The Hickensian

11.11.05

Technorati Tags hardware, mac, powerbook

The new beast

Damn that Gruber, he’s beaten me to the punch once more. Mind you, in typical Daring Fireball style, his piece is more detailed, researched and well written than anything I could’ve come up with (which is why I’m a member). So, I’m actually very pleased that he’s saved me time! Go and read that review if you want to really know about the new Powerbooks.

Like John, I opted for the upgraded 2gb RAM and 100gb (7200rpm) hard drive, which despite the longer delivery time for a customised model, its well worth it. Combining this with a 20” display provides me with my ideal setup. Unless you need to do video/3D work these machines provide enough oompf for web development and CPU hungry tasks like print design. I intend to use this setup now, rather than syncing with a desktop machine, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

This was the first time I’d used the migration facility in OS X. I’d always preferred to start with a clean install and then cherry pick what I wanted to go back in. This time, I felt a bit more nervous, there were too many files and settings that I didn’t want to risk losing. I’m glad I did – a firewire cable + 2 hours later and 62gb of files and settings had been installed. Everything ran as it had been, except I experienced the same problem John had with wireless, until running the airport update.

I’ve also found getting used to two-finger scrolling very easy and natural. This is a great feature, and find myself trying the double-fingered fondle on older machines too.

The other habit thats changed since getting the new powerbook, is that Omniweb has returned as my default browser. While Safari with plugins still feels slow and bogged down, Omniweb positively flies with this setup, and the larger resolution screen makes it ideal. Between Omniweb and Camino, Safari isn’t getting a look in at the moment. Can’t wait for their move to webkit (whenever that happens) which should finally solve issues with Flickr. I’d be interested to know if John’s habits have changed too, as earlier in the year he stated that he had left Omniweb, mainly for performance issues.

There are probably a lot of people waiting for the arrival of the Intel powerbooks (which could be as early as February according to the rumour sites), rather than going for these new models. While I’m usually Mr Early Adopter, in the case of Intel, I want to give it a couple of years and see what happens.

Comments | RSS

No.1

James AkaXakA said 1329 days ago:

The question on everyone’s mind is: what are you going to do with the box it came in?

No.2

Nick Day said 1329 days ago:

I got a new 15” PowerBook a couple of weeks ago, and I agree with you Jon that it’s the perfect setup. Portable enough to take with me to uni, yet enough screen resolution to make it workable on. I just opted for the standard configuration, and will upgrade the RAM to 1.5gb when I have some spare money.

If you’re looking for a carry case with a bit of protection, i’ve got the Booq Vyper M which is really good, fits the PowerBook like a glove.

No.3

zeno said 1329 days ago:

Jon, are you telling us that you are not seeing the “horizonal lines” issue?? – http://15inpbscreen.appleplace.com – Thread on macrumors – Thread on macnn

No.4

zeno said 1329 days ago:

oops, the 3 above links should have been:

– http://15inpbscreen.appleplace.com – Thread on macrumors – Thread on macnn

No.5

Fen said 1329 days ago:

I’m thinking of selling my Rev D 15” Powerbook and getting the new 17”. I played with it in the store and the larger resolution just blew my mind. When I do get it, I’ll couple it with the 20” ACD and be happier than a pig in sh*t.

No.6

Chris Fonnesbeck said 1329 days ago:

Funny, Safari 2.0.2 flies along for me. Camino is snappier for some sites, but the difference is pretty subtle. The Inquisitor extension for Safari makes it pretty much impossible for me to use other browsers regularly. Plus, Camino’s policy of pretending RSS doesnt exist is pretty annoying. Tried switching; cant do it.

No.7

Nathan said 1328 days ago:

I too will wait on the intel thing for some time. Thanx for the review, have fun with the mobile office.

No.8

JB said 1328 days ago:

Jon: “While Iâ€™m usually Mr Early Adopter, in the case of Intel, I want to give it a couple of years and see what happens.”

