disappointed with PB purchase today

[Chrispy]

I found the resolution to be "ok" on my 15" powerbook but that is all. The Dell 700m with a 12" widescreen display is a true example of a great screen.... but a horrible operating system. My biggest problem with the powerbook line is quality. I (as well as many other people on these forums and the apple tech forum) have had tons of problems with multiple powerbooks in a row. When I finally got a powerbook that worked my employer pulled the plug on using macs so I sold it to buy a cheaper mac.... grrr. Oh well, mac still blow PCs out of the water any day of the week. I'm running on linux right now while I decide what mac to get. Not as good a OSX but not as bad as windows.. 🙄

 

[shane-o-mac]

I will agree that the resolution is not to be entirely blamed. Smaller pixelation equals smaller graphics as current technology stands. A more finite picture does not necessarly function better for a visual display for the user. I support apple for not givening in to the preformance numbers game and coming out with disposable computers with ever increasing lists of specs. Apple follows through on a philosophy in design and funtion that so many lack.

That being said, I def would be up for a brighter screen, somewhere along the lines with xbrite technology and "hey Mr. Jeanie, can I get a 13" widscreen on my powerbook with a G5 while we are rubbing the lamp."

 

[Macky-Mac]

"take it back and buy a powermac if it's so awful. quit crying about it and find a solution that works for you.

i love my 15" powerbook. and most everyone else does too.

tekmoe"



I am sure that there is some testosterone induced arrogance, not to mention cult-like mac worship here, but anybody could opbjectively tell you that for the price, the screen is really a major downside, the resolution is really a "last generation" type of resolution for a 15" widescreen.

Maybe if objectively, we (as a mac community) looked at these issues and communicated with apple (i.e. demanded better), then maybe we would get even BETTER products. I mean, come on, look at the specs of the screen. Just look at them... UGH.. Again, thank goodness the rest of the package is good enough. Barely good enough (no G5), but still it is good enough.

well, why ever did you buy it then????

this makes no sense at all.....from a "smart consumer " standpoint, never mind your "testosterone induced yada yada" ....it's up to you to check out the product that you're spending so much money on

didn't you do your consumer homework?? didnt you at least LOOK at one of these things before you bought it?? surely you knew before you bought what the screen was??? how is it possible that you didn't???

and if you did know, and you think it's so bad.....why did you buy it? that doesnt make any sense

 

[ibilly]

I hope other's have noticed this as well...

I got my new Rev D 15" the other day and I think the screen is great. However, I did get 128MB of VRAM so maybe that explains it. My PB screen blows away my Desktop PC's screen - NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400. I had a look at the screen savers on the PB and the quality really surprised me. DVDs on my PB are much higher quality than on my TV as well. I haven't tried any games on it though - im not a gamer.

That's my $0.02 anyway. Maybe the 128MB VRAM is the way to go!

Wow, there's some serious dumb-headedness going on in this thread. This guy i quoted seems a little underqualified for my dream system if they think that the graphics card physically changes the screen. People say you ( thread starter) shoud take it back and get a G5... Note to the world. People don't get laptops because they like to pay more for the miniatureized components. They want to take their compys with them. In a diff tread about upgrading a 12"'s internal drive, they suggested an external drive an a solution. Seriously people, Think before you type.

About the screens. A higher resolution would be great because it would offer more space for the things PB users supposedly do, like use photoshop or edit HD video. Personally I'd like to see more in teh 12"er, but that is really pushing it. It looks stunning in the right environment, due to the wonderful sharpness the small pixels afford, but the black is not that black, and the viewing angle is decidedly small. Outdoors, wether or not in direct sun, you think it's recently been in a fire because of the thick grey sludge that seems to keep the screen from looking like it should. This however a RevA model, and they may have improved it since then.
No, I have not used any harsh solvents, etc. My screen has rarely seen a damp soft cloth. Being the tippy top of Apple's offerings, teh PBs should at least have a BTO option for a more awesome screen. very often very nice, but DEFINITE room for improvement.

P.S. Don't make fun of me for my spelling, esp. of 'teh'. I'm too lazy to fix it (trackpad so far away... jk) and i'm a wee bit lysdexic. At the beginning of this lengthy post, I was talking about content, not mechanix.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Aren't LCD screens typically optimal at their native resolution, and don't scale as well to other resolutions?

It would be nice to have a higher resolution option, but I think the OP is really in the minority in terms of what most people use. I have a 12" PB, and I actually like the 1024 x 768 just fine. Any more, and I'd have to crank up the font and icon sizes to compensate, which would then leave me where I started anyways.

