I originally had this half-written in the post box, but after a reboot it disappeared without a save. This is the rewrite of that half-post from memory, and finished up.
I am in the rather unique position of having both a Titanium and an Aluminium PowerBook G4 in the same size and clock speed. There are only two models that fall under these specific requirements: the A1025 and the A1046.
They are, despite their few similarities, very different machines. While both of them clock in at 1.0 GHz and both boast the same 15.2” 1280x854 display, that is just about where the similarities end. The Aluminium has all newer hardware, and for good reason too—the Aluminium is a generation newer than the Titanium (huh, whoda thunk?).
Small tangent. The A1046 Aluminium PBG4 is technically a second generation Al PBG4. The first generation of Al PBG4s only included a 12” at 867 MHz and a 17” at 1.00 GHz. Apple was still selling the A1025 through this first generation of Al PBG4s. It may be a more in-line comparison to make between the first generation 17” and the Titanium since they have identical CPUs, but that breaks the comparison even more.
The CPUs, while the same clock speed, are different elsewise. The Titanium’s 7455 only carried 256k of L2 cache compared to 512k of L2 on the Aluminium’s 7447; however, the Titanium also includes an additional 1M of L3 cache, which may be preferred in some cache-heavy applications.
The displays, while the same size and resolution, aren’t powered by the same GPU. They are very similar—a Mobile Radeon 9000 on the Titanium as opposed to the Mobile Radeon 9600 on the Aluminium. I actually had to look up the difference between the two, because the 64MB of VRAM is identical across the models. The 9600 is a lower voltage and has a faster clock due to an improved architecture.
Memory is also wildly different. The Titanium finished up with PC133 SDRAM, and maxed out at 1GB of it. The Aluminium upgraded that to PC2700 DDR, and could max out at 2GB. Unfortunately, many Aluminiums suffer from “Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome”, in which the memory slot closest to the logic board would fail. It required a logic board replacement in most cases, and many Aluminiums could only use 1GB in the one slot. My A1046 suffers from Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome, so it has the one 1GB DIMM installed. It’ll make the comparison more fun, anyway, as my Titanium also has the max of 1GB installed.
Finally, the operating system support. Both machines are officially supported up to the latest Mac OS X Leopard. However, the Titanium is backwards-supported all the way back to Mac OS 9.2, which is something the Aluminium can’t do, even with the hacked OS 9 image (yet?). For older games, this might be desireable without having to rely on Classic, which is apparently crippled for gaming in Panther and Tiger.
I use my Titanium currently as a dedicated OS 9 machine. I pair it with Microsoft Office 2001, Haxial KDX, Classilla, and SoundJam MP. I even wrote this up (the rewrite, anyway) in Word ’01 on this very Titanium. It is an absolutely phenomenal word processor. The keyboard is quite comfortable and easy to type on. The titanium deck is easy on my palms and my wrists while not being particularly cold to the touch. The speakers, while lacking bass, are pleasant to listen to. The only real lacking features are competent Wi-Fi and USB 2.0.
Both of these are present on my Aluminium, the current Companion, and my go-to PowerBook. It currently sits in a 7-way boot between the primary Tiger installation along with four other OS X installations of differing versions, Debian, and vanilla Darwin 8 without the OS X pieces. There is no reason for having a 7-way boot, but I did it anyway. The keyboard is more firm than the soft touch of the Titanium and the aluminium is quite cold as a wrist rest, but modern creature comforts like at least 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB 2.0 are all here.
My Aluminium has served me very well, but it’s rather beat up now. Beyond the Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome, it’s missing several screws, the chassis is warped near the optical drive, the left hinge clutch is broken, and the battery refuses to charge—I am convinced it is the battery with this one as opposed to the DC-In Board, as the machine does make an effort to try and charge the battery; I even see the indicator light flash on the battery indicating it’s receiving a charge, but it does nothing with it and eventually stops attempting to charge. It’s a different set of symptoms to my Twelve, which does (until I repair it) have a failed DC-In Board.
