12" PowerBook - First Impressions
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rkriheli
macrumors member
12"AlBook - my thoughts after 2 weeks (long)
I have had my 12" Powerbook for close to two weeks now and I have to say that I am very happy with the product.
I had sold my 667mhz DVI powerbook 2 months ago in anticipation of some newer powerbooks (if no new ones were going to be announced in january, i was going to purchase the 867 model as an upgrade). But naturally when the 12" one came out, I was as excited as a dog in a hubcap factory.
Ok... on to my thoughts:
- regarding the comparisons to the ibook. yes, they are very similar in a lot of areas (both my sister and a close friend of mine have ibooks so i have handled them often) - and i always liked the machine. there are 2 reasons that i never considered buying an ibook. one of them was the fact that a G3 couldn't really hang with a G4. and more importantly, the keypad was white. i thought that was a poor decision by apple as those kind of things are prone to getting dirty, aren't they? so once the 12" powerbook came out with the silver keys... i was all over it.
- the portability is fantastic. don't get me wrong.... i loved the tibook i used to have but i always felt awkward with that thing when on the road. especially in public places... you look like a damn spy with that thing. the tibook was a very sexy notebook... but too big for portability in my sense of the word. i dunno how anyone would lug around the 17" one (no offense to those people who are getting one, but i hope you are doing so for a desktop replacement primarily)... do they even have notebook bags that can hold them? the 12" one is more practical for road usage.
- it does get hot, but that is expected. i have never handled a powerbook that hasn't. i had a 333 lombard, 500 pismo, 667 tibook and now the 12"albook... and they have all been equally hot. i think the heat is at its peak when there is a dvd or cd playing.
- my screen is fantastic... crisp. beautiful. i don't know the deal with people talking about dim screens. in fact i had my powerbook open in the apple store during one of their workshops and some cat came up to me and was referring to that same issue saying that my screen looked so much more vivid than the display model downstairs. i think this has a lot to do with lighting and the contrast with the color of your desktop photo. very similar to ibook screens and i love their screens. the video resolution is great. dvd video, photos look wonderful. i am a graphic designer and can tell you that this powerbook is everything i can hope for in a portable.
my complaints (and i hesitate to even use that word on this piece of beauty):
- i don't like the soldered 128mb of ram. thats wack. i hope 1gb chips do indeed come out one day. but i think 640mb will be just fine for this machine for me. but i have to find a good deal for the 512mb chip because apple seems to rape people for memory prices. my machine is running at 256 right now. considering jaguar is a minimum 128, doesn't leave a lot of room for high-end applications running simultaneously.
- i usually have my powerbook (and the ones i had in the past) plugged into an ac adapter wherever i work. and i seldom use the battery unless i am in a remote location without a power outlet. with that said, i was at a flash workshop in the apple store in nyc (which ran about 1.5 hours long) and my battery ran off about 80% of its power. i though that was a little weak. during the workshop i did two things: 1-i converted 2 cds to mp3 in itunes while the guy was shooting his introduction speech... and 2-i ran macromedia flash as i followed the demonstration. so i guess those two combined to really juice out my battery. i have not tested the battery life on straight simple application usage like ms word. but when i do, i guess i will post about it.
whew... that was a lot. and i am feeling quite unproductive today because of it. but i hope this helps someone make their decisions. overall - i am very happy with the powerbook and it surely meets my expectations for the most part.
Regards,
Richard Kriheli
Liquidboy, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------
G4 Dual 1ghz Mirror Door 1.25gb RAM
G4 Powerbook 12" 256mb RAM
Dell 1.3ghz Pentium 4 - 640gb RAM
I have had my 12" Powerbook for close to two weeks now and I have to say that I am very happy with the product.
I had sold my 667mhz DVI powerbook 2 months ago in anticipation of some newer powerbooks (if no new ones were going to be announced in january, i was going to purchase the 867 model as an upgrade). But naturally when the 12" one came out, I was as excited as a dog in a hubcap factory.
Ok... on to my thoughts:
- regarding the comparisons to the ibook. yes, they are very similar in a lot of areas (both my sister and a close friend of mine have ibooks so i have handled them often) - and i always liked the machine. there are 2 reasons that i never considered buying an ibook. one of them was the fact that a G3 couldn't really hang with a G4. and more importantly, the keypad was white. i thought that was a poor decision by apple as those kind of things are prone to getting dirty, aren't they? so once the 12" powerbook came out with the silver keys... i was all over it.
