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"A great laptop, with a few downfalls"
on by JacobLittlePros Wireless, Full Keyboard, Simplicity and Elegance, Fully Loaded, Small and Light
Cons Low screen resolution and brightness, low battery life.
Summary Having been a windows user for many years, I simply got fed up with the constant array of glitches, hassles and inconsistencies that are native to the Windows platform. Thus, I decided to go out on a limb and buy a Mac. Being a student who happens to travel a lot, I decided to take advantage of my educational discount and buy a 12 inch powerbook with a superdrive. Besides the 200 dollar educational discount, I also received a 100 dollar rebate from the Apple Online store making the total discount 300 dollars. Even still, I was surprised at how expensive this small computer was. But, for excellent quality and a great OS, it is worth it. NOTE: Be prepared to fork out an extra 100 bucks for tax which you don’t know about until it is almost too late.
I have now had this computer for over a week and I love it. When my computer arrived, I was astounded by the totally awesome packaging! It just looks amazing. When you open up the box, the first thing you see is a pure white sheet that says “Designed by Apple in California.” It just makes the unpacking a very pleasurable process.
The first time I plugged into an Internet jack, this PowerBook connected without any hassle! I was so excited! No messing with Internet connections or anything. It just works.
The Superdrive works fine. It seems a little slow, but for a laptop, not bad at all. It takes about a half hour to burn one DVD, including verification. The keyboard is also great. The keys are sturdy and feel solid.
It comes with a decent array of software, but is missing key components like a decent word processor and a slide program. I would like to see Apple include iWork. Otherwise, be prepared to spend another 150 dollars for Microsoft Office.
OSX Tiger is beautiful. Dashboard has really caught my imagination is is extremely useful! Also, I just love Spotlight! Instead of searching thru lists of documents, pictures, applications, etc…I just type in a few words and everything is listed in an orderly fashion. I find is so easy to find things. It is so much better than the Windows search function.
This laptop does, however, have two downfalls. First, the screen really isn’t all that great. It does not have a very high resolution and isn’t very bright. This laptop isn’t the best for watching DVDs, as everything is jagged. I also have a dead pixel in the upper right hand corner of the screen which is a slight bummer. At first I was very unhappy with the screen, but in System Preferences, I changed some setting which made the screen look a little more colorful and not so dull. The small size doesn’t bother me so much, but the low resolution does. But, it is not like it ruins the whole computer, it just lowers the overall wow factor.
The second downfall is the battery life. It is really not true that this thing gets five hours. I am lucky if I get 2 hours out of it. However, I am usually using the Superdrive, which sucks out the battery very quickly. I would expect 3 hours to be reasonable run time under normal circumstances, a far cry from the advertised 5. But again, this doesn’t ruin the computer, it just makes it a little more difficult for frequent travelers and students like me.
Overall, I really like this laptop and I look forward to using it for many years. -
"Never going back to Windows!"
on by Shaun30344Pros Portability, good size keyboard, Operating System, Sexy Look, Great features for the price
Cons The screen is small if you are used to more standard 14-15in. screens
Summary I have been a recent convert to Mac after purchasing an iPod several months ago. I was so impressed with the iPod, I couldnt help but shelling out the cash to get a new powerbook. Even though the price came out to $1,700 rouglhly (@ the apple store in a local mall) it was 110% worth it!
After experiencing Wi-Fi with my dell, it was a pain to set it up when I went to use another access point, but my powerbook searched and configured my wi-fi on the first boot! The new features of OS tiger are far superior than XP. It has all kinds of new gadgets to use like the Dashboard, iMovie, iDVD, iTunes and so on. Safari (mac's answer to internet explorer) is easy to use and no pop ups or ads have appeared in all my surfing. OSX Tiger is a beautiful, easy and use ful OS to switch to anyday.
The compuer is light, sleek and quiet. The speakers for this size model are located in the rear of the laptop and are pretty sufficient for a laptop. The processer is very speedy compared to higher priced pentium 4s. The stadard setup comes with a DVDRW drive, 64MB Nvidia Card, Wi Fi, Bluetooth, 512 RAM, and 80G hard drive. I hardly think any windows sytem can beat this package, including Dell! If youre looking for an alternative to the unreliable and often dull windows/pc laptops, this is the best system out there! -
"Goodbye Windows, HELLO TIGER!!!"
on by kaylarenea05Pros full size keyboard, large screen, easy to use, light weight
Cons i have yet to find any!