What is definitely true about Windows notebooks is that you have more selection, since with Macs you only have 2 different lines, and notebooks are not very customizable.

I'd much rather see one of those XBrite type screens in the next PowerBooks, rather than more resolution. But that's just my personal preference, since I'm fine with the current resolutions.

 

[sbb155]

All the mac "cult" who criticized ME for complaining about the screen, I am sure will be the first ones who praise apple when the screen is updated.
Caveat Emptor - buy an ibook for cheap and get a dell widescreen monitor - better than any powerbook probably....

Nevertheless the rest of the package is great. But I am not a mac-brainwashed person. i am a practical woman working in the real world.

I like my PB, but love it? Comeon. Give me DP g4 , a reasonable FSB (not antiquated), and an average screen and I will love it.

The screen stinks, and when apple does update it, all the mac people being critical here will all praise apple I bet.

 

[Vanilla]

sheesh, someone was disappointed and they get their head bit off! come on folks! now a higher res would be okay with Tiger, because of the resolution independent interface. as far as with Panther, i think not. If you want a higher res screen, which i think we are in line to see this year (year of HD) then dont worry about it, because when it comes time to sell your current PB and upgrade, you will get plenty of cash back. Im glad to see you were honest in your post, and chose not to use a one-sided argument. regards.

This is just my opinion but personally think this is a wind up.

Before shelling out such a significant amount of money surely the majority of people would have at least touched a machine, played with it a little etc. at a local computer store? It would be an incredibly brave person to go ahead and buy on the basis of the written word so I can only assume some pre-purchase checking has gone ahead here.

Having done this and given that the screen & the keyboard are probably the two most important elements of a laptop for the user, it defies belief that one would go ahead with such a significant purchase knowing that one or both of these key elements are in their opinion sub-standard.

Again, I have no problem with people being upset at the resolution of the PB screens and deciding to go with a PC or delay purchase altogether; I don't happen to agree but they are perfectly entitled to their opinion. However I do find it hard to accept that a person could feel like this and go ahead with the purchase anyway, using the new machine to complain about its screen on a Mac BB.

So okay I accept - but do not concur with - the negative opinion of the screen resolution but I am suspicious of the scenario being painted here.

Vanilla

 

[john1123]

All the mac "cult" who criticized ME for complaining about the screen, I am sure will be the first ones who praise apple when the screen is updated.

Nevertheless the rest of the package is great. But I am not a mac-brainwashed person. i am a practical woman working in the real world.

I like my PB, but love it? Comeon. Give me DP g4 , a reasonable FSB (not antiquated), and an average screen and I will love it.

The screen stinks, and when apple does update it, all the mac people being critical here will all praise apple I bet.

I wouldn't say that people at macrumors are 'mac-brainwashed', of course we're biased but this is a mac forum so what do you expect?

But WHY did you buy a PowerBook if you don't like it? i mean didn't you check out the computer before you bought it? Why spend $2000+ on something you cannot stop criticizing?

 

[devman]

I don't think there's much "mac cult" in this thread at all. You posted inflammatory and very negative remarks about a machine you only just purchased. That doesn't make much sense to the casual reader. If you think the screen (a rather important component of a laptop) is so awful, why on earth did you buy it? (rhetorical) What other kind of comments did you expect?

When we question this it's not testosterone. It's just applying logic. But then that can appear as something else to the estrogen abundant can't it? (tongue in cheek)

 

[Bern]

All the mac "cult" who criticized ME for complaining about the screen, I am sure will be the first ones who praise apple when the screen is updated.
Caveat Emptor - buy an ibook for cheap and get a dell widescreen monitor - better than any powerbook probably....

Nevertheless the rest of the package is great. But I am not a mac-brainwashed person. i am a practical woman working in the real world.

I like my PB, but love it? Comeon. Give me DP g4 , a reasonable FSB (not antiquated), and an average screen and I will love it.

The screen stinks, and when apple does update it, all the mac people being critical here will all praise apple I bet.

I tend to agree with the other posters here. It doesn't make sense that you purchased a computer of this value without first either seeing it or at least researching it.

To be honest I don't think the resolution on the PowerBook is that bad. Frankly I'd prefer to be running OSX with it's beautiful icons and graphics rather than a pc running cartoonish and gawdy XP.

Your other option is to sell the Mac and buy a pc.

On another note why do you make sexist comments? It doesn't get your point across and makes you sound irrational. Perhaps thats how you came to make your purchase?

 

[bousozoku]

All the mac "cult" who criticized ME for complaining about the screen, I am sure will be the first ones who praise apple when the screen is updated.
Caveat Emptor - buy an ibook for cheap and get a dell widescreen monitor - better than any powerbook probably....

