[all2ofme]

Hi all,

I've got a friend who after an insurance claim is after a 1GHz SD machine like mine. He's willing to give me the money from his insurance company in return for my 1GHz, 1GB, 60GB, Superdrive etc. machine.

For the most part I'm happy with my machine and like that it has the ports in the back, but there are a few things that make me wonder if it wouldn't be a good chance to upgrade. A 15" Al would be even better, probably, but hey - we know that there isn't one at the moment. Same goes for a 12" with DVI to hook up to my 20" Cinema display, but as with the 15" Al above, it's just not possible right now.

I think he'll be willing to pay about $500 (£311) less than the price of a new 17" for my machine (still with a year's warranty).

Would that be money well spent? I do Photoshop work and only take my machine with me when I travel long distances.

Any feedback from people would be greatly welcomed. The sooner the better, too since he has to decide in the next 24 hours.

Cheers,
Ben

[Karim]

I upgraded from that machine to the 17" and it was a GREAT upgrade.

I would wait the 24 hours to see if Apple speedbumps the Powerbooks or the mythical 15" aluminum rears its head.

[all2ofme]

I feel as if I should make a 17" mock-up and carry it around for the next few hours to see if it's too big for me

What were the high points of the upgrade for you, Karim? I'd like the Bluetooth and Airport Extreme (I have the AE-BS), but don't NEED either of them. I think the things I'd appreciate most would be the less crippled Superdrive, the keyboard and the non-scratch surface.

Dammit, why can't the 12" have level 3 cache and DVI?!? It'd be purrrrrfect!

[macxtal]

The 17" is 2" x 1" bigger than the Tibook.. it's not THAT bad, but if you take the machine with you every day, it's clunky. My current thinking for an "upgrade" from the 15" is a G5 desktop and a 12", but it's too bad the 12" doesn't have DVI (WTF was apple thinking).

[all2ofme]

Completely agreed. I'd like a G5 and a 12" too, but it's too much of a pain to have two machines for me. I want to work on one of them only and have my work on that backed up on the other (a PC clunker in the cupboard, probably). That being the case, if it's only one machine I'm going to use, it's got to be a Mac. The current 12" is too slow for the work I want to do with it, and it writes itself completely out of consideration by not having DVI. Such a pity. I'd rather have the small machine.

Originally posted by macxtal:
The 17" is 2" x 1" bigger than the Tibook.. it's not THAT bad, but if you take the machine with you every day, it's clunky. My current thinking for an "upgrade" from the 15" is a G5 desktop and a 12", but it's too bad the 12" doesn't have DVI (WTF was apple thinking).

[macxtal]

Such a pity. I'd rather have the small machine.

I really like the 12. I can live with the 867mhz chip, but it's GOT to have DVI. I don't know what the hell is going on at Apple. They don't sell a display that will connect to the 12, but it's supposed to be a powerbook?

The 15" is still solid. I don't think we'll see a Al 15 anytime soon, so it's a tough call.

[all2ofme]

Ooooh, so tempted by this. Could someone who's seen/used both let me know if the 17" has the following problems?:

- fan noise (I've read that this is largely fixed, and a blessing that would be!)
- keyboard marks on the screen
- tendency to burn DVD coasters (my Ti took ages to get fixed for this)

And an aside - does it feel natural after a while to have such a large gap between the front of the machine and the keyboard?

[wilsonX]

Originally posted by all2ofme:
I think the things I'd appreciate most would be the less crippled Superdrive, the keyboard and the non-scratch surface.

Dammit, why can't the 12" have level 3 cache and DVI?!? It'd be purrrrrfect!

Hey, whaddya mean by a less crippled superdrive?

I'm in the market for a new powerbook too. I would like to use FCP4 on it so I'm thinking I'll get the 17 since it has fw800. But I'm also thinking about a tibook and a dual 1.25 or the low end G5. Then I would just use the laptop to show my clients video work in progress (rather than lugging a tower over to a meeting).

[all2ofme]

Here's some reading about it.

And some more.

In short, the firmware on the 17" machines allows such things as the use of DVD-RW discs and faster CDR burning. It doesn't go all the way and allow 2x burning the way the drive was originally intended to do, but it's a good start.

Originally posted by wilsonX:
Hey, whaddya mean by a less crippled superdrive?

[urrl5201]

"- fan noise (I've read that this is largely fixed, and a blessing that would be!)
- keyboard marks on the screen
- tendency to burn DVD coasters (my Ti took ages to get fixed for this)"

Naturally every laptop fan will make noise, but the 17" is the quietest I have seen yet.
Absolutely no screen marks from keys.
Out of about 20 burns I got one coaster when I moved the 17" as it burned.

If the new aluminum 15" comes out soon won't your friend be compelled to buy it instead of buying from you? The structural integrity and finish of the 17" is worth the deal. Sell NOW; you can have the option of going for the aluminum 15" once it comes out anyway, be it 24 hours or a week from now. I would not miss this lucky chance to upgrade, you may not get the chance again so easily.

Besides, ports in the back may look good but are a pain to reach around and fool around with. I realized this once I sold my 667 DVI for my 17"

[all2ofme]

Yeah, I suppose he'd consider it, but I think that the time he'd have to wait for the newer machine (if announced) might influence his decision somewhat. The same goes for me!

