakers.

Also it will be the coolest PB in my dorm room, for two reasons: It's better than my roommates, and he just overclocked his from 400/100 to 533/133. And it ran hot before :eek:

that being said, it gets sent out on Saturday to get the latch fixed. :(

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
It is definitely not as hot as a Ti, and being aluminum, it cools off faster. If the fans (yes, there are two apparently, go see those disassembly pics), ever come one, I never notice them. they are silent. The loudest part of the PB is the speakers.

Also it will be the coolest PB in my dorm room, for two reasons: It's better than my roommates, and he just overclocked his from 400/100 to 533/133. And it ran hot before :eek:

that being said, it gets sent out on Saturday to get the latch fixed. :(

Fortunately I don't see any defects with mine (thank God) although I am having a tough time getting used to OS X after all my time with OS 9. Plus, when I installed Office, Microsoft ended up screwing up my preferences so my mail, .Mac, and Safari settings got lost and everything defaulted to IE and all. I think I got it fixed, but I am still trying to get used to switching between apps and using iChat and all. I hope yours gets fixed soon because this is seriously one awesome laptop.

[Counterfit]

The box was supposed to get to my parent's house today. I'm keeping it until saturday so I can install a 120GB drive in my beige (which I really wanna overclock) and make a super-backup of almost all of my HD.

[jamilecrire]

Originally posted by Counterfit
It is definitely not as hot as a Ti, and being aluminum, it cools off faster. If the fans (yes, there are two apparently, go see those disassembly pics), ever come one, I never notice them. they are silent. The loudest part of the PB is the speakers.

Also it will be the coolest PB in my dorm room, for two reasons: It's better than my roommates, and he just overclocked his from 400/100 to 533/133. And it ran hot before :eek:

that being said, it gets sent out on Saturday to get the latch fixed. :(

I call BS. The Titanium books are cold compared to the Aluminum. The Ti DOESN'T transfer heat as well through the metal so it stayed hotter inside the computer but cooler to the touch on the outside. The 12" Powerbook is about twice as hot as the 12" iBook (I bought the iBook 900MHz for my wife and I'm using it now and have been for the last 2 hours on my lap with no heat issue at all), and the 17" was relatively cool, the Ti is cool to the touch (more so than the iBook). Heat is my ONLY issue with laptops today. In fact I'm looking for a Ti867 (my only irritation is the chipping paint) because speed means next to nothing. 99% of my work is typing (software development) so if it takes an extra 5 minutes to compile, great. I can take a break.

The ONLY problem with the Ti is the paint.

[panphage]

Originally posted by jamilecrire
I call BS. The Titanium books are cold compared to the Aluminum. The Ti DOESN'T transfer heat as well through the metal so it stayed hotter inside the computer but cooler to the touch on the outside. The 12" Powerbook is about twice as hot as the 12" iBook (I bought the iBook 900MHz for my wife and I'm using it now and have been for the last 2 hours on my lap with no heat issue at all), and the 17" was relatively cool, the Ti is cool to the touch (more so than the iBook). Heat is my ONLY issue with laptops today. In fact I'm looking for a Ti867 (my only irritation is the chipping paint) because speed means next to nothing. 99% of my work is typing (software development) so if it takes an extra 5 minutes to compile, great. I can take a break.

The ONLY problem with the Ti is the paint.

Err...the 15" alubook w/1.0Ghz actually uses LESS power than the 867, at least the chip does. I don't notice a diff between a 12" pb 867 and the wife's 14"ibook 800. The HDDs just get hot, that's all there is to it. Sorry, I think you're crazy.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by jamilecrire
I call BS. The Titanium books are cold compared to the Aluminum. The Ti DOESN'T transfer heat as well through the metal so it stayed hotter inside the computer but cooler to the touch on the outside. The 12" Powerbook is about twice as hot as the 12" iBook (I bought the iBook 900MHz for my wife and I'm using it now and have been for the last 2 hours on my lap with no heat issue at all), and the 17" was relatively cool, the Ti is cool to the touch (more so than the iBook). Heat is my ONLY issue with laptops today. In fact I'm looking for a Ti867 (my only irritation is the chipping paint) because speed means next to nothing. 99% of my work is typing (software development) so if it takes an extra 5 minutes to compile, great. I can take a break.

The ONLY problem with the Ti is the paint.

Dude, seriously, my new 15" is not hot at all. The palm rests are even cool to the touch and the fans have not turned on once after using it since 5 this afternoon. You'd think after 5 hours if it'd get super hot it would, but so far, it's still cool. I am loving this thing, it really is a great machine and I am just wowed by how well it was built.