Nevertheless the rest of the package is great. But I am not a mac-brainwashed person. i am a practical woman working in the real world.

I like my PB, but love it? Comeon. Give me DP g4 , a reasonable FSB (not antiquated), and an average screen and I will love it.

The screen stinks, and when apple does update it, all the mac people being critical here will all praise apple I bet.

I bought a 1.33 GHz 15.2 inch PowerBook in the last month after looking at a certain HP/Compaq model with the 14 inch widescreen for a very long time.

I'm not sure what's so bad about the PB display. It's certainly not as glamourous as the display on the HP/Compaq and it doesn't have as many pixels but it has nice colour depth without an extra plastic coating to add contrast. It also has one of the nicest portable graphics chipsets on the market to drive it.

I guess you'll call me a fanboy (which I'm definitely not) but I like this PowerBook. If there is a drawback, it's the trackpad not the display but that's been a problem for a long time.

Why did you keep the machine or, for that matter, buy it in the first place? You don't sound all that practical keeping it. I could understand if you bought the thing as an impulse and didn't like it but to research it ahead of time and not like it, I'm surprised.

 

[bbyrdhouse]

I am sure that there is some testosterone induced arrogance, not to mention cult-like mac worship here, but anybody could opbjectively tell you that for the price, the screen is really a major downside, the resolution is really a "last generation" type of resolution for a 15" widescreen.

Maybe if objectively, we (as a mac community) looked at these issues and communicated with apple (i.e. demanded better), then maybe we would get even BETTER products. I mean, come on, look at the specs of the screen. Just look at them... UGH.. Again, thank goodness the rest of the package is good enough. Barely good enough (no G5), but still it is good enough.

Your nuts... the screen is fine. Better than the 17 inch flatop that came with my Dimension.

 

[wide]

you should have waited for the next screens....15 inch high-def

i must admit that my 600m's resolution is much betters than apple's 15 inch powerbook's res, but i don't like to compare the resolutions because the GUI is different...on windows, the start menu takes up 50 percent of the screen space sometimes (when expanded). there is no ultra-expandable menu on OS X. apple gave us expose for times when we feel we have limited screen real estate, make use of it and you will be happier with your screen (at least i would 😛 )

 

[D*I*S_Frontman]

I just ordered a 15" from a reseller and went to CompUSA to look at the screen in person. The target dpi Apple has decided to use in order to keep things consistent is more that adequate for my needs (video editing, writing, etc.). The "wow" factor of higher res, not to mention the "my specs are better than your specs" ethic, don't really mean much to me. The eye strain from trying to squint at super-res screens isn't worth it.

For me, the d*mn thing is not a toy. I don't "game" on it, and if I do brag about the machine, I'll do so for about a month at the most. After that, it becomes a productivity tool, nothing else. We all know a Mac is more than the sum of its parts--there is design synergy at work here to make the machine more secure, more user-friendly, and less suseptible to issues that might cause "down-time." A super-duper hi-res display is useless when you have a virus chomping on your hard drive.

Seeing that Macs are so much more expensive on the front end than a PC notebook, one would think most if not all prospective buyers would check one out first before dropping large coin on one. Why someone would pony up the dough for a PB and then complain about the specs is beyond me.

My new 15" and all of its current stable-mates will be yesterday's news when the next generation rolls out (G5? Dual core G4? Cell? Whatever.). But what I bought it for it will do with a high degree of reliability for 3-5 years. That's money in the bank for a creative professional. No down-time from config issues, software incompatabilities, or viral infection trumps squinty-screen res every time.

 

[Platform]

All the mac "cult" who criticized ME for complaining about the screen, I am sure will be the first ones who praise apple when the screen is updated.
Caveat Emptor - buy an ibook for cheap and get a dell widescreen monitor - better than any powerbook probably....

Nevertheless the rest of the package is great. But I am not a mac-brainwashed person. i am a practical woman working in the real world.

I like my PB, but love it? Comeon. Give me DP g4 , a reasonable FSB (not antiquated), and an average screen and I will love it.

The screen stinks, and when apple does update it, all the mac people being critical here will all praise apple I bet.

But on your desktop what screen do you have there and what res does it have 😕

 

[iGary]

I've never been impressed with Apple's portable screens.

They don't even compare to the screens on my old Sont Vaios...

I do have a 12" iBook, and the display is OK - but on a PB, I would expect more.

Hopefuly the HD rumors pan out.

