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Apple Powerbook G4 - Review

post #1 of 152
12/4/04 at 12:31am
Thread Starter 
Introduction:
I just recieved my applepowerbook g4 today. First everything was neatly packed and very professionally done. I mean there was nothing floating in the case. Everything looked very expensive.

Package: Was very very nice. The box was unique unlike sager and other computer brands apple decorates there box with the powerbook u buy. When u opened the box everything was neatly packed in a seprate compartement. it had everything dvi cable, s-video cable, dial up line, ac adapter wich is very very light and other stuff.

Laptop speed: I must say this powerbook g4 1.33ghz is no different from my 17inch 1.5ghz. The reason the 1.5ghz is really a 1.4ghz so there is no differnce at all between the speed. The laptop is as fast as a penium 4 2.4ghz wich is a decent speed. It is pretty fast and is very responsive. it opens applications in a giffy without hesitaion.

Heat/Fan speed: HAHAH what fan?? First of all people who a windows laptop and if they think their centrino laptop is quite wait to u see this notebook. This notebook Is basicly fanless. The fan never comes on when doing renderingm photoshop, intensive tasks, anything u can basicly think off. When plying games the fan still does not come on. The fan only come on when playing a game for more than 1 hour 30 minutes. Then after that the fan comes off and never comes on agian until u game even longer. You may ask how is that possible? Well apple was clever on this i must say. The alunium casing is a whole big heat sink so it absorbs the heat. I know what u mean u may say it get really hot. I must admit it does not get hot but it does run rather very warm. I guess thats what u scarifice for having the first quitest fastest notebook in the world.

Lcd: I like the lcd Its very good. The brighness is just perfect and the resoultion is excellent. There is very little or no ghosting in the lcd at all.

Case: The case acts just like giant heat sink so theres no fan noise what so ever. Just to add something the fan isnt on about 99.99 percent of the time thats how quite it is. The case is also ver sturdy and is scratch resistent. I must say apple makes the coolest notebooks ever and by the way i love the little glowing apple logo on the back of the screen.

I also love the superdrive wich I can just insert cds inside without opening and messing around with a tray..

Overall Rating 10/10
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post #2 of 152
12/4/04 at 1:28am
Congratulations a lot on your new system. You get what you pay for (specially with Apple computers). I wouldn't give a 10 to any computer in the world, I think. On any, I can point something that is better on other computer. Since 10 is the maximum grade you can assign, you will pretty much be always unfair if you assign 10 to anything. For example: a Toshiba Portègè 100 is far more portable than your notebook. So, your computer is not the best in every aspect (which automatically takes the 10 out). Sorry, this is just me and my rational thoughts...

Mine also came in a sturdy box (I just don't mind getting a common brown box, as long as the computer is OK), inside another box, with separate compartments and all cables/CDs/stickers...

Superdrive is good. Less chances to broke... I prefer tray, though. I had lots of slot drives that got the motor broke....... Better than PC? Maybe for some people. Far better? I doubt.

I'm sure you got a good (specially lookings) computer. Enjoy. Now, the joke: no wonder you didn't say the price Oh, I forgot: "if you need to ask, you can't afford it"...
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post #3 of 152
12/4/04 at 1:39am

Glad You like the Powerbook But....

