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Observations from the Powerbook 800 Mhz

A

anastasis

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2002
93
4
Houston, TX
I have now had the notebook for two days and have had a fair amount of time to get accustomed to it. I have had the privelage of using the 550 - 667 models that were just replaced and was subject to the constant running of the fan and the burnt fingertips. One thing I have noticed with the new revision is that the fan has only come on about twice and when it is on, it has not been anywhere near the temperature nor the noise level of the former models. The bottom stays fairly cool while running such programs as Virtual PC and iMovie. That is a major plus and one of the primary reasons as to why I waited for the new revisions.

Another observation is the new resolution screen. I recall the former models screen not being as brilliant as all of the other screens that Apple has to offer, such as the iBook and their LCD's. With the new screen resolution and brightness, it looks just as good as their other monitors and is as crisp as can be. Another huge plus that was originally keeping from the original model.

The new 32 MB DDR RAM ATI Radeon 7500 is simply awesome. I had a GeForce 2 MX 32 MB in my tower and was getting around 40 - 45 FPS in Unreal Tournament at a 1028 x 768 resolution. With the new video card in the TiBook my first tests have shown in the 50 - 60 range. Very impressive for a notebook even though a PC currently can get the 64 MB cards, but that is not why I bought a computer. games are just icing on the cake.

Finally, the 800mhz processor. I had the 733 Quicksilver (now on ebay) and it was nice, but the 800 with the L3 cahce added on is really blowing the socks off that tower. Overall I think that Apple did a great job with this new revision. They addressed the four things that kept me from buying a 667....

1.) Heat Issues
2.) Screen Brightness and resolution
3.) Video Card (the 16 MB was pidly)
4.) Faster Processor

Bravo! Apple. Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see what MWNY will bring, even though I won't be able to afford anything that they announce becuase of the price for on these puppies.

Give some feedback....
 
Krossfyter: That is great that you are damn happy.

By the way, my cousins were raised in Kingsville, TX. I have been there many a time. I think their dad actually held some office there actually. Last name Rosse.
 
A COOLER RUNNING CHIP - NOW, THAT IS AN IMPROVEMENT WHICH CAN TRANSLATE TO MORE BATTERY TIME ON THE ROAD
 
Speaking of battery life... now that you've had your PB for a couple of days, have you noted how much battery life you are getting with typical use? Please let us know.
 
Originally posted by Ensign Paris
my PB500G4 just died (some problem with RAM) and I am going to prey they replace it.

Ensign
Click to expand...

what happened to it???

btw....I'm jealous as hell of anastasis.....hope u enjoy the new Ti!! :p
 
The heat/battery life issues were on my list of things to watch out for, too.

If this one performs like you say it does, I'm going to have to reconsider not getting one.
 
Originally posted by anastasis
Krossfyter: That is great that you are damn happy.

By the way, my cousins were raised in Kingsville, TX. I have been there many a time. I think their dad actually held some office there actually. Last name Rosse.
Click to expand...


are you serious? man. thats interesting. you are the second person on here who not only knows about the podunk town called "kingsville" but has actually been here. thats cool. thanks for sharing. its to dang hot here and im tired of seeing so many huge trucks. some of the owners have parking problems.

if one is going to own a huge freking truck...one should know how to park it.

heh.
 
Must say I'm jealous at all you PB users. I crave for one myself, money issues still keep me from buying.

oh heck, maybe in the future when Apple releases a PB G5@1,5Ghz I will have the cash:D
 
on the subject of prices i was comparing the 800MHz TiBook to the old 667MHz TiBook. here in Australia the old 667's were $6995 and the old 500's before that were $6449. that's a fairly big price difference, so i was kinda surprised that the 800 is even more expensive- $7395. i can understand that new technology costs a bit, but the prices just keep going up! is Apple ever going to have a set price, or is the next TiBook going to cost $7700???:mad:
 
The only time that I have a problem with heat is when I was trying out Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Other than playing games, the Ti has been just barely warm to the touch. Oh yeah, and even with tony HAwk going at full speed, I can still barely hear the fan.

If anyone has been worrying about heat issues, it is not an issue anymore. It does get hot when playing games, but that is about it.

As far as the battery goes, I have nothing to compare it to. I guess if I think about the time that I was using it at work, I was getting a 3 to 3.5 hour battery life. That is good enough for me becuase I am never in a place where I do not have power outlet. At work I have one, at home, in the car (I have a Matrix!!). So battery life is not that big of a problem.

Keep the questions coming and I will try my best to answer them.
 
so while playing games it heats, then it is really the graphics card that heats your baby, and not the G4 chip itself.
But if future X releases the graphics cards will be used more extensively to make the aqua (or whatever the sucessor will be) run smoother, heat will be an issue again.

Aren't carbon apps running fully on the processor (so not taking advantage of the graph card for graphics), and cocoa apps use the graph cards for graphics?
I thought I saw a thread some time ago that discussed this.
 
I heard somewhere that there was a problem with the TiBooks with a Gig of Ram. I saw on your sig that you have 512. One chip or two? Obviously your not having problems, but has anyone else heard of any sort of compatibility problems with the PB's and a gig of Ram?

If and when I get one I want to max the ram, but I don't want that to be a problem.

Thanks for the heat and battery updates.

