Apple Releases New PowerBooks

[chabig]

I just got my new PB and right now it's only running with 512MB RAM, but I do plan to go up to 2G as soon as possible.

My question is...

I was working on a file last night in Photoshop that is 36in wide x 24in high and 400 ppi...the thing was taking FOREVER to do anything on the Powerbook...on my dell at work it was faster...so I'm a little upset because I didn't expect the PB to be slower, but could this be a result of the low RAM? Would increasing that make it run faster?

Please help!

Photoshop likes lots of RAM so yes that will make a difference. But Photoshop also uses the hard drive for scratch space, and a desktop will almost always be much faster than a notebook.

Chris

 

[attic salt]

Photoshop likes lots of RAM so yes that will make a difference. But Photoshop also uses the hard drive for scratch space, and a desktop will almost always be much faster than a notebook.

Chris

Okay, well I'm still confused...my dell at work only has 18.5 G hard drive space (vs. 80G in the PB) and runs with 1G ram...but it's still faster...is that the only thing that's making the difference?

 

[attic salt]

...or maybe I'm wrong about disk space on the dell...it does seem awfully low.

 

[Kagetenshi]

Probably. It's not how much space you have (unless we're talking under four or five gigabytes), it's how fast the hard drive spins. Desktops typically mount 7,200 RPM drives, while I'm not aware of any commercial laptop drive spinning that fast (though some laptops have gone the monstrous route to accommodate a full-sized hard drive).

~J

 

[chabig]

Yes. It's not so much how much capacity is available as how fast it can the data can be transferred to and from the hard drive. Desktop drives are generally faster than laptop drives.

Chris

 

[ryanyogan]

Most notebook drives are 5400 rpm HD's however alot of notebooks now are 7200rpm's however go to a forum on thoes notebooks and you will hear constant whining that the notebook sounds like a 747 taking off. No one makes a quiet 7200 hardrive for notebooks there isn't enough insulation, it is kind of a win lose situation, I would rather have a little less speed in change for a quiet notebook...

 

[attic salt]

I see...well that's a little disappointing seeing as much of my work will be high-res large scale...any way to boost the performance of the PB other than adding RAM?

 

[Kagetenshi]

Even more RAM.

If you need to, an external 7,200+ RPM drive connected by FireWire will also provide a good scratch space.

~J

 

[attic salt]

Even more RAM.

If you need to, an external 7,200+ RPM drive connected by FireWire will also provide a good scratch space.

~J

ah, that's perfect - I was planning to get an external hard drive for video anyway. Guess I'll have to go that route when working with the larger design files as well. Any suggestions on where to buy?

 

[chabig]

ah, that's perfect - I was planning to get an external hard drive for video anyway. Guess I'll have to go that route when working with the larger design files as well. Any suggestions on where to buy?

No suggestions, but I concur that an external high speed drive makes a very noticeable improvement.

 

[attic salt]

Well thank you all for helping me clear that up...I was starting to get a little nervous that I just dropped $2700 on a computer that wasn't going to do what I needed.

 

[bbyrdhouse]

Actually...

What? What? WHAT? Dude, if you're doing serious DTP you shouldn't use Publisher or Pages (at least, if you're going to actually print it at a print house somewhere). If you're just making something for the web or something to run off a laser printer you're cool, but don't do Publisher if you're serious about DTP. Secondly, I haven't played with Publisher (because it's crap) but I have played with Pages, and while it has it's bugs, it's VERY easy to use. In fact, I couldn't believe how simple they made a program that can do anything from a basic text document to a full blown newsletter or brochure. I wasn't disappointed with it's usability at all, but it does need more features/themes which I am sure it will get in it's next revision.
Anyway, if you are not printing (at a print house) your DTP work, forget my comments all together. If you are printing at a print house, save a poor pre-press guy some major stress and headache and invest in Quark or Indesign.

The print houses that I have dealt with actually prefer things to be done in Pub 2003, not any version earlier as it lacks the "Commercial printing" option.

But at any rate I use publisher to make our church bullitens, I print them on an Okidata 5300 color laser printer, they are tri-fold 8.5 by 11.
The thing about pages is that I can't seem to lay it out the way that I want to. It always wants to ad another page or it wont let me insert text where I want it and if I want to put a border around a text box all they have is some lame lines and dots that it... Publisher lets me create a custom border if I want. Example, let's say I want to highlight our missions program. In Publisher i would create a border of little earth globes to go around my text (Worlwide Missions), but I can't do that in Pages.

I agree that Pages offers alot usability, but it isn't anywhere on the level of a Pagemaker or a Publisher 2003.
Yes, I could purchase Quark or Indesign, but they have way overblown price tags. I wish that they would make a lite version.

But I am happy running Publisher through Guest PC for now until Apple develops a decent DTP program.

If you would like to see one of our bulliten then go here so you can see what I am talking about. http://www.ubcflorien.com/bulletins.htmhttp://www.ubcflorien.com/bulletins.htm

 

[Eastend]

The print houses that I have dealt with actually prefer things to be done in Pub 2003, not any version earlier as it lacks the "Commercial printing" option.

