Switch Side Story, Pt2

And remember powerbooks tend to be quite large in a width type way (except for the 12" of course). Since my first Powerbook 140 (system 7, 4MB memory, 40MB HDD) the great thing has always been Apple have gone for ergonomics over size (the 140 etc moved the keyboard back to fit a trackball in, setting I think the precendent for almost every laptop design since)

Compared to my work Dell POS the keyboard and trackpad are perfect on my (now aging) Ti 15" PB

if you went from 10.1 (Puma?) to Jag-wire and were blown away, then you will have the same experience *10 on Panther..... loads of great little bits, and more stuff that works (and to be honest should have done first time)...

Guess i"d wait for TIger though, thank god that'l be the last of these once a year - here apple have another £100 for a software upgrade for a while (but hey they got my cash for an Airport express this year!)

 

shell script / schell script

actually you can do both (hurrah), you can either write something at unix level (which actually as advantages as it can then be put into the correct structure for a startup item at system root level, rather than running on login if required). obviously this means tinkering about in unix, which might not always be appropriate

apple script works on the application level, and allows you to tell different apps to do stuff (they are your bitch ;-) )

so depnds on what your trying to achieve, you can also link, starting apple scripts from shell scripts and vise a versa (though havn't tried yet but did play with on a little script to switch lcoation of my photos folder for iPhoto between local and external HDD - but don't need anymore

 

Thanks for your user review, I have found it very informative and eagerly await part 3.

If I could make a suggestion, I would like to see some discussion on enviromental factors such as noise and heat. I am particularly interested in finding a 'silent' notebook, which I think is quite different from a quiet one. Could you comment on how loud the HDD and Processor fan are? Does the fan spin up often and under how much load? Also does the powerbook get very hot, we have all heard stories of people burning their laps with wintel notebooks.

Finally what's typical battery life like? what can we expect from this machine on the road

Thx for a great review.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

As for your questions:

It's pretty near silent - the loudest thing on it is the Super-drive, when it spins up. The HDD is quiet - the mearest tick on access. And I haven't honestly heard the fan yet - even after several hours of UT2004 and Jedi Knight II. As for heat, It does get warm when given a workout, but not uncomfortably so - It's not going to burn you.

As for battery life, the most I've had from the batteries is over three hours - but as you'd imagine, that wasn't doing anything strenuous. It's definatly got longer legs than my wife's centrino laptop, and battery life would be exended by turning stuff off like wifi and bluetooth.

 

How does UT2004 play on that? Never had the mac edition to try out

 

Sweet

 

how much did the powerbook set you back?

 

£1750 All in. It was £2K, but Apple dropped the price when the new specs where announced. You'd be better off looking at the Apple Store for your country for exact prices though, as prices do vary around the globe.

 

Wow, thats a lot. I'm looking at a Powerbook with the same specs as yours. About $2400 USD (about £1300)

 

Yep - we in the Uk get reamed by the government for 17.5% sales tax (VAT), plus prices just seem to be dearer on the whole. We're even paying more for our iTunes tracks, due to VAT according to Mr Jobs. Having said that, 79p a track isn't outrageous, and it's cheaper than the other legal download sites over here.

 

79p a track isnt really cheap
just went and picked a cd off the front page of play.com
15 tracks, £9 delivered
to download all of them off itunes would cost nearly £12

 

and 15 * 0.79 doesn't alwys equal = 11.85

maybe - except some albums are discounted (though not all - spot the pigoplist's favourites, e.g. Nirvana) - so you can buy all tracks for 7.99 (or something like that) or so, irrespective of tracks...

but hey i'd love 59p, 39p - wouldn't we all

sadly ever since i got my first mac (1990 something) we've always stumped up more, depressing i don't get the educational discout i did back then

 

GOO how long did it take from placing the order to it being delivered?

 

Several weeks. But this was due to me ordering during the product line refresh.

The Apple website quotes a build time which is a rough indicator of how long it's going to be. If it says 1-2 days, figure 8 or 9 days (Add a week to the build time) as it has to wend it's way from the factory in Taipei to the UK (via the Netherlands).

My personal experience was that the new machines where launched, I got the email from Apple the same day and a week later, voila: spankin' new laptop

 

OK well I placed an order for a new PB this morning, early, and got confirmation and all the rest of it. It reackond 3 - 5 days build time at that point so I'm hoping it will be pretty speedy.

I remember waiting for my iPod and that refresh button really did get a hammering



Looks like it will again

 

The other thing to remember is that this is perfect for those 'one off' tracks - Maybe you like 2 or 3 tracks from an album. From Play, you'd pay £9 for the 3 tracks you wanted, as you'd get all of them regardless.

In this example, iTMS would charge £2.37 for the tracks you really want. Plus you get them instantly and don't have to wait for Temporary Postman Pat to pop it through your door (If he can be bothered to at all).

 

Bwuhahahah! The lure of the Darkside is stong!!

Have fun when it arrives.

 

Oh, and that price quote I put for the PB is about $200 cheaper b/c of Educational discount .
But I probably won't get it for a while b/c I just got a new proc and mobo

 

For those of you who don't have a Mac but would like to try one:
Consider PearPC before you take the plunge. It's a PowerPC Emulator for x86 machines, and although it may not be perfect (still needs some more dev. work), you can at least get a sampling.

Boy, I wish I had the money for a Powerbook. I've always liked macs, and lately, I've really been wanting to try one out , with all this windows bull****. Can't wait to see the next installment.

ben

 

On the subject of the cost of MP3 downloads v CD, don't forget that the sound quality of MP3 is inferior to that of CD. You wouldn't pay the same price for an album on low quality cassette as you would on CD, why should you with an MP3. Added to that, when you purchase your download, you are paying for the connection and the strorage media on top of the cost of the rights. When you add it all up you are paying more for an inferior product.

Wan't to listen to music on your iPod, buy the CDs and make your own MP3 compilations. Boycott the download site, stop getting ripped off, and the price should eventually come down to what it should be for a poor quality copy, with no manufacturing, packaging and disdribution costs - 15 to 20p a track tops.