Have you had a chance to see the video out using the DVI?
 
anastasis, good to hear some real world feedback about the new TiBook. I am about to pick up mine (within the next few days). I will have 768MB of RAM in it (using one 512 PC133 from before, and one of the two 256MB sticks that come in the unit. I will hold onto the spare 256 until I decide if I need to go to 1GB or not. If I don't, then I will be looking to sell the 256 chip.

BTW, peecee video cards are up to 128MB of DDR memory. ATI has one out, and I believe that nVidia has one as well, if not, then soon. ATI will be releasing a 128MB DDR card for Mac's, but I do not recall any details about when it will be here (411 from a person that has contacts).
 
Originally posted by krossfyter



are you serious? man. thats interesting. you are the second person on here who not only knows about the podunk town called "kingsville" but has actually been here. thats cool. thanks for sharing. its to dang hot here and im tired of seeing so many huge trucks. some of the owners have parking problems.

if one is going to own a huge freking truck...one should know how to park it.

heh.
Click to expand...

so you live in a podunk town, too

i live in a suburb of monterey, ca which would be a completely unknown podunk town too except for the fact that we once made history with the monterey pop festival in 1967 when jimi hendrix burned his guitar

otherwise, nothing has happened here in the 20th century that is of any note

...and we have too many large trucks and SUVs which are not driven by the most skilled drivers

my theory on that is because monterey has 38,000 people and covers a large area, the density is so low that we never had to learn to drive really straight since there was so much elbow room

everybody has at least one dent on their vehicles due to other vehicles being driven by bad drivers, dents from shopping carts in parking lots, or from pine cones falling from trees which drop cones

the raised truck thing is very popular and the higher the truck, the younger and more inexperienced the driver and when i see these pre-pubes on the road, i get the heck out of the way;)

ps - i propose a new law in california...if you are not showing signs of facial or underarm hair, then you do not deserve a license
 
Games won't play at full height?

When you play a Mac OS 9 game, like UT or Descent 3, does it

a) Fill the whole screen stretched

b) Leave black at the sides like older TiBooks

c) Have black margins ALL the way around

?

I've heard that it's c, but would like to know before I buy. Supposedly all 4:3 games run in a little 12" window in the middle of the screen! (Unless they explicitly support stretching--which is rare.) I hope that's not true.

See here for discussion of this important gaming issue, and links to relevant Apple tech docs:
http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3928

Thanks for any info!
 
Originally posted by jefhatfield
...and we have too many large trucks and SUVs which are not driven by the most skilled drivers

my theory on that is because monterey has 38,000 people and covers a large area, the density is so low that we never had to learn to drive really straight since there was so much elbow room

everybody has at least one dent on their vehicles due to other vehicles being driven by bad drivers, dents from shopping carts in parking lots, or from pine cones falling from trees which drop cones

the raised truck thing is very popular and the higher the truck, the younger and more inexperienced the driver and when i see these pre-pubes on the road, i get the heck out of the way;)

ps - i propose a new law in california...if you are not showing signs of facial or underarm hair, then you do not deserve a license
Click to expand...

LOL!!! You should try Hawaii, where it's possible to get your license at 15 and 2 weeks! Truly a scary place to drive...:rolleyes:
 
When you play a Mac OS 9 game, like UT or Descent 3, does it

a) Fill the whole screen stretched

b) Leave black at the sides like older TiBooks

c) Have black margins ALL the way around

?
Click to expand...

It still leaves the black lines on the side.
 
No black at top/bottom?

Quote:
It still leaves the black lines on the side.

Hmmm... ONLY on the sides, no black at top/bottom? If so, Apple's tech docs are wrong, and in this case that is JUST what I want to hear.

Did you have to do anything to get to that mode? Or the games just naturally came up with no black at top/bottom? (Or had you previously applied a hack for these games on an older PowerBook, so that's still working now?)

Many thanks for the reports!
 
As far as I remember there were only lines at the sides to fill in the screen. I had everything set to high quality and the resolution was at 1024 x 768, which theoretically should have put lines at the top and bottom. I will have to double check though. I was not using any hacks whatsoever.
 
43 pix

Sounds good so far... the bars at top and bottom would each be 43 pixels--I think you'd have noticed! perhaps Apple needs to update the docs...
 
Originally posted by jefhatfield


so you live in a podunk town, too

i live in a suburb of monterey, ca which would be a completely unknown podunk town too except for the fact that we once made history with the monterey pop festival in 1967 when jimi hendrix burned his guitar

otherwise, nothing has happened here in the 20th century that is of any note

...and we have too many large trucks and SUVs which are not driven by the most skilled drivers

my theory on that is because monterey has 38,000 people and covers a large area, the density is so low that we never had to learn to drive really straight since there was so much elbow room

everybody has at least one dent on their vehicles due to other vehicles being driven by bad drivers, dents from shopping carts in parking lots, or from pine cones falling from trees which drop cones

the raised truck thing is very popular and the higher the truck, the younger and more inexperienced the driver and when i see these pre-pubes on the road, i get the heck out of the way;)

ps - i propose a new law in california...if you are not showing signs of facial or underarm hair, then you do not deserve a license
Click to expand...



hey im down with that law. it would make our streets less annoying.
 
can anyone please clear this one up for me:

what g4-types are used in the new pbs?

is it the 7455? on both models? or just on the 800 and
the 667 still using the V'Ger??

thanx for clearing this one....
 
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