... I’ll bet Â£100 that you’ve bought one before 12 months after its official release! :-)

No.9

Chris McElligott said 1328 days ago:

I’ve noticed Safari slow down dramatically over the past weeks, I’m not sure what it is. But there is a bug with Webkit where if one Application in my case NetNewsWire grinds to a halt then so does Safari. I remember hearing something about this a few weeks ago.

Gruber did an amazing job with his review, really makes me want to run out and grab one! Although performance still isn’t upto par with their other offerings.

No.10

Jon Hicks said 1328 days ago:

@ James – Ha! The box that the powerbook came in wasn’t anywhere near as good as the apple care ones!

@ Nick – thanks, I’ve been looking for suitable bags since I sold the Timbuk2 bag that was made for the 17”

@ Zeno – thats right – no line issues

@ JB – I’ll try not to, but yes, they sound too good!

No.11

matt Carey said 1328 days ago:

oooo, i’m torn now! i’m still stuck with my ti-book (which is the best mac i have ever owned) and i think better than my wifes 15” alu-book. i ahve been waiting for the intels but like you i’m wondering if i should go for one now…

No.12

giz404 said 1328 days ago:

I’m thinking about buying a laptop. Although I’m a Pc user, John’s article about the new Powerbook has almost convinced me…

No.13

Nick Day said 1328 days ago:

I have this issue with the lines on the screen, but they don’t affect me normally, you have to get your face an inch or so away from the screen to notice. I guess some people might me more sensitive to this than others.

No.14

John Y. said 1328 days ago:

If I lean in close to my LCD monitor here at work, there’s horizontal lines, too.

I suspect these lines were always “present” on powerbooks and the new, brighter screens have made them more noticable to some users.

No.15

zeno said 1328 days ago:

“I suspect these lines were always â€œpresentâ€ on powerbooks…”

No. Those horiz. lines were NOT present on previous powerbooks. It is a serious issue of the latest 15inch model.

Sorry if I insist, but Jon, are you really really really sure that you don’t see the lines? I spent hours going through the endless threads that one can find on most Mac forums about this topic, and apparently NOBODY has demonstrated owning an unaffected powerbook so far, thus… you’d be the first ;-)

A lot of people don’t notice the lines at first: in fact they are not visible on a solid/primary background color (like white, red, green, blue); an area that seems to clearly show the issue is the “source list” (left column) in Mail.app 2 or iTunes 6 (the one with the light-blue background)...

No.16

Jon Hicks said 1328 days ago:

ha! Read my lips. NO HORIZONTAL LINES…

;o)

I’d assume we’d have heard about it if John Grubers had lines too. People on the forums are more likely to be the ones who have it, than those who don’t .

No.17

zeno said 1328 days ago:

ok, thanks Jon! This info is gold to me…

No.18

Jon Hicks said 1328 days ago:

Zeno, belay that order. I’ve just checked with the test image, and it would appear that I DO have the striping problem. I’ll be darned if I could see it without that test image though.

No.19

zeno said 1328 days ago:

AHRRRGHHHHH I’m dying :-)))

Ok, tell me more about it (please), look at this picture , it’s the Mail.app’s source list I’m seeing in my brand new 15inch powerbook….do you notice something similar with your PowerBoook, or is your light-blue background in that column perfectly uniform?

No.20

Joshua Bryant said 1327 days ago:

Jon,

I too have the same model as you, same specs and all, except for one thing. I got the Hitachi 7200 instead of the Seagate. They seem to be shipping units with both. Gruber ended up with the Seagate.

The Hitachi is slightly faster in all benchmarks but it is annoyingly ridiculously loud. I hated it so much I exchanged it for another one, and sure enough, I was lucky enough to get another Hitachi. As soon as I have spare funds for more computer gear, first things first I am picking up the Seagate drive to replace this one.

Can you go to system profiler and comment on which HD you received? If you do have the Hitachi, how are you dealing with the noise?

No.21

tim said 1327 days ago:

After using a G5 for a short while and then switching to a PB 15” I could not be happier (apart from not having more RAM). Hooking the PB up to a screen also gives more real estate – have Mail open on the PB screen and the main apps on the external screen – works a treat.

