12" Powerbook: Slick and Sexy, But Not Without Issues 359
Gentu writes "Two very good reviews on the 12" Powerbook have been published today. The first review can be found at the Washington Post and is very positive but not very thorough, while the second one found at OSNews is an in-depth review of the popular Mac laptop, tackling down many issues that future purchasers should be aware of. 'The new 12" Powerbook is nothing more but an iBook on steroids with a G4 in it' OSNews concludes, but the overall read is very interesting."
Re:AMD logo (Score:1, Insightful)
MHz vs. GHz (Score:3, Insightful)
And while I realize that's not a direct measure of speed, I have to ask:
Is apple falling way behind? How do these systems compete with the 2 and 3 GHz intel systems coming out?
The reviewer stated that this model was much faster than their 450. Well, ya, its double, but its not a 2.4GHz chip or anything....??
Thanks for your comments,
mj
lag? (Score:3, Insightful)
Because it should obviously take an 867mhz processor that fries your lap while working to redraw a 1024x768 window 'almost fast enough'. What is it with GUI designers these days?
Re:MHz vs. GHz - it's not always about clockspeed (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus they have that great ad with Yao Ming and Verne Troyer...still can't figure out why they didn't premiere it during the Superbowl, though.
The Myth (Score:3, Insightful)
The PowerPC CPU can't be compared to Intel/AMD's since they operate very differently.
Still, yes, Macintoshes are falling behind when it comes to raw speed. But cleverly designed software makes it a lot faster to work with a Mac.
Ciryon
Re:Has anyone got Linux running on one of these? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bob
Re:What's with the negative quote? (Score:5, Insightful)
What is any new laptop but a (faster | smaller) version of an existing one with a (bigger | smaller | higher resolution) screen, and varied form factor? The quote seems to imply that (incremental) improvements are not a good thing.
Not at all. You perhaps need at least a passing familiarity with Apple's product line to understand what the author is saying here. The iBook was designed as a budget laptop, with students very much in mind. The 12" Powerbook superficially looks as if it is from Apple's 'Professional' product line and has all the bells and whistles that would imply. The reviewer appears to be saying this isn't the case.
Looking at it another way, apparently the 12" Powerbook is more an incremental improvement over the older iBook than an incremental improvement over any previous Powerbook as it might have appeared.
Re:MHz vs. GHz (Score:4, Insightful)
So who's falling behind whom? Intel CPU is 50% faster than that AMD, except the AMD is actually about the same performance. PowerPC isn't half the speed of the Intel, but it runs fast enough that 90% of users would never know it was "slow". Add on the fact that if you want Mac OS you only have one choice (and if you have only spent a few minutes with it at a store, you don't know how beautiful it really is).
Hmmmm.... maybe CPUs really aren't as important as they used to be.
Re:MHz vs. GHz (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll bet you still can't watch a DVD straight through while on battery with those intel systems.
Re:MHz vs. GHz - it's not always about clockspeed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:no cleartype in os X 10.2? (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't have "ClearType" because "ClearType" is Microsoft's trademark for their own specific subpixel rendering technology.
If people are indeed complaining about the lack of ClearType in OS X, then Microsoft marketing has won yet again.
Re:Really? (Score:3, Insightful)
To use your analogy, a VW Golf with a Porsche 911 engine inside (assume it fits...) would still not be a 911. You would need better steering, rear-wheel drive, better brakes, better noise control, different trim...a whole set of system changes to go with it.
They're saying that with a Powerbook line, you expect a certain quality of things about the system - DVI seems to be a stand-out, as does the better quality LCD. You don't seem to get those with this machine however, so hence the 'only' an iBook on steriods quip.