[tomgreever]

I got my 15" Aluminum PB today and it won't latch properly. Only latches for a second or two before it pops back open. I called Apple and they're arranging for me to take it in to a retail store and have it repaired.

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by jamilecrire
I call BS. The Titanium books are cold compared to the Aluminum. The Ti DOESN'T transfer heat as well through the metal so it stayed hotter inside the computer but cooler to the touch on the outside. The 12" Powerbook is about twice as hot as the 12" iBook (I bought the iBook 900MHz for my wife and I'm using it now and have been for the last 2 hours on my lap with no heat issue at all), and the 17" was relatively cool, the Ti is cool to the touch (more so than the iBook). Heat is my ONLY issue with laptops today. In fact I'm looking for a Ti867 (my only irritation is the chipping paint) because speed means next to nothing. 99% of my work is typing (software development) so if it takes an extra 5 minutes to compile, great. I can take a break.

The ONLY problem with the Ti is the paint.

Only problem my butt. Fine, go ahead, don't believe me, but you'll change your tune if you come over here and feel the difference in heat between my 1.25GHz Al and his (formerly 400MHz) 533MHz Ti.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
Only problem my butt. Fine, go ahead, don't believe me, but you'll change your tune if you come over here and feel the difference in heat between my 1.25GHz Al and his (formerly 400MHz) 533MHz Ti.

It's nice, isn't it. I was expecting it to be really hot from how people were complaining but it is either cool to the touch normally or slightly warm when the battery is charging. This is while it's sitting on my bed while I work on my homework, too. To think, I ran all over town looking for a laptop stand worried about overheating for nothing really. I might still look tomorrow while I am in Jax, but this thing really isn't hot by any means.

[Counterfit]

I think mine gets warmer when I use it for a while at my desk than when I'm lying in bed with it. That's probably because I prop my legs up and give convection a hand.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
I think mine gets warmer when I use it for a while at my desk than when I'm lying in bed with it. That's probably because I prop my legs up and give convection a hand.

When I have it on my bed I use either my Criminal Law book or my Synopsis of the Four Gospels book to keep it slightly elevated for cooling, but I did that with my other PowerBook, too. It's just good common sense to let it get some air, but if you do, it really keeps cool. I still need to get used to the feel of cold metal, though, since the plastic on my G3 usually stayed room temperature.

[m4rc]

I have just placed my order for a 1Ghz 15.2", added backlit keyboard (couldn't resist), upgraded HD to 80Gig, Ram up to 512Mb, airport extreme card and an airport base station.

Bad news is delivery is quoted as 10-15 days. Hopefully I can just forget about it and get on with work - yeah, thats gonna happen!

I have never owned an Apple laptop before. I am upgrading from a 450Mhz iMac which my (very excited) son is getting, and I plan to network them together wirelessly as my wife also works from the iMac for her bits and pieces.

Originally I was after an iBook, then thought I would go for the 12", but as I plan to be using it for presentations to clients, I thought I should go a bit bigger witht he screen. Just hope its everything I think it will be.

Counting down the days.

[Hugin777]

Originally posted by marccarter
I have just placed my order for a 1Ghz 15.2", added backlit keyboard (couldn't resist), upgraded HD to 80Gig, Ram up to 512Mb, airport extreme card and an airport base station.

Hmm. Did you compare the price to a 1.25 GHz without the Superdrive ? I think the 250 MHz extra is very cheap.

[tomgreever]

I've been working with Apple over the last several days to solve my latch issue. They also offered to replace the unit, or have me ship it to them for repair. However, because I'm leaving the country on Wednesday the time does not allow for either of these options... SO, my Apple rep. talked to engineering and they agreed to (for the sake of time) walk me through the process of repairing my PowerBook on the phone. Here's what they said:

With the PowerBook open, depress the latch button and notice how it move a small piece of metal inwards (toward the keyboard) to open the latch. When the latch is no longer secured by this piece of metal, it pops open. Obviously, if the latch itself was slightly bent towards the front of the PowerBook, it could easily pop open.

So, close the PowerBook to the point that the latch is drawn out and catch it with your finger. Hold onto the latch and raise the lid. Now, using gentle pressure, push downwards (toward the keyboard) on the latch. Only do it slightly. You are bending the latch downwards. Now close the PowerBook and see if it helps. If it is not quite where it needs to be, continue the process.

Be careful, because too much pressure could break the latch, or damage the unit. Do it in small increments until it works better.

I did this and my PowerBook works great now!

