12" or 15" powerbook?

[Nick Mead]

I'm a PC user. Already have a nice desktop that I mainly use for
games, work and uni stuff such as word processing, spreadsheeting and
net surfing. I have a Compaq laptop that gives me powerful computing
in a reasonably portable package... but it is fairly heavy, has a fan
that is kinda noisy and drains the battery pretty quick. So I was
looking at something lightweight, quiet and functional to supplement
the machines I already have.

I've been thinking of coming back into the Mac fold after being away
from the platform for ten years... and those 12" powerbooks look
soooooo sweet. Would really satisfy my needs to... really portable.
Functional. Doesn't need to be megapowerful - I really just wanna
word process, spreadsheet and net surf on the run. And quiet too.
Which is nice because I study and do work in the library from time to
time.

But I just keep hearing bad reviews about the overheating problem.
Bad enough that it causes the case to warp. I really don't want to be
generating that sort of heat. Even the salesman at my local apple
dealership agreed that the overheating was a problem and recommended
the 15" as an alternative.

It's nice. But it's basically $600 (Australian) extra, for the same
machine, just with a bigger screen, L3 cache and no bluetooth. I
don't mind spending a little bit of extra money but doesn't that seem
a bit excessive? And despite it's neat design, it isn't a great deal
lighter than some equivalent PCs.

Would really appreciate some advice and practical experience to help
me make up my mind on whether:
a) the heating problem on the 12" is not really that big of an issue,
OR
b) the 15" really does justify the higher price tag, OR
c) I should just hold on and wait for the product line update that
everyone seems to be anticipating.

[nosplam@yahoo.com]

I am in the same conundrum. I have outgrown my iPod.
I take my iPod to work and plop it down. It only holds 5GB.
My music collection at home is 42GB. The tiny display doesn't
show the full artist name, track name, etc.

I want a portable by my side which will allow me to surf using
my bluetooth phone (keeping off the company net) and listen to
me ENTIRE MP3 collection. I also will use it for palm pilot
stuff like addresses and calendar functions.

My thoughts:

12 inch iBook or 12 inch PowerBook?

I went to the Apple store to decide.
I noticed how groups of keys on the iBook keyboard
move up and down together when you press any one.
This makes the iBook toy like.

I went over to the 12 inch PowerBook. No sound,
very hot, no where to put my palms while typing.

I moved over to the 15 inch PowerBook. Still hot.
No sound. More practical though.

I moved over to the 17 inch PowerBook. Still hot.
Built in speakers. Plenty of room to rest my palms.
Super fast. Much much faster than the others.
The screen is georgeous. Must have MUST HAVE!!

My wife dragged me into the mall away from the Apple
Store and smacked me around until I came to my senses.

That's where I am. I must have the 17 inch. I can't
afford it. It's driving me crazy.. The 17 inch blows
the others away. So what if it's too wide to take on
a plane!

But seriously.. I am betting we'll have a 15 inch Al-Book
soon. And.. I'm hoping with a new price scheme for all the
books. Laugh loudly outload whenever you hear someone talk
about a G5 laptop from Apple this year or next.. IBM still
can't get G5's in production quantity for the PowerMac's.

In consideration of heat. You will have to live with it.
If you literally use it on your lap (as a "lap top"), there
are little heat computer heat dissapation insulation pads for
$20 out there (we call them $1 hot pads in my house)..

Is warping really that widespread a problem? Why would Apple
continue selling them?

[Tim Cutts]

In article <58f7670d.0307311208.121b26d3@posting.google.com >,
[email]nosplam@yahoo.com[/email] <nosplam@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>I want a portable by my side which will allow me to surf using
>my bluetooth phone (keeping off the company net) and listen to
>me ENTIRE MP3 collection.

You might want to check whether your company will allow you to do that,
because it's a potential security risk; if you're simultaneously
connected to your company network and to the Internet through bluetooth,
you're offering a route for a hacker to get straight in behind your
corporate firewall, by attacking your Mac. Apple's firewall is not a
very good defence; it only filters in coming connections, not outgoing,
so is no defence against trojans.

>I also will use it for palm pilot
>stuff like addresses and calendar functions.
>
>My thoughts:
>
>12 inch iBook or 12 inch PowerBook?
>
>I went to the Apple store to decide.
>I noticed how groups of keys on the iBook keyboard
>move up and down together when you press any one.
>This makes the iBook toy like.
>
>I went over to the 12 inch PowerBook. No sound,
>very hot, no where to put my palms while typing.

No sound? The PB 12" has quite nice soud. Surprisingly good quality.
The speakers are on the back edge, positioned cleverly so the sound is
reflected forward off the bottom of the screen when the machine is open.

Yes, it does run warm, but I don't notice it most of the time. It's a
much better keyboard than the iBook.

>I moved over to the 15 inch PowerBook. Still hot.
>No sound. More practical though.

Again, the 15" does have sound. There are some other problems with the
design of this machine, like the well known problem of the keyboard
rubbing against the display when the machine is closed.