Cheers,
Ian
Re:MHz vs. GHz - it's not always about clockspeed (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazing, isn't it, how people end up on the CPU treadmill? I just bought a digital camera. Already have a film SLR -- decent enough, and certainly a better picture than any digital camera under $1800 or so. What I needed was a complement to that. The kids are nine, they're old enough to enjoy taking pictures but not old enough not to waste hundreds of worthless frames learning how on film. The SLR's big to lug around, too, so a decent little digital made sense. For what we were doing, a 3 MP model seemed fine, and small-but-not-ultra-compact -- emphasis on durable, for the kids. I narrowed the models down, read some reviews, and chose something at that sweet spot. It happened to be one of the Sony models -- because it has a nice little design that's easy to tuck in a pocket and a decent little interface. Seemed better-engineered than the comparable Canons.
Apple gets that. They understand how to pitch to different market segments. Their machines have design sense, they're meant to work with you. They're durable. The OS is pleasant -- the kids haven't given me much chance to use the new camera, but they tell me iPhoto is easy as can be... :-) And they're using it on the 17" iMac that's displaced the PCs in the household because it'll fit in a weird spot and it's better at the stuff we actually do.
But why do people not "get" the whole tradeoff idea except for portables? The hutch/shrines people set up for their computers are surreal. (Hide it in the basement, please, honey.) Or look at that /. article last week about upgrading your machine to play games -- that's technology for its own sake, for people who can only be satisfied with a shooter if they know they're getting a respectable FPS rate. For some reason people "get" it for portables, but not for desktop systems. Weird.
iBook on Steroids (Score:5, Insightful)
The new 12" Powerbook is nothing more but an iBook on steroids with a G4 in it.
I understand that this isn't necessarily intended as a positive comment, but isn't this exactly what a lot of potential Apple laptop customers have wanted? I purchased an iBook right after the revision in May 2001, and replaced it with a 15" PowerBook G4 last fall. I've enjoyed having the better performance, particularly when running Virtual PC, but I miss the smaller form factor and more convenient portability of the iBook. To me, an "iBook on steroids" would have been just what I was looking for, and my understanding was that a lot of folks who loved the iBook but needed better performance felt similarly. I think the bottom line is that, if you approach this from the high end of wanting a PowerBook, just a little smaller, you risk disappointment, but if you approach it from the lower end of wanting an iBook, just with a little more oomph, you'll be fairly satisfied.
Reviewers too anal (Score:4, Insightful)
Makes me sad for the lives the reviewers must lead that they can't be happy with the 12" powerbook. You know, the kind of people who let their whole day be ruined because the color of one of their cocoa puffs was off by a shade. For Pete's sake, they could, **horror** of horrors, be saddled with an IBM thinkpad!
Think on that, and wonder.
His heart was in the right place (Score:2, Insightful)
Too much time on irrelevancy (it seems like he went on for page after page about the two lock-ups he experienced...well, it only seemed like page after page). He could have handled it like this:
"The powerbook locked up twice unexpectedly; I called Apple, and they said it was unusual..."
Note that he didn't call Apple about the problem; which might have been helpful.
And another dozen pages (exaggeration) about frames being dropped in full screen mode for DVD's. Its okay to mention, but it could have been summarized in 2 sentences.
After reading it, the only think I know for sure is that screen stinks. But he didn't compare it to anything, so I can't judge whether he's picky, if there's a problem with is computer, or if he's nuts.
The guy's heart is in the right place, but he needs to be more self-critical of his writing. The review isn't.
no one mentioned (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:"full featured" my ass (Score:3, Insightful)
The lack of a PCMCIA slot sure seems to be a nitpick to me. If you didn't have external disk, serial, peripheral wireless, and network wireless stuff built into the machine, maybe it would be an issue. From where I sit, though, leaving out the PCMCIA slot was a smart decision so that they could keep a dramatically reduced form factor. Sure seems full-featured to me, I can't think of anything I'd want a PC card for that this laptop doesn't have a connection to handle, and I've been using PC laptops since my first 386SX-25 (no PC card there, either, had to wait till my 486SX-33 upgrade to get a PCMCIA slot. Of course, I don't think such a thing existed yet when I got my 386).
Re:Not the purpose of the 17" (Score:3, Insightful)
If you can afford a 17" Powerbook, you probably don't need to be flying coach.
Re:A G4 iBook is all I want (Score:2, Insightful)
You see, Apple has two lines-- the ibook and the powerbook.