The Titanium only had a failed battery; though, unlike the Companion, I replaced it immediately after finding out that a good battery is required to get all of the performance out of these models. It is in otherwise great shape mechanically and even cosmetically, save for a few missing screws. Neither of the notoriously failure-prone hinges have actually failed. Both of the speakers work. Cooling is very adequate. As far as I know, everything about this is in working order. So why have I not just nixed the Aluminium and promoted the Titanium to Companion status? Well….
Which model truly is better? Well, it’s the Titanium, of course. It’s the Aluminium, obviously.
Wait, excuse me?
Yes sirs and madams, both are good. It really comes down to personal preference and what you want out of your PowerBook. Of course, if you want more performance, picking up a newer generation PowerBook is the obvious choice. But among these two specifically, it could really go either way. Though, you may have better luck getting your hands on the Aluminium, and it’s the one I personally recommend, as a result of the Aluminium having the creature comforts and the Titanium being highly sought after by both enthusiasts and collectors alike.
That is, if you don’t care too much about OS 9. Above, I mentioned that I use my Titanium as a dedicated OS 9 machine. There are absolutely no traces of OS X anywhere on the Titanium’s disk, save for a few of the Carbonised apps’ Carbon code. To me personally, Mac OS X looks odd on the Titanium. It looks like it doesn’t belong there like it does on the Aluminium. Mac OS 9 feels right on the Titanium, just like Mac OS X looks right on the Aluminium. And it’s for this reason why I won’t promote the Titanium to Companion status. But again, personal preference.
Let the Titanium be the Titanium. Let the Aluminium be the Aluminium.
I am in the rather unique position of having both a Titanium and an Aluminium PowerBook G4 in the same size and clock speed. There are only two models that fall under these specific requirements: the A1025 and the A1046.
Titanium (2002) | Specification | Aluminium (2003) |
A1025 | Model No. | A1046 |
1.0 GHz PPC 7455 | CPU Model + Speed | 1.0 GHz PPC 7447 |
1 GB PC133 | Memory Size + Type | 1 GB DDR Can be maxed to 2GB if your model doesn’t suffer from Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome. |
Mobile Radeon 9000 | Graphics | Mobile Radeon 9600 |
AirPort (802.11b) | AirPort | AirPort Extreme (802.11g) |
61 Wh, about 5 hours | Battery | 46 Wh, about 4.5 hours |
They are, despite their few similarities, very different machines. While both of them clock in at 1.0 GHz and both boast the same 15.2” 1280x854 display, that is just about where the similarities end. The Aluminium has all newer hardware, and for good reason too—the Aluminium is a generation newer than the Titanium (huh, whoda thunk?).
Small tangent. The A1046 Aluminium PBG4 is technically a second generation Al PBG4. The first generation of Al PBG4s only included a 12” at 867 MHz and a 17” at 1.00 GHz. Apple was still selling the A1025 through this first generation of Al PBG4s. It may be a more in-line comparison to make between the first generation 17” and the Titanium since they have identical CPUs, but that breaks the comparison even more.
The CPUs, while the same clock speed, are different elsewise. The Titanium’s 7455 only carried 256k of L2 cache compared to 512k of L2 on the Aluminium’s 7447; however, the Titanium also includes an additional 1M of L3 cache, which may be preferred in some cache-heavy applications.
The displays, while the same size and resolution, aren’t powered by the same GPU. They are very similar—a Mobile Radeon 9000 on the Titanium as opposed to the Mobile Radeon 9600 on the Aluminium. I actually had to look up the difference between the two, because the 64MB of VRAM is identical across the models. The 9600 is a lower voltage and has a faster clock due to an improved architecture.