- the portability is fantastic. don't get me wrong.... i loved the tibook i used to have but i always felt awkward with that thing when on the road. especially in public places... you look like a damn spy with that thing. the tibook was a very sexy notebook... but too big for portability in my sense of the word. i dunno how anyone would lug around the 17" one (no offense to those people who are getting one, but i hope you are doing so for a desktop replacement primarily)... do they even have notebook bags that can hold them?
the 12" one is more practical for road usage.- it does get hot, but that is expected. i have never handled a powerbook that hasn't. i had a 333 lombard, 500 pismo, 667 tibook and now the 12"albook... and they have all been equally hot. i think the heat is at its peak when there is a dvd or cd playing.
- my screen is fantastic... crisp. beautiful. i don't know the deal with people talking about dim screens. in fact i had my powerbook open in the apple store during one of their workshops and some cat came up to me and was referring to that same issue saying that my screen looked so much more vivid than the display model downstairs. i think this has a lot to do with lighting and the contrast with the color of your desktop photo. very similar to ibook screens and i love their screens. the video resolution is great. dvd video, photos look wonderful. i am a graphic designer and can tell you that this powerbook is everything i can hope for in a portable.
my complaints (and i hesitate to even use that word on this piece of beauty):
- i don't like the soldered 128mb of ram. thats wack. i hope 1gb chips do indeed come out one day. but i think 640mb will be just fine for this machine for me. but i have to find a good deal for the 512mb chip because apple seems to rape people for memory prices. my machine is running at 256 right now. considering jaguar is a minimum 128, doesn't leave a lot of room for high-end applications running simultaneously.
- i usually have my powerbook (and the ones i had in the past) plugged into an ac adapter wherever i work. and i seldom use the battery unless i am in a remote location without a power outlet. with that said, i was at a flash workshop in the apple store in nyc (which ran about 1.5 hours long) and my battery ran off about 80% of its power. i though that was a little weak. during the workshop i did two things: 1-i converted 2 cds to mp3 in itunes while the guy was shooting his introduction speech... and 2-i ran macromedia flash as i followed the demonstration. so i guess those two combined to really juice out my battery. i have not tested the battery life on straight simple application usage like ms word. but when i do, i guess i will post about it.
whew... that was a lot. and i am feeling quite unproductive today because of it. but i hope this helps someone make their decisions. overall - i am very happy with the powerbook and it surely meets my expectations for the most part.
Regards,
Richard Kriheli
Liquidboy, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------
G4 Dual 1ghz Mirror Door 1.25gb RAM
G4 Powerbook 12" 256mb RAM
Dell 1.3ghz Pentium 4 - 640gb RAM
Re: 12"AlBook - my thoughts after 2 weeks (long)
Yah, I saw one here .
Anyhoo, have you run Photoshop 7 or illustrator 10 on it? I was wondering how well they ran sans L3 compared to an older tibook.
Originally posted by rkriheli
i dunno how anyone would lug around the 17" one (no offense to those people who are getting one, but i hope you are doing so for a desktop replacement primarily)... do they even have notebook bags that can hold them?
Yah, I saw one here .
Anyhoo, have you run Photoshop 7 or illustrator 10 on it? I was wondering how well they ran sans L3 compared to an older tibook.
Thanks for that comprehensive review! I hesitate to add my piddly comments...but I will.
I just got back from CompUSA where they finallly got one in. Sexy sexy sexy. The letters in the middle of the keyboard was stranger to see than I had imagined. It just looked off. No big deal.
However, I concurr with reports of the mouse button being up high. Very strange and indeed it seems unfinished.
Also, it was very hot under the left palm. Next to the iBooks, it did indeed seem small.
My Pismo here has the same size screen (I think...) but the Al12 seemed even smaller.
All in all it's a machine I'd recommend to anyone. Very solid well, assembled (with the above exception) machine.
I just got back from CompUSA where they finallly got one in. Sexy sexy sexy. The letters in the middle of the keyboard was stranger to see than I had imagined. It just looked off. No big deal.
