Apple 12-inch PowerBook G4 Review 55
Dave_B writes "Tony Smith of El Reg gives his verdict after a month with Apple's 12-inch Powerbook." His overall impression was good, but there are some words of caution in here regarding battery life and heat, so read before buying one ;)
A Developer's Perspective of the 12" PB (Score:5, Informative)
Heat Issues (Score:5, Informative)
PS. There is a large set of images in the thread that could bog down 56k'rs
iBooks, PBs, and Battery Life (Score:5, Informative)
The major preventable causes of battery drain are:
I also used top to see which applications are big CPU cycle eaters.
As for heat, I recommend any of the various stands that elevate the TiBook to an angle and allows air to flow more freely underneath.
Re:more interestingly - software criticisms (Score:2, Informative)
I'll check this out when I go home for work if I can find a CDRW. I'll even admit to stupidity if I'm wrong!
Re:Buying one.. (Score:5, Informative)
The 15" Ti book does accomodate more memory and has a PC card slot, but it is getting a little long in the tooth now that the newer aluminum enclosures seem to be preferred by the mobile Mac community. (The 15" Titanium PB has a painted covering which tends to flake or chip off after a while).
If you like the smaller footprint and can deal with the single RAM slot, go with the 12", it's a great laptop. If you need a bigger screen and don't want/can't afford the "lunch tray" 17-inch, you might do well to wait and see if the rumors are true: a revised 15" model is reported to be in the pipes, which will have a larger (15.4") display, an aluminum enclosure, DDR, and airport extreme. This is, of course, speculation.
Personally I'm still jazzed with my virtually flawless 500 MHz iBook (G3), and will be for some time.
One nitpick with the pb 12" (Score:5, Informative)
So basically, I'm happy as a clam. Happier even.
But for one silly little thing: the metal drop-down catch which locks the lid shut when I close it. For some reason (most likely a mechanical defect) it doesn't pop back in when I open the lid. Trivial? Yes. All it takes is one tenth of a second to tap it with my finger when I open it and it pops back where it belongs.
Nonetheless, as a fella raised in a machine shop (my father's a machinist/sculptor/etc/luddite) this kind of thing bothers me. I examined it closely and it's very simple -- the latch's "bearing" is nothing but a hole slightly larger than the axle, so you get minimal friction and maximum simplicity. But it seems to allow sideways motion and this (in my case) is causing binding. I'm not about to oil it, for obvious reasons, though if I can find a non-conductive graphite lube ( "Dry Slide" ) I might give it a shot.
What concerns me is not so much the lack of it retracting, but that someday, if the binding gets too great, it might stop popping down when I close the lid.
So, it's a cool feature and all but my old thinkpad, with its simpler trigger mechanism never had this problem.
There's a lot to be said for simplicity. I kind of wish apple had forgone the cool and wow effect in this place for something a little more sturdy.
Re:Battery (Score:5, Informative)
Or just click here [apple.com].
Re:Good review, some small nits to pick. (Score:3, Informative)
I find it can get quite hot if (and I'm really not sure why) I plug it into an external display and do some serious dev work. I'll put a 17" or 19" monitor just above my screen (since the PB can put the LCD to an insanely low angle) and I can get a great effect were I can tilt my head slightly downward and use the 12" screen for typing, and still use the built in keyboard. Weird thing, i'll get about 5 or 6 ssh terminals going between the 2 windows, and the computer will get so hot the fan actually turns on (a rare occurance) and won't turn off (because it isn't getting much cooler, not because the fan isn't working). I find if I close a few of the windows and just go back to light usage (even with the external display) it cools right down in a minute or three.
Oh well, those are my experiences. Make of them what you will.
No, the 970 produces more heat! (Score:4, Informative)
Znonymous Coward wrote:
Nope. The new IBM PowerPC 970 will actually produce more heat then the current G4 processor from Motorola.
Luckily Motorola recently anounced a new low power version of the G4 at around 1 GHz. If this new chip ends up in the 12" PowerBook it will be a lot nicer machine.
Re:iBooks, PBs, and Battery Life (Score:5, Informative)
The logic board shuts off the audio circuits and and the HD to preserve power, but not the modem.
Presumably, disabling it in network prefs so it doesn't appear in the drop down list will shut it off.
I would unmount any firewire drives or usb devices that were bus powered when I wasn't using them too.
Re:It's true. (Score:2, Informative)