Memory is also wildly different. The Titanium finished up with PC133 SDRAM, and maxed out at 1GB of it. The Aluminium upgraded that to PC2700 DDR, and could max out at 2GB. Unfortunately, many Aluminiums suffer from “Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome”, in which the memory slot closest to the logic board would fail. It required a logic board replacement in most cases, and many Aluminiums could only use 1GB in the one slot. My A1046 suffers from Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome, so it has the one 1GB DIMM installed. It’ll make the comparison more fun, anyway, as my Titanium also has the max of 1GB installed.
Finally, the operating system support. Both machines are officially supported up to the latest Mac OS X Leopard. However, the Titanium is backwards-supported all the way back to Mac OS 9.2, which is something the Aluminium can’t do, even with the hacked OS 9 image (yet?). For older games, this might be desireable without having to rely on Classic, which is apparently crippled for gaming in Panther and Tiger.
I use my Titanium currently as a dedicated OS 9 machine. I pair it with Microsoft Office 2001, Haxial KDX, Classilla, and SoundJam MP. I even wrote this up (the rewrite, anyway) in Word ’01 on this very Titanium. It is an absolutely phenomenal word processor. The keyboard is quite comfortable and easy to type on. The titanium deck is easy on my palms and my wrists while not being particularly cold to the touch. The speakers, while lacking bass, are pleasant to listen to. The only real lacking features are competent Wi-Fi and USB 2.0.
Both of these are present on my Aluminium, the current Companion, and my go-to PowerBook. It currently sits in a 7-way boot between the primary Tiger installation along with four other OS X installations of differing versions, Debian, and vanilla Darwin 8 without the OS X pieces. There is no reason for having a 7-way boot, but I did it anyway. The keyboard is more firm than the soft touch of the Titanium and the aluminium is quite cold as a wrist rest, but modern creature comforts like at least 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB 2.0 are all here.
My Aluminium has served me very well, but it’s rather beat up now. Beyond the Dead Bottom RAM Slot Syndrome, it’s missing several screws, the chassis is warped near the optical drive, the left hinge clutch is broken, and the battery refuses to charge—I am convinced it is the battery with this one as opposed to the DC-In Board, as the machine does make an effort to try and charge the battery; I even see the indicator light flash on the battery indicating it’s receiving a charge, but it does nothing with it and eventually stops attempting to charge. It’s a different set of symptoms to my Twelve, which does (until I repair it) have a failed DC-In Board.
The Titanium only had a failed battery; though, unlike the Companion, I replaced it immediately after finding out that a good battery is required to get all of the performance out of these models. It is in otherwise great shape mechanically and even cosmetically, save for a few missing screws. Neither of the notoriously failure-prone hinges have actually failed. Both of the speakers work. Cooling is very adequate. As far as I know, everything about this is in working order. So why have I not just nixed the Aluminium and promoted the Titanium to Companion status? Well….
Which model truly is better? Well, it’s the Titanium, of course. It’s the Aluminium, obviously.
Wait, excuse me?
Yes sirs and madams, both are good. It really comes down to personal preference and what you want out of your PowerBook. Of course, if you want more performance, picking up a newer generation PowerBook is the obvious choice. But among these two specifically, it could really go either way. Though, you may have better luck getting your hands on the Aluminium, and it’s the one I personally recommend, as a result of the Aluminium having the creature comforts and the Titanium being highly sought after by both enthusiasts and collectors alike.
That is, if you don’t care too much about OS 9. Above, I mentioned that I use my Titanium as a dedicated OS 9 machine. There are absolutely no traces of OS X anywhere on the Titanium’s disk, save for a few of the Carbonised apps’ Carbon code. To me personally, Mac OS X looks odd on the Titanium. It looks like it doesn’t belong there like it does on the Aluminium. Mac OS 9 feels right on the Titanium, just like Mac OS X looks right on the Aluminium. And it’s for this reason why I won’t promote the Titanium to Companion status. But again, personal preference.
Let the Titanium be the Titanium. Let the Aluminium be the Aluminium.