However, I concurr with reports of the mouse button being up high. Very strange and indeed it seems unfinished.
Also, it was very hot under the left palm. Next to the iBooks, it did indeed seem small.
My Pismo here has the same size screen (I think...) but the Al12 seemed even smaller.
All in all it's a machine I'd recommend to anyone. Very solid well, assembled (with the above exception) machine.
markomarko
macrumors member
I had a Pismo once. And I think there is a good reason that the pismo's screen seemed larger: it is larger.
Pismo's is 14.1" I think.
Pismo's is 14.1" I think.
hedperocks
macrumors newbie
Re: Re: Re: DiskWarrior 3
Unix and Linux filesystems are implemented differently than FAT and NTFS (both Windows filesystems). Basically, you'll never need to defrag your drive provided that you have some space left on the drive.
Unix and Linux filesystems are implemented differently than FAT and NTFS (both Windows filesystems). Basically, you'll never need to defrag your drive provided that you have some space left on the drive.
512 MB RAM
www.18004memory.com
512MB DDR 2100 FOR POWERBOOK G4 12 inch
$136.99
Best price I've found. It says 10% discount for web orders but I didn't see that applied to my total. I guess I'll have tp call them tomorrow.
www.18004memory.com
512MB DDR 2100 FOR POWERBOOK G4 12 inch
$136.99
Best price I've found. It says 10% discount for web orders but I didn't see that applied to my total. I guess I'll have tp call them tomorrow.
mikeylebeau
macrumors newbie
Richard, usually using the optical drive will drain a lot of battery.. Another thing that helped me out a *TON* on my old 15" was to dim the screen as much as I could handle when I was using it portably; this seemed to save more battery life than I could have ever imagined. Try it with the 12".
-mikey
-mikey
re: the pooor marketing of the 12" powerbook
First post,
Been visiting this site for a while now.
RE: the mareketing of the 12" powerbook
The 12" powerbook is new technology.
I don't see why they just didn't price it accordingly according to the screen size. Not everyone wants to shlep around a 17" powerbook to get the level 3 cache (needed for soft synth plug in performance and more). At home/studio, one can always hook up a second monitor to the 12" so...
(And the following is from a post by Paul on the Motu users board.
Motu makes the Digital Performer Mac sequencer as well as other audio products.)
Absolutely 100% agreed. It makes sense to move the old line down to move out existing stock (they're doing that with the 15" PowerBook, obviously), but I think Apple made a VERY bad move with the new 12" Powerbook. And it's not just the L3 cache--there are several ways in which the 12" is not up to par with the 17", and that simply makes it less desirably. The strange thing is that Apple is only marketing the 17" in its massive screen and the 12" on its portability. All the things the 17" has that the 12" doesn't are totally glossed-over and not marketed. Why then would they be afraid that the 12" would cannibalize 17" sales? Why not make a true high-end sub-compact? No one will buy the 12" if they want the 17" screen, and no one will buy the 17" if they want ultra-portability. The fact is, there's very little reason to buy the 12" PB over the 12" iBook--THAT is what they should be worrying about.
With the iMacs and eMacs and PowerMacs the line upgrade system makes sense because there's so little cross-over. But in the portable line, it's harder to position the iBooks and PowerBooks to be sufficiently different to merit SEVEN different configurations (four iBooks, three PowerBooks). Why Apple should make the situation worse bypositioning the 12" as a "low-end" PowerBook is beyond me--the iBook IS a low-end PowerBook. What they really need is a high-end sub-compact!
First post,
Been visiting this site for a while now.
RE: the mareketing of the 12" powerbook
The 12" powerbook is new technology.
I don't see why they just didn't price it accordingly according to the screen size. Not everyone wants to shlep around a 17" powerbook to get the level 3 cache (needed for soft synth plug in performance and more). At home/studio, one can always hook up a second monitor to the 12" so...
(And the following is from a post by Paul on the Motu users board.
Motu makes the Digital Performer Mac sequencer as well as other audio products.)
