what is the problem with powerbooks ?!

As far as the metal goes, the Ti hampers wifi signals quite a bit, which is the reason for the switch.

fraeone

 

Other than the battery, I think that it is an upgrade in every way. Titanium is cool, but not practical. The hinge design on the Aluminum machines is far superior, they don't require the ugly carbon skrit around the base, and are not painted. And oh yeah, the wireless reception thing.

As for the L3 cache, it appears that increasing the L2 cache performance makes up for this. I have seen, though I forget where, benchmarks showing that the current 1ghz outspeeds the old 1ghz with L3.

 

The battery is fine. Just don't go by the calculation. I can easily get 3 hours and 45 mins before it starts to go to sleep. And this is with a printer plugged in, airport on, bluetooth OFF if you're not using it, safari and msn open.

 

wifi in a Ti... anyone have a metal roof? How does this affect your connection?

I have one house with an airport extreme (and shingle roofing) that it works fine, as well as cell phones.

however, you would be hard pressed to get cell phone service in my other house (which has a metal roof)

I'll experiment this weekend when i get down there, but I was wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this

(if so, what type & gauge is your metal roofing?)

 

metal roof

I have a metal roof with an Apple Airport 802.11b. Not sure it affects anything, but the range on the 802.11b is limited. I'm imminently getting 802.11g, so I'm hoping that'll improve the situation dramatically (so I can work on the deck outside, and in the MBR).

As for cell phone usage. My AT&T (crooks) cell was borderline (unusable) in my home, but my new T-Mobile works five bar in the home! No metal roof problem there.

I have no idea on gauge, etc..

Good luck!

 

Re: what is the problem with powerbooks ?!

Nobody will argue that the battery life could use some improvement, but I think you're trying to evaluate the new PowerBooks superficially.

The new Aluminum exteriors are really nice, and as someone else mentioned, permit better 802.11 reception. They also don't have to be painted (many Titanium PowerBooks have had problems with flaking paint). I wouldn't buy a computer with an "expensive metal" case if it caused additional problems like that.

The lack of an L3 cache has also been addressed; it appears to have little impact on the performance of the processors. The consequences aren't clear, but it's not a definite loss.

Don't try to judge it by the numbers. Go try one out, and I doubt you'll be able to resist -- it's quite fast, well-built, and looks great. I bought a 12" PowerBook in January, and I'm already contemplating an upgrade ...

 

The aluminum case seems to be of higher quality, you don't need the L3 since it is already a lot faster than the previous machines, and the battery life is not that difficult to get into the 4 hour range. If you are going to criticize the PowerBook, then try to do a bit of research on them.