Two PB Questions

[avalys]

I've decided to buy a PowerBook in a few weeks, since I doubt anything new will be coming out for a while and I want to be able to get used to it before I go off to college. I have two quick questions:

1) How sturdy is the latch on this thing? The one on the demo model in CompUSA looked pretty flimsy - I could open the laptop with the latch engaged just by applying a little extra force. The Apple guy there said it was broken, but it seemed that they were all like that.

2) Is the Superdrive worth it? It seems that in addition to being more expensive than the Combo drive, it's slower at burning CD-R[W]'s! Is this true? How noticeable is the speed difference for CD-R[W]'s on the Superdrive compared to the combo?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Applespider]

1) How sturdy is the latch on this thing? The one on the demo model in CompUSA looked pretty flimsy - I could open the laptop with the latch engaged just by applying a little extra force.

Except you won't be doing that with your own! Mine's fine - it stays closed when I want it to close and opens when I want it to open. Most of the time your Book will be either open or closed - and if you're carrying it around it should be in a sleeve or bag so no problems

2) Is the Superdrive worth it? It seems that in addition to being more expensive than the Combo drive, it's slower at burning CD-R[W]'s! Is this true?

Think it depends how many CDs/DVDs you want to burn. I got the Superdrive since there are occasions when I want to transfer large amounts of info to a single disc. I burn the occasional CD but fewer than when I used to do compilations to listen to on the go. Again, for the frequency I use it , the speed is irrelevant. Now, if I was burning CDs two or three times a day, then yes, the speed is more important

 

[aricher]

No problems with my latch either - I wouldn't worry about it. I did buy AppleCare which is a "piece of mind" factor when buying a laptop. I'd reccomend getting some other kind of insurance as well to cover serious user-caused damage or theft.

As far as the DVD burning ability goes, you can do one of two things - get the superdrive or get an external. Personally I love having the superdrive as it allows for large backups and I don't have to lug around an extra peripheral.

 

[sandmann41]

I'd reccomend getting some other kind of insurance as well to cover serious user-caused damage or theft.

Can you get insurance on laptops?

 

[danielfe]

I have the 15inch and the latch worked fine. well. . . it broke when i dropped the computer from a couple feet but that was my fault. . .
there are cases when the latch pops open when you close it, but after using for a bit that stops.



I went with the combo drive so I could read CD's faster. If you have another way to burn DVD's it probobly faster than the one that they put in the laptops. Maybe you could use the money saved by getting a combo towards and external drive.

 

[sandmann41]

I went with the combo drive so I could read CD's faster. If you have another way to burn DVD's it probobly faster than the one that they put in the laptops. Maybe you could use the money saved by getting a combo towards and external drive.

That was my exact thinking, I rip and burn cds way more than I burn DVDs. I have a dvd burner in my PC, but if I need one for my powerbook I can just get an internal.

 

[avalys]

I went with the combo drive so I could read CD's faster.

The Apple site says both read CD's at 24x. Is that incorrect? Was it different on the older models?

Also, I just realized that I had a third question: does the 5400rpm hard drive reduce battery life by any appreciable amount?

 

[aricher]

sandmann41 - yes you can get insurance on laptops - and it covers severe damage - they'll even give you an estimate on their website

http://www.safeware.com/

 

[wide]

The Apple site says both read CD's at 24x. Is that incorrect? Was it different on the older models?

Also, I just realized that I had a third question: does the 5400rpm hard drive reduce battery life by any appreciable amount?

I think it is correct to say they both read at the same speed, but they write at different speeds.

The 5400 RPM drive shouldn't reduce battery life at all really...it does spin faster, but it will be spinning for less time than the 4200 RPM drive. In the end they are both spinning the same amount of times...so the power consumption should also be the same for each drive.

 

[Elbeano]

I will post my thoughts on the issue at hand. I got one of the 12" 1.33ghz PB's the week they came out.

