Well tomorrow is the big day, im placing my order for a 17 inch Powerbook fully loaded! I have just a few questions to powerbook owners out there:

how well do they hold up as in drops and such? How fragile are they?

Do the light detection sensors work well?

How fast will it run games, like ut2k4 or wow?

And of course, how fast does apple ship, im ordering it tomorrow round lunch time how soon could i expect in my lap?

The aluminum case holds up pretty well against small bumps and scratches. I haven't dented or scratched my PowerBook yet and I take it to School every day.
Regarding the data, newer PowerBooks come with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor which reduces the risk of hard drive damage.



Yes, very. I find them very convenient.



I can run UT2004 on my PowerBook (1.5Ghz, 15", previous-generation) at its native resolution with high graphics settings and get decent framerates.

You'll find that while the casing itself feels solid, I do fear the aluminum getting scratched more than on other laptops. Strangely, it's not a bad thing - because the laptop itself is so pretty I don't want anything happening to it, so I'm much more careful. I probably don't need to be, but I don't want this getting scratched vs. some black clunky Dell machine.

Gaming, eh, don't expect much. I just bought Knights of the Old Republic (finally) today and tried it on my 1.5Ghz Powerbook, and it did not run as well as I thought it would.

I don't notice the light detection too much, other than when the keyboard light kicks in - that may be part of the point though, to change to screen so the user can't detect a difference.

Anyways, enjoy the new system, and keep us updated with your results with it.

They have light detection sensors?

Yeah, found underneath the speaker grills. The brightness of the screen is adjusted to match the ambient light - brighter light, brighter screen, darker light, darker screen. The sensors also control when the illumniated keyboard activates, and at what luminosity.

I ordered my powermac last thurs., with a couple of upgrades, and it's supposed to arrive tomorrow.

my powermac took 7 days to get to me, 2 for apple to proccess the order and 5 to ship

awesome! this is my first laptop ever, any general tips i should know about? when i mean if dropped like if were to accidently knock it off a table and it hit the ground, would it still work? i have heard that laptops dont respond well to drops and well im used to being careful with my ipod against drops so im not worried but there is always that possibility...

about the gaming, im not buying it for games but some ut2k4 would be nice, its mainly for graphic stuff like photoshop and general school work. i love a big screen and since im gonna do the credit plan i just decided well if its supposed to last me through out next year and 4 years of college, well i might as wel get it fully loaded, heh.

treat ur laptop like ur own new born child!

A very important tip, espically for that expensive laptop. Carry it in a laptop bag at all times! A school bag is not a place for a laptop. I used to put my laptop in my school bag, then one day i stuffed it too much and the screen cracked. Another time, few years later, i had it in there and a guy jumped on my from behind (and my bag), screen cracked. Did although get Dell to fix my screen second time around.

Lesson? Stick to a laptop bag!

Cheers,

lieb39

lol i was planning on doing so but i have no idea what to get interms of brand and such. im a simple understated type person, rather abstract but subtle in apperance and nature. minimalistic would be what im looking for here, so any suggestions on a brand or type of bag that i could like carry around my neck kinda like a mail bag would be nice,

Take a look at "Crumpler" bags. Theyre pricy but well made and durable.

thank you very much, thats exactly what i had in mind, and they arent that bad, the one i would get converted is only 75 dollars american, i just hope they will order/ship overseas...

I can't say about that - never dropped mine, and I doubt I ever will. They do feel solid though.


Incredibly well - I love that feature.

It plays WoW pretty well, can't say about other games.



Had a maxed out 17" for a couple of months now, and love it.

my laptop bag is one of those designer ones, which when i take it out and put it in the zip will scratch the laptop... but no marks have left... so the surface is very tough no need to worry about scratching marks...

cool!

i need some advice, i havent ordered it yet cause ive been having second guesses bout this, i mean 2400 bucks is a lot of money to spend on a laptop, and well heres my dilema. This is for my last year of hs (im doing something special this summer which requires or recomends me having a laptop so i cant wait) and the next 4+ years of college.

Should i spend all of this on the best laptop? Will it last me 5 years of school? i will be doing music stuff like garage band, lots of photoshop and internet and chatting. Also the possible occasional video editing. And the causual game like a bit of ut2k4 here and there. will this thing last me or will i be wanting sometihng much more mid way, making my purchase totally worthless? I really want one but i dont want my urge to have this awesome piece of tech to outway my potential and future uses. Should i go cheaper so that i can get something better later on, or will this last for a while?

I say go for it.

If a couple of years from now you decide to upgrade you can sell your PowerBook (Macs retain their value well) and for a bit more get whatever is top of the line at the time.

The aluminum design is timeless.

yea thats what i figure, they depreciate very very very slowly, i mean an imac g4 still goes for almost retail price on ebay... i think i will go for it, its just a question of getting funds now, but with any luck i will have it in my lap sometime this week.

good luck

if fully loaded means this:

$2,299.00
Estimated Ship: Same business day

Free Shipping

15.2-inch TFT Display
1280x854 resolution
1.67GHz PowerPC G4
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon
9700 (64 MB DDR)
Backlit keyboard
Gigabit Ethernet
FireWire 400 & 800
Analog audio in/out
DVI & S-Video out


than that should last you a good while, might want to upgrade the ram when you can

i hope it works out for you

it means that except make it a 100 gig hd and a 17 inch instead of 15. its only 2399 because of edu discount and im going to go down to the apple store in charlotte and see if they have any in stock. someone told me that they will sometimes be able to get you a better price than whats on line cause they get commission for their sales. we shall see!