Powerbook 12"


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Is OSX generally less or more reponsive than Windows? Is there a cheaper way of adding more RAM to it? 512mb would be pushing it though, to be honest, as ?1k is my limit at the moment. BTW, get yourself on Y!

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haha, sorry man... I'll be on later... I gotta head back to work mate. OS X, as far as GUI responsiveness isn't so snappy. Altho its super smooth IMO on this G5! :) However if you can take into consideration Aqua, you would appreciate the difference(s). If you want yesterdays' super snappy GUI on a dated OS, use Windows XP or Mac OS 9.2. :p I have no question you would notice a huge change in the terms of GUI, from Windows to Mac, but in truth after the 'shock', it really isn't inhibitant at all... Infact, many people claim that Aqua is indeed more productive than Window's XP...

Anyhow mate, i gotta leggit. Lata man.

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Alright mate. Well I'll take a trip down to PC world at some point to check out what they're like.

Few Qs for anyone who cares to answer...

On the 12" model, does it come with a backlit keyboard? Also, a photo showed a slot cd drive, but does the 12" model have this? What is the 12" model missing that the others have?

Would it be able to play all my downloaded videos? (backups thank you very much! :p)

What can it not do that my xp machine can do?

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Few Qs for anyone who cares to answer...

On the 12" model, does it come with a backlit keyboard?

No.

Also, a photo showed a slot cd drive, but does the 12" model have this?

Yes

What is the 12" model missing that the others have?

a PC card slot and FireWire 800. (it does have FireWire 400)

Neither of which you really need - you have wireless and Bluetooth built in.

Would it be able to play all my downloaded videos? (backups thank you very much! :p)

Should be yes.

What can it not do that my xp machine can do?

Nothing. Unless you really want it to crash on a regular basis to be more like XP. :woot:

As regards the speed issue.

A 1.7 PentiumM is roughly equal to a 2.4GHz P4.

It depends on exactly what you are doing, but, a 1.33GHz G4 wouldn't be far off the same level of performance.

It's certainly more than enough for a laptop, and battery life is as good, if not better than a PentiumM

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On the 12" model, does it come with a backlit keyboard?

No.

Also, a photo showed a slot cd drive, but does the 12" model have this?

Yes

What is the 12" model missing that the others have?

a PC card slot and FireWire 800. (it does have FireWire 400)

Neither of which you really need - you have wireless and Bluetooth built in.

Would it be able to play all my downloaded videos? (backups thank you very much! :p)

Should be yes.

What can it not do that my xp machine can do?

Nothing. Unless you really want it to crash on a regular basis to be more like XP. :woot:

As regards the speed issue.

A 1.7 PentiumM is roughly equal to a 2.4GHz P4.

It depends on exactly what you are doing, but, a 1.33GHz G4 wouldn't be far off the same level of performance.

It's certainly more than enough for a laptop, and battery life is as good, if not better than a PentiumM

Cheers! Really cleared that up!

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It's pretty much the same deal as SpeedStep.

Battery life has always been pretty good on Mac portables. Even the Mac Portable (which was portable in the sense that a bag of breezeblocks is portable) had a battery life of about an hour and a half. Mine still manages about 25 minutes - not bad for a machine built in 1989.

You should get a good 5 hours of normal use from an iBook / PowerBook

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Go for the PowerBook. I doubt you will notice much speed difference. Adding more RAM is always a good thing when running OS X, I'd say 512 as a minimum. Check out Crucial to get cheap RAM, buying from Apple is pricey.

Overall I think you will be happy with the speed. Panther did wonders to speed up the feel of the GUI and I have a feeling Tiger when it is released will do the same. Aqua is going to of course feel a little and I emphisize little slower than WinXP but you really can't compare the two, Aqua is so much more advanced.

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It's pretty much the same deal as SpeedStep.

Battery life has always been pretty good on Mac portables. Even the Mac Portable (which was portable in the sense that a bag of breezeblocks is portable) had a battery life of about an hour and a half. Mine still manages about 25 minutes - not bad for a machine built in 1989.

You should get a good 5 hours of normal use from an iBook / PowerBook

Is there an option to turn it off? My sister's Acer has that, and it never bumps up to the proper speed of the laptop. Ever.

Does applecare come with the laptop for a year?

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I was just thinking. Would it be worth upgrading to a faster hard drive? Seems like an extremely slow drive. Would it slow the OS and general operations down a lot, or it is just slow storing stuff on the hard drive? Seeing as I have a 7200 drive at the moment.

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I was just thinking. Would it be worth upgrading to a faster hard drive? Seems like an extremely slow drive. Would it slow the OS and general operations down a lot, or it is just slow storing stuff on the hard drive? Seeing as I have a 7200 drive at the moment.

The HD makes a HUGE difference. Most people that upgrade to a 7200 rpm drive in powerbooks say it is the best upgrade they have seen, except for RAM. Everyone who has done it raves about it. The 7200 drive is pretty expensive though and 60 is the biggest you can get. If you want to upgrade from Apple, I have heard the 5400 they offer is not that bad either, but the Hitatchi 7200 kicks ass.

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Thanks Fusion and Pilsbury. Are there any updates planned for the powerbook? Should I wait? I wouldn't want to buy something which is out of date a few months down the line.

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The current models have just been launched.

However, in 6 months, they'll be replaced / upgraded, as is the case with all computers.

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If you want to know about updates to the Mac check out www.macrumors.com and look at their Buyer's Guide. It tells you the average update cycle and when it has last been updated.

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*Shrug* I get about 5 1/4 hours of normal usage on my iBook.

Wireless on, Entourage running, power saving set to automatic.

then maybe all the PowerBooks and iBooks we have here are all defective. 3 and a half hours, top.

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I get about 3 1/2 on my 15" PowerBook. I usually turn the screen brightness down a little and that is with Airport on. I've had no complaints with the battery, I'm able to watch a movie and still have time left, thats good enough for me.

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They do indeed.

They have TV, SVideo and Mini-DVI out using cables that connect to the Mini-DVI out.

You need to buy the SVideo / TV out cable, but, you get Mini-DVI to DVI / VGA with the machine.

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