Summary when i decided that i wanted to buy a laptop for college, at first i thought that i would go the the pc route. i had never used an apple before. but i began to look at the new apple computers and i decided that i wanted to give it a try. my laptop just came yesterday, and within ten minutes, i was already loading up photos, listening to music and had my software installed. the support is great too. there was a trial version of iwork pre-installed on my computer, so when i tried to install the full version, it wouldn't let me. so i called the apple support line and they were so helpful. i only had to wait like two minutes and the representatives were talking me through what to do.
the size is perfect for carrying to class, and with it only weighing four and one half pounds, it is ultra portable!! i would recommend it to anyone.
apple rocks!!!!!! -
"LONG TERM REVIEW"
on by ilifePros Amazing design and form, flawless operating system, amazing on-board tools and ease of use, portability, battery life, graphics, the list goes on and on. Also: *RELIABILITY*
Cons The only thing that I dont like (and it isnt a must have) is that the keyboard does not light up like the 15 and 17inch. However, the keyboard backlight is an eye-pleasing feature and is not neccesary
Summary Most reviews of computers are the owners first "just out of the box" impressions. So, naturally there wont be anything wrong with the item. I have owned my Apple PowerBook G4 for over 6 months now, and I absolutly love it! I have had NO problems with it whatsoever. I bought a $4500 Dell Laptop a while back, and started to get problems with it, right around the time the warantee was up. (How convienent? Eh?) So after much agruing and calls and months and months of hassle, they finally fixed it (still having problems). That is why I purchased the PowerBook. I have never owned an Apple, and thought I should give them a try. I made the right decision!!! It is amazing! No problems, works like a dream! I cant say enough good things about it, and it only took a few days to get used to the "Mac way" and now I am hooked! It really beats any Windows machine. Definatly give this computer a try! You wont regret it!
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"GREAT APPLE LAPTOP"
on by sh4rk9Pros Great bang for the buck
Cons Not a gaming machine
Summary I've owned numerous PC and Apple laptop products, and I have to say this is hands-down the best laptop I've ever had in every way, except for gaming. With this machine I've done video presentations, created movies, played games, etc., etc. It has performed nearly flawlessly in every aspect. The only thing I've added is an additional 1 GB of ram, which anyone should do (if feasible) with a laptop to increase performance and capability.
Of the many things I love about this powerbook, one of the most significant is the speed at which the internal airport extreme card picks up a wireless signal. The bootup process is very quick, and one of the first things I tested was bringing up the internet from a wireless signal. It was easily done in half the time it has taken ANY window-PC laptop I've ever had.
Any mac user knows that the mac OS is so much more stable than any PC, and this laptop is no exception. This powerbook is the size of a regular sheet of paper, and when you look at it and use it, such as the keyboard and trackpad (great feel), you can tell it is a quality product. The startup from sleep mode is very quick and pain free, as opposed to a PC laptop, which can be a pain at times.
For games, I've played Lego Star Wars and First to Fight so far. Lego has played fine for the most part except for large battle scenes, at which time the lag is about a 7 or 8 on the annoying scale. First to Fight has been just fine so far, although I haven't played it extensively yet.
As others have stated, the external sound is great, however it is way too low even at the highest settings. I am not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm sure it's not easy to fit high quality speakers into such a small laptop.
I will mention that I haven't been able to pickup wireless internet signals from the same distances I could with previous PC laptops I've had.
I have used this powerbook everyday I've had it, and it goes with me everywhere. As for accessories, I would recommend purchasing one of the sleeve-type cases from InCase. I put the powerbook in this and then in the laptop case, and when I use it, I always rest it on the InCase, which serves as a nice lap rest that also cushions the base of the laptop.
You won't be dissatisfied shelling out the $1400 for this quality machine. Good luck and have fun with it.
Apple PowerBook G4 user reviews (12-inch, SuperDrive)
Results 1-5 of 28
Results 1-5 of 28
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Quick Specifications
- Release date10/19/05
- Processor Motorola PowerPC G4 1.5 GHz
- Memory 512.0 MB ( 256.0 MB soldered) / 1.25 GB (max)
- Hard Drive 80.0 GB - 5400.0 rpm
- Operating System Apple MacOS X 10.4
- Display Type 12.1 in TFT active matrix
- Max Resolution 1024 x 768 ( XGA )
- Graphics Processor AGP 4x - NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200
- Optical Drive DVD±RW - Integrated
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