Absolutely 100% agreed. It makes sense to move the old line down to move out existing stock (they're doing that with the 15" PowerBook, obviously), but I think Apple made a VERY bad move with the new 12" Powerbook. And it's not just the L3 cache--there are several ways in which the 12" is not up to par with the 17", and that simply makes it less desirably. The strange thing is that Apple is only marketing the 17" in its massive screen and the 12" on its portability. All the things the 17" has that the 12" doesn't are totally glossed-over and not marketed. Why then would they be afraid that the 12" would cannibalize 17" sales? Why not make a true high-end sub-compact? No one will buy the 12" if they want the 17" screen, and no one will buy the 17" if they want ultra-portability. The fact is, there's very little reason to buy the 12" PB over the 12" iBook--THAT is what they should be worrying about.
With the iMacs and eMacs and PowerMacs the line upgrade system makes sense because there's so little cross-over. But in the portable line, it's harder to position the iBooks and PowerBooks to be sufficiently different to merit SEVEN different configurations (four iBooks, three PowerBooks). Why Apple should make the situation worse bypositioning the 12" as a "low-end" PowerBook is beyond me--the iBook IS a low-end PowerBook. What they really need is a high-end sub-compact!
drastik
macrumors 6502a
Re: re: the pooor marketing of the 12" powerbook
I see what you mean, but I disagree in a way. You are comming from the perspective of a very specific needs market: audio production. I think the 17 could fit your bill. The 12 inch can't and neither can any iBook. On the other hand, your probably better off with a tower in anycase, as you get faster hard drives for samplers and much less latency and ambient interference.
I think Apple's marketing makes alot of since. The 12 inch is for those of us who don't need all the rest of the stuff. The L3 is nice, but of no use in a business model that relies mainly on spreadsheets and presentations. High end ultra portables are a dead market. No one needs one, hence, no one makes one. The sad truth is, with the state of battery technology, any really high-end use is going to drain the crap right out. If your going to be tethered to the wall, get a 17 or 15. If you aren't going o be near an outlet, but still need to do regular work (not processor intensive) get a 12
I see what you mean, but I disagree in a way. You are comming from the perspective of a very specific needs market: audio production. I think the 17 could fit your bill. The 12 inch can't and neither can any iBook. On the other hand, your probably better off with a tower in anycase, as you get faster hard drives for samplers and much less latency and ambient interference.
I think Apple's marketing makes alot of since. The 12 inch is for those of us who don't need all the rest of the stuff. The L3 is nice, but of no use in a business model that relies mainly on spreadsheets and presentations. High end ultra portables are a dead market. No one needs one, hence, no one makes one. The sad truth is, with the state of battery technology, any really high-end use is going to drain the crap right out. If your going to be tethered to the wall, get a 17 or 15. If you aren't going o be near an outlet, but still need to do regular work (not processor intensive) get a 12
mikeylebeau
macrumors newbie
Re: Re: re: the pooor marketing of the 12" powerbook
But also don't forget, it's not like we're talking about the world's slowest machine here. I ordered a 12" because I wanted portability (at least moreso than the 17", which is just ridiculously large for a laptop) with full features and a decent processor speed. Seems like some people call the 12" PowerBook just the same as an iBook but they forget that the processor speed is significantly better. For me, and for anyone who uses an OS as painfully slow (not to say I don't love it) as OSX, this is an important factor. I might have been an iBook customer had they been faster, but I went originally with a 15" TiBook because I needed more speed than they offered. I just can't handle the wait times in OSX; I could barely tolerate them on my 667 TiBook. So the 867 is exactly what I wanted.
-mikey
But also don't forget, it's not like we're talking about the world's slowest machine here. I ordered a 12" because I wanted portability (at least moreso than the 17", which is just ridiculously large for a laptop) with full features and a decent processor speed. Seems like some people call the 12" PowerBook just the same as an iBook but they forget that the processor speed is significantly better. For me, and for anyone who uses an OS as painfully slow (not to say I don't love it) as OSX, this is an important factor. I might have been an iBook customer had they been faster, but I went originally with a 15" TiBook because I needed more speed than they offered. I just can't handle the wait times in OSX; I could barely tolerate them on my 667 TiBook. So the 867 is exactly what I wanted.
-mikey
thegeek187
macrumors member
i just recived my 12 inch about 1 1/2 hrs ago.... so far i have played with it enough to give a full opinion..... so far its great....
