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17" Powerbook too big?

Advance The Man said:
Why? Or just more of the 'wow' factor?
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Well, the for the few years before my PB15 I'd been using a 12" form factor laptop (Thinkpad X20). When I went to the bigger PB15 I found no problems at all with luggability, extra weight, etc. I love the bigger screen and the widescreen. With the 17 I get even more of that and while I know it is heavier, I find its form factor good.

I play DVDs a lot on the laptop too.
 
mashinhead said:
i went to the store 7 times looking at the two side by side, thinking the 17" was too big. Next to the 15" it does look too big. But you're not gonna have i next to a 15" when you bring it home are you. When mine came home it didn't look too big at all, and as for taking it outside. Its fine. no problems.
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Glad to hear it (and I feel the same way). When I said go to a store and try one, I really didn't mean a side-by-side comparison with a 15 for size. I mean to try out the 17. e.g. pick it up, place it down, carry it around, use it on your lap, etc. To see if the form factor works for you or not.
 
devman said:
Glad to hear it (and I feel the same way). When I said go to a store and try one, I really didn't mean a side-by-side comparison with a 15 for size. I mean to try out the 17. e.g. pick it up, place it down, carry it around, use it on your lap, etc. To see if the form factor works for you or not.
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Will do in the morning. May bring it home - ATM
 
Advance The Man said:
Will do in the morning. May bring it home - ATM
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Brought the 17" PB, 128 VRAM, 512 RAM (to be 2 gb soon), 100gb hard drive home. Will open it up. I'm gonna search this site for starter, newbie instructions or advice. If anyone can recommend a thread for this, please suggest.
 
I bought a 15" Rev. C in January, and I had doubts about if I should of got the 12" instead. But after looking at the dormie's 12", and also looking at a fraternity bro's 17", I am damn proud of my 15".

Now don't get me wrong, the 12" and the 17" are both engineering beauties, and I love all Apple machines, but you have to think about what you are going to do with your commputer. Think, do you really need a 17" screen on a notebook, (although it is very, very impressive; I bought the MacWorld 2003 poster of it to show off to people, even though I have a 15"), and "would I really be happy with a small 12" screen.

With the extra hundred some dollars you save, you can save up to buy the ACD, which I am currently doing, or buy an iSight, which I also want to do.

Overall, the only difference you are paying for is the big screen, the internal components are identical (ie video card).
 
This is frusterating. So far my experience is identical to my Windows experience... confusing!

I started this thread as I'm stuck trying to just get on the internet.

EDIT: btw solved. Not that Apple is simple, but more great fellow macrumors forum members helping me.
 
I've played with it for several hours and IMO it's not too big. I am scared too death I'm gonna drop it. If I traveled a lot, especially flying - I would get a 15". The monitor is as wide as my Dell 19" CRT, but not quite as tall. For $150± the 17" is a nice leap from the 15" (w/128 VRAM). I've had no probs with only 512mb ram, although I'm gonna buy Samsung 2 gigs of ram in lieu of Tiger. The keyboard appears the same size as the 12". Looks silly on a huge block of metal with too large of speaker areas on each side. Seems to me they could of reduced the speaker sizes or even put them below the keyboard on either side of the mouse pad area and give us a full sized keyboard.

Safari is odd with different websites showing full view horizontally and others having blank spaces on either side. I did buy Office 2004, but only loaded Excel and Word. Don't use the other items. I have not set up email, not sure what to load Entourage from that Office 2004 disc or use whatever Apple's is called. Quick opinion so not to get off topic would be appreciated.
 
I owned a 17" PowerBook for a year. Loved it. That's said, there were times I didn't bother porting it because it was big and unweildy.

Now that I have a 15", I find that I take it a lot more places. Not to mention that after a year of toting the 17", the 15" feels like an ultra-portable...
 
My only gripe with the 17" PB is NO not that its not a G5 ;) :rolleyes: , however I want an HD screen either standard or optional since I work with HD video.

Price was not bad for what you are getting, I cam live with a G4 I guess it gets the job done. :)
 
maya said:
My only gripe with the 17" PB is NO not that its not a G5 ;) :rolleyes: , however I want an HD screen either standard or optional since I work with HD video.