One is designed as a lowest-common-denominator system for students and average folk, the other is designed as a power-user system.
Granted, it's nice that they've released a good new upgrade for the common user, but they REALLY should have released it under the ibook name with all of the missing features it SHOULD have had-- this is being marketed as a professional user's tool. That's what everyone's complaining about.
Re:Not the purpose of the 17" (Score:4, Insightful)
At my work, we went through a phase where everyone wanted and got a laptop. After a while, people got fed up with hauling them around, unstandard keyboards, and the expectation that since they had a laptop, they could do work at home. The shift now is back to desktops -- thank god.
I know it depends on the site and nature of the work. I need a laptop for example, but my office machine is a desktop.
Re:Who cares about AlienWare (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just bought a new 15".. (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple lacks access to the faster processors that would usually serve as a differentiating factor between $1,000 and $3,000 models. Since they can't make the top end any faster, Apple has looked to "differentiate" models in other ways (I call it crippling).
Your example of limiting the Powerbook 12's memory for no particular reason is one good example, another would be removing the video-out functionality from the iBook. It is a business decision that I don't agree with. I think Apple would sell more computers (without increasing their costs!) if they would not remove features from the low end. But someone at Apple disagrees.
Re:Why no G4 iBook?? (Score:3, Insightful)
The way I figure it, the 12" PowerBook actually is the new iBook, corresponding to the new iMac with its new form factor (the desk lamp) and other higher-end features.
When that happened to the iMac, the old version became the eMac. So now, the way I think of the 12" PowerBook is that the iBook made a corresponding leap to a new enclosure and higher-end features, to keep it in step with the desktop "i" machine. The old version now more closely matches the eMac, so it should be called the "eBook".
In short, the "i" prefix is sort of bumped up from denoting the entry-level machines to now denote the mid-range, and the "e" prefix has been introduced to fill the gap at the entry level. Except, of course that the names for the low- and mid-range laptops haven't oficially changed to fit this scheme.
Re:I've got the 12"... (Score:3, Insightful)
The review played the lack of these features off as deficiencies that counted as checks in the "bad" column against the 12" PowerBook because it made it less suitable for a desktop replacement.
My point is that these are not deficiencies but very conscious design decisions that hint to the purpose and philosophy behind the 12" PowerBook and its low price tag (tablet killer? PDA equalizer? Executive presentation junkie's entry drug? Digital photographer's best friend?).
But whatever you might personally argue the 12"s niche is, it's clearly not targeting the desktop computer. Other's here seem to be happy with it as a desktop replacement, but then, that's the
But if you're average Windows (or Apple!) user bought the 12" expecting it to replace her desktop computer, she would be disappointed (as, indeed, the author of the above article was).
I say, "Well, of course you're unhappy with it on your desktop! That wasn't what it was made for, and if you use it for what it was made for you will find it to be a brilliantly designed machine."
As to your situation, you were evidently looking for a 12" desktop machine. That is something many, perhaps, here on
On the other hand, when most people go shopping for a small laptop, they want it for constant travel or true portability around the house -- my 12" is never on a desktop. It's always on my lap!
These people, more often than not, have/need a desktop machine, too. If a desktop owner wants a portable laptop to use along side his other computer, the most important "feature" of that laptop is low price (he already owns one computer, after all).
Coincidentally, if a desktop owner wants a portable computer to use along side his other computer, the least important features are DVI, L3 cache, etc. So Apple could kill those things, make the 12" cheaper, and make this class of computer user very happy.
You may claim that Apple should release a version of the 12" that has DVI, L3, >640Mb so that your class of computer user is happy, and I sympathize with you. But the hard facts are they would not sell more than a few thousand such PowerBooks, so it's not likely to happen.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Apple will see complaints like yours in such a number that they'll realize there is a market for tricked-out small PowerBooks out there. You could get your wish. But in the mean time, saying that the 12" is crippled because it doesn't fit your particular needs is like saying a hammer is stupid because it won't tighten the bolt you have in front of you.