As far as the latch is concerned, mine has been a major annoyance. Within a week of having it my latch was no longer functional. About 70% of the time it would not close at all. When it did close, it would pop open easily. I sent it back to apple, they had it for a week and a half, and did not even replace the latch. They bent it a little bit, which is what I read they would do, but they didn't even replace it. Obviously, I was pretty bothered by the time I finally got it back (at this point apple had it in their posession longer than I had). The latch was a little more effective, but not to the point that I would like it. Within a week it was worse than when I sent it in the first place. The second time I sent it back, it was sent to a seperate place in tennesse where they send repairs if they get sent in for the same thing for a second time. I don't know which bothers me more, the fact that I had to send it back for the same thing, or the fact that they have a place specifically for things that don't get taken care of the first time you send it to them. This time it was back the round trip was monday afternoon to wednesday morning. Not too bad, and they actually replaced the latch that time. However, the screen came back slightly warped, so now when it's closed it rattles around a little bit because it frowns in the middle and the little plastic bumpers on the sides don't touch. The latch is effective about 90% of the time now, but it still occaisionally pops open when I'm carrying it around, or if I put it into my laptop case in a certain direction. Annoying? Yes. However, I love everything else about it so much that I almost don't care. Almost.

Oh, and I wouldn't worry about the super drive with the dual layer drives coming out soon, because you'll want to get them anyway. The super drive adds 200 dollars to the price obviously, which I think would be much better spent on the 5400 rpm hard drive upgrade. That said after having used the 4200 one for a month and a half now.

 

[arcuddihy]

I can't comment on the Superdrive quesiton, but I can say that I had some problems with the latch myself. I took it in twice to try to have the problem fixed but the repair shop just took a cursory interest in it. It wasn't until I got the screen replaced (because of the "White spot" problem that plagued the first 15" AL PB's that came out) that the latch problem was fixed. Been fine ever since.

 

[slooksterPSV]

1) People use the computers at stores like that and they break because people just push them around, have no common decency. Little kids will break things like that believe me. Every laptop comes brand new and sturdy, don't base your decision on something that has probably been sitting out for a year or more.

2) The reason the CD burning may be slower is because if you integrate DVD Burning + CD Burning you can't exactly have the fastest on the market with a Combination of DVD Burning and CD Burning. Its slower because it has to read what kind of CD it is and since it has DVD burning it has to accomodate for that.

Sorry if I seem kinda rude, just a bad day today . Hope that answers your question

 

[vocaro]

The 5400 RPM drive shouldn't reduce battery life at all really...it does spin faster, but it will be spinning for less time than the 4200 RPM drive. In the end they are both spinning the same amount of times...so the power consumption should also be the same for each drive.

Uh...no. If the drive only spins when reading and writing, this might be true (assuming that the energy required to turn at the faster speed is directly proportional to the increase in speed, which it probably isn't). But of course, drives do not instantly stop spinning when a read/write request completes, so a faster drive does not spin for less time than a slower one. Of course, the friction of those drives is so low that the increased power consumption might not make much of a difference in terms of battery life.

Trevor

 

[legion]

17"PB RevB latch pops opens all the time and sometimes just doesn't close. We've taken to using a rubberband to keep it closed.

 

[wide]

Uh...no. If the drive only spins when reading and writing, this might be true (assuming that the energy required to turn at the faster speed is directly proportional to the increase in speed, which it probably isn't). But of course, drives do not instantly stop spinning when a read/write request completes, so a faster drive does not spin for less time than a slower one. Of course, the friction of those drives is so low that the increased power consumption might not make much of a difference in terms of battery life.

Trevor

whatever... tests show that the 5400 rpm hd equipped powerbooks get the same battery life as the pbook with the 4200 rpm drive. anyhow, i believe what i said is correct in a sense: the 5400 rpm drive can bring up files faster than the 4200 rpm drive, so when you are on the road with a 5400 rpm drive in your computer you will get less wait time than if you had a 4200 rpm drive, resulting in better battery life.

 

[slooksterPSV]

whatever... tests show that the 5400 rpm hd equipped powerbooks get the same battery life as the pbook with the 4200 rpm drive. anyhow, i believe what i said is correct in a sense: the 5400 rpm drive can bring up files faster than the 4200 rpm drive, so when you are on the road with a 5400 rpm drive in your computer you will get less wait time than if you had a 4200 rpm drive, resulting in better battery life.

You've got a point there in the sense that the faster the files load up and the less time you take to load up files then the less energy you waste waiting for files to come up. But other than that, I agree that it would take more power to spin a 5400 RPM drive compared to a 4200 RPM drive.