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Couple PowerBook questions

post #1 of 12
1/18/06 at 1:27am
Thread Starter 
Ok, I've decided that I'm going to get a 12" Powerbook. I'm getting it primarily for portability reasons and I'll be getting a monster PC desktop when I really need some power. Anywho, it's $1099 for the 1.5GHZ G4 with 60GB HD and Combo Drive. Just wondering if anyone thinks it's worth spending the extra $100 and getting the SuperDrive and an extra 20GB HD space. Keeping in mind that I'll have a desktop with a nice 300GB HD and a DVD burner. It's only an extra 100$ and it would be nice to have those things...what would you do?

Also, anyone predicting a price drop in the current PowerBooks any time soon due to the new MacBooks coming out?
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post #2 of 12
1/18/06 at 1:43am
i doubt a price drop....

as for the nice features....depends, $100 for a dual layer dvd burner and a bigger hdd is tempting, and is actually a resonable price too.... up to you. I would go for it just because of the hard drive because like everey one else, i bought a drive that i thought would be enough for me (60gb) but now i am kinda short on space.... sadly i can't afford to get a 100gb replacement right now...maybe down the road a bit.
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post #3 of 12
1/18/06 at 1:53am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, it's primarily for the bigger HD. As far as I can tell, I don't see anything else (graphics card, etc.) that would merit the extra price. I'm more so concerned about performance than anything. If it had a 1.67 rather than a 1.5 I'd be all over it!
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post #4 of 12
1/18/06 at 12:25pm
I would pay the extra $100, because you now have the capability to burn dvds which is always nice. Plus, I thought 80GB was enough for me, but I seem to be burning a lot of cds/dvds lately. Also, consider the cost of how much an 80GB hard drive will cost alone if you do end up changing your mind.
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post #5 of 12
1/18/06 at 2:06pm
Thread Starter 
That's true. I'll most likely end up going with the 80 gig HD just because I have a LOT of music and videos and I want to primarliy use this as my portable multimedia center. Prolly go with the 80 gig then upgrade the RAM a couple months down the road and call it at that.
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post #6 of 12
1/30/06 at 8:14pm
what's the word on battery life?
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post #7 of 12
1/30/06 at 8:39pm
You should probably either get a MacBook or wait until the 12" books are Intel based. Otherwise you will start having issues in the future since all new Mac software will be x86 and also the new versions of current Mac apps (like Adobe Illustrator) will be x86.
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post #8 of 12
1/30/06 at 11:04pm
They'll be fat binaries for years to come. That basically means regardless of the computer being PPC or Intel, the software will work on either.
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post #9 of 12
1/31/06 at 1:46am
Thread Starter 
Running Safari, iTunes, Backlight (programs that uses the "Flurry" screen saver as an active desktop pattern-very cool), and having several widgets running, I've gotten about 3.5 hours out of it without dying. Battery life is excellent thus far!

Quote:
Originally Posted by garygchouvln
what's the word on battery life?
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post #10 of 12
1/31/06 at 7:42pm
How's the heat from the laptop so far (Approximate on time if you know)? I've read on some forums that it can be too hot to put on your lap. I peronsally think it would be warm (Not enough to make you sweat), but I haven't had the luxury of holding a laptop with the battery present. Also, how's the WiFi reception? Again read posts stating that signal was poorer (Relative to iBooks, etc) even if you were beside your wireless modem/router. Do you ever get "Excellent" reception?

Waiting twomonths is HELL I tell you, especially now that the referbs at apple.ca are starting to change/disappear for a few days at a time.
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post #11 of 12
1/31/06 at 9:52pm
Thread Starter 
I've sat with it on my lap running only on battery for a solid 2 hours + and didn't have any problems. Sure, it get's warm, just like any other laptop, but I think it's actually cooler compared to my Inspiron 6000. Definately not going to melt your skin like some people seem to think.

The WiFi reception has also been excellent so far. I'm never really too far from the router, but it comes in very good to excellent all the time.

I'll post a full review sometime this week when I'm not feeling too lazy.
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post #12 of 12
2/1/06 at 3:00am
When it's running at 100 percent it can get kind of hot, but if you've already had it on your lap from when it was cooler it's not as noticeable as if you were to touch it after it's already at 140 degrees.

Also a thin layer of fabric does a lot to insulate you from the temperature too.
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