But An Apple is the minority of the computer world! Buisness and school now use mostly Windows machines. Sorry Apple people but windows won a long time ago.
Windows has the most software written for it. I never recomend anyone to buy apple. NEVER. My centrino is very cool and quiet. Battery life is 4 hours, Screen is almost perfect. So whats not to like?
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post #4 of 152
12/4/04 at 1:45am
Different people like different properties in different computers, no need to bash what others like because "its a minority". It isn't like Windows is the greatest thing ever to hit computers.
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post #5 of 152
12/4/04 at 2:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmelzer2004
Different people like different properties in different computers, no need to bash what others like because "its a minority". It isn't like Windows is the greatest thing ever to hit computers.
Yes ur right AND THANKS for realzing everyone is different. I do have pc's u know i have s ton. I have an sager 4750, cl56 wich is in repairs ohh i forgot windows is soo good. also i havew a dell 9200 and a whole bucnh of other computers then I hav=e a whole bunch of macs. yes i do admit macs arent the fastest things but they came so close that its jsut about a 5% gap and they make up for that by making it so quite and so relaible espically th opertiang sytem and did I mention that I dont need a virus protection so I dont have to worry about virus. The reason why I have my laptop a 10/10 I juist never heard of a notebook so fast yet so quite I never heard of a penium m 1.6ghz fans not truning on when gaming. I think not its actually rather loud. They dont get viruses and its so thin and It has a backlight keyboard wich i forgot to mention. And its so beautiful and dosent have that ugly suction thing on the bottom wich all windows laptops basicly have becuase it doesnt need it. i would rather spend an extra few hundred dollars that Im going to use for a very long time. I had my powerbook g3 forever and not had it repaireed once, while i just bought a cl56 and it already had multiple issues and the same with my sager 4750. When will mac vs pc debate end
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post #6 of 152
12/4/04 at 2:29am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whuds
But An Apple is the minority of the computer world! Buisness and school now use mostly Windows machines. Sorry Apple people but windows won a long time ago.
Windows has the most software written for it. I never recomend anyone to buy apple. NEVER. My centrino is very cool and quiet. Battery life is 4 hours, Screen is almost perfect. So whats not to like?
Your centrino maybe quite but no where near as quite as mine. Mine can run at maxium speed withouth the fan turing on can ur do that for ohh lets ssay 24 hours. Centrino is good but it could be waay better. My chip opertates at a maxium of lik 10 watts ur is like over 25 or something like that. Centrino is toally different when running at max speed the fans go on pretty loud compared to my notebook. go enjoy it and be sure keep on scaning for viruses while im surfing the web without any worries about virsues. I can also have piece of mind that my notebook wont crash wehn writting a term paper.
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post #7 of 152
12/4/04 at 2:38am
Yeah, but can you play Half Life 2 on you mac?
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post #8 of 152
12/4/04 at 2:47am
you also paid over $2,000 for a laptop that alot of shit isn't compatible with....also i have a dell inspiron 700m that's a centrino. The fan never comes on and you can't even hear that anything is running on it. i love how mac people talk crap about windows being shitty when it takes OSX like 10 minutes to boot up and when u click stuff in there it is delayed b4 anything happens. apple's are just way over priced just like IBM.....hence why IBM is leaving the pc industry bc they can't make money selling $3,000 basic laptops.

you've also only had ur system for a day haha
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post #9 of 152
12/4/04 at 3:22am
Ya, cut the fanboyism crap already. My old 500 buck Dell desktop still beats your laptops anyday. I win.
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post #10 of 152
12/4/04 at 3:28am
here come the flames...
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post #11 of 152
12/4/04 at 4:01am
JESUS CHRIST!! IT'S SPELLED QUIET, NOT QUITE!!!!!


/sorry, it's a pet peeve. i can't stand when people misspell that.
//some people like Apple, some like PCs. whatever. no reason to fight over it.
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post #12 of 152
12/4/04 at 4:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RMHOP81
you also paid over $2,000 for a laptop that alot of shit isn't compatible with....also i have a dell inspiron 700m that's a centrino. The fan never comes on and you can't even hear that anything is running on it. i love how mac people talk crap about windows being shitty when it takes OSX like 10 minutes to boot up and when u click stuff in there it is delayed b4 anything happens. apple's are just way over priced just like IBM.....hence why IBM is leaving the pc industry bc they can't make money selling $3,000 basic laptops.

you've also only had ur system for a day haha
Pretty much every USB and Firewire device made can be used on a Mac.

OSX takes about a minute to boot up; comparable to Windows XP. I've never noticed a delay when clicking on anything.

Have you ever used a Mac? Actually, i should ask you if you've ever even seen one because it sounds like everything you know is nothing but anti-mac hearsay.