 

[kirk26]

The PB line have lousy screens. I've seen better on the WinTel platform. But that's about the only gripes I have about them. Otherwise, if you use it as a desktop replacement, you can hook up an additional display that can go past 2048x1600 in 32bit color. Dual monitor setup kicks ass on the PBs.

If it wobbles, are you sure it's not the uneven surface? Otherwise, once the PB warms up, it'll sometimes un-wobble itself.

Wow, the PB has the best screens ever. Well, not as good as WVGA. If you think that PB have lousy screens, the iBooks must be unbearable.

 

[ecosse011172]

I can't believe the crap being given to sbb155, she bought her pb and is entitled to make comments about what she does and doesn't like. Apple products are NOT beyond criticism FFS. I was looking at PBs on Saturday, thinking of getting my first Apple but reading some of the posts here would put me off if that's the way Mac users behave to new users that dare say something negative against their god-like company.

Ps. Hi everyone, My 1st post

 

[bousozoku]

I can't believe the crap being given to sbb155, she bought her pb and is entitled to make comments about what she does and doesn't like. Apple products are NOT beyond criticism FFS. I was looking at PBs on Saturday, thinking of getting my first Apple but reading some of the posts here would put me off if that's the way Mac users behave to new users that dare say something negative against their god-like company.

Ps. Hi everyone, My 1st post

I think a lot of people think that Apple do no wrong but it's obviously not the case. Those people generally attack anything that goes against what they want to believe but the experience is somewhat intoxicating. Then again, I could swear my last PB gave me a hangover. 😡 😛

By the way, welcome!

 

[Vanilla]

I can't believe the crap being given to sbb155, she bought her pb and is entitled to make comments about what she does and doesn't like. Apple products are NOT beyond criticism FFS. I was looking at PBs on Saturday, thinking of getting my first Apple but reading some of the posts here would put me off if that's the way Mac users behave to new users that dare say something negative against their god-like company.

Ps. Hi everyone, My 1st post

Look, given that one of the most important elements of a laptop is the screen you are going to have your face close to most of the day (the other being the keyboard you will be typing on), if you went into an Apple shop, looked at a Powerbook and thought "that screen really sucks", would you really decide to go ahead and buy it anyway and complain about the screen on a Mac users BB??

Alternatively, would you really purchase an expensive laptop WITHOUT doing any such checks beforehand?

Of course people are entitled to their own negative opinions of the screen or anything else about the Mac experience for that matter and they should be welcomed into discussions. But really, this particular scenario just doesn't make sense.

Vanilla

 

[sushi]

the screen is really a major downside, the resolution is really a "last generation" type of resolution for a 15" widescreen.

sbb155, you have to realize that it all depends on personal preference.

Why do some folks prefer the 14 inch iBook vice the 12 inch version? Both have the same screen resolution, yet the 14 inch iBook sells very well even though it's resolution is very low compared to the size of the screen.

Personally, I am very happy with the resolution of my PB15. I wouldn't want the pixels to be any smaller. Otherwise it would be hard to read, in my case.

Sushi

 

[ecosse011172]

Fair enough, the screen is easy to test but there aren't always Apple dealers close to everyone. Anyway, the abuse was too much of someone only expressing an opinion.

Look, given that one of the most important elements of a laptop is the screen you are going to have your face close to most of the day (the other being the keyboard you will be typing on), if you went into an Apple shop, looked at a Powerbook and thought "that screen really sucks", would you really decide to go ahead and buy it anyway and complain about the screen on a Mac users BB??

Alternatively, would you really purchase an expensive laptop WITHOUT doing any such checks beforehand?

Of course people are entitled to their own negative opinions of the screen or anything else about the Mac experience for that matter and they should be welcomed into discussions. But really, this particular scenario just doesn't make sense.

Vanilla

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

I can't believe the crap being given to sbb155, she bought her pb and is entitled to make comments about what she does and doesn't like. [...]

Are we not allowed to answer those criticisms with questions, opinions, and comments of our own?

 

[ecosse011172]

Of course but the following 2 'comments' :
"Your nuts... the screen is fine"
"quit crying about it and find a solution that works for you."
are aggrressive and personal and several of the replies stank of "How dare you say something negative about a powebook, If you don't like it, take it back and leave us alone you heathen, what's wrong with you"

Are we not allowed to answer those criticisms with questions, opinions, and comments of our own?

 

[chrismcdowell25]

20 inch

I have the 20 inch cinema display which is 1680x1050 and my 15 inch powerbook and I think the quality is about the same. The 20 inch has a larger screen and needs the higher resolution. The powerbook has a smaller screen and thus needs a smaller resolution. It is all about the density that the screen has and I think all apple displays have about the same density of pixels.