people have the 15" PB

[El Duderino]

i just want to get a final opinion from people with new new 1.5ghz PB. is there anything your regretting or have a reason to complain about? thanks

[Mr. G4]

i just want to get a final opinion from people with new new 1.5ghz PB. is there anything your regretting or have a reason to complain about? thanks

I am very happy with my PB 1.5 GHz.
The only regret that I would have would be the HD option for a faster one, but it was a deal that they had at my University so I had the get the base model, but like I said I am very happy with it. :)

[crowdaddy]

Did you try the 17" before you picked up your 15"? Is the only difference between the two the bigger screen? A 17" screen would be AWESOME for watching dvds and playing games...

[citizenchunk]

no regrets about buying it. i'm glad i'm not still waiting for the "all-mighty G5 powerbook," like some lunatics. those people will be waiting for a while, methinks.

my one regret--and heed my advice--is not opting for the 128MB VRAM upgrade. i doubt i'll ever really need it, as i don't do any 3d stuff. but had i known that it is only $50, i would have done it just to increase resale value. just get it. you're already dropping over 2K on this thing.

[aricher]

I have the 17" PB 1.33 - I have used my biz. partner's 15" from time to time and find it to be just too small. The 17" is totally portable, easy to balance on the legs - easier than the 15 IMHO. If it were up to me I'd go for the 17 over the 15 any day.

[Mr. G4]

Did you try the 17" before you picked up your 15"? Is the only difference between the two the bigger screen? A 17" screen would be AWESOME for watching dvds and playing games...

I had the 17" 1.33GHz for about 3 weeks, I bought it to bring to Europe for my brother, I saved him about $1000.
I loved it but think it's quite big to bring around with my bag pack.
For sure it's nice to watch DvD on it, the screen quality is amazing.

[solaris]

I bought the Rev. B 15" PB the day it was released.
No regrets, its a wonderfull computer.

That said, I have a lot of "sticky" keys on my keyboard. Its already been one trip to The Netherlands, but not fixed because they was unable to reproduce.
Go figure! :eek:

[spasticmutant]

i just want to get a final opinion from people with new new 1.5ghz PB. is there anything your regretting or have a reason to complain about? thanks

It's Glorious. Totally, unequivocally Glorious. I've named mine Bender, after the robot on Futurama. The screen is perfect, no broken pixels, I upgraded everything but the hard drive and it's just fine, thank you. I have a bunch of accessories and they all just...worked!

Yesterday I accidently left unplugged my Airport Extreme Wireless router during some reconfiguration, and Bender silently joined my anonymous neighbor's open, free, unconfigured wireless network. I had an iChat phone call, web surfing, email, a few downloads, installed the latest Security Update, and never noticed anything was "wrong". It was so easy I never realized my own wireless service was down!

I love my Bender. He's been nothing but a joy since he arrived. :) And yes, if he were human, I'd marry him - though I do hate cigar smoke. :o


Anne Marie :o

[OziMac]

Anne Marie,

Great to hear someone so gushing about the new 15" - so many others have been griping about size (viz 17"), battery life, performance and portability (viz 12") - but I think that signs point to it being a truly awesome Powerbook that combines the better traits of both the 12" and 17" - and I can't wait until mine arrives :)

So thanks for your welcome words of admiration - but I don't think I'll be calling this one "Fry" after my old Rev A 12" ;)

[Steven1621]

my PB is top of the line, but i would up the ram to as much as you can afford. it makes a big difference for more powerful apps.

[Godfather]

Although I generally complain alot, I have the PB 15" and I love it. It has 1 gig of ram, 128 mb vram, 5400 rpm HD and it's all wireless. I love it. The only problem which I am getting is when I am typing sentences, like in a chat app, sometimes it erases the whole sentence by itsself, and no... I am not pushing any buttons 'accidentally'. I don't know what it is... Also, if you are a sweaty person like me, you will find it difficult operating the trackpad. It goes good 9 out of 10 times, but when it's hot, then you're screwed. My opinion is to get an external mouse, or rip it off your desktop :]

edit:
Sure there are downsides like battery and heat, but every PB has that...

