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12" rMB vs. 12" PBG4

F

fyrefly

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 27, 2004
624
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There's been lots of pics of the new MacBook versus the 11" and 13" air, but to my mind, it's finally a successor (with the 11" Air standing in for a while) for the 12" PBG4.

So here's some pics of my new Gold 12" rMB next to my Early 2005-era 12" PowerBook G4.

What a difference 10 years makes! :cool:
 

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wait...which is the PB and which is the rMB? (nah, i know, i had, and loved, the 12" PB).

was in the store again today (i swear, i pass it on my way to a job), and the rMB is truly impressive (just, sadly, not for my needs; mostly Logic X...).

but i can't stop checking it out. :rolleyes:
 
I never owned a PBG4, but I'd love to try typing on one! I've heard the keyboard on that system felt very luxurious.

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vanimal said:
Screw the notebooks. That balcony view tho.....:D
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I was too preoccupied withe the notebooks so I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it. :p
 
WOW! Talk about memories... That was my First apple product I ever bought. I remember paying almost $2,000 for it with my student discount. (I loved how it looked, but not how it performed) I remember selling to a friend of mine for $500 after I finished college and this person you had left the country emailed me out of nowhere almost 10 years later asking me if he can upgrade because it was finally not running well... I couldn't believe it. I was impressed.

For the record, the PBG4 12" should be compared to the rMBP 13" not the rMB.
 
This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Interesting to note how much bigger a 12" 16x10 screen is compared to a 12" 4:3 screen as well. What was the resolution of the PBG4 screen?

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PDFierro said:
Why would it be compared to the 13" rMBP?
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Probably because the PB sat in a similar position in the laptop line-up then as the MBP does now? Seems a bit pedantic to me though ;-)
 
PDFierro said:
That's a pretty terrible reason. Nobody is going to be thinking that or even remember that.
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Not only that but according to this, it isn't even correct. The 12.1 inch models appear to have been the direct predecessor to the Intel MacBook models (merging with the iBook line)...so the OP's comparison appears spot on:

http://apple-history.com/pg4_15167

The higher end 15" and 17" PBG4/G5 went on to become the Intel MBP line-up. The 13" aluminium MB wasn't introduced until 2008 as a derivative of the MBP line and gained "MBP" status only later.
 
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MyopicPaideia said:
The higher end 15" and 17" PBG4/G5 went on to become the Intel MBP line-up. The 13" aluminium MB wasn't introduced until 2008 as a derivative of the MBP line and gained "MBP" status only later.
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Any idea where I could get a PB G5?

In all serious, though, first plastic Macbooks were considered a direct replacement for the iBook line. I own and use both Powerbooks and iBooks directly, and can tell you that the iBook is lacking in a lot of ways compared to the Powerbook. For one thing, the keyboard isn't even in the same class. On paper, they're pretty comparable but the PB was always a bit faster(the last generation PBs were 1.5ghz, while iBooks made it to 1.42 in the 14" model and 1.3 in the 12"). They were also a lot more "slim and trim" although admittedly both were small for their time(and big by today's standard). The PBs had slightly better graphics in the nVidia 5200 vs. the Radeon 9550, although this is probably splitting hairs.

The 13" Macbook was an indirect replacement, but the plastic case hurt it somewhat as a consumer laptop. The Intel GMA 950 in the first few generations of Macbook also hurt it, and I'll go out on a limb and say that it's a step down from the Mobility 5200 in the 12" Powerbook.

Probably the first direct replacement for the 12" PB was the Aluminum Unibody Macbook. It duplicated the basic form factor of the larger unibody laptops, although it was lacking somewhat for a "pro" laptop at the the time as it didn't have a Firewire port or a built in card reader. The Al Macbook also brought in an LED backlit screen, something that was then standard in the MBP but that the other Macbooks wouldn't get until the Unibody refresh. The 13" Pro addressed both of these, although at a cost of the audio in jack(something not present on the iBook G4, but that did show up on the Macbooks).

All of that said, I'd say that the Macbook is probably more of a worthy successor to the 12" PB than anything else. It is the smallest and lightest laptop Apple currently makes-a distinction that the 12" PB held in its day. It's also less powerful than the big brother Macbooks, but the screen and graphics are a good step up from the MBA.
 
bunnspecial said:
Any idea where I could get a PB G5?

In all serious [snip]
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Yeah, like I said, it is all splitting hairs like you say in every way. Since there really are no "direct predecessors" in the common sense of the phrase, it is pretty much opinion and semantics...

Since the screen sizes are the same diagonally, it is as good a comparison as any in my book :)

Thanks again to the OP for the pictures!
 
fyrefly said:
There's been lots of pics of the new MacBook versus the 11" and 13" air, but to my mind, it's finally a successor (with the 11" Air standing in for a while) for the 12" PBG4.

So here's some pics of my new Gold 12" rMB next to my Early 2005-era 12" PowerBook G4.

What a difference 10 years makes! :cool:
Click to expand...

Awesome comparison! This reminds me of when I recently put my 12" PowerBook G4 side by side with my 13" 2008 MBA and was impressed by how much had changed in just 3 years. Slimmed way down with a much better display, but the MacBook Air is larger due to the bigger display and bezel. The keyboard on the PowerBook definitely beats the Air.
 
Traverse said:
I never owned a PBG4, but I'd love to try typing on one! I've heard the keyboard on that system felt very luxurious.

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I was too preoccupied withe the notebooks so I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it. :p
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They were nice keyboards! :)

I didn't notice the skyline either! LOL

One thing both pictured systems have in common, no MagSafe! (ducks)
 
MyopicPaideia said:
Yeah, like I said, it is all splitting hairs like you say in every way. Since there really are no "direct predecessors" in the common sense of the phrase, it is pretty much opinion and semantics...

Since the screen sizes are the same diagonally, it is as good a comparison as any in my book :)

Thanks again to the OP for the pictures!
Click to expand...

I'm still waiting for a lead on that Powerbook G5 :)
 
MyopicPaideia said:
This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Interesting to note how much bigger a 12" 16x10 screen is compared to a 12" 4:3 screen as well. What was the resolution of the PBG4 screen?
Click to expand...

Y'all are welcome! I just thought it would be fun. :)

The 12" PBG4 was 1024x768 resolution.

Re: Geekbench - is there even a Geekbench version that'll run on PPC? ;) maybe XBench?

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bunnspecial said:
I'm still waiting for a lead on that Powerbook G5 :)
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A little birdie told me it's coming out on Tuesday.
 
Quite decent speed increase as well..
The change in performance/weight ratio must be of the charts :)
 

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Since it's handy, here are reported Geekbench scores for most G3/G4/G5 series Macs

http://www.everymac.com/mac-benchmarks/mac-powerpc-g3-g4-g5-benchmarks.html

Bear in mind that these are Geekbench 2, which are NOT directly comparable to Geekbench 3.

I'll try to run my 1.5ghz 12" later, as I've noticed most of the scores on this site are usually lower than what I achieve in my computers(I suspect it's because Everymac reports the computers with the base amount of RAM and I have most of my PPCs maxed).
 
I just benchmarked my 12" PowerBook G4 1.5. By modern standards the result isn't pretty.

Edit: This score is lower than it should be because the PowerBook I tested doesn't have a working battery. :( Hopefully someone else will test one with a working battery.
 

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