[agreenster]

Originally posted by Counterfit
Only problem my butt. Fine, go ahead, don't believe me, but you'll change your tune if you come over here and feel the difference in heat between my 1.25GHz Al and his (formerly 400MHz) 533MHz Ti.

I dont want to argue really, but I have owned 2 Titanium Powerbooks so far (550 and 1gHz) and neither one EVER chipped any paint. In fact, every time I hear that, I always wonder what everyone is talking about.

As far as heat goes, the 550 was brutally hot, but the 1gHz model is very cool. Unless I play WarCraftIII for 2 hours straight, it stays in the warm-to-pretty warm range. I do a lot of 3D work, and that can make it heat up too. But it never gets as hot as that damned 550 did. Yeah, I upgraded without thinking twice.

I think Im done with laptops for now. The new 15 inchers look pretty sweet, but not enough for me to really want one. Now I just want POWER (for all my Maya work) and that dual G5 is calling my name....

I certainly dont think that anyone should expect their laptop to perform like a desktop. I simply use mine for when Im not at work, I can still animate at home. (or do web design or whatever) Its kind of a crutch because it doesnt perfrom like the dual Xeon at work, but its better than nothing.

[cru]

...

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by agreenster
I dont want to argue really, but I have owned 2 Titanium Powerbooks so far (550 and 1gHz) and neither one EVER chipped any paint. In fact, every time I hear that, I always wonder what everyone is talking about. Well, I don't see it much either. My friend's DVI/667MHz is starting to show its one year of age. My roommate's PB, however, is spotless. I suppose that's what happens when you buy it of of your brother who never used it...

[Counterfit]

Oh, forgot to mention, my latch problem seems to have disappeared today. I don't know why or how, it's just gone. Now if I could just figure out what's wrong with these dang speakers...

[Hugin777]

Originally posted by Counterfit
Now if I could just figure out what's wrong with these dang speakers...

The third speaker seems to confuse a lot of people over at Apple Discussions (http://discussions.info.apple.com/WebX?14@162.CpPta3Llfag.1499556@.5999f43d). Could this be the problem you're talking about ?

[Counterfit]

erm, no. My problem is a random static coming from the speakers. It also affects my external Logitech speakers. However, it does not happen when I have my PB plugged into my home stereo via a 1/8" stereo to stereo RCA cable. I think Apple support is stumped too. I'm just going to wait one more week to see if anything changes.

[Hugin777]

Originally posted by Counterfit
erm, no. My problem is a random static coming from the speakers. It also affects my external Logitech speakers. However, it does not happen when I have my PB plugged into my home stereo via a 1/8" stereo to stereo RCA cable. I think Apple support is stumped too. I'm just going to wait one more week to see if anything changes.

Ok :) Have you tried grounding the PowerBook ?

[Fall]

I wanna check the status of my incoming 'book right, so I go to apple.com/australianorderstatus...and I get a 404 every time!

eeech!! If I'm holding it up because I don't know I should ring them to clear up payment or something I'll freak! I'm already waiting too long for it toocome in!

[m4rc]

Originally posted by Hugin777
Hmm. Did you compare the price to a 1.25 GHz without the Superdrive ? I think the 250 MHz extra is very cheap.

Yeah, I did have a look. As I said, originally I was going to go for an iBook, then the 12" (before it was upgraded) and then I settled for the 15.2". My spend has already leapt, and I didnt really want to spend any more. To be honest I have no need at all for a DVD-R and am more than happy with a combo. The extra 250Mhz equated to about £250 for me, and I couldnt really justify. Someone correct me if I am wrong but the 1Ghz should go like a train compared to my little 450Mhz G3 iMac!

[PaisanoMan]

Originally posted by nickfit
I would think that Apple would have put rubber pads on the top/front edge of the screen. I've heard that it latches fine, but that the lid wiggles from the remaining gap.

They did. My rev. A 12" PB has rubber feet on the front of the display to keep it nicely seated while closed, and so do the other PowerBooks.

The wiggles and wobbles seem to come from warped case parts.

[Powerbook G5]

Originally posted by Counterfit
erm, no. My problem is a random static coming from the speakers. It also affects my external Logitech speakers. However, it does not happen when I have my PB plugged into my home stereo via a 1/8" stereo to stereo RCA cable. I think Apple support is stumped too. I'm just going to wait one more week to see if anything changes.

Is it like a faint "zzt" sound every once it a while at random times? I've heard something like that from time to time but you can bearly tell unless you put your ear to the speakers. Not sure what is causing it, but I heard from another forum it has something to do with 10.2 ever since the 10.2.6 update.