[Counterfit]

Well, I have the 1.25GHz 15", and my brother has the 1.5GHz 17", can we combine our thoughts into one reply? :D

[netytan]

no regrets about buying it. i'm glad i'm not still waiting for the "all-mighty G5 powerbook," like some lunatics. those people will be waiting for a while, methinks.

A little off topic but thats why i ended up ordering the 12" iBook a few days ago. Though if i had the money right now i'd have to get the 15" PowerBook. It really is a great machine and as somone else mentioned "it combines the best features of the 12" and 17" models". If you have the money, get it, i'm sure you'll be very happy with it :D.

Combine away counterfit ;)

Mark.

[Naimfan]

I've got a 15" 1.5 G PB and I think it is perfect. The 17 is too big, and the 12 is TINY (IMO). I've got 1 Gb of ram, the faster HD, and 128 mb of vram.

I've done some stuff with both Garageband and with iMovie/iDVD and it works brilliantly. With professional video editing etc. I'm sure it would be WAY behind a PM, but that's not the point.

Best,

Bob

[El Duderino]

Well, I have the 1.25GHz 15", and my brother has the 1.5GHz 17", can we combine our thoughts into one reply? :Dsure, go for it

and thank you all for your insights. now that they actaully said that g5 powerbooks wont come this year im going to wait till the end of the month to get one, for 2 reasons.

1)a cool new portable might be released...tablet (although it is doubtful)

2)my dad just dropped 1k on a cheap PC for my mom to do e-mails (go e-machines! :rolleyes: )

[atari1356]

I have the 1.5Ghz 15" with 128meg vram and 5400rpm hard drive... I love it. I tried the 12" and 17", and both of those are nice too, but I felt that the 15" was the best compromise between portability and screen size/features.

My one complaint is that I have a single pixel that's stuck on blue, but I don't notice it that often so it doesn't bother me much. Still, it would be nice if the screen were perfect.

So far, with this computer I've: designed and built a web site, published a few hundred articles and photos on another web site, used GarageBand to record a guitar song I wrote years ago (my wife is pregnant and the baby seems to like it because she moves around a lot when we play it for her), made signs for my wifes birthday, organized my entire CD collection with iTunes (used a desktop PC to do the importing before I got the PowerBook - then copied it all over), gotten myself more organized with iCal, and used HandBrake to rip a few of my DVD's (Tron, Time Bandits, Futurama Season 1) so that I can watch them on my computer when traveling without having to bring the DVDs.

Also, I'm a big fan of Futurama, and Anne Marie's post has inspired me to name my PowerBook "Calculon". :D

[wide]

atari1356, you will probably be able to fix that stuck pixel of yours! take a palm pilot stylus, and gently massage that pixel for a couple of seconds. hopefully it will pop back into place and work properly during that time. i have fixed several of stuck pixels on my pismo through that method. good luck!

you can also use your hand if you do not have a palm pilot stylus, just be careful about not damaging your screen

[VooDooPope]

Due to my soaked G3 Pismo PB (see http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=74859 ) I'm in the market for a new lap top. My supplier has a new in box 15" G4 1.25 ghz superdrive and 512 ram for $2000. Considering I paid $3499 for my old laptop in June 2000 and it never gave me a moments trouble. I'm hoping to get the same life out of my new 15" G4 for a fraction of the cost.

[atari1356]

atari1356, you will probably be able to fix that stuck pixel of yours! take a palm pilot stylus, and gently massage that pixel for a couple of seconds. hopefully it will pop back into place and work properly during that time. i have fixed several of stuck pixels on my pismo through that method. good luck!

you can also use your hand if you do not have a palm pilot stylus, just be careful about not damaging your screen

THANK YOU!

I previously tried using my finger to get the stuck pixel to go away, but nothing happened. I don't have a palm pilot stylus, but my Wacom tablet pen seemed just as good so I tried that and after probably 30 seconds of gently massaging the pixel off and on, it seems to be going away. Right now it's much dimmer and kind of flickering, maybe with some more massaging it will disappear for good. :)

EDIT: the bad pixel is gone completely now, hopefully it doesn't come back... thanks again

[djkny]

Is it worth the extra $200 for one 512 RAM SO-DIMM, the 5400 rpm HD and the 128MB Vram?

