MacBook Air vs. PowerBook 12" - not replacement?

If I had a 12" PB, I wouldn't think of replacing it with an MBA. I'd go with a Macbook instead, easily.

The screen takes more space than a PB screen. I'd go MBA or MBP if I had a PowerBook 12 to replace.
Though since it seems like portability is something important for you, I'd go MBA, sleek and ultraportable.

The MBA will not fit EVERYWHERE the PB did because it is a bit wider, but of course it will fit everywhere height wise.

heatmiser said:

If I had a 12" PB, I wouldn't think of replacing it with an MBA. I'd go with a Macbook instead, easily.

Click to expand...

I disagree.

I've had:

• 12" 1.33GHz PB
• 12" 1.33GHz iBook
• 13" 2.0GHz C2D MB

And having owned all of those for at least a year each? If I had a 12" PB right now and was thinking to get a new portable? I'd get the Air. (Er, assuming I had another Mac-- I've almost always had an iMac to "lean on.")

Why?

In some ways I felt the iBook blew the PB out of the water in terms of the "performance" specs that I care most about-- incredible wifi reception, better battery life, ran cooler to the touch than the PB.

The MB beat the iBook in those regards (wifi, battery) and is more powerful.

But the Air? It's processor is just a touch slower than my MB. So what? For my simple computing needs? It'd still be great. And it'd be more portable than the MB.

That's why if I had a 12" PB right now that I was going to replace with a new Apple portable? I'd go for an Air.



... So long as I had another Mac and the premium for portability wasn't a huge issue.

For all practical purposes, the MBA has essentially same footprint as the MB. The major difference is thickness.

devilot said:

If I had a 12" PB right now and was thinking to get a new portable? I'd get the Air. (Er, assuming I had another Mac-- I've almost always had an iMac to "lean on.")

Click to expand...

This is exactly why most people with 12" Powerbooks won't go for the MBA--they were able to use the 12" as their primary machines. A 12" Powerbook can stand as a single, all-in-one computer; a Macbook Air cannot. Small as it was, the 12" didn't sacrifice ports and drives and user-replaceable parts for portability; until Apple makes a similar laptop, most folks looking for 12" all-in-one replacements will either buy Macbooks, Macbook Pros, or keep waiting.

mrJnC said:

For all practical purposes, the MBA has essentially same footprint as the MB. The major difference is thickness.

Click to expand...

Yo thickness ain't crap.. They need to make the footprint smaller not make the thing thinner.

My thin Ipod Touch is much more difficult to hold than a thicker Ipod classic or my Dell DJ. This thin MBA will be more difficult to hold than a thicker VAIO ultra compact - Your palm has to squeeze in closer/tighter to grasp onto the MBA.

Do this experiment.. Hold a book in your hand as you would a laptop, ok and then hold 2 pieces of normal paper in your hand the same way, see how much more effort you have to apply in your palm to grasp the papers? Your fingers have to curl around the paper to hold it against your palm. The MBA is the same problem.


thin is useless if you can't put the device into your pants pocket.

already have a mbp, and just got a used 12" powerbook (leaving the mbp as a desktop). i was seriously thinking of getting a mba because of it's portability, but the price didn't seem to justify what you're getting. i love my "new" used powerbook. i'm surprised how snappy it is for a 2.5 year old computer.

A friend of mine has been wanting to replace his PowerBook. He thinks the MBA is a great choice, he's ordered now. His view was the MBA seems to be the closest he can get to his PowerBook, but next gen. Makes sense to me.

MBA is my 12"PB replacement

Years ago I purchased my 1ghz G4 PB. It was my first Mac and I spent over 2K on it. I was smitten, I had a real connection with this machine. I admired its design and feature set, and it served me well. I adored the sturdy look and feel of the aluminum enclosure, the lovely keyboard, and the performance. It was not the speediest notebook for the price, but it payed for itself in smiles (from myself and others), and miles travelled. This year I gave my little road warrior to my younger sister for college. Since then I have been using my wife's aged ibook, lurking the forums, waiting for my next aluminum encased beauty. The moment I saw the MB Air, I knew I had found my next machine.

philips said:

Does anybody sized up MBA versus PowerBook G4 12"?

I was waiting for my aging PowerBook replacement, and it seems that though MBA is thinner and lighter, its width/depth are bigger than those of PB12.

Did anybody sized up the MBA vs. PB12? How they stack up? Will the MBA fit everywhere PB12 did?

Click to expand...

These questions are so subjective and relative to what someone actually uses a computer for, that they are not even worth answering. The only person that can answer this question is you, unless you give us more specifics on what you use the computer for.

Will it fit everywhere your 12" powerbook did? Are you seriously asking us that? What do you think? It's a different size, so obviously it's gonna fit differently into different places right?

philips said:

I wanted to hear opinion of people who have similar sentiment as I do.

And I got many comments on point: PB12 was powerful enough to serve as sole system one can use for literally everything while MBA hardly stands on its own.

PB12 had a "power" in its name. MBA has an "air". One just need to read names carefully

Click to expand...

I find this kind of argument to be incredibly stupid, and generally comes from people that want to hate the MBA.

While I think that a LOT of users will NOT be be able to use an MBA as a primary computer... odds are if you are currently using a PB12 as your primary computer, the MBA would be fine. The only exceptions (and they are fairly large exceptions) are if you NEED to have an optical drive with you at all times, or if you NEED a lot of ports at all times. If you only need those things when you are at your desk, you'll be fine, you can get docks and things to replicate that functionality. The MBA is still drastically more powerful than the PB12... regardless of if power is in the name.

If I was currently using the PB as my main machine, could afford the MBA, cared about portability, and wanted to upgrade it's the MBA no question about it.

If you don't care about portability, or still burn cds on the go or something, than the MBA is not your machine.

Yes you are right thank you for the help I have a 1.5ghz 12" powerbook g4 and wondered if I could use the MBA as my main computer because I have a powerbook g4 and I won't use it for anything heavy just typing papers light browsing and music thats all but since i travel alot I thought that I should get the air but one question how thick is the 2008 aluminum macbook compared to the powerbook g4

thei0009 said:

Yes you are right thank you for the help I have a 1.5ghz 12" powerbook g4 and wondered if I could use the MBA as my main computer because I have a powerbook g4 and I won't use it for anything heavy just typing papers light browsing and music thats all but since i travel alot I thought that I should get the air but one question how thick is the 2008 aluminum macbook compared to the powerbook g4

Click to expand...

1) This thread is from 2008, nobody is going to respond from the original posts.

2) Use punctuation, paragraphs, and proper english. Your "blob" of text is horrid to read.

You could probably sit two MBAs on top of each other and they wouldn't be as thick as the PowerBook. Weight is going to be the real shocker for you though.