Price was not bad for what you are getting, I cam live with a G4 I guess it gets the job done. :)
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The 1.67GHz G4 is as fast if not faster than a single 1.8GHz G5 chip from my experience, and benchmarks posted on the net in most/all tasks.

I had a near maxed out 20" iMac G5 and this Powerbook is faster than it was in every way except actually loading things. (slow hard drive)

While a high definition screen would be nice, assuming it's running at 1920x1200, that would mean everything onscreen would be 25% smaller.

Yes, your desktop area would be bigger, but imagine all your apps looking like this:



Might be night for video, but that's far too small to be usable for any length of time in my opinion. Apple make the screens 100ppi (pixels per inch) for a reason.


EDIT: oops, I misread your post (well, it is after 3am...) I thought you said you wanted the G5 and a high defnition screen. I'll leave the info there anyway.
 
A quick reply!

Congrats! I ended up getting a 15" pb a months ago, perhaps if I was looking at the slight price difference I would of gotten a 17", but I am very happy with my 15", esp since I carry it around a lot.

To follow up on your question about entourage.......use it! I thought I would never use it either, but since I linked it to my gmail account, it rocks! also it has a great calander that I actually use! Give it a try, I am glad I did!!
 
andrewfee said:
The 1.67GHz G4 is as fast if not faster than a single 1.8GHz G5 chip from my experience, and benchmarks posted on the net in most/all tasks.

I had a near maxed out 20" iMac G5 and this Powerbook is faster than it was in every way except actually loading things. (slow hard drive)

While a high definition screen would be nice, assuming it's running at 1920x1200, that would mean everything onscreen would be 25% smaller.

Yes, your desktop area would be bigger, but imagine all your apps looking like this:



Might be night for video, but that's far too small to be usable for any length of time in my opinion. Apple make the screens 100ppi (pixels per inch) for a reason.


EDIT: oops, I misread your post (well, it is after 3am...) I thought you said you wanted the G5 and a high defnition screen. I'll leave the info there anyway.
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is that seriously how small stuff would be on a 1920x 17" book? that's quite pleasant imo. im actually quite a fan of high-rez notebooks, having used a 15" 1600x1200 at school several times
 
homerjward said:
is that seriously how small stuff would be on a 1920x 17" book? that's quite pleasant imo. im actually quite a fan of high-rez notebooks, having used a 15" 1600x1200 at school several times
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Yeah, 1920x1200 squeezed into the same space would make everything 75% smaller, so I took a screenshot of my desktop and made it 75% smaller. Obviously it doesn't make my workspace bigger, like it would, but it shows you the size text etc would be on it.

It's readable, but I couldn't spend long on a screen like that.
 
Now that I own an Apple, I am clueless about many things. I was able to network, share the printer and pick up my wireless net. Pretty easy after some forum help. There are things that I cannot duplicate. I can't find things. When I want to play the dvd player I use finder to search for it. When I want to look at a pix I search for it using finder. There are many other things I want to open up or find quickly and I'm having a hard time. I'm figuring I should put often used items on the desktop, but can't figure out how. When I'm on Safari and want to open a link in a new window I can't do that. In Windows I could right click to a new window. How can I do this? There has to be a thread somewhere on macrumors that shows answers to these newbie questions. I realize it will be some time before I get used to it, but the cluelessness of how to get around on an Apple has overshadowed the fact I have a great machine. Anyone?
 
I recently ordered a 17/1.67/100 and anxiously await it's arrival. I also ordered and extra gig of ram.
I have had:
15" PB, 12"PB, 14" ibook
I am 6'3" 200+ a big guy and found the 12 TOO small - the screen was too small and keybaord area felt too small for my hands - VERY cute and portable.
The 15" was great for portablilty and size and speed - but of all of them I actually liked the 14" ibook the most - feel,look etc.
But, now I spend 2 weeks a month at home working at my desk and 2 weeks a month I travel to my office and work from my desk there or my hotel room.
so, I opted for the 17.
why?
I compared all three and the ibooks are out b/c I want speed, larger screen and DVI
12 is too small and w/ the 15 I would have probably gotten an external LCD anyway.
I don't plan on traveling much (ie going through many airports) and my flights are 1 hour long max - so using it on the plane is a non-issue.
I wanted the speed and that bigger screen.
Admittedly, I'm a bit scared of it getting here and being dissapointed at how large it is - but earlier posts helped some, we'll see.
I'll post again (on it!) after I get it.
BTW - FIRST thing I will do is wipe the drive and reinstall the os - always do....
 