But at any rate I use publisher to make our church bullitens, I print them on an Okidata 5300 color laser printer, they are tri-fold 8.5 by 11.
The thing about pages is that I can't seem to lay it out the way that I want to. It always wants to ad another page or it wont let me insert text where I want it and if I want to put a border around a text box all they have is some lame lines and dots that it... Publisher lets me create a custom border if I want. Example, let's say I want to highlight our missions program. In Publisher i would create a border of little earth globes to go around my text (Worlwide Missions), but I can't do that in Pages.

I agree that Pages offers alot usability, but it isn't anywhere on the level of a Pagemaker or a Publisher 2003.
Yes, I could purchase Quark or Indesign, but they have way overblown price tags. I wish that they would make a lite version.

But I am happy running Publisher through Guest PC for now until Apple develops a decent DTP program.

If you would like to see one of our bulliten then go here so you can see what I am talking about. http://www.ubcflorien.com/bulletins.htmhttp://www.ubcflorien.com/bulletins.htm

I work for a card company and we do quite a bit of in house printing and we also do out sourced printing with at least 2 major US companies as well as printing with 3 or 4 Japanese companies. All over the world about 60 per cent of everything they get and we get and use, is Illustrator and Photoshop.
The 5300 you are using is a very good personal printer, we have the 5400 in the office here. (it is the same printer only newer.) That printer is for persnal use, it is not for or intended for professional use, the running cost in toner on that thing is outrageous. However, it is one of the best personal lasers I have ever seen, it is cheap for a laser. Good Luck.

Brian

 

[Dave Marsh]

Closeout to startup spin query

Well, my new PowerBook is now starting up with the usual 15-16 spins. It turns out that Virex was damaged when I transferred it to my new laptop. Removing it resolved my startup delay.

 

[Bern]

I ordered my BTO on Feb 21st. Estimated shipment date is March 3rd, but as Australia is always at the bottom of the order list I'm sure it will be much later.

I just hope I get it before I go overseas at the end of April.

 

[Converted2Truth]

Got my Powerbook yesterday and couldn't be happier. These things are quiet/fast/slick/ and not as hot as the Ti Powerbooks. WoW performance is great, and all the other games i play are great. As far as compiling code, it's pretty dang snappy.

 

[Peter3210]

We bought a 12" I-book a few weeks ago after using Windows laptops for the past 12 years. In short we love it. The absolute best feature is that the fan never comes on -- it is dead silent. We are thinking of getting one of the 15" Powerbooks. Are the Powerbooks as quiet as the I-book? If not how often does the fan come on?

 

[gopher]

We bought a 12" I-book a few weeks ago after using Windows laptops for the past 12 years. In short we love it. The absolute best feature is that the fan never comes on -- it is dead silent. We are thinking of getting one of the 15" Powerbooks. Are the Powerbooks as quiet as the I-book? If not how often does the fan come on?

The answer to that question is maybe. The Powerbook fans are a hit and miss phenomenon. Some are quite noisy when they have heavy duty process to perform, while others are dead silent. A few might get noisy enough that even their hardware test is able to detect it. I had one such 1.33 Ghz 17" Powerbook. My 1.5 though has been much better. So your mileage may vary.

 

[pubwvj]

Are the Powerbooks as quiet as the I-book? If not how often does the fan come on?

I have a PowerBook and the fan only comes on when I run Excel (boo-hiss, yadda, yadda... ) which seems inordinately processor hungry.

 

[Peter3210]

Thanks to you both. It looks like we'd be fairly safe with the 1.5 Ghz 15" Power Book. As soon as Tiger is released I believe that we'll bring home our second MAC.

 

[beatz]

wow...

i love my new powerbook 1.67 15" !!!

i do a lot of audio work, using Logic 7 and reaktor 4

This laptop is more than sufficient for using these powerhungry tools!

 

[bbyrdhouse]

Forgot

Hey I forgot about Ragtime.... a DTP program for the MAC platform.

 

[seans9]

my pb has been shipped.

10:07 P.M.
SHANGHAI, CN
DEPARTURE SCAN

How long do you think it will take to get to me? that was march 4th. Thanks.

 

[matticus008]

my pb has been shipped.

10:07 P.M.
SHANGHAI, CN
DEPARTURE SCAN

How long do you think it will take to get to me? that was march 4th. Thanks.

That is uncanny. That's the exact time of departure as my PowerBook (but on a different day). It'll be some time before you get it if that's the most recent tracking data you have. It will go to a major UPS facility here first (Anchorage or somewhere in Washington usually, in my experience), where it will be reprocessed for domestic routing. It then depends on how close you are to the West coast and/or your large distribution center. But generally within 5 business days, so you should have it this week!

Don't put too much faith in the tracking information on foreign shipments, though. The UPS system seems to get confused with the date difference and post status updates in the wrong order or not at all. So you could have only a few hours' notice from when the tracking page indicates it's out for delivery and when your doorbell will ring.

 

[rog]

Are there still long delays on these if you customize them? Are people getting them pretty quickly now? Thanks.