I'm swaying in the direction of NOT buying the 17", purely because if I'm this unsure then why spend extra money? I'm not even sure I'd do it for a straight swap, and I'll have to add another 512MB of RAM to the 17" to get it back up to where my Ti is now.

Originally posted by urrl5201:
If the new aluminum 15" comes out soon won't your friend be compelled to buy it instead of buying from you? The structural integrity and finish of the 17" is worth the deal. Sell NOW; you can have the option of going for the aluminum 15" once it comes out anyway, be it 24 hours or a week from now. I would not miss this lucky chance to upgrade, you may not get the chance again so easily.

Besides, ports in the back may look good but are a pain to reach around and fool around with. I realized this once I sold my 667 DVI for my 17"

[urrl5201]

Still, I would sell if only to have the money ready for the new 15". But if you are happy with your present machine and it has no faults then keep it. You always risk a new machine having a burned out pixel or two. Either way, be happy you have a 1 Ghz Mac. You already have a lot of power there at your disposal. Me? I just love the smell of a brand new Powerbook in the morning. Smells like...excitement.

[all2ofme]

Well I did it after all.

It's bigger than I'd like and it's a pity that I had to fork out more money for it, but I'm happy on the whole.

No dead pixels, seems as if the fan won't be the problem it is on my Ti, and I got the pleasure of unpacking another new Powerbook (always fun).

I'm getting ready to reformat it for a clean install now.

More later.

Wahoo!

[wilsonX]

Originally posted by all2ofme:
Here's some reading about it.

And some more.

In short, the firmware on the 17" machines allows such things as the use of DVD-RW discs and faster CDR burning. It doesn't go all the way and allow 2x burning the way the drive was originally intended to do, but it's a good start.

Thanks for the info!

[urrl5201]

Just one caveat, Take care when moving it. Always pick it up and never slide it. The feet are basically rugged but their problem is that they have way too much grip. I lost one of mine trying to slide it along a glass table. Anyway congrats and have fun. I have had mine since April and it took a short time for me to grow accustomed to size. I really honestly would not have it any other way. I travel with mine in a Tom Bihn Monolith case which is slipped into a common backpack. Since I never travel by plane, just commute to and from work by car every day, mobility is a moot point.

[all2ofme]

Thanks for the advice.

I haven't burnt any DVDs yet, nor have I taken any flights, but this machine does seem to be a very nice upgrade to the TiSD I had.

I took it to work today and luckily it fit in the same backpack I'd been using for my Ti. It was bigger than I would have liked for most of the day, but by the time I came home on the train I think it'd had time enough for the advantages to grow on me.

Still haven't heard the fan. That by itself is almost enough to warrant the upgrade price for me.

The biggest downside has been that I now have a mass of cables sticking out each side of my computer when it's plugged in at home. I don't like that at all. They get in the way and look ugly. I liked that Apple got me a good distance away from the morass of cables that most computers have hanging from them, but that isn't the case any more.

[AssassyN]

Congrats on the 17" PB!

As for the ports on the side, well, alotta ppl who got used to having them all in the back had initial problems w/ that fact as well, but I'd imagine it'll grow on you. You'll find that if you're in a hurry, it's so much easier to find a plug on the side than to have to hunt on the back.

[all2ofme]

Thanks for the nice wishes, all

I wrote a while ago that I hadn't seen a 17" PB which had a nicer screen than my TiSD, but this one is both brighter and clearer than my old machine's. It's the first laptop screen which has made me consider getting rid of my 20" Cinema display. As an aside - the PB's display is a bit yellower in hue than the 20", but perhaps that can be put down to the strength of the backlight on the desktop screen.

The keyboard is a dream to type on. I liked the Ti's but this one is even better. It's noisier to type on, but the tactile feedback is much better.

I've tried scratching the surface with my thumbnail, but to no avail. I wouldn't have dared with my Ti, much as I loved it.

The ports on the sides still suck. The size I can handle now, but I'd be a lot less likely to get it out when I'm on my way somewhere than I would have before. It's embarrassingly large and would encroach somewhat on other peoples' space on tables in trains, cafe tables and so on. Bit of a pity, but will do until Apple bring out a 12" that has DVI.

And to top it all off - I worked out that in the end that I MADE money in going from my old machine to this one. I ended up £30 up on the deal (tax which I can claim back on the purchase price of the new one). I love it when things work out so well!

[Link]

Congrats! I say the 17" is one heck of a machine, perhaps my liking is the LCD seems a bit less fragile.

The one thing you should really try is to lay down on the sofa or in bed with your 17", note how if you set it on your lap (so that it's tiled back at you, I think you know what I mean), the keyboard gap seems just perfect

I really like that, while I usually hate that about the big laptops, it seems to come to an advantage as the space is there to make it easier it seems.

[all2ofme]

Has anyone else with a 17" had problems burning (or erasing) CDR/Ws? I've tried with some discs I know to be ok (I'd used them on my TiSD) but BigAl won't even erase them.

I started a thread about it here but no-one's come up with anything to fix it or diagnose the fault yet. I'm hoping that I don't have to send it in the way I did with my Ti as it took Apple over a month to get it back to me.

Has anyone else encountered this?