I bought a 15" 1.5 a week ago and had to exchange for another -- it had a seriously defective aluminum case (warped and all). The powers that be are granting me the option of paying extra $$ to get a BTO (which I didn't do the first time).

I'm only afraid that I'll get this BTO and it'll have a dead pixel, warped trackpad or any number of quirks that I can't exchange/return anymore precisely because it's BTO.

What do you all think?

[Naimfan]

Go for it!

Even if a BTO is defective Apple will swap it back. (I'll spare you the diatribe on contract law!) You'd probably have to take exactly the same config as the BTO you got originally, but so what?

Best,

Bob

[El Duderino]

since im buying this computer from bestbuy (to get my discount which is just a little bit more than the edu. discount and to get the BestBuy service plan) i cant get BTO options...is it possible to upgrade the HD afterwards? becuase that 4200 just wont cut it. and im pretty sure i can make the assumption that i cant upgrade the video card but ill ask anyway

[OziMac]

since im buying this computer from bestbuy (to get my discount which is just a little bit more than the edu. discount and to get the BestBuy service plan) i cant get BTO options...is it possible to upgrade the HD afterwards? becuase that 4200 just wont cut it. and im pretty sure i can make the assumption that i cant upgrade the video card but ill ask anyway

Does Best Buy not allow you to do BTO through them? I thought they'd still take the order but process it themselves through Apple? Anyway, if you are resigned to off the shelf models, then you're a little bit stuck. Given the reason you're taking Best Buy is because of the service plan, I suspect if you were able to pop open the PB and replace the hard drive with a faster one, you would have also voided your Apple warranty, and most probably your Best Buy one too.

If you don't necessarily need speed on the run, then an external Firewire drive is probably the best way to go. I can't see you getting much video joy, but apparently for most applications at this stage the performance difference is much of a muchness.

Anyway - let us know what you decide and how you go about it - very interested!

[KingSleaze]

I did a BTO 15" last November (1.25 GHz), to get the faster HD. I can up the RAM myself.

I love it, haven't had any problems with it. Got the Brenthaven case for it. And have a screen overlay to prevent the common complaint of keyboard imprint on LCD.

Get the best you can afford, upgrade what YOU can later.

[El Duderino]

the reason im getting it from bestbuy is becuase i work there, my discount takes it down to 2360, and getting the bestbuy service plan (also highly discounted, cheaper than apple care and it covers the battery) helps as well...also my dad has a special deal with corporate BB through his job and he currently has about 1000$ in gift cards. so that pretty much speaks for itself. :D

[Ozi]

yeah they are great. I love my new 15". It is still portable, but the screen does DVDs awesomly. Great fun! I love you, powerbook!

~ozi

[OziMac]

Well, I finally received it...

It's beautiful, but not without some expected minor issues.

First, the L K and , keys seems to have some problem - they make a noise and feel like they're sticking when they're hit. I can make it go away temporarily by pressing down hard on the key, but it returns soon enough.

Secondly, and similarly, the mouse button has a bit of give - you can press it gently and release it without it being clicked, but it still makes a weird noise.

Small issues. But annoying.

What's not annoying is the machine - I benched it straight out of the box and got 135. The keyboard not going to the edges of the machine will take some getting used to (I used to aim for the edges with the delete and tab keys on my old 12") but the backlighting is pretty cool.

So big it up to all you specced 15" owners out there. Keep it real ;)

[Ozi]

nice mate! mine had some mior issues too, but nothing too bad. It has a "wobble" but otherwise is fine.

And yeah I like the backlit ketboard too. :) its heaps of fun going into a dark room, and when u turn the light on the keyboard goes dark and the screen comes alight because of the ambient light sensors... its pretty cool!

they are good laptops! :D everyone should buy one. :)

[Elmy]

To the people considering the 5400rpm drive option where money is already quite tight, its worth considering an external firewire drive (400 or 800) for real speed if you want to do video/audio work. Get one fitted with a 7200rpm desktop drive and 8mb of cache through firewire 800 and it will have way more space (Up to 250GB) and be a good bit faster than the 5400rpm upgrade.

