My Indesit washing machine review is still the most popular with 4000+ reads!
My Indesit washing machine review is still the most popular with 4000+ reads!
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I have only recently acquired my PowerBook at a cut-throat price in the January sales and I am already extremely proud of the computer. This is my first-ever Macintosh PC and I can see why Apple's fans are so enthusiastic about their brand of PC.
The PowerBook looks like any other silver coloured laptop externally, bar the large white apple logo on the lid which gives away it's pedigree immediately. The case is a very sleek aluminium-type metal which gives an early indication of the quality contained within.
Opening the lid reveals a large 15.2" widescreen TFT, a standard laptop-size keyboard (with those strange additional Macintosh keys) in a silver colour matching the casing, speaker grilles located on both sides of the keyboard, a large silver trackpad area with a single mouse button for screen navigation. On the left-hand side of the laptop there is a standard PCMCIA slot, two 3.5" audio jacks (one for a microphone and one for headphones), a
USB 2 port, modem jack and power input. The right-hand side of the laptop boasts a second USB 2 port, a standard Firewire port, a Firewire 800 port, a 10/100/1000 ethernet port and a DVI output for connection to an external monitor. At the very front of the laptop is the screen release catch (featuring a small white LED which pulses attractively when the laptop is in standby) and a slot-loading DVD/CD-writer drive (more expensive versions of this laptop feature a DVD writer called a "SuperDrive").
On the underside of the unit are two doors. One is for the insertion of additional memory and the other contains the battery. The battery also has a useful indicator which, at the press of a button, shows how much power remains; this is great because you can tell whether you need to charge your laptop without powering it on. Underneath the battery is a small slot for the addition of an Airport Extreme card; Apple's proprietary version of a WiFi card (more later).
Unlike most other laptops, this Powerbook has no ports situated on the back; the entire area behind the screen is taken up by small vents to allow cooling of the system. And herein lies one of the best secrets of the Powerbook - there are no fans for cooling in this laptop allowing the unit to run silently (except for when the CD drive is in action). The sexy aluminium casing twinned with the vents at the back of the laptop mean that cooling fans are unnecessary, keeping the noise generated to an absolute minimum.
As for the bundled software, you get a copy of Mac OS X (10.3 - the latest version available) and a whole raft of the software your Mac-owning mates will have tried to interest you in before. There is the inevitable iTunes for playing music and downloading tracks to your iPod, iPhoto for editing your digital photographs, iMovie for capturing your home video to disc for editing and eventual recording to DVD, the Safari web browser, a DVD player, word processing application etc etc; pretty similar to what you get with any laptop these days. The presentation of the applications on screen is fantastic; crisp, clear, bright and eminently readable - everything about the hardware and software oozes class.
Of course, if you still own a Windows PC, there are bound to be a few other things you will need to purchase. Although the bundled word processor is Word-compatible, you may like to investigate Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac (if you have loads of money) or OpenOffice (if you have none). Both will be compatible with your existing documents.
The main down side to owning a Mac is the sheer cost of hardware and software; as with clothing, you pay dearly for looking cool. The aforementioned Airport Extreme card will set you back £60 on eBay and even more from a genuine Apple reseller. There is a free driver for download from SourceForge which will allow you to run a standard PCMCIA wireless card in your laptop, but this does somewhat spoil the aesthetic appeal.
Software is similarly expensive, and if you want to have the same programs on your PC and Mac, you'll have to fork out for two copies as they will not be natively compatible.
That said, this Powerbook is the best laptop I have ever owned and it's ease of use beats my previous machines hands down. Video editing is a doddle and with a little trickery you can create a DVD image for burning from your PC (if you couldn't afford the Powerbook with Superdrive). I am really pleased with this laptop and would recommend it to anyone looking to make the switch from Windows in the near future.
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Advantages: Beautiful (of course); never shutdown (almost); easy as pie to use and just as tasty. Disadvantages: (unlucky me) Apple support weirdness; could be faster; heat.
MarnieDebs 07.10.2003 ·
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Review of Apple PowerBook G4
Advantages: lightweight; superb screen resolution and size; good capacity HD and RAM capability; usual Apple high quality; perfect for graphics Disadvantages: location of keyboard; integrated mouse pad difficult to manoeuvre;phasing out of OS9
Jan 11th, 2005
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