JSRockit
macrumors 6502a
Yes...I was using an iBook. First impressions of the pBook is that it is smoother to use than the iBook ie trackpad, keyboard etc. It is alot hotter than the iBook...by far. The sound is the best I have heard from laptop speakers. Slot-loading drive is nice. As far as speed...can't tell the difference yet...haven't done anything but e-mail, post to forums and install software.
more random thoughts on 12" AlBook
I set the Energy Saver option to "Reduced Performance" on the Battery tab and dimmed my screen slightly.
I was able to get 4 hrs. while taking notes in class. I was only running BBEdit but I launched an OS 9 app' (and Classic) and Keynote, played my Keynote presentation.
The fan seldom comes on (at least on the high setting) but it has been coming on very sporadically. When it does, the fan runs slow but loud - sounds bad. Still, 99% time this is the quietest portable I've ever used.
My 512 RAM chip should be here this weekend, then we'll see more extensive tests.
I really don't think performance is the issue here. it won't be as good as the 1GHz but it'll hang with the 800 and 867's.
I played an iPhoto slide show and there is (to my eyes) an issue with this graphics chip. I don't see the kind of color depth and rich hues I expect after using the Ti 800 with ATI card. *This is my biggest gripe. *
moby1
I set the Energy Saver option to "Reduced Performance" on the Battery tab and dimmed my screen slightly.
I was able to get 4 hrs. while taking notes in class. I was only running BBEdit but I launched an OS 9 app' (and Classic) and Keynote, played my Keynote presentation.
The fan seldom comes on (at least on the high setting) but it has been coming on very sporadically. When it does, the fan runs slow but loud - sounds bad. Still, 99% time this is the quietest portable I've ever used.
My 512 RAM chip should be here this weekend, then we'll see more extensive tests.
I really don't think performance is the issue here. it won't be as good as the 1GHz but it'll hang with the 800 and 867's.
I played an iPhoto slide show and there is (to my eyes) an issue with this graphics chip. I don't see the kind of color depth and rich hues I expect after using the Ti 800 with ATI card. *This is my biggest gripe. *
moby1
klapauzius
macrumors newbie
moby1 - I found out that the PB 12" does *not* support hot swapping of the battery in sleep mode, as it does not have a backup battery.
It's mentioned in this KnowledgeBase article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58445
So I'll order no second battery with my PB.
It's mentioned in this KnowledgeBase article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58445
So I'll order no second battery with my PB.
wolfywolfbits
macrumors member
Re: more random thoughts on 12" AlBook
Is this problem likely to be the graphics card AFAIK all graphics cards display colors much the same these days. I haven't heard anyone compare color quality of graphics cards for the last 5 years.
What makes you discount the screen? Many people have said the screen doesn't compare to the Ti's screen?
Is this problem likely to be the graphics card
AFAIK all graphics cards display colors much the same these days. I haven't heard anyone compare color quality of graphics cards for the last 5 years. What makes you discount the screen? Many people have said the screen doesn't compare to the Ti's screen?
Re: Headphones.
I would like to recommend the KOSS Porta Pro headset.
Here are also some comparisons of the iBook vs PB 12" found on the xbench page:
PB 12" 640mb ram, score: 75.08
CPU test: 91.72
Memory Test: 83.10
Quartz graphic test: 88.20
OpenGL test: 104.41 (73fps)
Disk Test: 62.30
iBook 12" 640mb ram, score: 54.87
CPU test: 85.12
Memory Test: 29.87
Quartz graphic test: 79.96
OpenGL test: 57.12 (40fps)
Disk Test: 49.76
I would like to recommend the KOSS Porta Pro headset.
Here are also some comparisons of the iBook vs PB 12" found on the xbench page:
PB 12" 640mb ram, score: 75.08
CPU test: 91.72
Memory Test: 83.10
Quartz graphic test: 88.20
OpenGL test: 104.41 (73fps)
Disk Test: 62.30
iBook 12" 640mb ram, score: 54.87
CPU test: 85.12
Memory Test: 29.87
Quartz graphic test: 79.96
OpenGL test: 57.12 (40fps)
Disk Test: 49.76
CrackedButter
macrumors 68040
Interesting that the 12" iBook does allow for hot swap. How much time do you have though to do the swap?