Obviously if you have loads of cash you'll be going for both :D But its worth considering this alternative option anyway. The only disadvantage is portability.

I'll be going for the 4200rpm internal + 7200rpm 160GB maxtor firewire drive with my powerbook at the end of the month. Its only costing me about £40 more than the 5400rpm drive upgrade for 140GB more disk space.

[hciudad]

I got the 15" PB / 1.5 Ghz G4 / 512MB RAM on one SODIMM / 128 MB VRAM / 80 GB 5400 RPM HD / SuperDrive / wireless mouse and I couldn't be happier. No problems at all. Just turned it on, hooked up to my wireless network and started moving all my data over from my old desktop. Screen is beautiful for DVDs and games, although I've only played a SW Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy demo and America's Army: Special Forces so far. I wish they would make a Mac version of SW: Knights of the Old Republic.

And just to take quick second to gush about the speed with which I received my order:

I placed the order for the PB and peripherals on a Wednesday morning. The next day I received the printer, wireless mouse, etc. The day after that, I received the PB itself. In the course of 48 hours, the order was received, the system was customized (although I noticed that I have a pretty common customization, so they probably had some ready to go), and was shipped from Shanghai, China to Washington, D.C. The only holdout is my copy of Tron 2.0 which is still pending from MacPlay, but I'm not sweating it. All I can say is the Apple Online Store and FedEx have really earned repeat business from me in the future.

--hciudad

[OziMac]

I know there's probably a dozen battery life threads, but I this one seems to be the '15" gush thread', so indulge me...

I have been running XCharge to monitor battery life on my Powerbook since I received it several days ago... I have run it on the following settings:

Screen brightness: 3-5 increments
Display sleep: 3 minutes
Hard drive sleep: 5 minutes
Bluetooth off
Airport Extreme on
Backlit keyboard on half strength

With these settings, I have regularly been achieving battery discharges over 3.5 hours, surfing the web over Airport, using Word and a small amount of Photoshop.

I'd have to say that the screen brightness is the biggie, it is not dull by any means and going to full strength from where I've set it has minimal usefulness in well lit areas, and is only incrementally better in a dark setting.

I have also watched about an hour and a half of a DVD (with Airport turned off at the time) during one discharge and got the same run time.

Given all the horror stories I'd been reading about the battery life of the 15" (and the fact that it's battery is the same as the 12"), I wasn't too optimistic. Just know that used wisely and within means, it can do extremely well on the road. And for power use, you can always hook up the power adapter when necessary.



On another note, will report back soon when my keyboard issue is being looked at... rock on the 15"... ;)

[OziMac]

Well, I took the Powerbook in to an Apple reseller and they're replacing the keyboard which is awesome - great to see them do this for even such a minor issue.

Would be great to hear from anyone else that has recently purchased a Rev B 15" Powerbook to let us know what they think of it.

[Bruce Lee, PhD]

Although I generally complain alot, I have the PB 15" and I love it. It has 1 gig of ram, 128 mb vram, 5400 rpm HD and it's all wireless. I love it. The only problem which I am getting is when I am typing sentences, like in a chat app, sometimes it erases the whole sentence by itsself, and no... I am not pushing any buttons 'accidentally'. I don't know what it is...

I have this exact configuration and what sounds like the same problem as you do. I'll be typing an email and I'll suddenly erase an entire paragraph or the entire email. My best guess is that I'm somehow brushing the trackpad, but if so, it must be really, really lightly. If anyone knows what's up with this, I'd be very glad to hear. I have selected the "ignore accidental trackpad input" option in system preferences, but it did nothing to address this problem.

[otoloui]

I just got my 15" yesterday, and it had a very slight wobble. I showed it to my father and he took a look at it, raised one of the wobbly corners put something under it (my wallet) and gently pressed down on the opposite corner to slightly bend the casing and eliminate the wobble. I must stress it was very gentle.

Hope that helps.

nice mate! mine had some mior issues too, but nothing too bad. It has a "wobble" but otherwise is fine.

And yeah I like the backlit ketboard too. :) its heaps of fun going into a dark room, and when u turn the light on the keyboard goes dark and the screen comes alight because of the ambient light sensors... its pretty cool!

they are good laptops! :D everyone should buy one. :)