IBM will never leave the PC business because they are the most trusted maker of business computers in the world. Businesses will gladly pay 3000+ for an IBM laptop because they have a reputation for reliability.
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post #13 of 152
12/4/04 at 4:46am
hmmm i guess that's another IBM computer company that announced today that they are getting out of the PC market.
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post #14 of 152
12/4/04 at 5:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aesoprock_00
JESUS CHRIST!! IT'S SPELLED QUIET, NOT QUITE!!!!!
for the love of god, thank you.
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post #15 of 152
12/4/04 at 11:52am
I compared the powerbook 12inch, sony t150 10.6, hp dv1000 14 inch, and sony s260 13.3 at comp usa(spent about an hour running all four). First of all I don't believe the powerbook is overpriced. It is certainly price competitive to the sonys. Likes on the powerbook, build quality, dedicated video ram 64ram go 5200, impressive keypad, a very nice 12 inch notebook. Dislikes, screen not good contrast and very poor viewing angles( otherwise this notebook is at the top of my list). HP dv1000 likes, value 1350 for this 14 inch notebook, decent components for the price, nice picture on screen. Dislikes, poor viewing angles like the powerbook, somewhat large, ram runs at 266 mhz., integrated video card. Sony t150l 10.6 inch screen likes, screen view quality far surpasses the previous mentioned, very compact and surprisingly effective(keeping in mind that this is a subcompact).Key board is small but manageable, at least for my light duty typing, did I say picture quality? Dislikes, integrated video card, small hardrive and not replaceable. Since it's small size makes these dislikes unavoidable, I would have to say my dislikes for this unit are minimized by that fact. Sony s270 likes(had to test an s260 as 270 not available yet), screens on these small sonys are great with great viewing angles, 64 video ram ati 9700, configurable hd 80 gig 5400rpm, much greater capability than the t150 but of course larger unit. Dislikes, ram max at 1gig (some say you can go beyond 1 gig but I have my doubts), expensive (also applies to the t150). I definitely like the small sonys the most, just don't know if I want to pay 2 grand for a portable.
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post #16 of 152
12/4/04 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by srmz06
I compared the powerbook 12inch, sony t150 10.6, hp dv1000 14 inch, and sony s260 13.3 at comp usa(spent about an hour running all four). First of all I don't believe the powerbook is overpriced. It is certainly price competitive to the sonys. Likes on the powerbook, build quality, dedicated video ram 64ram go 5200, impressive keypad, a very nice 12 inch notebook. Dislikes, screen not good contrast and very poor viewing angles( otherwise this notebook is at the top of my list). HP dv1000 likes, value 1350 for this 14 inch notebook, decent components for the price, nice picture on screen. Dislikes, poor viewing angles like the powerbook, somewhat large, ram runs at 266 mhz., integrated video card. Sony t150l 10.6 inch screen likes, screen view quality far surpasses the previous mentioned, very compact and surprisingly effective(keeping in mind that this is a subcompact).Key board is small but manageable, at least for my light duty typing, did I say picture quality? Dislikes, integrated video card, small hardrive and not replaceable. Since it's small size makes these dislikes unavoidable, I would have to say my dislikes for this unit are minimized by that fact. Sony s270 likes(had to test an s260 as 270 not available yet), screens on these small sonys are great with great viewing angles, 64 video ram ati 9700, configurable hd 80 gig 5400rpm, much greater capability than the t150 but of course larger unit. Dislikes, ram max at 1gig (some say you can go beyond 1 gig but I have my doubts), expensive (also applies to the t150). I definitely like the small sonys the most, just don't know if I want to pay 2 grand for a portable.
Yea there not that overpriced. plus the 12inch powerbook is the first notebook to have good dedicated graphics and its pretty powerful. Go to apple.com for benchies and my powerbook g4 will actiually blow away a 3.2ghz desktop while encoding and scentific notaion and stuff liket that the stuff that I do. Yes of caorse I leave my pc to do gaming but macs are better at everything else. Thats the only reason why I have a pc is for gaming. AND AN DELL 700M IS NO WERE NEAR AS QUITE AS A POWERBOOK G4 DREAM ON MY FRIEND HAS ONE AND THE FAN IS LOUD WHEN PLAYING GAMES.
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post #17 of 152
12/4/04 at 1:53pm
You said that your computer comes within a 5% gap of good performing PC's... uhh... no?

You said your's clocks at about a 2.4Ghz P4. A good performing PC nowadays would probaly be the 3.0Ghz P4. So what percent is it behind? 20%, not 5%

Macs are noticable slower in my opinion.
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post #18 of 152
12/4/04 at 2:31pm
I used a Powerbook for a while (just downloading upgrades and putting a few programs on for work). After less than ten minutes of light use, the case was noticeably hot to the touch. You're right in that the fans didn't come on, but I'd sure as hell rather have a few whisper-quiet fans on than have the case slowly heating up. If the fans stay off even once you start into heavy use, I'd be seriously worried about the heat.

It seemed a fairly nice laptop, though. A little longer to boot up than Windows XP (particularly if you Hibernate, as has become my custom), but not too bad. Not too slow-seeming, either, though I probably would have been chastised for installing benchmark software and benching it (again, it was a work computer, and not MY work computer).

I wouldn't trust any of the claims on Apple's website, by the way.

In short, though, which computer I'd get would depend on what I was looking for and what OS I was accustomed to using. The Powerbooks are quite nice, but there are nicer (particularly speed-wise) for what I do.
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post #19 of 152
12/4/04 at 3:32pm
Can you play Half-Life 2?


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post #20 of 152
12/4/04 at 4:07pm
From 13 years of using Mac's at my school, I can tell you that, in comparison to PC's, they are slow, unstable, and fairly cumbersome to use. Also, please in the name of all that is holy, tell me why Mac's still use 1 button mice?? Our School has "upgraded" some of them over the years with Kensington 2 button scroll-wheel mice (which OSX supports) so its not as bad anymore. It is incredibly common for our eMacs to freeze while using Word, Excel, Powerpoint, or iMovie. The eMacs cannot run iMovie very well, the video is choppy and loading is a pain. There are always several computers in each lab that are being repaired. Many times the Macs will simply crash, without providing any diagnostic information to tell you what went wrong.

Finally, these eMacs cost the school $1500 a pop, for that amount you could get a MUCH better PC, so I can never understand why our school still uses them.
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