One question though – does anyone out there have a reliable method for calibrating the PB screen along with the external monitor? I’ve spent ages with this and got it as near as possible (by eye) but certain colours are still problematic.

No.22

Travis said 1327 days ago:

the double-fingered fondle

Very nice, Jon.

No.23

Wayland Donlan said 1327 days ago:

Just picked up a 15” PB on thursday. Had heard about the issue with the lines, so i was a little worried the display was going to be naff. But it’s great!

The lines do exist though. They aren’t an issue for me. As far as i know, they aren’t an error or defect, and are certainly nothing to worry about. The only concern on the display front is setting it anything lower than the highest resolution, which makes the display a little blurry, which i’m also seeing on the cinema display. So i can only assume is a feature of flat panel widescreens.

No.24

Terry Majamaki said 1327 days ago:

I too just picked up the same 15” PowerBook from my local Apple store here in Los Angeles last week and have nothing but great things to say about it. I opted to get my RAM upgrade from Macsales.com since Apple tends to over charge for RAM upgrades.

The horizontal line issue seems to be at random on these PowerBooks. I’ve seen these lines on a display PowerBook at the Apple store but I don’t have them on my PowerBook. The screen is almost as good as my 20” Apple Cinema Display which is more or less flawless in quality.

I really love the increased resolution, double finger scrolling and the illuminated keyboard. It really is a great PowerBook.

No.25

Tilman said 1326 days ago:

One thing IMHO that is equally important for full-time-notebook-users is: How do set it up at your desk? I don’t think anybody can work 8 hours a day just using the PB. The screen is too low, the keyboard too closely attached and lacks some important keys, etc.

I use a separate TFT as main screen with mouse and external keyboard attached. Coming to work with my PB I set it next to the TFT and connect power, video, network and the USB bus to the screen and GO. If I work somewhere else I just disconnect and work on the PB alone. In the garden, on the train, etc.

How do you do it?

No.26

Jon Hicks said 1326 days ago:

Tilman – Absolutely. To quote my post “Combining this with a 20â€ display provides me with my ideal setup”

No.27

Wayland Donlan said 1326 days ago:

A neat little app to use if you have 2 macs is Teleport

Been around for a while, but have only started using it with the G5 and PB.

No.28

Julian Schrader said 1326 days ago:

I’m waiting for a 17 inch Intel-powered powerbook. Until then I’m on a powermac G4 for Mail, Internet & Office and 2.6 GHz win XP machine (a little bashed up ‘cause it often doesn’t want to go my way) that runs to serve Adobe CS2.

No.29

Colin Frame said 1326 days ago:

Nice to hear you finally got hold of the new PB Jon, about a month back I grabbed another Gig of ram for mine to put it at 1.5gig all in.

Definitey noticing the difference with the ram and even moreso after making the switch to 10.4.3, I love how Apple can actually manage to improve performance with a point release, makes a nice change from the xp releases :)

No.30

Brian said 1325 days ago:

Dying to get a powerbook myself. Trying to do the switch from PC. Price has always been an issue. (its still less expensive to purchase a PC equivalent.)

No.31

Johan Sundkvist said 1323 days ago:

I recently bought a 15” PowerBook and I’m very happy with it except that my display is covered by those horizontal lines. It’s an awesome computer, but I’m pretty pissed of at Apple right now – I sure hope they respond to this soon.

No.32

John Simons said 1323 days ago:

I got one of these new Powerbooks last weekend and it’s almost flawless. I haven’t been able to see any scan lines anyway. My only complaint is the trackpad. 1. When you drag diagonally the cursor “wiggles” in a staircase pattern, and when you tap for a click the cursor moves a bit. 2. As is the case with mice, Apple provides no way to adjust speed, speed being actual pixels per inch (not their “speed” which is really adjusting the acceleration curve). Fortunately I’ll be using a mouse pretty much always so it’s not an issue. And USB Overdrive lets me set my mouse speed. The default is 160dpi, I find 400dpi much more usable as a Windows switcher.