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Powerbook G4 15" Resolution

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macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 13, 2004
204
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Toronto, Canada
Hello all, first post here. Not sure if this is a stupid question but I am looking to get G4 Powerbook for a graphic design program I am taking next year in university.

The one thing that hasn't impressed me at all on the Powerbook is the 1280 x 854 resolution. I am used to working at 1600x1200 on my pc at home.

My question is (because its known be to be done on some monitors) is there any sort of hack to increase this resolution, even one step up?

Thanks.
 
There's something you should know about displays. if the Pixles Per Inch (PPI) is more than about 100, you can actually hurt your eyes by straining them too much. I too was very disappointed with the resolutions on apple's monitors until I did some research on them, which lead me to the conclusion that 100 PPI is the happy ergonomic medium between too little screen realestate and too much. I've been using my 15" TiBook 800MHz DVI 1280 x 854 for 2 years now, and I can tell you that I'm not suffering for pixles. The fact that it's widescreen makes up for any lack of vertical resolution, since it's better suited for how the human eye acutually views things.

That being siad, the best advice I can give you is to go to your local apple retailer and test out a 15" AlBook, since the display is the same as on the older 15" TiBook. If you still don't like the screen resolution, i'd be surprised.


http://www.apple.com/ca/displays/technology.html
 
what size monitor are you using on your PC? it's not very good having 1600x1200 on a 15" screen. i've got a PB, it's a very good res to work on. and with the PowerBooks you can use a dual-monitor setup if you really need space.
 
I compeptely agree with what outerspaceapple said. It also seems to me that most PC users I talk to seem to be so proud of their high resolution but every current Mac I have used has a very comfortable resolution for many different applications including photoshop. Don't worry about it and as someone else said you can always get an external monitor.
 
it's not that I am so proud of my resolution. I just like to have alot of space when i work. Less scrolling the better. I mean when building a site say in dreamweaver when u add the panels and toolbars, 1280 x 850 isnt all that much space.

I am not too worried about straining my eyes though haha. I have been using 1600x1200 for over 2 years now extensively and my vision is perfect. Ill never move down on my main pc for sure. I think right now its at 96 ppi.


I checked in a mac store today but the people there were extremely unhelpfull and then I wondered why I even went to the store. It seems that every mac reteller sells things for the exact same price as apple does which i find absolutely pointless. I wasn't all that impressed with the resolution on the powerbook in person, but I will probably end up getting it and making the dock as small as possible to conserve space.

Main reason is only to avoid any confusion down the road while in the graphic design program, since they use macs and all. Anyways was just hoping there was some sort of hack to increase the res, to maybe even what the 17" powerbooks support, 1440 by 960 i think it is. Just seems odd that a computer company who has a significantly large part of the graphics industry dosnt support anything higher :-/

I am sure I can adjust. I will probably end up plugging it into my 19" pc monitor when I am not using the pc.

Not trying to start any debates or anything, but it seems that alot of mac users seem to take great pride (ive noticed in a ton of people signatures) in bashing the pc and microsoft. Isn't that kind of childish?
 
The dock doesn't need to be on the screen. Go Apple menu, Dock, Turn hiding on.

Now, the dock is below the screen out of site. To bring it up simply move the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and it pops up. Move the mouse off and it goes back into hiding. I myself use this all the time.

I go a step further, too. I don't even have my HD icon visible on the desktop. I just click on the finder button in the dock when I need to access my files.

In short, I have NOTHING visible on my desktop... no icons, no dock, etc. This leaves me free and clear for app windows.

Cheers,

James
 
Thanks for the info James. I will probably end up setting mine up similar.

Any idea how long apple takes to ship? I may order it next week. Also does it take longer to ship it if your customizing it from the default specs on the site? The guy at this store I was at made it sound like if you changed parts (like i want to drop the super drive, upgrade the video and hard drive) that it would be some special order and would take longer or something.

I will be doing it thru apple.ca just cause of the student discounts.
 
James L said:
The dock doesn't need to be on the screen. Go Apple menu, Dock, Turn hiding on.

Now, the dock is below the screen out of site. To bring it up simply move the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and it pops up. Move the mouse off and it goes back into hiding. I myself use this all the time.

I go a step further, too. I don't even have my HD icon visible on the desktop. I just click on the finder button in the dock when I need to access my files.

In short, I have NOTHING visible on my desktop... no icons, no dock, etc. This leaves me free and clear for app windows.

Cheers,

James
Click to expand...

I find hiding the dock is a pain for me, for if I go to far to the bottom it pops up when I don't want it too. A function option that hides/unhides the dock and disables the mouse hide/unhide would be better for me.
 
Applespider said:
Or you can move the dock to the left or right. I found exactly the same problem when I had it hidden on the bottom. Now it's on the right hand side where I rarely go unless I'm looking for it
Click to expand...

Tried that, but I like them on the bottom for some reason. Maybe I should try it again sometime again.
 
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