Tim

[Scott]

In article <77k*uoOYp@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
Tim Cutts <timc@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

> No sound? The PB 12" has quite nice soud. Surprisingly good quality.
> The speakers are on the back edge, positioned cleverly so the sound is
> reflected forward off the bottom of the screen when the machine is open.

I've found that the maximum sound volume is quite low. I normally prefer
a lower sound volume, but I had a my Powerbook in a hotel a couple of
weeks ago, and I could't hear the music (all volume controls on max)
over the sound of a room air conditioner about 6 feet away. This was not
a loud air conditioner; the television was quite audible at 1/4 volume.
The Powerbook, though... I could only hear some of the vocals, and a
little of the instrumentals.

--
to email *off-topic* responses, change "spamless.invalid" to "optonline.net"

[nosplam@yahoo.com]

Tim Cutts <timc@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote in message news:<77k*uoOYp@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>...

> In article <58f7670d.0307311208.121b26d3@posting.google.com >,
> [email]nosplam@yahoo.com[/email] <nosplam@yahoo.com> wrote:

> >
> >I want a portable by my side which will allow me to surf using
> >my bluetooth phone (keeping off the company net) and listen to
> >me ENTIRE MP3 collection.

>
> You might want to check whether your company will allow you to do that,
> because it's a potential security risk; if you're simultaneously
> connected to your company network and to the Internet through bluetooth,
> you're offering a route for a hacker to get straight in behind your
> corporate firewall, by attacking your Mac. Apple's firewall is not a
> very good defence; it only filters in coming connections, not outgoing,
> so is no defence against trojans.
>

Great point. I don't plan on connecting to the company net for
that reason. My scheme is to use the corporate PC as I always
have (to do work and connect to the internet for business purposes).

But.. I currently am checking my personal webmail a few times a day
through their network. Wouldn't it be great if I could have my
own private connection? So.. Next to my corporate assigned Wintel
box I put an iBook/PowerBook which is NOT hooked up to the corporate
LAN. I use my BlueTooth phone to connect instead. I get privacy,
they stay secure. Everyone's happy. Of course (as you said) not
all clients will let me bring a laptop, or enable BlueTooth, but
there's a good chance they will (until they figure out what
BlueTooth is)..

> >
> >I went over to the 12 inch PowerBook. No sound,
> >very hot, no where to put my palms while typing.

>
> No sound? The PB 12" has quite nice soud. Surprisingly good quality.
> The speakers are on the back edge, positioned cleverly so the sound is
> reflected forward off the bottom of the screen when the machine is open.
>

Absolutely. I meant "no sound" in the sense that relative to
the 17 inch PowerBook sound the 12 and 15 rate a zero.
When I was in the Apple store I couldn't hear ANYTHING
when I cranked up the sound on the 12 and 15 inch -- totally unusable
unless you are in a quiet environment (ha!).

It was a relative comparison to the 17 inch PowerBook which has a
very nice speaker set. When I cranked up the volume on the 17 inch
model in Apple store out came very nice sound I could actually hear!
On a scale of 100 stars in regards to sound I saw:
12 and 15 inch rating: 2 stars
17 inch rating: 100 stars.

So 100 compared to 2 is relatively nothing.. so I said they had no sound..
if that makes any sense..

> Yes, it does run warm, but I don't notice it most of the time. It's a
> much better keyboard than the iBook.
>

> >I moved over to the 15 inch PowerBook. Still hot.
> >No sound. More practical though.

>
> Again, the 15" does have sound. There are some other problems with the
> design of this machine, like the well known problem of the keyboard
> rubbing against the display when the machine is closed.

I understand many PowerBook owners are laying paper sheets (or
$20 custom leather/vinyl sheets) on their keyboards before closing
the display. This is supposed to help.

Thanks again for pointing out my mistake about saying NO sound.

[nosplam@yahoo.com]

Scott <Heimdall@spamless.invalid> wrote in message news:<Heimdall-0D8903.09384701082003@rcache2.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>.. .

> In article <77k*uoOYp@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
> Tim Cutts <timc@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>

> > No sound? The PB 12" has quite nice soud. Surprisingly good quality.
> > The speakers are on the back edge, positioned cleverly so the sound is
> > reflected forward off the bottom of the screen when the machine is open.

>
> I've found that the maximum sound volume is quite low. I normally prefer
> a lower sound volume, but I had a my Powerbook in a hotel a couple of
> weeks ago, and I could't hear the music (all volume controls on max)
> over the sound of a room air conditioner about 6 feet away. This was not
> a loud air conditioner; the television was quite audible at 1/4 volume.
> The Powerbook, though... I could only hear some of the vocals, and a
> little of the instrumentals.

Exactly what I meant. There are speakers in the 12 inch. I just couldn't
hear them over the store ambient noise at their maximum setting. I can't
image any practical use. The 17 inch had rich clear LOUD sound.