[Candyman]

OK, most of you probably do not use Mac's, but out of curiosity to those who have an opinion about them, what do you all think of the Powerbook G4's? I was never a big fan of the Mac until my current job, and have fallen in love with it for it's graphics capabilities (graphic artist). I am planning on buying more or less the base model (kind of a pricey machine): 550MHz, 256MB RAM, 20GB HD, 100 MHz bus, DVD-ROM, & opting to get the AirPort card and station.

I don't have a great deal of knowledge of the availability of upgrades on these machines. I have always used a PC, having no problem getting new hardware and installing it. Can the same be expected from Mac as well as a notebook compter? (of which I've never owned one before) I am just curious at how expandable they are, so that down the road if I want to upgrade, the options are there. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[GlennAustin]

Got one, love it.

As far as a portable machine for doing consulting, it is probably the best one out there. With the addition of Virtual PC, I can run: Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux, and OS/2. No other machine I could get my hands on can run *all* of those (in fact, many can't even run all of the Intel-compatible OSes).

I also really like the fact that 802.11b networking is built-in -- I can work anywhere in the house (or outside ).

 

[Candyman]

You could say I've fallen for this machine. Played with one at an Apple store today in Columbus, OH. They now come standard with a CD/RW and DVD-ROM combo drive and the air port card installed. Very nice! I wanted to buy it today but will have to wait until mid-January for next payday

So far I have gotten all positive reviews on it. Anything you don't like about the machine? I like all the pro's but I also like to hear what the con's may be. At least as a forewarning.

 

[GlennAustin]

The PBG4 is warm! I picked up a CoolPad Podium Pad that I use underneath the computer. With it, the fan hardly ever runs, and it is a lot easier on my lap (rather than using me as an integral part of the cooling system).

The only other thing is that the machine tends to lose the little rubber feet off the bottom. That is probably because it runs warm, loosening the adhesive. Several people have used superglue to glue the feet on, and that seems to work great.

Neither of those two things are enough to sour me on the PBG4. I really like that if I want to run the CPU at full speed off the battery that I can, but if I let it run with the default battery options, then I can surf about 5 to 6 hours without power (or any other wire connected if I'm using the Airport card). It is more than fast enough to do all my development work as well as watch DVDs on. My previous desktop Mac (G4-450 dual-processor) was probably a little faster, but my PBG4-500 seems to keep up with my Athlon 900 on similar tasks. I also like the screen size (1152x768), which is great for development and DVDs. The screen also looks *good* at lower resolutions, unlike most of the PC laptops I've seen.

When I'm running Virtual PC for x86 emulation, I just don't expect it to emulate faster than 500 MHz, but it is easily useable for x86 stuff, as long as the program isn't terribly screen-update-intensive (ie. more recent games).

All said, I'm very happy with my PBG4 "TiBook". It works very well with both Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X (less than two-second wake-up time from sleep!). With Mac OS 9, I hardly have to restart, with Mac OS X, I rarely restart at all.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Originally posted by GlennAustin:
The PBG4 is warm! I picked up a CoolPad Podium Pad that I use underneath the computer. With it, the fan hardly ever runs, and it is a lot easier on my lap (rather than using me as an integral part of the cooling system).

The only other thing is that the machine tends to lose the little rubber feet off the bottom. That is probably because it runs warm, loosening the adhesive. Several people have used superglue to glue the feet on, and that seems to work great.

Same problems with the heat and feet on my Compaq Presario....so I'm sure it happens to a lot of laptops. Definately not a reason not to buy a laptop