I have used Maschine extensively. What are the specs of your Powerbook? If you upgrade to a Mac Pro, you will absolutely have no issues with it running smoothly. It is pretty processor hungry, but not any more than other plugins out there. The reason being, you are basically using the "physical" maschine as nothing more than a MIDI controller and control surface while using the software as a plugin or running it stand alone. So it is not any more intensive than opening any of their other plugs.
The libraries are based on NI's existing software titles(battery, kontakt, absynth etc.)
It is truly an amazing piece and as long as your computer can handle it. Between the hardware and software, you can do so so much. It is definitely the nail in the coffin of the MPC also.
I have run it on My 2010 I7 MBP with Logic 9 with absolutely no issues with latency, compatibility or any other problems. Also run it on a 2009 Mac Pro with Logic 9, Cubase 5, and Pro Tools 8(running AU,VST, and RTAS obviously) with no issues whatsoever.
Hope that sheds some light for you. Good luck!
