Apple Powerbook G4 - Review - Page 6

Hi all and this aimed especially at davidlove after noting his previous posts. Having after much anguish and headscratching plumped for an Apple G4 - my bank account is now suffering - just wanted to know if Mac users really don't use anti-virus stuff to go on the net.

I am told there is a small risk of viruses generally for the Macs but is there not a need for general protection? Haven't linked myself up yet as had a phoneline problem and only bought the machine last week.

Thanks to all.

From what I understand there are no known OS X viruses out in the wild. No virus protection is needed, and OS X has a built in firewall for protection from hackers and stuff.

Thanks Kakaze and Ofelas. I should point out that while I have bought myself a decent-looking machine I am not very au fait with its capabilities - so apologies in advance for any dumb questions at a later date!

Actually that is doing what is called prebinding. Mac OS X 10.0 and 10.1 seemed horribly slow as the system rarley did this step. 10.2 and 10.3 do it frequently, including when an installer is used. In basic terms, the application is examined to see what other files it depends on. Those system files (multimedia, input, etc) are looked at and cached in a way to allow the application to start quicker.

And Mande, ask away. Having done the PC->Mac switch back in 2002, I should be able to help out on common issues you are having. Just feel free to ask. I don't watch all the boards here, but would be willing to answer via PM as well.

Hi Drakino. Just a quick line today ahead of undoubtedly a PM at some point (not to bother you too much). One great thing I see in the Apple Powerbook is all the language support. But I cannot for the life of me get a window to show just where are the accents. I wrote a letter in French but could not find accents, then ironically got the French keyboard going and couldn't switch it back.

More importantly I want to use a work PC for ADSL net access - but can I use the same access with the Apple? And if I go the airport route can I use the old Dell PC on the ADSL and the Apple on the airport?

Why is life so complicated? And my nice new HP printer prints backwards - the first page last.

Thanks to allcomers.

My Ultra low voltage proc runs at 5 wats.

For the on screen keyboard to show accents:
System Preferences - International - Input Menu - Keyboard Viewer. Also make sure Show input menu in menu bar is on. Then click the US or French flag (depending on what mode you are in) and select Keyboard viewer. Odds are, you can do all the French accents you need without switching fully to the French keyboard. this site shows the french accent keyboard shortcuts.

The internet access is going to be more a question for your ISP on how they allow multiple machines at once. Call them and ask, a $30 router might be the best way for both, as it will add a bit of protection as well for your computers. I personally don't trust plugging a Windows box directly into a live internet connection these days. On the Mac though, a nice feature exists to keep things seperate. Go to the Apple menu and Location. If you select Network Preferences, you can make a home location with all the ADSL settings needed, but when elsewhere just switch back to automatic. Depending on how your ISP works, you may need to use PPPoE to connect. Again in the Network preferences you will have all the options to set that up.

Printing wise, that sounds like the easy answer "print last page first" got turned on. I personally do that on my printer due to the way the pages come out so when I grab them, they are in order. I'm actually not sure where to change that on the Mac though, as I have never had it set wrong. I think the printer drivers tell it how to do that.

i noe for a fact that ibm are leaving the pc business, my friend's dad is the president of ibm poland

and if you ask me, i say mac is a great big waste of time. there is just nothing good about it. and no, windows xp never crashes, i've been using it since it came out and i've have never had it crash a single time.

Yes, Windows is pretty damn stable, my uptime is 19 days or so. I don't remember why I've turned it off the last time and when it comes to single tasks, a PC will be stronger than a Mac in almost any case.

However, Windows is not so strong when it comes to multitasking. Of couse it is possible to have 10-20 programs open without any serious problems, but the waiting begins as soon as you're switching to programs which have been inactive for a longer time. Windows seems to put inactive programs from the ram to the harddisk and it takes a while to get it loaded back. Another problem is that it is almost impossible to have several programs massively accessing the harddisk at the same time (defrag, transfer, filesearch). I'd get serious lag and everything becomes very, very slow.

I can't really imagine to do things like these on my PCs:
http://www.macuser.de/galerie/showph...sort/1/cat/500
http://www.macuser.de/galerie/showph...sort/2/cat/504

And those are only G3 and G4 books.

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have you ever even used a mac before? wait, don't tell me, i already know the answer

I run my athlon 64 at under 8watts while on battery(estimated 7.86), so there goes any wattage argument out the window.

1st off, who give a flying f*** where your dad is president of, this is already old news, IBM sold their pc division to a chinese corporation, end of story, you could have just posted a link instead of trying to sound important.

Second off, you've never had winxp crash then obviously you have never used it. Before I go on, I am a pc person, and I could never justify buying a mac, but thats mostly for preferencial reasons. Macos is actually a very well designed operating system and it has it's uses. Unless you are a hardcore gamer, the mac isn't a bad choice. One thing I will say is that it is certainly less of a headache, I'm used to keeping my system secure and defragged, regularly scanned for spyware/viruses so it doesn't bug me, but for someone who wants a computer without all the hassle, a mac is a great choice. And as a side note, the powerbook g4 looks a hell of a lot better than anything that dell has ever released, and if those were my only choices, I would have to go for the mac for that reason alone.

edit:Oh I'm sorry, I meant you friends dad, even better

Every computer has it's strong and weak points. Get the one, which suits the tasks at the moment. They don't make an ideal computer . . . Desk top, notebook or otherwise. Most needs are constantly changing.

That's how these companies stay on top.

Actually, the newer Dells (i9200, 700m) look strikingly similar to Apple laptops...

True enough, but Apple's hardware is made to far better manufacturing specs & design tolerances than PC hardware.

The only similarly made notebooks as far as build quality goes are the Panasonic Toughbooks.

Muhahahaa, u funny

What's your point?

Can anyone post more pics of the Powerbook G4 15'???