because of bad experiences with both pcs and macs - getting them and having problems and being told FIRST THING by the tech to reinstall the OS.
Check for similar posts here.
of course, YMMV
Also, I can choose to insitall/not install certain things, also begins to establish a bond with the machine and I. Gives me a chance ot leaf through the manual, look at and appreciate the machine.
Also, when I get tiger, I will wipe the drive and install from scratch - same reasons.

sound paranoid? maybe so, but paranoia is a perfectly defensible position
:p
 
Advance The Man said:
Now that I own an Apple, I am clueless about many things. Anyone?
Click to expand...
Understood - while Apple pretty much defined the desktop metaphor, that doesn't really help you this momemt. And while I think Aqua/OSX is fabulous I was lost a bit at first.
Some ideas...got to a book store and look for a book on mac osx:
this looks good:
Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition (Paperback)
or even:
Mac OS X Panther for Dummies (Paperback)


Some things to get you started:
1. I use the dock ALOT I rarely use the desktop - Drag apps you use alot there.
2. things like dvd player should open as soon as you put a dvd in - not sure why it doesn't
3. I don't use safari I use firefox - but try the help system - actually quite good.
4. I use the finder in horzontal nmode the most (used to work at NeXT and still love the horizontal view and HATE tree/node view) - I keep frequently used folders and things on the left and find that works best for me.
5. Look at your home folder and what's in it.

i think a book will really help the most right about now...
 
Regarding another post of yours, I've heard of these help books - but should I wait for a Tiger help book? I will be loading that on when received.

Next question, when I get Tiger - how do you wipe out the hard drive but keep all your pixs, videos, documents, etc without deleting them in the process?

maclamb said:
because of bad experiences with both pcs and macs - getting them and having problems and being told FIRST THING by the tech to reinstall the OS.
Check for similar posts here.
of course, YMMV
Also, I can choose to insitall/not install certain things, also begins to establish a bond with the machine and I. Gives me a chance ot leaf through the manual, look at and appreciate the machine.
Also, when I get tiger, I will wipe the drive and install from scratch - same reasons.

sound paranoid? maybe so, but paranoia is a perfectly defensible position
:p
Click to expand...
 
I find OS X be very easy to do this with - windows is WAY more of a pain.
I basically make a backup copy of all the files in my home directory, especially the library files.
Then, wipe the drive, reinstall and copy the files back.
Library files like mail, address book, calendars, preferences, etc.
Takes some playing with - maybe not for the newbies. :confused:
As for books - tiger will have new things, but it seems your questions are at a more basic OS X level, that will most lilkely be common to the OS
Your call, of course.
 
The most frustrating experience right now is not knowing how to 'toggle' between open windows. On a Windows machine I press 'Alt - Tab' and it will cycle through all open windows. On Apple I have to go to the dock and find the open window I want to use. This also goes for multiple Word and Excel documents.
 
Go For It

vkapoormd said:
I had a 15 inch PB for about a year and a half and it seemed the perfect size. I got my dad into macs recently and he took my 15 incher and i ended up getting a 17 inch PB. It does not seem big at all and now when i look at the 15 inch, it seems small. As far as weight goes, it's about 1.3 lbs more (6.9 vs 5.6), so not terribly more. I love the screen on the 17 inch model, so i would go for that one, having tried out both. Either way though, you can't make a wrong decision. Both are excellent machines..... :)
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I second that.
I had my 15" for close to a year. A friend of us wanted a 17" and bought it, however, had a change of hart later (going back to windows). So we end up buying it from her for a very deep discount.
I always though that the 15" was the ideal size of all the 3 PBs.
Since I've been using on a daily basis and carry it in my Brenthaven backpack around I don't feel that much different in term of weight.
To me because the backpack is so comfortable you don't that much the weight.
As for the battery, I think the 15" got the worst out of it.
The 17" battery is bigger and last longer than the one on the 15"
For sure for the price different you should go for the 17".
You won't regret it, especially you travel by car.
I have a friend who always travel with his 12" and 17" around in his car.
 
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