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California

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
How much ram does the last 1.5ghz pb 12" have on board and what is the max? Is it 256 on board with max only 1.25gbs?

That's strange to me. And am I correct that there is only one memory slot open or are there two slots open?

And, does anyone know, is the screen the EXACT same size as the ibook 12" because side by side, the ibook looks bigger because the screen sits higher in the air because of the hinge.

I'm just worried that I'll be squinting at the small type.

Any other thoughts? It seems odd to me that there is so little ram available, when with a new iBook, you can bump it up to 1.5gbs.
 

JessFactor

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2005
13
0
ibook and powerbook have the same screens. ibook max ram: 1.5 gigs....powerbook max ram: 1.25 gigs.
 

caveman_uk

Guest
Feb 17, 2003
2,390
1
Hitchin, Herts, UK
California said:
That's strange to me. And am I correct that there is only one memory slot open or are there two slots open?
It only has only one slot but also has some memory (256MB) soldered directly on the logic board. The current powerbooks have an additional 256MB SODIMM in ths single slot so if you want more memory than that you need to remove the installed 256MB first. If you replace the SODIMM with a 1GB SODIMM you get a total of 1.25GB.
 

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Dec 27, 2002
24,835
847
Location Location Location
^^Yeppers, caveman is right. The 12" Powerbook comes with 512MB of RAM, but not a single 512MB stick of RAM. It comes with one 256MB stick of RAM that's soldered on, and a 256MB stick of RAM that you can take out and replace with a bigger stick.

The minimum amount of RAM a 12" PB can have now is 256MB of RAM, but it comes with 512MB. The max amount of RAM you can have in it is 256MB, although if a 2GB, 200-pin SODIMM stick of RAM came out, it might be able to work on a 12" PB.
 

liketom

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,190
66
Lincoln,UK
JessFactor said:
ibook and powerbook have the same screens. ibook max ram: 1.5 gigs....powerbook max ram: 1.25 gigs.
screens maybe the same size but are two very different panels
 

themacmaestro

macrumors member
Dec 8, 2005
85
0
liketom said:
screens maybe the same size but are two very different panels


I have always thought that the powrbook panel was slightly brighter. is this not the case? They are manufactured in two different plans.
 

yoda13

macrumors 65816
Sep 26, 2003
1,468
2
Texas
Well, I use to have the 12" powerbook, and had to get rid of it for a fifteen because I got super tired of squinting at the type when it was late and my eyes were tired. Was a grad student at the time....common problem:D
 

tjwett

macrumors 68000
May 6, 2002
1,880
0
Brooklyn, NYC
yes, the 12" iBook and 12" PowerBook have the exact same size screens. they may appear to be slightly different sizes because of the smaller bezel around the powerbook screen. the iBook screen is surrounded by about an inch of plastic. whether or not they are the same make i do not know. i can say that my 12" PowerBook looks quite nicer than the 12" iBooks i see on a daily basis at client offices. but who knows really, maybe Apple actually calibrates the PowerBook display settings by default so they look nicer out of the box. i know a factory default screen setup on an iBook is just awful. all washed out and barely visible. i love the 12" PB and would never want anything larger in a portable. i do wish Apple didn't treat it as a second class citizen though. the last update pretty much ignored the 12" and the RAM limitation is lame.
 
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